bwahahahaa i lost my first election. i lost my seat
on the ward democratic steering committee. i have been on this board for nearly 8 years. elections are usually formalities, uncontested.
this time there were 13 candidates for 12 seats.
there is always a bit of a war between those who value the rules, and those who want everyone to play. i had pounded on a straight up election, and had actually printed up the ballots myself to make sure there were no irregularities.
i know most of these folks but lisa madigan, illinois ag was our guest and we had a nice crowd.
i spent some time working the crowd, campaigning.
a group of the members are nuns from a recently closed catholic high school that was reopened as a charter.
now, i have a pretty nuanced view of charters, but bottom line, as anchors in the community, both an up from the ground k-12 charter and the take over of this building by a hispanic focused charter are important and vibrant.
i was talking to these nuns about their tenants and a guy joined the discussion, singing the usual party song, alec and all. all important stuff, but also unrelated to this particular situation.
this was not that. this is the opposite of that.
anyway, as i defended the rights of parents who have square pegs in this system of round holes, things got hotter. i tried to cool it down, i petted the guy.
but my stance is that i had 5 gifted kids who were poorly served, not on any of the checklists, and needed SOME options.
he asked my who told me my kids were gifted.
it did not go well from there.
out of a room of about 60-70 people i lost by 10 votes.
however, i made a half dozen fast friends.
i have a great story.
and a title has nothing to do with what i will bring to my party.
there were furious post hoc attempts at gerrymandering, and alternate members were added to the structure so that nothing functional would change.
i think i will just get them to make me a committee.
i'm actually pretty focused anyway at marketing and event planning.
this would actually be a little tidier.
but, bwahahahahahahaahahahahah
i actually was not there for the discussion and vote counting, as i was sick. they wanted to call me, but one of the members insisted that she had to deliver it in person.
so now we have a moment for the ages.
i'm so flattered by the lengths that were proposed to keep my on the team.
it is amazing what happens when you get up and do.
and open your yap.
bwwahhahaaahahaahahahahahahaaaahahaaaa
= new reply since forum marked as read
Two hot buttons for many people. I wish there was a better word for what my kids are, 'cause if this is a gift, we might look into giving it back 
They also have an interesting assortment of learning disabilities to keep things really spicy. My kids have been at charters too, both started by parents and educators looking for alternatives. One is and has always been extremely liberal. Pretty sure it is one of the most integrated schools in the city AND we have the largest number of tattoos per parent, hands-down. The very excellent educators at my daughter's original public school RECOMMENDED that I move her to the charter because they felt it would be a better fit for her. There was no hostility or conflict. They just wanted what was best for her and we all agreed that the charter was better set up to accommodate her needs. Both kids will transition to regular public schools in the next two years, and I spend a significant amount of time supporting public schools in my state via activism since they are under huge attack by the General Assembly. But still, the people of DU will tar and feather me for my decisions.... Oh yeah, I have homeschooled them for short periods too, so I must be really evil 
Sorry you lost your election, but at least you stayed true to what you believe.
bwahaha. we have to meet some day.
i have been arguing this stuff on the local blogs. after a couple of long winded rants, i started signing them tiger mom.
i'm looking at my next tat. my weirdo and i are getting 21st and 60th birthday tats.
got 3 big ones now. all mother daughter things. my girls have some amazing ink.
i might just c/p this post to my local board if you dont mind. you said it very well. that should be the goal.
and du, yeah, i got blocked (then unblocked) from the ed forum, and everyone there has me on ignore, anyway.
I don't have any ink myself, but many of the free spirited and creative parents at the school have amazing assortments. A parent who is a tattoo artist actually donated some to the silent auction to benefit the arts program this year 
As infuriating as the school can be, I still love it for reasons like that.
I don't post much here anymore, but I notice I get blocked quite a bit when I post about charters and/or homeschooling, despite my efforts to be polite and stay on topic. Oh well..... I also put more volunteer time into supporting and protecting the regular public schools than most of the anti-charter message board warriors around here, so whatever. As you said, I too have a very nuanced view of the issues.
We have a bunch of crazy, rightwing ideologues in power and do to the gerrymandering the pushed through in 2010, very little hope of getting them out anytime soon. They gave a huge tax break to the very richest citizens and to make up for that are cutting education left and right. Our first rate public universities, also a best value according to many of the college ratings groups, are being cut. Our stupid governor who majored in education and poli sci says that the humanities are worthless 'cause people who major in that can't get a job, so that is why he is cutting. 
Our public school teacher pay is now second lowest in the country. We are getting our best teachers poached by TEXAS, shoot me now. I mean when Texas government is paying more than yours, something is seriously wrong. Oh, and now that they have spent two years and millions of dollars implementing Common Core, they are going to try to get rid of it because Obama. I am not a huge CC fan, but seriously, we just got started with it and it was a real PITA. And now they want to start over? Probably with something that teaches the Bible for science class. And cursive. Cursive seems very important to them for reasons I can't fathom. Not that I have anything against it, but it does not seem like the most important thing to focus on right now. So I don't know how this is all going to get turned around, but the situation is not good in the short term. Our kids are suffering and it will not be good for business either because who wants to live or locate a business in a place that has shitty schools and bad universities.
As long as you're cheerful about it though you'll probably get back in next time if you stick with it. That happens a lot too. Speaking generally but also from experience.
