Redistricting means always having to say you're sorry

So just to prove that I am not the only person who thinks that this whole redistricting process is insane and our elected officials are absolutely out of control, I give you, in its entirety, another posting from a local blogger on the situation. It is a sad commentary, that you all know I have been living for 8 months now, and we seem to be no closer to resolution than we were in September of last year. That is truly the most sad commentary, when so many parents have no idea where they are going to send their children to school next year or in 2009 when this (non-existant) plan is supposed to go into effect.

Set your TiVos, folks. Stamford Superintendent of Schools Joshua Starr, the city Board of Education and Mayor Dan Malloy -- Starrboard Malloy, for short --will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to re-enact Hugh Grant's famous "Divine Brown" apology.

But the context has changed. It's in response to our city's never-ending redistricting debacle.

Jay: "What the hell were you thinking?"

StarrBoard Malloy: "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Every official involved in this mess needs to sit on the late-night couch and apologize to the public. Flat-out, no-holds-barred mea culpa. They need to admit the whole "open an environmental magnet school, close Toquam, no -- close Davenport, no -- shutter Hart … one second, wait for it … let's board up K.T. Murphy, uh uh … how about Rogers or Stark" Gordian knot needs to simply be cut ... then set aflame and floated out to sea like the barge full of landfill crud and seagull poop it has become.

They need a do-over, a make-up exam and, frankly, a clue.

Let me help start the healing. Here are some talking points for the gang ...

Board of Education members:

We seriously overestimated the time and effort we could devote to this. None of us has the expertise to tackle all the issues and emotions involved in this process. Some of us tried really hard to come up with solutions but, let's face facts, we're rubes on redistricting! We thought you could slip tab A into slot B, C into D, and so on, and everything would fall in place like so many dominoes or Communist nations. Whoops, scratch that last bit!

We held a lot of meetings. But, we admit, we forgot that the rest of the working world does not live and die by the vague meeting notices we post in the Town Clerk's office or online. We should have reached out to the school PTOs, kept them informed of upcoming topics, and sought input from them and their school's communities regularly. We should have devised complete plans -- grandfathering, legacy kids, feeder patterns, etc. -- before shouting "bus those kids across town" in a crowded Government Center committee room.

We were also so blinded by the hordes of cash the state was dropping on us to build a shiny, new state-of-the-art facility that we never bothered to learn what the parameters for operating the school really are. Oops.

Also, we (shhh) ... we really don't know everything. We're just volunteers. Some of us are only interested in one school or one issue and need to be poked with a stick to contribute to the team. Others of us just like hearing our own voices. We're human and fallible.

Finally, we should have recognized early on that we were in over our heads, then hit the brakes and asked for help. We were well intentioned, but also arrogant. Forgive us. We'll do better next time to work with the community because our priority is ensuring Stamford kids gain intelligence, wisdom and understanding.

Superintendent Starr:

Wow, how did this get so out of control? Where was I? Oh, yeah … stuck on the BQE.

First, our staff should have proactively gathered all possible information about what we can and can't do with this state-funded interdistrict, 6-to-6, environmental thingamajig of a school before ground was broken. I also should have looked into how these schools operate in practice as well in theory, as Mayor Malloy did. Good work, T-Bone, but a bit late to the table.

Second, I should have insisted the Board of Ed receive a complete analysis of facilities, capacity, enrollment projections, and district-by-district student breakdowns of total population cross-referenced against race vs. socialeconomic status vs. magnetic or district school attendance, yadda yadda yadda, before they even thought about school closings or sending kids to different schools. Then we could have discussed the school district as a whole, not in this piecemeal, street-by-street, school-by-school fashion that gets a new group up in arms every other week.

And what's the deal with magnet schools in Stamford? Are they good, are they bad, are they working, are they really balancing the system or just messing with the people's minds? I honestly don't know. Maybe I should address this in my idle blog?

Last point - I should have recognized early on that we were in over our heads, then hit the brakes and asked for help. We were well intentioned, but also arrogant. Forgive us. We'll do better next time to work with the community because our priority is ensuring Stamford kids gain intelligence, wisdom and understanding.

Mayor Malloy:

Zzzzz. Huh? Oh, oh, yeah, yeah.

Yes, I am a member of the Board of Education. A non-voting one, mind you. But, yes, I should have paid more attention to redistricting meetings because it is important to the people of Stamford, whether they vote for me or not.

When I did attend, I should have spoken up. Withholding knowledge that could help others, especially those I represent, is just plain bad judgment.

Rather than playing the white knight, charging in at the last minute so I could look good, I should been involved from the start because Stamford is me, and my actions are a reflection of Stamford.

Same for performing last-minute sneak attacks on the school's budget proposals. I was a jerk about that, too. Now that the debt on my failed gubernatorial bid is paid up, I'll stop being a petty Betty.

I should have insisted the schools set aside money to hire an independent consultant with no stake or allegiance in this issue. The consultant could have given us three to five complete, unbiased scenarios (closing schools A, B or C, no closings, etc.) with feeder patterns, budget estimates and the Donut Delight drive-thru window ... I mean, kitchen sink. Then, we could have a real public discussion with well constructed ideas rather than these "not my school/kid" debates every other week.

One more thing. I should have recognized early on that we were in over our heads, then hit the brakes and asked for help. We were well intentioned, but also arrogant. Forgive us. We'll do better next time to work with the community because our priority is ensuring Stamford kids gain intelligence, wisdom and understanding.

Starrboard Malloy, all together, quoting the Book of the Divine
Hugh:

"You think you know in life what's a good thing to do and what's a bad thing, and we did a bad thing. And there you have it."

See, its not just me.