Monday, October 15, 2007

5 meetings short and keep on talking

Add Gracie Porter to the list of BOE representatives hosting rezoning meetings in their districts. I've been on her e-list since nearly the beginning of her tenure in August of 2006 and this is the first e-mail I've ever received.

Metro schools redistricting
I know many of you may have questions about the redistricting proposal that was recently put before the school board.
In order for you to get answers, I've scheduled a meeting for Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. at Stratford High School. Please come and bring your friends and neighbors who have questions about the process.
Right now the plan just a proposal and changes should be expected. The final decisions will come only after significant public input on the plan.
If you'd like to review a detailed copy of the proposal, just click here and you can download one to your computer. I caution you that it is a large file and you may only want to download it if you have a high speed connection.
One of the main issues I'll be looking at is the future of Dalewood Middle School. Changes are in store for the building, but no decisions have been made. One of my goals is to keep it from becoming a magnet school because I think it's important to maintain it as a community school.
I have other concerns about the district and I'll be talking with you more about them in the coming days, but I wanted to make sure you had ample time to mark Oct. 30 on your calendars for this important meeting.

Thanks!
Gracie

Curiously while the e-mail notice was obviously generated via her campaign website e-list the FROM was listed as: Jim Grinstead [mailto:jim@liberalvoices.com]

If you go to http://liberalvoices.com visitors are greeted with:

Radical conservatives have just one message for America's liberals.

"Shut up!"

You can hear it almost any night from Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel or any of the other mouthpieces of the Radical Right. Even the White House denounces criticism as unpatriotic.

"Shut up!" Only the Radical Right's voice shall be heard.

Not any more.

It's time for America to hear from its Liberal Voices. To hear a message of hope, not fear. A message that speaks for everyone, not just a privileged few. A message that says government should be a tool that creates a better life for us all, not a mechanism for protecting the wealth of its most influential.

Liberal Voices is a place where you can listen in to the words of others in writings and speeches.

Liberal Voices is a place where you can be heard in its blogs, by writing your own essays or becoming a columnist.

It's a place to take what you need and say what you feel.

No, Mr. Grinstead. Don't shut up at all. Keep on talking. I think some of Gracie Porter's constituents need to hear more about how her campaign supporters feel about them.

Mr. Grinstead is listed at Democracy for Tennessee as their executive director.
[Jim Grinstead] also provided media consultation for DFT chapters and several of our candidates, including as a key advisor to Gracie Porter, the DFT-endorsed candidate who won a landslide victory in Nashville last August.
Wonder if he'll be her key advisor for her reelection campaign this summer.

2 comments:

Buckley said...

Cheap shot, Mrs. Brooks.

I have received a handful of mass emailings from Board Member Gracie Porter, plus several thoughtful and kind replies to my emails to her.

I think some of Gracie Porter's constituents need to hear more about how her campaign supporters feel about them.

Yes, I remember last summer and you were not without your own supporters and "helpers".

From The Scene following your appointment to the Board:

Rumors were circulating that Craddock ... was lining up pro-Brooks votes ...The local GOP club, of which Craddock is a member, has expressed a desire to strangle Metro schools financially because they don’t appreciate having to pay for kids to attend public schools when their own attend private. “We won one for the Gipper!” GOP Chairman Jon Crisp gloated in the email, which apparently didn’t reach everyone on the council.

Also from Crisp, from The Tennessean archives (May 19, 2006):

[Crisp]told supporters more than 24 hours before the Metro Council met to fill a school board vacancy that the party had already secured enough votes to elect home-school parent Kay Brooks.

...Crisp's e-mailed statement, "Kay is a conservative who will be entering hostile territory on our behalf."

Crisp...calling the Metro Nashville Public Schools one of the worst school systems in America.


These quotes, unlike the ones you posted about liberalvoices and DFT, are directly about School Board district 5.

So, is it fair to tie a candidate to anything a supporter of a candidate says or does? Is it fair to imply or infer the candidate will then act "on behalf" of that supporter? I say it's not fair, and I'm sorry we seem to disagree on this point.

More germaine to the email, what do you think Mrs. Porter should do about rezoning?

Tom

Kay Brooks said...

Glad you've gotten the mailings. I can only report what my experience has been.

The difference being that Craddock and Crisp's comment got some ink. I don't recall the Scene or the Tennessean making this connection with Ms. Porter. Oh, yeah, Grinstead's comments aren't District 5(or MNPS) specific. Just offensive to some of her constituents.

Mr. Crisp's comments were, as far as I know, in error. But no one wanted to expend ink on that when told such.

No one asked me to 'strangle Metro schools financially'. In fact, no one asked me to do anything except be willing to accept the appointment and run. Which I did.

I'd like to hear from Ms. Porter what she'd like to do about rezoning. Let's see some leadership demonstrated in original proposals from her 35+ years as an education professional. Something more helpful than no magnet school at Dalewood. Wouldn't a magnet (or charter) school be better than an empty, decaying structure?

It's clear that it's not working as a 'community school'. Let's move on.