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Witherspoon's flirting
is beyond contemptible
jon@dmcityview.com
Former Des Moines School Board
member Graham Gillette let me
have it after I wrote an editorial
stating, in part, that I thought
it took some guts for Des Moines
School District officials, particularly
superintendent Eric Witherspoon,
to decide to shut down schools.
A dying rural Iowa, I strongly
feel, gets too big a piece of
the state's pie, while metro schools
are forced to scavenge. Gillette
told me he agrees that metro schools
should get more, but he said Witherspoon
and Co. didn't do anything other
than what they had to when they
announced they would be closing
some schools down, while not fixing
up a handful of others. The jig,
he told me, was up. There was
no money left. The board knew
it and couldn't pretend any longer,
so the board pulled the plug.
Still, I told Gillette that
it's never easy to stand up and
do something that will be received
as wildly unpopular. Closing schools,
no matter the financial hardship
or how it came to be or whose
fault it was, is not an easy decision
to make because the backlash can
be murderous. Just ask the weaklings
in the legislature who refuse
to take up the issue, but instead
choose to dance around it by insisting
that the matter is local. So I
maintained that regardless of
the minutiae, school leaders were
standing up and beginning the
painful process of taking their
licks.
Except, as it turns out, Witherspoon.
When the going gets tough, the
tough get going - just not to
Indianapolis. However, someone
forgot to tell Witherspoon. And
so I was a little surprised when
someone told me last week that
he was interviewing for a top
job there. After all, the captain
of a sinking ship does everything
he can to keep the ship afloat,
especially when he's the one who
helped ram it into the iceberg.
And if there's no saving the ship,
and the captain truly feels the
need to disembark, he probably
shouldn't be the first one in
the lifeboat. Why? Well, for starters,
it makes the rest of us feel like
maybe, just maybe, we really aren't
all in this together. I mean,
what's next, him sending his kids
to private school?
Yeah, yeah, I know, he's staying
and whatnot, but there is no way
in hell this cannot leave a bad
taste in everyone's mouth. Like
Witherspoon or not, can you still
trust that he is looking out for
what's best for our children,
especially during the worst of
times, when the temptation to
flee is at its peak? Not even
for a second. How could you with
what you know of him and his dubious
character?
Board member Ako Abdul Samad
told The Des Moines Register this
past weekend "when opportunity
talks, you have to weigh it."
And although I'm not quite sure
if that's the way that particular
saying goes, I don't believe Ako
for one second. All cheerleading
aside, this is more than some
guy checking out a career opportunity.
This is treachery at its worst.
We saw the true Eric Witherspoon
when he even flirted with the
idea of heading "back home."
The guy's from Florida for Christ's
sake, and yet the Register has
school officials "breathing
a sigh of relief" because
Witherspoon said he has unfinished
business here in Des Moines.
What, he didn't know about this
unfinished business before heading
over for his first interview?
Say he made the mess, call him
a liar, an idiot, or maintain
that he's on his knees to big
business types, whatever. To me,
that's all neither here nor there.
To me, Witherspoon showed us exactly
how truly little we mean to him
when we needed to feel so much
more - when we needed to feel
the most. And I'm not so sure
he can ever un-ring this bell.
With people lining up against
him to question not only his decision-making
but his overall power, as well,
Witherspoon needed to try to be
the voice of reason, needed to
be doing some serious damage control.
So what's he do? He winds up the
wrecking ball he has aimed at
Edmunds Academy and starts swinging
it at his own already well-tarnished
image. Who cares whether he left
us for good or not? Who cares
that he came whimpering back?
The intent is out in the open.
And all I can wonder is: what
about the next crisis? Will he
go looking for cover then, too?
To be honest, maybe we shouldn't
bother with the wait-and-see approach.
Maybe we should start doing a
little interviewing of our own.
If we're not quite good enough
for Witherspoon - despite his
doing his best Dorothy, clicking
his heels together and saying,
"There's no place like Des
Moines" - then who's to say
he's good enough for us? It's
not as if we could bring someone
in who could screw things up anymore
than they are now. I'm not saying
it's entirely his fault, but if
we have to embrace this new way
of thinking regarding our deteriorating
district, then my question is
why not begin with a new head
thinker to help us along? Perhaps
someone who's loyal. It couldn't
hurt. CV
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