Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with afternoon rain and a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:35 and sunset 7:31 for 12h 45m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 58.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council holds a special session at 6:30 PM.
One could say that, in a dynamic society like America’s, every generation’s university landscape is changed from the generation before. In our time, one of those changes is online university education. Earlier this winter, Corrinne Hess reported Universities of Wisconsin launch website to market online degrees (‘Wisconsin Online aims to make it easier for students to register for online classes’):
On Feb. 1, the system launched Wisconsin Online at online.wisconsin.edu. The website provides access and information about the UW’s 10 associate, 99 bachelor’s and 95 master’s degree programs.
“We have taken a more deliberate approach to this,” Rothman told WPR. “Our role is to use the trusted brands as the Universities of Wisconsin to offer a world class, online educational program.”
The UW has 18,000 “traditional” students who have now gone fully online, Rothman said.
But the new online portal is also focused on the more than 700,000 people in Wisconsin who have some college credit who now want to finish their degree online, Rothman said.
“We have a number of students who also want to get their MBA this way,” Rothman said. “So it is simply a way to further address and meet the students where their needs are. “
These programs expand the reach of college education while requiring communities like Whitewater’s to balance new online opportunities with in-person instruction. Successful campus communities will have to advance on both fronts.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 6:42 and sunset 7:16 for 12h 33m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Yesterday’s post, These Aren’t the MAGA Claims You Were Looking For, seemed clear to me. While opinions on local issues differ, residents should be able to discern plainly-stated views. (Opinions in Whitewater — and even basic accounts of events — vary among residents now more than at any time since FREE WHITEWATER began publication in 2007. See Rashomon-upon-Cravath.)
(2) A more detailed series on the district and proposals to improve governance can wait until after the election.
(3) Too many people in this town have election fever, and it’s left them dehydrated and decomposed. Their malady is not mine.
(4) The claims and proposals that boardmember (and whistleblower) Maryann Zimmerman has made since December are not conservative populist claims. They are claims of no single ideology or partisan view.
(5) I’ve never met Mrs. Zimmerman and it’s not as though we’re in a knitting club together2.
(6) The current board president has done no better than to beg off every question with the false, self-protective claim that he cannot speak for legal reasons and the district has a superintendent who not only won’t speak but has tried to prevent others from speaking.
That’s yesterday’s post in a nutshell.
And yet, and yet, a community leader wrote me last night to explain to me that, thirteen months ago, Mrs. Zimmerman voted not to deny a petition to alter district boundaries regarding a taxed property, concluding from her vote that Mrs. Zimerman was a “[n]ice person, but she does not know what she is doing.” (I responded bluntly via email.)
This emailer’s claim might as well have been a parody of whataboutism3.
The overall policy competency of this boardmember wasn’t the point of my post. (It’s evident that she’s as capable as others on the board. Practically, whether intentional or not, this boardmember alone has been able to knock the board president and the district administration back on their heels. It’s much easier to paint a single boardmember as ignorant than it is to admit — or perhaps grasp — that officialresponses to that boardmember have been strategically and tactically inept. That’s not the fault of students, parents, or residents. It’s the responsibility of boardmembers and administrators who’ve exacerbated the issue through their own responses.)
A tax issue from thirteen months ago matters not at all now. The insular frustration that’s come to district officials from more recent events, the excuse-making and rationalization of fumbled and self-injurious responses, evidently grips them.
What matters most is a better path than the one that overreaching and underthinking officials have taken.
Other district officials made that mess.
Nice people, but they do not know what they’re doing.
1. Of limited, responsible, open government with individual rights, of progressive theology through traditional liturgy, and of cats, this libertarian blogger is, it happens, a true believer.
2. It’s not as though Boardmember Zimmerman and I are in a knitting club together. I don’t knit, and have no idea if she does. Nonetheless, all my best to the knitters of Whitewater and the sheep who’ve supplied their yarn. I have only love in my bleeding-libertarian heart for all of them.
3. The emailer pointed me to the minutes of the year-ago discussion, but in any event, the minutes are not the first place to look. A recording of the meeting would be the first, best place to look. Again and again: no record like a recording. After reviewing the recording, it seems to me that there were issues that no one considered fully. It certainly wasn’t obvious — except to those of narrow and motivated reasoning — that there was one only way to vote on items.
4. Does anyone know if some of these district officials have visited a Belgian farm lately?
?? Tuesday, March 26th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Nyad @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama/Biography Rated PG-13 2 hours, 1 minute (2023) The remarkable, true story of athlete Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) who, at age 60, and with the help of her partner and coach (Jodie…
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset 7:09 for 12h 16m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 88.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
The first full day of Spring in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 40. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 7:08 for 12h 13m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 81.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1815, after escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
For generations, the National Association of Realtors® has controlled (as though it were part monopoly, part cartel) the process of buying and selling homes. That control has now come to an end with much of the credit going to a personal injury lawyer in Missouri and his five clients.
The end of the Association’s stranglehold on the housing market is a legal victory that’s brought about a free-market victory for buyers and sellers. See Powerful Realtor Group Agrees to Slash Commissions to Settle Lawsuits (‘The National Association of Realtors will pay $418 million in damages and will amend several rules that housing experts say will drive down housing costs’) and Five Ways Buying and Selling a House Could Change (‘The National Association of Realtors has agreed to change its policies to settle several lawsuits brought by home sellers — a move that could reduce commissions’).
These changes won’t solve housing shortages in Whitewater or other small towns, but they will benefit buyers and sellers across the nation in reduced commissions. (America has had among the highest commission fees in all the developed world.)
Well, done, Missouri attorney Michael Ketchmark and clients. You’ve helped all the nation end entrenched, expensive, anti-competitive practices.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:57 and sunset 7:07 for 12h 10m 16s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 73.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1918, the US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
I went to sleep last night nearly a pessimist; I awoke this morning an optimist yet again. People choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly. For the Whitewater Unified School District, these many months — ending at last night’s board meeting — were a time of free choice for the district’s board president and the district’s superintendent.
The board president has chosen not to run for reelection; the superintendent has chosen to seek employment elsewhere. In both cases, those decisions are right for those officials and for the Whitewater Schools. Some relationships, including political and employment ones, sadly become irretrievably broken. Repair requires reconciliation, and reconciliation requires a willingness to accept the principles on which a sound relationship rests.
No one should be compelled to choose; it must be a free decision. One wishes the best to both — truly — in the future. They deserve situations suitable to them. Not every fit is a good fit. The Whitewater Unified School District’s board will soon have the opportunity to choose a new president. That board will be able to oversee the selection of a new superintendent at the earliest opportunity, either through her employment elsewhere, a settlement agreement, or if regrettably necessary through lawful public action of the board.
For Whitewater, the daunting — yet hopeful — building of a new administration in a new district awaits. We need not fear that a choice today will lead to worse outcomes tomorrow. This community can achieve for its students academic success, athletic accomplishment, and artistic achievement under principles of individual rights and tolerance for all, without prejudice toward race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation.
The principles of limited, open, responsible government and individual rights hold the commanding heights. They occupy good ground; they have a defensible position. Those who hold these values will over-match those who oppose them. We need not be afraid of what comes next — we will shape what comes next.
The work of crafting a new district begins. It is the work of years to come. It will require ongoing attention. Sometimes hard, but easier if we join together. Sometimes daunting, but always possible.
It’s spring break for the Whitewater Schools next week, but while our students, teachers, and families enjoy their well-deserved vacation, others of us can begin our reflections and recommendations for the future.
The Whitewater Schools will come through just fine.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 7:04 and sunset 7:02 for 11h 58m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 33.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Last April the Wisconsin Examiner published an examination of the way that Native American human remains have been retained by public institutions in Oshkosh long after the passage of a federal law that was intended to speed their repatriation to the tribes that once inhabited the area.
The article included some startling details that demonstrated the callousness of the institutions, especially the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. But the university also managed to keep even more graphic information out of the story.
For example, readers did not learn that a Native American skull, collected in Oshkosh on the south bank of the Fox River, had been stolen in 1990 from an exhibit case on campus and “broken during the bungled burglary.” Nor did they read about the time that the remains of one individual went missing from an excavation where an assistant professor found 43 burials but apparently lost track of one “en route to the archaeology laboratory.”
The reason that these details, contained in inventory records that had been easily accessible at the campus library, were not included in my story was that during the course of my reporting university officials stepped in and placed the documents in a restricted area. I was in the midst of reviewing the documents when the university decided that they needed to be kept from the public on the basis of what turned out to be a completely bogus rationale.
Last month the university released a full set of the inventory records under prodding from the Winnebago County district attorney, whose investigation showed that UW Oshkosh had repeatedly and egregiously manipulated state law.
The DA’s investigation confirmed what I had asserted in a complaint filed in July, that UW Oshkosh had made a mockery of the state’s public records law, slow-walking responses, making up excuses for redacting information and misapplying doctrines like the attorney-client privilege. Among other things, I pointed out, UWO had withheld documents from me that it had released to another news organization and claimed that it had the right to keep from me a copy of an email that I myself had written.
(Emphasis added.)
Again and again: public officials in public institutions conducting public business aren’t entitled to private avenues of concealment. Officials who would like private protections can find those defenses just as soon as they return to private life.
Friday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset 5:54 for 11h 38m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, an anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America,” an article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery
No principled person, having observed over these recent months the conduct of the Whitewater School Board and its superintendent, could remain unconcerned.
Since 2007, when FREE WHITEWATER first began publishing, no official in this city has advanced action through counsel against a resident, whether a private party or government official, to restrain free speech & debate1. For this superintendent to have done so was a grave mistake. Since 2007, when FREE WHITEWATER first began publishing, no official in this city has sought refuge in closed sessions, so obviously to conceal error, as this board president and some other boardmembers have done.
Since 2007, no official in this city has suggested, as this school board president has done, that a board member might be liable to censure for lawful speech. Principled men and women in Whitewater should not tolerate — must not tolerate — efforts to stifle speech through threats of censure.
The particular compensation awarded to an employee is less important than the method of the award by whom awarded and to whom awarded (especially if through a procurement policy). Everyone who works in the Whitewater Unified School District works as an employee of a public institution paid at public expense. No employee of the Whitewater Unified School District has a private contract with a private employer. They have public contracts with a public employer.
Those in this district who wish to work as private employees should — and must — seek private employment. There can be no private exceptions for anyone working for the public Whitewater Unified School District.
This superintendent must abandon any legal action against the free speech rights of either boardmembers or residents. Failure to abandon action against speech rights should be disqualifying from public employment in the Whitewater Unified School District. It is impossible for a principled person committed to free expression to hold otherwise.
This board president and any other board members must abandon the threat of censure against another board member over this matter. Failure to abandon the threat of censure should be disqualifying from membership on the Whitewater Unified School District Board.
The Whitewater Unified School District Board meets in regular session on Monday, March 18th. That regular session must offer an open dialogue between this superintendent and the residents of the community, other than a mere public comment period, to answer residents’ questions fully to the reasonable satisfaction of those residents. That regular session must offer an open dialogue between this school board and the residents of the community, other than a mere public comment period, to answer residents’ questions fully to the reasonable satisfaction of those residents.
The decision of this board president, other board members, and this superintendent to engage in dialogue is the right path forward to reconciliation. It is fair for all parties. Failure to take this opportunity should be disqualifying from employment or board membership in this district.
There is time, but only a little time, left for this board, this board president, these board members, and this superintendent to speak candidly to Whitewater. Principled men and women in Whitewater should not tolerate — must not tolerate — concealment through closed sessions, cease-and-desist actions, and threats of censure.
Americans, including those of us in Whitewater, are inclined to kindness. Many of us these last few months have been restrained, and through this restraint, shown respect and kindness. Franklin Roosevelt was right, when speaking of our people, that no one should mistake our kindness for weakness.
True in his time, and true in ours.
1. Someone once did worse, but then his career in this city later came to a deservedly ignominious end.
?? Tuesday, March 12th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Killers of the Flower Moon @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama/History Rated R (profanity, violence) 3 hours, 26 minutes (2023). When oil is discovered in 1920’s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Native American Osage people are mysteriously…
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset 5:50 for 11h 29m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 29.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
There will be a session of the Whitewater Common Council tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1953, Joseph Stalin, mass murderer and longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
A note and an agenda for today.
The note: I’ll hold a bit on a series about the school district, awaiting new developments. It’s not true — as a clever but mistaken resident once said — that this libertarian blogger comments hastily. Not at all. Some posts or series wait for the right time, and that time may come weeks or months after an event.
For the schools, more time will lead to a dispositive assessment.
Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny during the day, and rainy this evening, with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:22 and sunset 5:49 for 11h 26m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 39.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
There will be Election Inspector Training today in Whitewater at 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM. Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Equal Opportunities Commission also meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1776, the Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
Two quick reminders on local government, special interests, etc.:
Second, a good way to measure the strength of a position (considering its quality of being strong, its merit, and its desirability) is to ask: would one trade that position for another one?
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:27 and sunset 5:45 for 11h 17m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1917, the Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.
Most of the run-government-like-a-business rhetoric leaves this libertarian blogger cold. There are fundamental distinctions between public and private that the mantra about making both run the same way ignores. And yet, ironically, a description of how private corporate boards work, from Matt Levine, is a good starting point for a discussion of public municipal boards. Levine explains when The Board of Directors Is in Charge (and when it’s not):
The basic rule is that the board of directors of a company is in charge of the company, and when they are faced with a decision, the directors are supposed to make the choice that they believe is best for the company and all of its shareholders. The shareholders don’t make the decision; the board does.[1]
Now, the directors are elected by the shareholders, and when the company has a controlling shareholder, the idea that the directors are in charge can feel somewhat absurd. The controlling shareholder — say, a founder and chief executive officer who owns 60% of the stock — can come into the boardroom and say “I want you to sell all of the company’s assets to me for $1,” and the directors will say “no, in our independent judgment that’s a bad idea,” and the founder/CEO/shareholder will say “okay you’re fired,” and she will replace them with more pliable directors. And she can do that, because she has the votes.[2] But still: The directors are supposed to exercise their independent judgment and do what is in the company’s best interests, and if they conclude that the founder/CEO’s plan is bad, they have to say no and get fired. They can’t just say “well, ultimately she controls the company, so we have to do what she asks.” Exercising independent judgment is their job.
I cannot promise that every board of directors of every company sees things this way — I think some directors of private startups see their job as “advise and empower the founder/CEO” rather than “exercise independent judgment” — but the courts in Delaware, where most US public companies are incorporated, definitely see things this way.[3]
(Levine is always worthy reading — insightful and artful.)
There’s much in this description that one can apply to public councils and boards.
First, ordinarily, a council or board is, and should be, the primary authority in a public institution.
Second, they are to make decisions in the public interest (as directors are to make decisions in shareholders’ interests).
Third, just as some shareholders gain so much leverage over an institution that they become controlling shareholders, so in disordered communities special interests sometimes gain control over a council or board and misdirect its attention and efforts to their own selfish ends.
Fourth, the distinction between private and public action is fundamental: public institutions belong to all, while private institutions belong to those who have ownership interests. In the case of Whitewater, the answer to the question Who Owns Whitewater? should and must be Everyone and Yet No One.
There should be, and must be, a large space for private activity, but just as all cannot be public in a productive society that necessarily depends on private property, so not all can be private in a society that respects equally the rights of individuals.
While controlling shareholders may dominate and manipulate a private corporation and its directors, however risky that may be, private residents must not dominate public institutions in the same way.
Reasonable people are able to make relevant and material distinctions between private and public.
Applied to Whitewater: recently the Whitewater Common Council and for many years the Community Development Authority were run as though this city had a few controlling shareholders who counted for more than others. These controlling shareholders were no better than others, if not in many ways worse.
There is reason to be concerned that the same special interests (acting as though they are controlling shareholders) are even now plotting a return, first to capture again the CDA and then to capture again the Common Council in the years afterward.
Repeated encroachments will only lead to an escalated campaign against their efforts; a campaign against them will not stop until they stop.
While the city has had a problem with a few residents who have acted as controlling shareholders and catspaw directors, the school district has a different problem: the district has a board that simply will not listen to any shareholders, and is run with, so to speak, a CEO and weak board of directors that allows too much from the CEO and listens too little to the shareholders.
The city has seen too much influence from a few entitled men; the district has seen too little influence from well-meaning ordinary men & women.
This, it seems, is the least responsive school board and administration since FREE WHITEWATER began publishing in 2007. (Honest to goodness, I never thought a board and administration would be less responsive than when Steinhaus was administrator, but never say never. See Dr. Steinhaus’s Glass House and Dr. Steinhaus vs. Student: Student Wins!)
I’ll offer a series next week on how we got here, and how to set the district on a better path.
?? Tuesday, February 27th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Maestro @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Biography/Drama/History/Music/Romance Rated R (language) 2 hours, 9 minutes (2023) A love story chronicling the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife/actress Felicia Cohn. Written, directed, and starring Bradley Cooper and…
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 29. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 5:29 for 10h 41m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 60% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1965, the Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the crewed Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the “Sea of Tranquility” would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
When this libertarian blogger first watched the video, aroma-producing VR seemed clever but with no significant value. On reflection, I now see that my initial assessment was ill-considered. There are uses for aromatic VR.
In Whitewater, smell VR could be used to signal to those watching a public meeting when a notably bad proposal or suggestion is being made. At that moment, the smell of skunks, dog poop, or skidrow bum would flood the meeting chamber or emanate from someone’s home computer or cable box. (Admittedly, viewers would have to spray air freshener afterward, and in large quantities whenever a special-interest man took to the podium.)
Americans are creative; I’m sure we could work the bugs out. Now’s the time for the Whitewater University Innovation Center (honest to goodness, they still call it that) to start innovatin’.
