Help Wanted – School Board Elections
Given Jason’s recent post it appears School Board races may heat up against this year. If this is true then we need to get moving! Every year I send out a list of questions to Red Clay school board candidates and post their answers. Here’s my problem: Every school district has different concerns and I while I’m familiar with the challenges facing Red Clay, I have no idea what the Appo, Capital, Christina, Seaford, etc. District residents are looking for in a school board candidate.
So… I need a few volunteers to contact candidates in their district and report back. I’m also trying to figure out the best way to do this. Can this even be done? Actually, I’d really like to find a way where I’m not sending out tons of emails – because a quick look at the number of candidates running is quite daunting, and, contrary to popular belief, I don’t get paid for this! 😉
Also, could Kent and Sussex Department of Elections get their flippin’ act together? Sussex gives linkless emails (that’s a lot of cut and pasting) while Kent doesn’t give email addresses at all, only phone numbers. New Castle County links to the candidates email, where provided. Thank you, NCC! Seriously, why wouldn’t Delaware’s election formats be the same?
Use the comment section to let me know if you have any brilliant ideas on how we should organize this. For anyone not comfortable posting in the comment section, you can reach me at pandora@delawareliberal.net
Tags: School Board Elections
Sorry, I’m in Red Clay myself.
Laurel SD has a certified teabagger running, although that might not be so out of place in Laurel:
http://kilroysdelaware.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/laurel-school-district-has-a-candidate-christie-shirey-ready-to-fight-for-transparency-netde-edude/
Judging by her comments, she’s pretty good at pretending to be sane in front of grown-ups.
I wonder if serving on a school board wouldn’t be a humbling experience for a tea partier. Pretty much the biggest part of the job is securing government funding. And austerity isn’t a message that goes over too well with parents.
Pandora–it’s only March. I would say don’t even start reaching out until April. People drop out of races and other stuff, so you have some time to let some dust settle before going forward. You know you can reach me anytime w/ formatting etc.. Just don’t want to see you wasting a bunch of front end time, for people who would have put in less time declaring their candidacy, sitting idle, changing their minds, than you hunting down this pile of names.
Puck, it has been Tea Party method for a couple of years to get elected to local offices, including school boards, in order to influence taxes, funding and what is actually taught in various classes. You know, small government with for-profits taking over functions. So not a humbling experience, rather a means of achieving their goals.
Thanks, Joanne! I’ll definitely be in touch. Any ideas on how to set this up? Wouldn’t want someone making up answers for a candidate and submitting them! All roads seem to be leading me towards a lot of work.
@Tom Hawk – They’ve been doing it since the 1970s.
Christie Shirey is the State Coordinator for the Delaware Tea Party. Cape has a tea partier on the board, Sandi Minard, and last year Minard dragged a young, black, gay bus driver off of his bus because she decided he was a danger to the children (or more to the point HER child, who was on the bus).