by Ed Naile
Oh its gets better. He beat an incumbent school board member by a fist full of votes.
So much for right to know requests for documents from the school, the books are wide open to Rich Girard – and the public – now.
I am not sure if the progressive handbook for running a school board includes a chapter on dealing with a newly elected member who has a popular conservative talk show. It’s safe to say Manchester, NH would be a good place for educrats to learn how to cope with a worthy adversity who will take issue with perennial public school problems. Let’s try, for starters, no more secret meetings, no more blank checks, students first, and school administrators are not deities.
There is an old trick tax and spend school boards use to quiet an upstart. Here is how it goes. I will use the name “Rich” as an example:
“Now Rich, we want the school board to show unity. Unity is very important. So when we make a decision as a school board and you are on the losing side of a decision, you will vote with the prevailing side. This will show that we can all cooperate.”
If the progressive school board handbook is ever re-written to include a new chapter on how to deal with an incoming school board member who just unseated an incumbent, who has a popular conservative talk show, and who also has experience with municipal budgets, I would suggest they completely avoid that old trick, unless they want to see pigs fly.
Rich Girard brings a whole new dynamic to public education in Manchester. It is what Manchester voters asked for in one of the largest turnouts in a long time.