Bexley City Schools

A couple of years ago, Bexley City Schools were accused by some parents of racial bias in the enforcement of residency requirements. This year, they're going after a wealthy white family.

The district has spent thousands of dollars on legal fees and a private investigator in an attempt to make their (pretty solid, but not airtight) case. They are now facing a lawsuit from the family, and have filed a countersuit for the cost of one the children's education over the past two years. If they win that, I wonder if the father can demand a refund of any Bexley City and Bexley City School District income taxes paid? And if not, if the City of Columbus could.

In the meantime, the contract talks (or lack thereof) between the school board and the Bexley Education Association are increasingly happening in the public domain, with Board meetings attracting hundreds of stakeholders and consequent media attention.

It would seem that the issues of the contract, legal pursuits, budget changes due to Strickland's education reform package, and the role of each of these in determining the scope and timing of the next levy request could provide fodder for some great debates as three slots on the board are up for grabs in this election. Unfortunately, due to problems filing petitions, only two names will appear on the ballot for those two slots, and only one name - incumbent Diane T. Peterson's - will be accepted as a write-in.

We will have to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Blissful Ignoramus of the Day

Michael Keenan, Dublin City Councilman.

Mr. Keenan wrote a letter to the Dispatch, in which he states

"I know (Rep. Pat) Tiberi and he is deeply concerned about the welfare of his family, his country and all of his constituents."

He offers this up in contrast to something he doesn't know:

"I don't know what MoveOn.org is or who is a part of the organization, and probably I never will. These organizations prefer to stay out of the light of day and exist solely to tear down the good name of many who strive to simply have an honest debate about the issues important to each and every one of us."

Mr. Keenan does not know what MoveOn.org is, despite more than a million unique Google hits, including 1,660 hits on "Dispatch.com," and if we include the umbrella group, there are more than 1.5 million mentions on the web, 2800 of them in Keenan's hometown newspaper. The organization claims more than 5,000,000 members, 4.2 million active, approximately the number of people who live in Colorado and Kentucky, respectively (to be fair, Colorado and Kentucky have been around longer, so perhaps Keenan has heard of one or both.) Although the millions upon millions of members prefer to stay out of the light of day, I've managed to infiltrate the organization and smuggle out a slideshow and current agenda, both of which include rare photos of actual members.

Imagine Mr. Keenan's shock when he finds out there are actually two major political parties...