Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Sometimes smart people do really stupid things. Sometimes smart people make really stupid decisions.  Sometimes smart people sit by and do or say nothing when other people do stupid things.

I’m getting very tired of the stupid from PWCS.

For years PWCS has held budget work sessions after school board meetings.  These so called work session always run into the wee hours of the morning.  Everyone in attendance giggles and snickers at how late it is and how they hope they won’t have an accident on the way home.  Some even joke that they might as well sleep in their offices since they’ll have to turn around and come back in just a couple of hours.

This is stupid.  Idiotically stupid.

People can’t think straight when they’re tired.  They don’t pay as close attention to details.  They make silly mistakes they wouldn’t otherwise make.  That’s why there are laws about truck drivers and pilots having to rest after a set number of hours at work.  Sleep deprivation is considered a form of torture by some.

It is high time the school board recognize that these late night budget work sessions are doing a disservice to the citizens of this community.  We elected each of you to serve us and represent our interests.  You can’t do that effectively at 1:00 in the morning.  Not after a full day of work, a multi-hour closed session, and a multi-hour public board meeting.

We citizens deserve better than this.  We’ve deserved it for years.  PWCS clearly isn’t going to stop the late night sessions because it benefits them when the folks tasked with oversight are numbed by sleep deprivation.  It benefits them for you to be too tired to ask questions, challenge their statements, or even follow the conversation.  A school board that it too exhausted to challenge them is exactly what they want.

I’m asking our school board members to let last night be the last of the late night sessions.  Hold the budget work sessions on the weekend.  Hold them on weeknights when there isn’t a public school board meeting.

If you won’t do ti for yourselves, do it for your citizens, because we deserve better.