Quick thoughts about ABC

I've been casually keeping an eye on Mr. Sun and Hoggard's forays into dealing with ABC of Guilford County. I'm not going to dive into the whole ABC thing...whether they're right or wrong. But I will just make a quick note about their type of group.

My father was on the local school board for 29 years in the town where I grew up in Wisconsin. He was on the board before my oldest brother even started school and was on the board until shortly after I (the last of six children) graduated high school. By the time I graduated, he was the president of the board. I was lucky enough that at that time, the president of the school board handed out the diplomas at the graduation ceremonies so I was actually able to receive my diploma from my father.

During his tenure on the board, various board members including himself, received challenges from groups very similar in nature to the ABC group. Quite often, they were a group of parents and/or members of the community who were upset over one or more issues and organized to take on whichever of the board members happened to be up for election that year. Sometimes they won, most times they lost to the incumbents.

When I was younger, I asked my father about groups like that and he told me something that has always stuck with me. He said that anyone who thinks they are going to get elected and bring about all kinds of sweeping changes is a fool. He said that most people have no idea about just how few things the board is really in control of. When the vast majority of your budget is made up primarily by teacher salaries and debt service for schools, which you never have enough of either teachers or schools, you are basically handcuffed with just how many other items you can deal with. He said that when idividuals from these group get elected, they are quite often frustrated when they realize, that without a majority on the board, they can't make all the changes they would like.

From my own experience covering many different school boards as a news reporter, I can say that whenever individuals from these types of groups did get elected, one of two things tended to happen. 1) The new board member stands their ground trying to reflect the voice of the people who elected them and, for a while, votes against everything in a vain attempt to try show those people that they are trying to make a difference. Eventually though, they realize that sometimes its more important to show a unified front and start to vote with the majority. Or 2) The new board member sticks to their guns throughout the term, is often the sole dissenting voice, and people start to see them as a pain in the ass who votes against everything and they are then seen as an ineffective member of the board and they are voted out at the end of their term.

Either way is fine. But here's where the system falls apart. The group that backs the new candidate who is supposed to change the world, quite often doesn't stick around long enough to make the next election cycle or if they do, they no longer have the momentum they originally did and can't get their candidates elected. This leaves their original candidate hanging with not enough support to get their views across and worse yet, a lack of a majority on the board. Subsequently, their original candidate never has the impact they would like them to have.

Now I hate to be all doom and gloom for ABC. I think citizen watchdog groups are a good thing. They bring issues to light which many times wouldn't see the light of day beyond the board room. But lets just say that I'll be impressed if they are even still around at this time next year AND if they are, if they still carry the weight that they do now. History is against them.