Shut up and sign

Attending the LWIP Parent Council meeting today I found it wasn't a meeting at all. Called there to sign the petition I found virtually no opportunity to even read the petition. Rather, we parents were expected to sign the more than 100 page petition, schmooze and move on. There were two copies available for us to read, one on an old laptop that was missing the appendix with dozens of pages of crucial budget data and a printed version with signature pages. I read parts of the electronic version and after waiting my turn began to read the appendix in the printed version. However, I gave up the ring binder for two fellow parents to sign. Seconds after getting it back Matt Andrews literally yanked the ring binder out of my hands while I was reading and yelled at me to leave and then turned his back on me.

It appears to me that this "meeting" was set up for us parents to sign and move along. There was no discussion, no debate, and only a few people actually reading the petition. The aura of "trust us" was heavy in the air. Telling me to leave exhibits not only intolerance for questions and discussion but also a troubling sense of entitlement, even ownership. But such arrogance is a bit premature. Hiring expensive corporate lawyers and consultants to get your way may buy you a petition but it won't necessarily win you a public willing to voluntarily hand over the valuable prize of a public school.

There also appeared to be some possible irregularities with how parents were being asked to sign. Parents were told to list children they expected to enroll in the future and spouses were being told that only one needed to sign per child. Also, since the petition was in a ring binder and not hard bound the signature pages could easily be removed at any time.

A question of whether the AC and PC may be covered by the Brown Act may warrant further investigation by the Marin County DA. If subject to the Brown Act the entire process of drafting and deciding on the charter petition may have neglected to properly announce meetings and issue agendas in advance, make public what happened at the meetings, and make the documents publicly accessible.

I did manage to glean some serious issues of concern from the petition which I plan to analyze further when I do obtain a full copy of the petition. That, sadly, will not be forthcoming from my fellow parents.