The American Ladder Is Tough to Climb

East vs. West: A Fanciful Civil War in Ypsilanti

You should check out the May 20 entry at East Cross Street. Brian has a bit of fun imagining the Ypsilanti East-Siders going to war with the Westies, and even battling Ypsi Township insurgents.

Having settled on Ypsilanti's west side in the love-to-hate Normal Park neighborhood sometime after 1927, I can't fathom the animosity that the Eastie Boys feel toward us. Sure, Brian was joking, but when Eastsiders talk about this they're kidding on the square.

Let's all send Brian a message saying, "The East Will Rise Again! And That's Perfectly OK." Maybe that will help the sense of inadequacy that seems to come with every house on the East Side. The Westies don't give The Great Divide a single thought.

Graduate Student.

I've been admitted to Eastern Michigan University's graduate program in English. I haven't yet decided between a concentration in Professional Writing or Teaching of Writing. I only know that I'd love to attend full-time (note to self: buy a lottery ticket) and completely remove myself from U-M.

At U-M I have "Reduction in Force," or RIF, status. My job was eliminated, you see, so it's through no fault of my own that I'm looking for work. Qualified RIFs are supposed to be given first consideration by the hiring unit so, theoretically, I have a leg up on other equally-qualified candidates because of my 19 years at the U.

In reality, hiring units want people who have the precise experience necessary for the job. They don't want someone with diverse experience who is quite obviously trainable for their little niche. Also, hiring units don't want someone who has a 19 year history of pay raises, either.

Consequently, all my rejection letters contain this escape clause: we chose a candidate who more closely matches our needs. The hiring unit has thus met the requirements of the RIF program while proving that RIF is a joke.

Meanwhile, back at the Phoenix Project, I'm still grieving for my little nuclear reactor research program, which I admit isn't very healthy. In preparing for decommissioning, we are like ants cleaning a carcass from the inside out. Our job will be done when only the shell remains.

I arrived at Phoenix in 1986 when it was thriving and vital; I haven't coped well in assisting the Project's decay.

And then today, wonderfully, my outlook changed when I visited the English Department, 6th Floor, Pray-Herrold, hoping to find out about my application for grad school. The secretary couldn't find it in her file drawers. Instead, she found it in her to-do pile for this afternoon, when she was going to type my acceptance letter.

I start in the fall. Maybe by then I will have figured out the financials. If so, I would be a very happy man.

What is it with these people?

So much ignorance; so little time. Here's a letter to the editor in today's A2 News:

Hiring interim leader for schools was a mistake

James Hawkins and board president Andy Fanta did the unconscionable, contracting Hawkins as interim superintendent of Ypsilanti Public Schools. Fanta "neglected" an immediate search when most candidates are available by giving Hawkins a "sweetheart contract" - employment up to a year - deliberately adding delay and exorbitant cost.

Why him? And why for so long? It's not Diane Kerr's board any longer, it's Fanta's - with no eyes, ears, mouth, or spine of its own.

According to The News, Ypsilanti has a $5.5 million deficit. After paying David Zuhlke $280,000 to leave, please say it's a misprint that we are paying Hawkins $680 a day for up to a year. If the board doesn't institute a real search for a real superintendent by June 1, I will personally institute a recall.

JoAnne Bissone, Ypsilanti

Sheesh. So often these days, ignorance and anger go hand-in-hand. By the way, there is no "JoAnne Bissone" listed as voting in last year's school board election.

The Long View by Pat Grimes: Column for the week of May 22, 2005

(Essayist Pat Grimes chose not to let his column The Long View be published by Heritage Newspapers because he would have lost the copyright to all of his writing. As a columnist, syndicated first by the Gardena Valley News, then later by the Ypsilanti Courier, Pat couldn't agree to the arrangement of the new Courier owners. Thus, The Long View does not appear in the Courier any more -- an incredibly short-sighted view on the part of Heritage Newspapers, as well as a choice disrespectful to a solid, insightful, local voice on issues ranging from family to international events.

I am pleased to publish, with Pat's imprimature, his May 22 column here. Maybe one day soon he'll have a blog of his own. We can hope.

The Long View by Pat Grimes

A smug, self-righteous Team Bush has delivered the most fascinating reactions to the now-discredited Newsweek story about US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrating the Quran as a means of extracting information from detainees there. The recently published article stirred up angry anti-US demonstrations in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, leading to 17 deaths.

Soon after, Newsweek retracted the allegations: “We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst,” wrote Editor Mark Whitaker.

Enter the Chorus Sanctimonious…

“This was a report based on a single anonymous source that could not substantiate the allegation that was made,” said presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan. “The report has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged. It will take work to undo what can be undone.”

As official apologist for the Bush administration, Scott knows what he’s talking about. After all, unsubstantiated allegations on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction had some nasty consequences. Thousands of lives have been lost, our international image is toast, and very little can be undone.

McClellan also said Newsweek should set the record straight by “clearly explaining how they got it wrong, particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and practices of our military.”

Perhaps you’ll give them a good example on how that’s done, Scott?

“Newsweek hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny,” stated Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. “Unfortunately, they cannot retract the damage they have done to this nation or those that were viciously attacked by those false allegations.”

Who scrutinized those intelligence assessments on Iraqi WMD’s, Bryan? The same folks who’re keeping energy policy advisors anonymous? And how, pray tell, might we retract the damage from our mishandling of Iraq?

“It’s appalling that this story got out there,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lamented. “Of course, 16 people died but it’s also done a lot of harm to America’s efforts to demonstrate tolerance and breed goodwill in the Muslim world.”

Just like our unwarranted invasion of a Muslim country, Maam? Now that’s appalling.

Our government officials have repeatedly demonstrated no utterance is too disingenuous if it serves them at the moment. Given the “Culture of Life” pro-death penalty hypocrites running the White House, we should not be surprised.

Did Newsweek Really Get It Wrong?

Apparently, the WH and the Pentagon received reports from the international Red Cross (ICRC) that the Koran was being abused during interrogations at Gitmo. Does it matter if the actual desecration of the holy text was via flushing? It sounds like there were plenty of other ways to desecrate the text--before the Pentagon issued rules on the use of the Koran in interrogations.

Check out this article from the editorially conservative Chicago Trib (via truthout.org).

Conservative Norm Ornstein on the Nuclear Option

You and I know that the idea of ending the filibuster to return to some golden age when all of the president's judicial nominees were voted on in the Senate is pure hogwash. But the ever-quoted Norm Ornstein really lays it all out. The article appeared in Roll Call, but the nice folks over at the DCCC put it on their blog.

Steve Wilson, bulldog or bulldozer?

This story in today's Freep is just too timely not to mention.

Wrapping Up the Channel 7 report

I think it was unfair to pair the report on Ypsilanti schools with the report on Clawson. Two city council members were out of town when the mayor and the rest of the council cooked up the deal to buy out the city manager, which sounds like skullduggery to me. But the main point there, and with the "Golden Parachutes" story, is that elected officials are enticing their employees to leave. And that just isn't so with our school board and our former superintendent.

In my opinion, the former superintendent picked our pockets. He said he didn't want to work anymore but he still wanted us to pay him. Once you accept that a lawsuit would be costly and divisive--and that was the district's lawyer's counsel, I imagine--you realize that you have to give him some of what he wants. All you can do is limit the damage. Our school board did that by negotiating a deal in private thereby reducing the cost to the district and preventing a near civil war in the community. (Unless you've been attending Ypsi school board meetings for the last three years you'll just have to trust me on that.)

Why was it private? Personnel matters are private, period. Public employees deserve that right, too. As far as I know, personnel records are exempt from FOIA, which is as it should be. Over the years, we've seen so much secrecy from the school administration that voters demanded more transparency. So it's terribly ironic that the most transparent board in my memory is accused of "wink and a nod," "shady backroom dealing" behavior when being more open would actually break the law.

I don't know if they had an opportunity to disclose any part of the negotiations with the superintendent. Because I know them as good, honest people, I would guess that they didn't. The "I won't call you names" clause was a good choice, in my opinion. It led to a clean break rather than extended acrimony. It allowed us to move on... or so we thought.

So, to me, the WXYZ report on Clawson made me sympathize with the city manager. I'd even call him a victim. In the Ypsi report, Steve doesn't tell you that the victim was the school board, although he makes it clear that our schools were the ultimate victim. On that last part, I heartily agree as, I'm sure, does the school board.

Okay, so the stories were not comparable but were billed as though they were. That's my first complaint.

My second complaint is that there was not enough background work done on the story. There was a lot, but not enough. Such personnel decisions are made in a particular environment, not in a vacuum. Unfortunately for WXYZ, the Ypsi Courier changed hands and the archives from the old paper are not available online. They would have had to work a lot harder to pull up, say, my call for former president Diane Kerr to resign, or any other letter to the editor that complained (for example) of the high-handed treatment that parents received from Dr. Zuhlke's administration. There was a long battle between the Z supporters and the rest of us who just wanted accountability. So WXYZ came into town with only a snapshot of the state of the district and no clue as to what's been brewing for years.

My third complaint, related to the second, is that school boards are treated as though they're static. They're organic. There are seven people with seven opinions and the group of them changes from year to year. The current school board wasn't responsible for the grand contract that Dr. Z had. If you must blame, you can blame the seven people who hired him, the seven people who raised his salary whenever he said he was sending out resumes, the seven people who allowed his contract to be extended one more year, et cetera. In recent memory, you can blame former trustee Willie Washington who gave Dr. Z a failing evaluation but abstained from the vote not to extend his contract. By abstaining, the vote failed and Dr. Z's contract was automatically extended by one year. (If only the rest of us had such a cushy work situation.) And you can blame the previous seven people on the board for making it an issue for Willie Washington's board.

Lastly, I have to complain about including Elina Jarrell. Just because she didn't know anything about the buyout doesn't mean that the information wasn't available. Consider the fact that she didn't even know that she was ineligible to start a recall petition. Is she a reliable witness? Or did she just happen to represent the emotional reaction that Steve and the Crew wanted viewers to have?

I have a question about the story's production, too. I believe that Kelly Powers, president of the YEA, was interviewed. Her interview was just before mine, Ann told me. Why wasn't her interview used in the story?

Also, did anyone research the contract buyout of Superintendent Rossi Ray-Taylor in Ann Arbor? Maybe that's why, when I told an Ann Arbor News reporter about the Channel 7 report last night, she rolled her eyes and said, "That happens all the time."

Other than that, I'm going to contact President Fanta and suggest some things that might improve his image on camera, even though his wife has probably already had a chat with him. :-)

BS on WXYZ

I'm disgusted with Action News investigations on Channel 7.

They DID base their report on Elina Jarrell, who, while very agitated, says: "I want them to tell us why he's departing, why he was asked to resign, why you gave him the $258,000 when our schools need the money." Clearly, Ms. Jarrell didn't read the newspapers.

The emotional importance of Elina Jarrell to the story totally undermines Channel 7's credibility.

Ironically, they interviewed Jeff Fulton about the "gag order" in discussing the retirement package. Mr. Fulton was one of two trustees who voted against accepting the superintendent's resignation. Trustee Hoppe was the other.

What they have is decent television but lousy television journalism.

I used to trust Channel 7 more than, say, Channel 4. They've lost my confidence.

Anticipation.

Ann Mullen, Steve Wilson's producer, has called me three times tonight for fact verification. After watching the job they did on Clawson at 6 pm, I'm dreading the 11 pm broadcast.

In Clawson, they focused on the buyout of the city manager for about $87k. That's not a golden parachute. That's a tinfoil umbrella in a state that regularly buys out contracts of football coaches (think Gary Moeller at Michigan) and automotive CEO's for millions of dollars.

What appears shady about the Clawson story is that it appears that the vote to remove the manager occurred when two city council members were away on vacation.

In my last call with Ann, I pressed the issue of their pre-determined conclusion to the Ypsi Schools story. She agreed that they entered Ypsi with the idea that public officials had squandered taxpayer dollars.

I made one last argument, that contract buyouts are common practice, that the school board bought us a fresh start at less than half the price of the superintendent's contract, and that the circumstances were common knowledge to anyone who read the newspapers. Again, I said, there's no Lincoln Navigator lurking below the surface. As for full disclosure, I said that all that was kept private was the superintendent saying that the board was full of doodyheads, and the board saying that the superintendent was a poopybutt. She laughed, but she also asked whether that would have been true. Of course it would have happened without the "no badmouthing" clause. Is that a problem?

Of course, Ann was putting the final touches on the broadcast of her story, just twenty minutes away as I write this.

So, I need to let go. Ann assured me that I didn't sound stupid in their final edit. She said that I merely appeared as one who staunchly believed that the buyout was a good idea. I'll comment after I see the report.

The worst part of all of this is that I'm forced to watch "The Bachelor" in order to see the beginning of the 11:00 news.

Channel 7 update.

I have been assured by Ann Mullen that Elina Jarrell was not the source of their investigation. I'm sorry for that assumption. However, I would dearly love to know who brought Steve off his excellent Kwame watch to make such a big deal over the Ypsilanti School Board.

My Interview with Steve Wilson of WXYZ, Detroit Channel 7

[Note: I have removed paragraphs of my original post because certain people feel they were treated unfairly. While one might think that public figures should have thick skins, the fact is that no matter how "public" one is, certain remarks still rankle. I empathize, and frankly I don't know how international celebrities tolerate it. I'm sure I'd be bustin' a few cameras, or chops, as the case may be. I offer my sincerest apologies.]

Oh we got trouble!
(right here in Ypsilanti!)
Right here in Ypsilanti!
(trouble w/a capital T & that rhymes with C & that stands for Contract Buyout of the Superintendent)
That stands for Contract Buyout of the Superintendent!
(we've surely got trouble)
We've surely got trouble!
(right here in Ypsilanti)
Right here!
(gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school)
Our children's children gonna have Trouble
Trouble! [Repeat many times]
(with apologies to Willson Meredith)

Or so says Channel 7's investigative reporter Steve Wilson.

His investigative team was tipped off (I believe by disgruntled and misinformed parent Elina Jarrell) that the Ypsi School Board was spending all sorts of money that a cash-strapped district shouldnta oughta be spending.

Ms. Jarrell, you see, attempted to start recall petitions for Board President Andy Fanta, Vice President Floyd Brumfield, and trustees Tom Reiber and Cameron Getto. Read the petition against Reiber (an example; all of them were identical except for the handwritten line indicating who was to be recalled) and read the county clerk's reason for rejection. Yes, Ms. Jarrell, you have to be a voter in the school district before you can start a recall, no matter how ridiculous your reasons.

Is it coincidence that Steve Wilson and his producer came to Ypsilanti at about the same time? You make the call.

In Ms. Jarrell's complaint she refers to impending layoffs, a million-dollar furniture purchase, and the superintendent contract buyout.

The layoff notices were impossible to avoid, given the restructuring required to eliminate the projected $5.5 million budget shortfall we appear to face in 2005-06. It was a courtesy as well as a labor contractual obligation to inform these administrators that their jobs might be eliminated. Because of their seniority in the district, they could be sent back to school buildings as principals and vice-principals.

The furniture purchase is closer to $1.4 million and is paid for by funds remaining in the 1996 bond issue account, which brought in more than $68 million for building maintenance, repair and capital improvements. The district couldn't legally use these funds for the operational shortfall, anyway.

Ostensibly, the Channel 7 investigators figured this all out. All that was left to investigate was the buyout of Dr. David Zuhlke's four-year contract. When they asked the school board and the former superintendent about it, they ran smack into a Wall of Secrecy (they say) because each side agreed in the contract not to badmouth the other.

Whoa there! This is scandalous, Channel 7 says! The school district spent $258k to end their relationship with the superintendent and they say they can't talk about it?! We have to penetrate this Wall of Secrecy in the name of taxpayers everywhere! Bright light is the best disinfectant! Pack up the cameras, baby -- we're headed for Ypsilanti!

I was informed of all this by a trustee who was concerned about what Steve Wilson wanted to know. I offered to find out because, as a staunch supporter of our school board, the last thing I wanted to see was one of our trustees on film at eleven with a microphone in his face made to look guilty because he was legally obligated not to answer a question about Dr. Zuhlke.

I called Ann Mullen, Steve Wilson's producer, last Wednesday and gave her as much background information as possible. I told her that there was no Lincoln Navigator lurking behind this school board story, and that anyone who wanted to know about it could call the district's administrative offices or talk to anyone who had followed the story. Or just read the papers.

She asked me if I was willing to be interviewed on camera. I feel a bit foolish now, but I said yes.

That evening, at about 5:30, with rain threatening and only 90 minutes before the Chapelle PAB meeting, I was writing on my front porch when Steve and his cameraman arrived. We introduced ourselves and Steve directed the cameraman toward the "pretty tree with the white blossoms" as background for the video.

Wilson seemed to be a big man, tall and broadshouldered. I'm six feet (six-two in heels) and I remember looking up when I spoke to him. I find it fascinating that, although I felt I was looking up at him, Steve tells me he has never been mistaken for a six-footer. I have to wonder whether I was crouching or shrinking away from him during the interview. (Steve's excellent reply to me was that the next time I'm interviewed on camera I shouldn't stand in a hole.) He's truly big when you suddenly remember that the camera is on and, as much as you want to act like you're having a conversation with a neighbor, you recognize that your conversation will be broadcast to millions of people. As the interview subject, you feel like you have the burden of proof. When you see the report on television, it should be clear that the burden of proof is on the investigators. But when the camera is on you, you feel like you're guilty until proven innocent.

We had not talked at all about his reason for being in Ypsilanti, so I thought he was abrupt when he opened with, "So, how do you feel about this?" I was off-guard. I think I asked him, "About what?" Eventually I said something like, "Oh, you're talking about buying out Dr. Zuhlke's contract. I supported it." And so we began arguing.

Steve's take on the buyout is that the school board wanted to get rid of Zuhlke, but instead of firing him for cause they enticed him into early retirement. To his mind, this is an example of weak-willed public servants who are unable to Do The Right Thing (e.g. fire Zuhlke) and instead waste taxpayer dollars to make their world more comfortable. In fact, Steve told me after the interview, this is but one part of a two part story; the other story involves a city far from here that bought out its manager's contract.

I don't know about the other city, but Steve's understanding of Ypsi School Board operations and politics is completely ignorant. The school board never tried to entice Z to leave. Z came to the board in December 2004 asking for a total buyout of his four-year contract.

If you read the papers you know that the board and the superintendent didn't get along. It was common knowledge. In fact, two of our current trustees actually ran on a platform of "let the superintendent do what he wants." It's just this year, with Cameron Getto's election tipping the balance of the board to the reformers that Dr. Z had trouble getting his initiatives backed by the board.

So the board was unfriendly to the superintendent, a man nearing retirement age and who had already spent 14 years in Ypsilanti. From the superintendent's perspective (I imagine) he was being second-guessed and micromanaged. Every school board meeting for the last three years, and possibly every board meeting as far as the eye could see, was like hand-to-hand combat to a quiet man with a conflict-averse persona. Those of us who want reform in the school district certainly would not have let up. So you can see why he wouldn't want to continue as superintendent.

The board, as I understand it, cited its cashflow problems but it also wanted to help Dr. Z. The school district couldn't afford to buy Dr. Z's four-year contract (which included automatic 3% pay raises every year, regardless of district performance.) The two parties negotiated the agreement that gives him his salary for the rest of this year and the next, plus the obligations to his retirement fund, and health insurance for this year and the next. In other words, the school board bought a four-year contract for slightly more than the price of two years.

That's a freaking bargain.

Why should they have paid even that much? Because they had no "just cause" on which to fire Dr. Zuhlke. Some board members would give him an A; others would give him an F. If you average his grade to a C, you can't fire him. But you have to ask whether that level of performance is what the Ypsilanti School District needs right now. Can't we do better? Besides, the man wants to leave anyway. Surely we can afford this cost to improve our schools.

As Steve and I argued, my mouth became so dry that I couldn't speak. I begged them to turn off the camera (which they kindly did) so that I could get some saliva production working. I should have jogged into the house for some water and a respite, but I stood there, explaining that I was nervous about the interview. Truth is, I felt that I wasn't an adequate defender of my school board, and my sense of failure dried out my mouth. Somewhere along the line, my saliva and my confidence returned. But I don't know which responses I gave will be broadcast to Michigan.

You see, reporters with one camera have a problem: they can't get a headshot of their reporter while they're interviewing Joe Schmoe. (That's me, in this case.) They do their interview with the camera on both people, or on just the subject. After the interview, they need to get a shot of the reporter asking the question.

In my case, the camera moved from a profile shot of the two of us to a new shot of Steve over my left shoulder. Steve re-asked (although in different words) some of the questions he asked me earlier. My problem was that I had already answered those questions in our debate. I was spent. My wad was shot. And suddenly I had to recreate a coherent response to his already-asked question.

I was reminded of Broadcast News with William Hurt, who manipulated the camera to get his faked tear on-screen.

Let me take just a moment to say that I liked debating with Steve Wilson. He was as polite as anyone, as genial as possible. He has an engaging personality. But we weren't arguing from barstools. We were in front of the tree with the pretty white blossoms taping something that will be viewed by millions. Steve, if you're reading this, drop on by when you're in the area. I'll buy the beer at the Sidetrack. Lose the camera and we'll be fine.

So, that's how I squandered my 15 minutes of fame, and how Ypsi schools may look worse than they deserve on Channel 7. Too bad. Our schools are improving. We face what every other district faces-- the unfunded mandates of No Child Left Behind, decreasing state funding and the inability to raise funds from the district. We face the challenges of educating poor children and poor African American children in particular while we properly challenge our best and brightest children, regardless of race. We face the problem of keeping our best teachers (and keeping them from burning out) and improving our programs while maintaining a balanced budget.

So, Elina Jarrell, if you're reading, you should know that your questions could have been answered without an investigative team from Channel 7 News. In fact, I know that Trustee Cameron Getto answered your recall petition charges by mail. You should also know that more than the four trustees you targeted were responsible for the "problems" in our district. Trustee Diane Kerr also voted to accept Dr. Zuhlke's resignation and his retirement package. For the record, the vote on the furniture expenditure was 7 - 0. You should become more educated in the school district your child attends--even if you can't vote in it.

And Channel 7, if you're reading, you should be reporting on Michigan's failure to properly fund its public schools. You should be reporting on the charter schools scandal-- schools overwhelmingly supported by religious conservatives in our state that don't pass the MEAP and don't make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Instead, you chose to focus on one poor public district's expense of improving its schools. That's not very responsible, although it might garner some good ratings.

By the way, May is Sweeps month. See you in the Nielson's.

Answering Viewer Mail

Concerned reader Doc, from Newport News, writes:

It seems to me that every time you don't update the blog over a two-to-three week period you're off donating body parts at the hospital and I get to read about New Pain.

You doin' okay?

As a matter of fact, I am well. I'm off of every wagon I'm supposed to be on right now, but I'll correct that now that the election is over. Perhaps I should learn some way to externalize my stress. Take up X-treme Knitting? Become a prison guard? Join a computer help desk? Surely I'd be happier when I came home at night.

Found on the hard drive...

Here I am in an animal preserve in Tasmania, Australia. I was 23, in case you can't tell by my hairline. The 'roos were kind of scary: as they battled each other for the food pellets I was giving them, I feared I would be boxed out and kicked. A couple of Foster's put me to right.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over.

Last week, white smoke emerged from the showroom of Fischer Honda. Yes, we have two cars again. I now drive the 1997 Dodge Caravan and Julie drives the 2005 Honda Accord. It looks something like this:

Yes, it's gorgeous. You may envy us. We understand.

If you want a good deal on a new Honda, please ask for Virgil Wiese at Fischer Honda in Ypsilanti.

Post Election Wrapup

Amy's election is an affirmation of the board's realignment by reform-minded trustees who respond to the public and include them in decision making.

Consider this: last year, five candidates vied for two seats on the board. 1,407 ballots were cast. This year, (when Amy ran unopposed) 1,280 votes were cast, of which Amy garnered 1,122. The fact is that Amy would have won the seat by merely voting for herself. But the political reality is that another 1,121 voters agreed that she was the right person at the right time for the troubled Ypsilanti School District.

In a year when the superintendent chose not to lead us out of his financial quagmire but rather chose to get out of the way; and, in a year that saw unprecedented community involvement in our district via the Community Schools Committee (thanks to the diligence of the newly elected board majority); an election that need not have taken place and yet was so well attended by our community is the real story.

I think it's fair to draw these conclusions from the voter turnout:
1) Our get out the vote effort paid off handsomely.
2) Our community is paying attention to the needs of the school district.
3) Our coalition remains strong and possibly became stronger.
4) Not least of all, Amy Lou Doyle is the right person at the right time for the Ypsi School Board.

As Amy's co-manager, I have to say that I could never have wished for such a wonderful candidate as Amy, or such an excellent partner as Bob. We made a great team.

I have offered my services to one candidate for next year. Our reform movement needs one more candidate... call me.