Oh no - we've been discovered!

As has been mentioned on a prior post, Tim Burke has a wonderful way of not finishing the job. I recently noticed that he mentioned our blog on his webpage, and had discovered "8 factual errors", but didn't take the time to tell us what they were. I will check for this later, but my guess is that it won't be there.

• Now - about tactics. There is a sense out there that Mr. Burke is a new found hero, planning his strategy and defending liberty at every turn. The truth of the matter is that these tactics - yes, they are tactics - that he is employing in the district have been in place for some time. Take Paul Dorr - one of the more famous Iowans that you may not have heard of (although I am sure that Tim probably has!) Most of what we are seeing from Tim Burke and like-minded individuals comes right from Paul Dorr's playbook. As someone who has followed the education debate, I am not suprised to see the events unfolding the way they are in Farmington. These tactics employed by Mr. Dorr might sound familiar (Tim - wink, wink) as you read the following links:

Swiftboating the Robbinsdale Schools
Gospel According to Paul Dorr

So, you may be asking yourselves - What's the big deal? Just someone trying to save the taxpayer a few bucks? What does this have to do with our school board election. The big ticket concern that this has to do with our school board election is that Paul Dorr is not going to stick around to run for the school board. He leaves the morass behind him as he heads back to Iowa with his consulting fee in his pocket. This all comes down to a very important philosophical question. Do you "support" a public education or do you "support and believe" in a public education. Tim Burke may have, at one point, said that he supports public education. I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this (typically he doesn't give this to others). However, I have looked over Mr. Burke's webpage, read the articles in the paper about him, listened to the discussion at school board meetings, read the stuff on the "watch the district" page. I'm sorry, I just don't see it where the support of public education is. At least Paul Dorr is fairly open and public about what his agenda is - I don't support public education - I don't believe in public education - end the public schools - period. I know that Mr. Burke is a little more saavy than to pull a PR stunt like that.
Call me old-fashioned, but I kinda like having a person that "supports and believes" in a public education making decisions on the school board of a public school. I am fairly excited about this candidate debate that is tentatively scheduled for the 24th. We have some other solid candidates that, judged by what they have to say publicly, I feel both "support and believe" in public education.