It appears that many of us have short memories.  That is one of the reasons that some people may be dissatisfied with current administrators or board members.  School district history should be a required course for all district employees, especially teachers.  It should serve as a reminder to veteran teachers and as an introduction to board politics for newer teachers.  A refresher course on board presidents and Ringwood administrators in past years would do a lot of people some good right around now.  Today, we don't have teachers being transferred from one school to another as a result of personal politics nor do we have administrators that caused excessive fear of retaliation for saying or doing the right thing.  We don't have board presidents that make you afraid to stand up and say the truth.  We don't have retaliation.

This status has been won at a cost after many years of continuing efforts by some board members who were not afraid to challenge the status quo and run for a board seat to improve education in Ringwood.  One of those goals was improved relationships between the board and teachers and administrators and teachers.  I often compare the state of the Ringwood district today with what it was like in the year 2000 when I was elected and the changes are enough to stagger the mind.

Yet some employees are not satisfied.  I guess the reality of the situation is that no one is ever happy with the status quo or at least not happy for very long.  People quickly forget the past when things may have been really hard, really difficult.  Today, it is enough to turn employees off if you show a little arrogance or feelings of your own.  I'm personally showing a little arrogance for choosing to write these statements, but they are true and I have a penchant for expressing the truth as I see it.  I currently am not interested in seeing anyone leave the system in this district and that is especially true for current board members.  The only board members I want to see leave this district will be those who choose to leave of their own volition.

I think some of the veteran teachers need to remember some of the issues we dealt with in the past and be grateful for the state of the district now and those teachers with less than 5 years should bring the issue up with some veteran teachers and learn some history.

When I think about the word "arrogance", the phrase "excessive confidence" comes to mind.  That's exactly what we need in this district.  We need confident people to get the job done for Ringwood children and taxpayers.  I think I may be a little more arrogant in the future.