Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public meetings scheduled for the City of Whitewater. Still, something’s bound to happen somewhere.

In our school district, there’ll be a meeting today at 9 a.m. in both executive (closed) session and open to the public, as noted in the agenda:

Call to Order and Roll Call

Executive Session
Adjourn to Executive Session, pursuant to § 19.85(1)(e)(f), Wisconsin Statutes, to review the WEA and WESS Collective Bargaining Agreements and issues relating to possible layoffs; and§ 19.85(1)(c)(f), Wisconsin Statutes, to discuss circumstances surrounding possible student disciplinary measures.

Reconvene in Open Session at approximately 9:15 a.m.

Discuss and Act on Possible Layoffs (Possible Action Item)

3. Adjourn

What we resolve often matters less than what we do afterward, and what we do afterward often requires action beyond what we initially resolved. 

On May 26th, our public school district, in Whitewater, Wisconsin and nearby towns, passed a resolution against racism.

Here is the full text of their resolution:

Whitewater Unified School District Resolution Against Racism 

Approved by School Board 5/26/09

WHEREAS, the Whitewater Unified School District strongly condemns racial discrimination; 

WHEREAS, racism is a threat to child development because it violates a student’s basic right to security, education, and social development;

WHEREAS, the Whitewater Unified School District does not condone any type of racist threat or discrimination;

WHEREAS, the Whitewater Unified School District supports working with other governmental entities, including the City of Whitewater and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, to raise awareness of the need to address racism in our local community by creating an active dialog which we believe will make our community an even more welcoming place;

WHEREAS, the Whitewater Unified School District will continue to denounce racism in all forms and will continue to seek proactive steps to prevent racist behavior by providing training and education for staff, students, and the community;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED the Whitewater Unified School District deeply regrets the recent incident at Whitewater High School and the sorrow and fear that this racist behavior has brought to the affected students and their families.  

We are right, as a free and equal people, to denounce racism.  The very foundation of this society, its Declaration of Independence, places this as canonical for America — the principles by which we are formed, and the reed by which we are therefore measured.   

But it’s not merely bigotry that has brought this community low. It’s our ceaseless desire to pretend that our politicians are saints, our bureaucrats saviors, and our policies infallible. 

Wrongs and wickedness will befall any community, and those responsible should be located, for the safety of others, and their own rehabilitation.   

Every time officials in this community confront a problem with an initial period of silence and secrecy, until someone discovers the thruth of the matter, they exacerbate injury and adisgrace themselves. 

Yet, for it all, they presist in this same path, again and again. 

I have slight confidence these few will change easily; I am certain their way aggravates our situation.     

Good morning, Whitewater

In our schools, there will be a band concert today at Washington School, at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. 

Some towns across America are so desperate to escape the effects of this deep recession that they are considering the dubious step of disincorporation.

That will not, and truly cannot, happen for Whitewater, Wisconsin. Yet, we might have relied so much less on state funding, and weaned ourselves from it in better times.

See, Towns Rethink Self-Reliance as Finances Worsen

We have public meeting after public meeting in Whitewater, on all sorts of topics, some important, some not. Few involve topics required as a matter of federal constitutional law.

The decennial census is one of them, from Article I § 2 of the United States Constitution.

Meetings about the census should be among our most open and well-publicized.

See, U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2.

Good morning, Whitewater

In Whitewater today, the Census Count Committee meets at 4 p.m. at the Municipal Building, and the Tree Commission meets at 5 p.m.

The census is only useful if it counts all residents, but then, all residents have to commit to counting all residents. Look back over the last few years of life in Whitewater, and one sees only that an accurate census of all residents will be particularly difficult. If achieved, as I hope that it will be, it will rob a dissipated faction of its conviction that the city belongs only to itself.

(As of this writing, the Census Count Committee posts no agenda on the City of Whitewater website — they should make their work open and transparent, reviewable and verifiable, not as a matter of law, but of good government beyond any provision of law. Very few activities should be more transparent than this one.)

I received the following press release, that I am happy to post –

The Walworth County Genealogical Society will meet on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 7:00 PM, at the Community Centre, 826 E. Geneva Street, Delavan.

For additional information, please call the Vice President at 275-2426.

Good morning, Whitewater

The are no public meetings scheduled from the City of Whitewater today.

There is, however, a scheduled Listening Session with Representative Tammy Baldwin, scheduled from 3-4 p.m. today, at the Irvin Young Memorial Library, on Center Street.

In Wisconsin history on this date, the Wisconsin Historical Society reports that on this date in 1997, “sixty festival attendees were arrested at the 8th annual Weedstock Festival, a pro-marijuana event in Ferryville. [Source: Timeline Wisconsin].” When they called it Weedstock…

In our schools today, there’s a plan that concerned parents and community members have proposed, following racist graffiti found at Whitewater High School. Here’s the undertaking, in the words of those who developed the proposal, from two messages that I have received, as sent to the press, and at least one blogger:

Greetings.

On Tuesday, May 26, various student organizations will be gathering with community members to make buttons proclaiming, “STOP THE HATE.” This effort is a response to the racist threat that occurred last week at Whitewater High School.

-A student reported the racist and threatening message on the stall door of a boys’ bathroom in the science wing of the high school on Thursday, May 14, around 2:30 p.m.

-Six African-American students were identified in the threat.

A few Whitewater professors and I met with the Administration at Whitewater High School and asked if we could do something proactive to help the student body feel “empowered” through this sad and scary time. We saw this incident as one that the community also needed to act on, not just the school. We found the administration to be very open, supportive, and concerned. They were willing to do all they could to facilitate our efforts.

The professors and I had the idea to make buttons with the students. The message was shared with the student organizations and they jumped on it. The kids are enthused and much more hopeful about letting the community know that there is a STOP THE HATE message coming from THEIR school and they are not a school that tolerates hate and racism.

Please come out to Whitewater High School on Tuesday…any time from 9-3 and see the students in action. The students need the positive publicity; they need to see that their voice of peace is more powerful than the racist/fearful ones….

You are aware that there is going to be a Stop the Hate button campaign at Whitewater High School. The parents who initiated the conversation about what should happen at the high school wanted to be clear that the students themselves are making and distributing the buttons. We also wanted to be clear that the feelings and safety of the threatened families and other African American families in Whitewater is the number one priority.

Thank you.

What did you do today — for Freedom?. 1943. United States Office of Civilain Defense.

United We Win. 1943. United States War Manpower Commission.

Ten years ago the Nazis burned these books…but free Americans can still read them. 1943. United States Office of War Information.

All posters courtesty Northwestern University Library’s collection of government posters in support of the war effort during the Second World War.

Has Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan already hired a trainer for Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission members?

Earlier this week, on May 20th, 2009, Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission met for a quarterly meeting. They met in a small conference room, rather than a chamber suitable for public attendance, and unlike so many other public meetings in Whitewater, the public portions of their proceedings were untelevised.

Two days later, in his Weekly Report, Whitewater’s City Manager, Kevin Brunner, announced the results of a portion of that meeting’s agenda: the hiring of two new officers. Here’s what he wrote in his weekly report:

Police Chief James Coan and the Whitewater Police and Fire Commission announce that conditional offers of employment as police officers for the City of Whitewater have been made to John Kleinfeldt and Terrence (TJ) Sullivan. The employment offers are contingent upon successful completion of medical examinations and psychological testing. If all goes well, both candidates will begin field training with the department on June 8th.

John Kleinfeldt graduated from UW-Eau Claire with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. John also worked as a Community Service Officer for the Eau Claire Police Department. Terrence is a recent graduate of UW-Whitewater and is a veteran of the United States Air Force. Both candidates have graduated from recruit academies and are eligible to be certified as police officers in the State of Wisconsin.

There are some details that he left out.

The agenda for that Police and Fire Commission, written before the meetings, tells how much time the PFC planned to give to this matter. (It’s their plan for the evening, only.)

Here’s the full agenda, also available online:

XI.  Adjournment 

Amazing!

The meeting plan had the PFC starting at 7:00 p.m., and a Call to Order, Roll Call, Election of PFC Commission Officers, and Oath of Office, and Interview of Two Patrol Officer candidates, all in 20 minutes.

How could anyone meaningfully plan to accomplish all these duties — consideration of two candidate interviews included — in just 20 minutes?

There is a way, perhaps.

Later in the agenda, at item X. A. 2., the agenda lists ‘Training Availability.’ Perhaps the training already took place, and Coan, and all the Whitewater Police and Fire Commission members, took training from this gentleman:

Once again, as so many times before, Jim Coan and the Whitewater Police and Fire Commission lead the nation — that’s all 306,500,137 people in America — in a new and innovative way to conduct a meeting.

Unique as always.

There might be a different way, though, more intelligible and consistent with current public meeting practices in America — allot more time in the agenda, hold the meeting in a suitable chamber, and televise the open proceedings.

Take these duties seriously.

Something one might want to consider, perhaps, just perhaps.

The flimsy claim of investigative confidentiality is finally renounced…

WISC-TV in Madison has now followed WITI Fox 6 Milwaukee with a news report on the discovery of racist graffiti, naming specific black students, in Whitewater High School.

When the Fox 6 news story appeared, school officials would not speak directly, and insisted, as Cathy Orosz of Fox 6 reported, that they “did not want to go on camera, [and] an administrator told us parents weren’t immediately notified because they were trying to keep the investigation confidential.” (See, Fox TV report, Family Afraid to Send Kids to School After Racist Death Threats Found on Bathroom Wall.)

Well, that’s absurd, and wrong, of course. See my earlier post, “On Racist Graffiti Found in Whitewater High School: Disease of Confidentiality.”

Whitewater’s distorted political and social culture so often sweeps problems under the carpet, making matters worse.

Now, in a WISC TV report, Whitewater High School Principal Vance Dalzin acknowledges what should have been obvious to any reasonable person, anywhere, from the first: “One of the errors we made is we didn’t contact the parents right away, and that was my error. Parents should’ve been contacted right away.”

Well, that’s right. It’s better to say it now than not to acknowledge, ever, this obvious duty. Dalzin is right to renounce a bad practice.

Why not place this acknowledgment prominently on the District’s website, as a commitment to candor and integrity?

He now accepts responsibility for not contacting these parents, but Whitewater’s culture reeks of closed doors, non-disclosure, concealment of bad news, and the disordered notion that only good news must be spoken and reported. It is a foul smell which so many politicians and appointed officials in Whitewater cannot mask.

(This malodorous condition also afflicts local reporters, lapdogs panting for access in exchange for sugary stories for local politicians. It took an out-of-the-area television station to break this story widely.)

I sometimes think that all the tomato juice in the world would not be enough to cleanse so many in our Municipal Building of this revolting stench.

Here’s the video report from WISC-TV, with the link to the clip thereafter:

Police Investigate Racial Threat At Whitewater High School: Parents Pull Students From School Over Threats

Sadly, the black students know that this is part of a greater problem:

Students said the threat is the latest incident of racism that’s becoming a problem around the school.

“They say it behind your back and when you’re stopping by your locker. They’ll say the N-word and you could just hear it down the hallway,” said student Banki Minett.

Dalzin notes that he does “want Whitewater to grow from this experience.”

As does any decent person. (See my earlier post, “On Racist Graffiti in Whitewater High School: Burying Understanding.”)

One cannot grow from concealing bad news, nor from our town’s culture of empty, dishonest boosterism.

Understanding and growth require continuing candor that our town, sadly, finds so very hard.

We can yet reject our closed and insular culture, embracing instead the openness that the American tradition encourages, and all be better for it. There is no better political tradition — anywhere on earth, now or ever before — than the American promise of liberty and equality.

It has been over a week since the discovery of racist graffiti containing threats against some of Whitewater High School’s black students.

Having kept the matter silent for too long, our public officials now cry for retribution against the author of the graffiti.

They even reportedly offer a paltry reward — $200 — less than the price of a Nintendo Wii game console. Such is the shamefully low value that our community places on coming forward in this case. Are the feelings and well-being of these black children and their families, and our whole community, not worth more than that? No matter how troubled our city’s finances — and they are terribly troubled — we should offer more than this.

Much more.

Like everyone in the community, I hope for a resolution of this criminal matter.

I hope for far more, though.

Public officials cannot absolve themselves of true understanding by seeking harshness in punishment alone, nor through mere insistence that they are opposed to racism. They should reform a practice that favors so-called insiders, to the exclusion of community information.

Time and again, our community has been disgraced by those who have failed to understand that we are a multi-racial and multi-ethnic community.

From Meyer’s scaring Mexican-American workers at Cvicker’s establishment, or breaking up whole Mexican families at the Star Packaging Raid (and Coan’s absolving himself of any concern for them, “The consequences from all of this are not our responsibility. It is those who commit crime.”), and the now-abandoned, but suspicious, practice of requesting Social Security numbers from drivers (of legitimate concern to the Mexican community), we have learned nothing.

Nothing.

There are many progressives, and opportunity conservatives, in this town.

Where is your courage now? Progressives may have loudly supported Obama, but many are silent when Coan or Brunner or the Whitewater School District strays into another insiders’ only practice.

I am neither a Republic nor a Democrat, but a libertarian, and a member of the Libertarian Party.

Yet I know — so very clearly — that there are so many decent and caring Republicans and Democrats in this city, who will not simply act to cheer and boost and sweep problems under the carpet. Libertarians are no better than others — there are surely proud and honorable political traditions in America apart from my own. (We’re right about free markets, though!)

We disgrace ourselves when we refuse to learn from politicians’ and bureaucrats’ many mistakes.

If we are once again shamed before Wisconsin and America — and we are — it is of our own fault — that we have not learned from this, that hiding failure begets more failure and dishonor.

Officials’ demanding severe justice will not absolve them of the same selfish boosterism that makes matters far worse.

Acknowledge these public mistakes — not just saying you’re sorry — but where officials went wrong — and true understanding and a better community are possible.

City Manager Kevin Brunner once said that he exists to build a better community.

No, no, a thousand times no — set aside that vain and proud conceit.

A better community comes not from a man’s boast like that – and it is a boast, however one presents it as mere service — and embrace an honest culture that admits official mistakes and negligence.

There is a better way, if only we would discard our selfish and shameful practices.

We will otherwise bury both understanding, harmony, and the noblest promises of the American tradition of liberty and equal treatment.

In Whitewater, Wisconsin, a dog bite gets quicker public acknowledgment than racist graffiti containing death threats against black students at our high school.

Whitewater, Wisconsin’s town elite — such as it is — is sick with the disease of secrecy, of false confidentiality, of self-serving lies to bolster its own reputation, and avoid responsibility for errors. All people make mistakes — Whitewater’s political and organizational leaders try to hide their mistakes, and deny them if discovered.

I sometimes believe that some of the men and women who run this city (overwhelmingly men!) think that if they do not acknowledge mistakes, then there have been no mistakes, and perhaps they are incapable of mistakes.

It is one of the reasons that Whitewater suffers under a failed and distorted culture.

Over one week ago, someone wrote racist graffiti containing threats against black students in our school. (See, On Racist Graffiti Found in Whitewater High School.)

For days afterward, one read nothing about it in our local press, or received any notice of it, from the Whitewater Unified School District, or City of Whitewater.

Then — yes, then — the story was covered by an out-of-town television station, Fox 6 News of Milwaukee. (See, Fox TV report, Family Afraid to Send Kids to School After Racist Death Threats Found on Bathroom Wall.)

(No one from the District or City had the forthright character — despite high public positions — to talk on camera for that interview.)

Suddenly and miraculously, after that television report, as when God Himself gave Moses the power to part the sea, the murky waters receded, and we had a letter, and newspaper interview (in a weak and timid paper that simply prints what Whitewater officials say without challenge, more press release than news story.)

Silence before, and the claims of an investigation that demanded silence, but once cameras arrived, all sorts of talk about how silence was required before.

No, it wasn’t.

It’s just a self-serving excuse to cover the shabby neglect of officials toward these black children, their parents, and the greater community.

These officials would rather hide an uncomfortable truth.

In cities across America — large and small — officials face terrible crimes even of violence and danger, and will notify the community immediately about an ongoing investigation. They do not wait days.

You know, and I know, that this is true — even in the most sensitive and serious cases involving murder, and threats that may lead to additional injuries. Places like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Las Vegas, etc. Bulletins, announcements, sketches, hotline numbers, official spokespeople, etc., all candidly speak to notify the community. Not all details need be revealed, but outlined information comes out quickly.

As it should, in any healthy community.

I do not have to investigate crimes — and I do not — to know and understand how serious police forces in major cities do so. These are principal cities in America, with the most advanced techniques and practices in all the world.

These cities will announce promptly – why do we not follow their practice?

Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan has traveled to many of these cities, and regaled us with his ride along adventures, yet he seems to have learned nothing that would help Whitewater in this case.

I listed New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, and Las Vegas because Coan has traveled to these vacation spots major cities on ride alongs with local police officers. (See, What Happens in Vegas…) I guess he didn’t ask the right questions while touring riding around burning the time of officers in these police departments.

Is Coan to expect us to believe that he is so much more advanced and learned than the police leaders of these cities?

Regarding Coan, I am left to ask, is he so foolish, or does he consider us fools, that we should accept his claims of investigative confidentiality when advanced American cities do not work this way?

No, it’s like a child’s excuse, and only a child should believe that he had to keep matters silent. (He must not have thought it terribly urgent in any event, as he called it, by the Fox reporter’s account, “more along the lines of a prank.”

It’s not that Coan does not know how to issue a press release! He does, flacking his own superficial accomplishments at every turn.

Even a dog bite gets more attention in Whitewater.

Here’s a sample of a recent Whitewater Police Department release under Coan’s leadership –

Dated May 6th, at the website of the City of Whitewater:

Dog Identification (05/06/2009)
On 05-05-09 at approximately 10:20am, an adult male employee at Washington Elementary School, 506 E. Main St., made contact with a stray dog that was approaching children on the school playground for gym class. He advised the dogs tail was wagging as if friendly. The man said as he was walking away, the dog, for no reason, bit him on the left elbow area, breaking his skin. A search of the area was made and the dog could not be located. If the dog is not located by/around 10:00am on Wednesday, 5-6-09, he will need to undergo rabies vaccinations.

Description of Dog: Short haired, black and grey “striped”, larger size (larger than a German Sheppard). [sic]

Anyone who can identify the dog or who has any information about this incident should call the Whitewater Police Department at 473-0555.

Here is a snapshot of the dog-bite press release, in the event that the City of Whitewater pulls it from the website:

Now, one knows that a dog bite can be serious. Racist graffiti, naming specific children, is serious, too.

Just not serious enough for a press release in less than twenty-four hours, as was the case for the bite victim. Major cities — like those Coan has visited — would have surely announced information about the graffiti promptly, as one knows simply by reading about experiences from departments across America.

Were these children and their families, and our community, not worth as much prompt action as a dog bite case?

Thank you, WITI, Fox 6 Milwaukee — you did what our officials were negligent in doing — you told us the truth of our own community. We should have been vigilant and honest enough to do it ourselves.

Still, we may be grateful to you that you had an honesty and integrity that our selfish leaders and doormat reporters lack.

Good morning, Whitewater

The holiday weekend begins, and there’s lots of posting ahead over the next few days — on local press coverage, the Police and Fire Commission, our local economy, and charitable and civic press releases to publish.

To set the right mood for the writing ahead, I offer two clips that encourage a positive outlook while working. I’ve posted the second before, and it’s a clever homage to the first.

Enjoy.

There are countless reasons, big and small, to love America. This is, I am convinced, the most extraordinary place in all the world, for our liberties, productivity, creativity, and natural beauty.

We have been creative always, in our past as we are today. Here’s an example of America’s contribution to popular culture from 1928 – Steamboat Willie.

Enjoy.

I received the following press release that I am happy to post – 

Milwaukee, WI – May 14, 2009 – The Alzheimer’s Association will present a community program called “Nourish Your Noggin” on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Muskego Public Library, S73 W16663 Janesville Road, Muskego.

The Alzheimer’s Association, Southeastern Wisconsin chapter provides information, education, and support to people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, their families, and healthcare professionals throughout an 11-county region. For more information about Alzheimer’s disease and local services visit www.alz.org/sewi or call the toll-free, 24-hour Helpline at 800-272-3900. 

One can expect that when tragedy strikes Whitewater, Whitewater’s elite — such as they are — will strike an optimistic, and diversionary, tune. 

One sees as much in the Daily Union, from a story entitled,
Whitewater High security boosted after racist threat.

The full story is available at the link above.  It offers telling remarks about how district officials addressed the graffiti – 

Once the message was reported, Dalzin said administrators met with all six students named in the message. ”We talked about if there had been any conflict with other students … had they heard anyone making any racist remarks, and tried to brainstorm a little bit,” Dalzin said.Through that process, he said, some possible suspects were developed and teachers were asked to review some writing samples to see if they could determine who it was.The principal said school officials Friday worked with the Whitewater Police Department investigating the matter, questioning students, checking lockers and developing potential suspects.”We met with the six students right away,” Dalzin said. “We did not meet with the parents until the next day.”

Therein lies the serious problem — several students are named in a racist message reportedly containing a death threat — but a school principal sent them home that day without speaking to their parents.  They were left to tell their parents themselves.  

Note how evasive these remarks are — it’s not a matter of meeting the next day, it’s the obligation of notifying the same day.  All the while, that first day, adminstrators had time for — wait for it, if you can endure any of this — ‘brainstorming’ with a group of minors — but not time to notify their parents?  

Note the timeline that the Daily Union offers is ambiguous, where it should have been clear with clear writing.  The story notes that “Once the message was reported, Dalzin said administrators met with all six students named in the message.”  Which day was this?  Thursday near the end of the day when the message was noticed — according to the district’s letter to parents — or Friday, when it might have been reported to an administrator? I can’t tell, as the story is unfortunately unclear.  (So, I cannot tell if the ambuguity softens the matter to the district’s benefit.)         

Yet, this is a parody of obligation — there will never be a time when any official of this school district has the right to delay speaking to parents of these named children about a threat like this.  Of course, once the children tell their parents, a parent will call the school, the next day, in any event.  That does not fullfil the district’s obvious same day obligation.           

Dalzin tries to distract from the real matter – the failure of notice to the named children’s parents: 

Such actions as a threatening message or bomb threat are often intended to get the individual attention or, ideally, cause a general disruption to the school day.”If you open it up to the whole world, you’ve satisfied that person’s need to do it and maybe there is more that will happen,” the principal said.

 
No.  That’s not the main breach of duty here — it’s notification first and foremost to the parents of these named black children. This was no vague threat — specific children were named.  A duty was breached to their parents, first and foremost. Perhaps they’re not the District’starget audience, or Whitewater’s privileged few.  

If these were your children named this way, would you not want to know about this threat that very day?  Would you want to be told from your children, themselves?  Would you have confidence — perhaps the question is rhetorical, considering its subject — in the principal’s brainstorming?      

There’s so much arrogance in this — Dalzin’s completely unapologetic in the article, and Coan works so hard to minimize any possible problem, as one would expect from a city where town leaders of this ilk think that admitting nothing means nothing’s wrong.  (Chief Coan should put that motto on a plaque behind his desk.)  

What have we here — the insecure few, breaching duties, ignoring some as they likely would never ignore others, pretending they did nothing wrong, all the while disgracing this town from a distorted perspective of excuse-making and refusal to admit their obvious errors? 

Yes, that’s it, from an insular perspective that has failed this city time and again. 

Immediately below, on May 20th, I posted about the discovery of racist graffiti at Whitewater High School. 

I made three points: (1) I had no knowledge of the investigation into the graffiti, (2) parents should have been notified immediately and directly, not left to learn of it through their children, and (3) the graffiti could not have been a prank, as Chief Coan astonishingly and ignorantly said to a Fox 6 television reporter.   

Here is a copy of the letter, dated May 18th, and sent to parents.  It also appears on the website of the Whitewater Unified School District.  Below the image of the letter, I have included its text.  Thereafter, I will respond to the main passages in the letter. 

May 19, 2009

Dear Parent/Guardian/Student:

Whitewater High School has enjoyed a history of being a safe and inviting school. Also, we celebrate and appreciate the diversity that exists in our school. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of some recent events that have increased our level of concern for the physical and emotional safety of all of our students. Specifically, on Thursday, May 14, at 2:30 p.m., it was reported that there was graffiti on the door of a bathroom stall that was racist and threatening in nature.

The administration has worked in concert with the Whitewater Police Department to investigate who may have written the graffiti.

We have taken the situation very seriously and increased our security in the building. You can help by discussing with your student how important it is to inform the administration if they know of anything that would threaten the health or safety of any of our students. Also, please discuss how racist and unsafe behavior in this school will not be tolerated and students who engage in it will face disciplinary measures.

We realize these events have caused great concern in our school and community, and we are sensitive to that. We assure you that the safety of our students is still a top priority. If you know of information that can aid in our investigation or help us better provide a safe and inviting environment at Whitewater High School, please contact us.

It is also important that we stress the many positive things that are happening at our school that have been overshadowed by these recent negative events.

Sincerely

Dr. Vance Dalzin Ms. Lanora Heim Mr. Doug Parker…..

“Also, we celebrate and appreciate the diversity that exists in our school.” 

Adams: That’s hardly an ‘also,’ is it?  I’m not sure what it means to ‘celebrate,’ diversity.  I am sure it’s something one might find on a motivational poster: CELEBRATE DIVERSITY.  Set aside the slogans of our time– It is enough to respect each and every individual and his or her parents, there and then.  Respect for the individual — respect that includes treating them as others would wish to be, and should, be treated — makes a diverse culture possible.   

One does not celebrate anything though a shabby, second-class standard for some.

“It is also important that we stress the many positive things that are happening at our school that have been overshadowed by these recent negative events.” 

Here the letter closes with its most telling and despicable words — never should one expect this sorry diversion of topic when the matter is a racist death threat. 

Whitewater very much has this disease: To accentuate the positive, while ignoring the negative, never fixing the negative, all the while living in mediocrity, and pretending in paradise. 

At Fox 6 television from Milwaukee, there is a disturbing account of racist graffiti having been found at our high school. Here is an embedded video of the Milwaukee news program, with a link to it also:

(The story also appears, locally, in Walworth County Today.)

I’ll offer three comments.

Ongoing Investigation. I have no knowledge of the progress of any investigation, no particular information. All of my comments, below, stand regardless of an investigation’s work or even the origin of the graffiti in the high school. I’ll write that again, for emphasis:

All of my comments, below, stand regardless of an investigation’s work or even the origin of the graffiti in the high school.

Confidentiality. From the report from Cathy Orosz of Fox 6, one learns that the children named in the graffiti were told ‘last Thursday,’ but were only themselves told, and their parents were not notified directly from school officials.

There is little that speaks more poorly on our district and our community than failing to notify parents — regardless of the origin of the graffiti — that it involved their children. This is no small matter — it is a breach of trust that this public school district owes parents in any situation of this kind in which their children have been named.

Each and every time, without fail.

One cannot — and should not — trust an administrator or teacher who violates the obvious duty to inform a child’s parents. This is more than a mere mistake — it’s both affront and disgrace to parents and all our community.

A different ‘each and every’ applies now — each and every school official who withheld this information – the news account says ‘principal,’ but mentions no name – should be publicly identified and appropriately disciplined.

It’s an elementary understanding that a child’s parents should be notified, and one would guess that if the parents were differently situated in this community, they might have been notified immediately.

This is a failure of duty so clear and obvious that anyone holding a position of responsibility should — so long as not comatose — comprehend it.

Our school district has a new, fancy website, but what good is any of this if the clearest obligations to parents are broken? Like so much else in our community, the veneer looks fine, but the cabinet rots from within. This shows a lack of seriousness of principle, and clarity of reasoning.

Anyone in the district who withheld this information from parents should not merely be disciplined, but as part of that discipline asked to disgorge himself or herself of any educational support he or she might have received toward an advanced degree — anyone this ignorant has wasted our support.

On Pranks. The Fox 6 reporter, Cathy Orosz, notes in the news video that our police chief, James Coan, called this, in Orosz’s account, “more along the lines of a prank.”

Anyone who has covered Coan’s career knows that he is, unquestionably, someone who would be both so ignorant and confused. Here is a man who was born with a lead tongue, and whose reasoning lacks the seriousness that one would expect even in a fool.

Let me write plainly, so even Chief Coan can understand:

Regardless of the authorship of the graffiti, racist graffiti — reportedly involving death threats — cannot be a prank. Cannot — it is impossible. The very subject matter makes it far beyond a prank. Not to see this, or try to minimize this obvious truth, is the very definition of Coan’s failure and disgrace to this city and her people. (Note that the Fox 6 anchor, Brad Hicks, immediately comprehends that this cannot be a prank. Any sensible person would see the same.)

Before he left for Hudson, when he came hat in hand back from Hudson, and even now, Coan should be an object of scorn for a serious man or woman — he has embarrassed our city time and again. All his tissue paper accomplishments, like empty re-accreditation, or vain travelogues, or a so-called Citizen Police Academy, cannot belie his thorough mediocrity.

When he speaks, he nearly invariably makes Whitewater an embarrassment and object of scorn to the outside community.

He will be remembered in this community as a bumbler — but his damage has been far worse. He has presided over mistake after mistake, shabby third-tier publicity efforts — like something a child would conjure — are no defense against his ignorance of what matters most.

He once sought a pricey uniform allowance, but even at an advanced age, can he not see that it’s what’s inside a man — how he thinks and acts – that matters more than how he looks?

A catalog of Coan’s embarassing statements and actions is available at FREE WHITEWATER through a Google search on this website.

There will be more on this story, but the shame of it is already clear.

Campaign finance laws are often heralded as positive reform — but there’s a much darker side to those laws — they often limit free expression of political speech. Over at Cato, they’ve prepared a video to discuss aspects of a case involving the Federal Election Commission’s presumed entitlement to regulate political speech, a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court —

Campaign finance laws become a way by which government — and its incumbent politicians — can regulate messages they dislike in circumvention of First Amendment protections.

For more information on the case, see the Scotus Wiki‘s entry on the case,
http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission.