Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 08m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 56.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1943, the Allied invasion of Sicily begins, leading to the downfall of Mussolini and forcing Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.

A list of school-related posts at FREE WHITEWATER since March: 

The Whitewater School Board Election (1) (‘On March 11th, at the Whitewater City Hall, six candidates running for three seats on the Whitewater Unified School Board participated in a candidates’ forum. The Whitewater Area League of Women Voters sponsored the 90-minute event. Embedded immediately below is a video recording of the forum. I’ve added the six questions that each candidate was asked, along with the timestamp at which that portion of the discussion begins’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (2) (‘It’s telling — and practical of the candidates at the March candidates’ forum for the Whitewater Schools’ board — that not one of them made referendum questions the centerpiece of his or her remarks’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (3): (‘Three of the questions from the candidates’ forum attracted less interest from most candidates (and notably Hicks and Linse) than presumably for those who posed the questions. The question about future referendums was one of those three, and I posted about that question yesterday. The other two were about dual-language learning and CRT….And so, and so… these topics (like the topic on future referendums) saw less critical commentary from the candidates than from some in the community. This begs the question, however, whether what the candidates profess now will be what officeholders do months from now’). 

The Whitewater School Board Election (4): (‘It’s true that a survey would have to be prepared professionally, with questions crafted plainly and without ambiguity. A serious survey requires serious design and distribution, and neither the school board nor Whitewater’s superintendent & administrators are skilled in the task. If there are to be annual surveys, and that’s a good idea, then they should be designed and disseminated with a professional standard of care. Whitewater can find the money for the work as she’s found (wasted, truly) money for less important work‘).

The Whitewater School Board Election (5) (‘These recent years have seen discussion after discussion of liberty, of freedom. Liberty has been as misused these last few years as any noun in memory. Liberty is an individual right or it’s no right at all. The liberty of a person that depends on the group, the mob, the horde, is not a right of being free from others’ control. That sort of liberty is a mere chance, a favor from the group to the individual that may be pulled away at the group’s discretion’). 

The Whitewater School Board Election (6) (‘Parents reasonably hope that their children receive education in language, mathematics, and science. Determining how much they’ve learned often falls to standardized tests, including the ACT. These standardized tests are imperfect yet useful measures of overall performance….It’s not school board candidates, however, who have the key obligation to assure that students’ understanding of fundamentals is sound. It’s the superintendent, administrators, and faculty members. They are the ones who are employed full-time in our district. Each and every regular school board meeting in this district should have a report on academic progress, and what is being done to improve learning, and support those who are teaching’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (7) (‘A school board race, on terms of conventional educational and managerial policy? Fair enough, that’s much needed here. An internecine culture war in this district, with a candidate who calls for regression? Wrong to begin, but right to defend against. Supporters throwing anything and everything at the wall — a torrent of lies, fallacies, and substandard English — to see what sticks? These overwrought men who flinch and squeal at even the slightest critique must think others are made of sugar. So be it; it doesn’t matter half so much how these men think as how one responds’).

After the Spring Election in Whitewater (‘Big changes require big discussions. Those aren’t discussions with a board, or the district leadership team, they’re discussions with the community. Those aren’t discussions through a board, administrator, or principal, they are discussions from the superintendent directly with the community in large settings….It’s now clear that the administration will not be able to carry on successfully without a dialogue and reconciliation with community groups. There’s been some talk about the role of the superintendent and the board, but that’s secondary as a practical matter. It’s the relationship of the superintendent to the community that this electorate expects to be addressed’). 

‘Some College, No Degree’ Isn’t Whitewater’s Problem (‘A thousand times over: Whitewater’s fundamental challenge is graduating students from Whitewater High School so that they remain engaged, lifelong learners. Students must be able to read, write, and reason adequately. These skills are not deferred talents, to be acquired in trade schools, colleges, graduate or professional programs, or only after one finds a job. This should be the mandate for our district: we are to achieve literacy, basic mathematics, and reasoning abilities in our students before they are graduated. It is impossible — impossible, damn it  — to believe that it cannot be done. There must be no letting go, no yielding, of this conviction’).

What’s the Whitewater Unified School District Board’s Mandate? (‘If the board majority now decides to embark on policies that might have been raised during the election but were not, then that majority owes the community a thorough explanation why those policies are being advanced only after the election’).

What about Management of the Whitewater Unified School District? Wasn’t That an Issue in the Last Election? (‘It is, by the way, the board’s obligation to oversee (literally, to supervise). Candidates who will not speak openly and plainly of officials before an election, but instead only sotto voce among themselves and their allies in the community, have not presented serious matters seriously. Incumbents who have said too little in the public meetings they have for years attended have similarly failed in their obligation to transparent, responsible government. Talking to your friends and cronies is not good government. Scheming with a few trolls is not good government. Crafting tactics to see what sticks is not good government. There are no monarchs or aristocrats here, and no secret rituals. We have a Whitewater Unified School District and not a Whitewater United Magic Kingdom’).

The Pool (‘The rational course is a settlement that assures ongoing operation at minimal cost while further discussions on medium and long-term solutions are crafted. A reduction in political temperature — down to, let’s say, negative 30 Fahrenheit — would serve this community well’).

Arizona fires extinguished with air tankers: