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23

‘Roots school board coverage, NASA withholds scary info & GOP’s idea of health is fried chicken


You can only find those stories here:

‘Roots doos schools

NASA withholds confidence-killing data

GOP govs focus on health care while serving fried chicken

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:25 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Blogging 

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4 Responses to “‘Roots school board coverage, NASA withholds scary info & GOP’s idea of health is fried chicken”

  1. 1 Paul on October 23rd, 2007 5:46 pm

    Jill: Thanks for the citation on the other website. We had our candidates debate last night, but only about 50 folks showed up beside the school administrators (maybe because of the monsoons – I wish I could send some of this to my aunt/uncle/cousins who have been evacuated from their homes in San Diego). Just to clarify, my interest in the governance of the school district is fairly recent. I've been a volunteer in a number of capacities over the years my kids were in school, but it wasn't until about 2 years ago, while serving on a  committee formed by the superintendent to develop better communications with the public (which I resigned from in frustration), that I became educated about school funding. It was in this position that I came to understand the role the land development and home building industry has played in screwing up our schools (at least in greater Columbus). So I decided to run for the school board to see if I could motivate and mobilize the people of our community to take back control. As for reading blogs, the only feedback I have is that I get constant messages of encouragement and offers to help with my campaign, nearly all from people who know my positions only via the website/blog. Being an old marketing guy, I never miss an opportunity to get my URL published when interviewed. One of my opponents just started a web site last week, and it's really only his resume. The other two aren't web savvy at all (and they're the incumbants). Two weeks to go…

  2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on October 23rd, 2007 5:52 pm

    So Paul, would you say that the blog is proving worth the time, you just have to be sure not to overdue it in terms of time?  I mean, it sounds like, so far – it's been a positive part of your effort, yes?

    Good luck.

    I just think it's so neat to be able to see from one place in the blog what's going on at the ground level  – the school board level.  I know there is some umbrella org for school boards, right?  Maybe once you are on one, you can network and learn from colleagues across the state. But as a candidate -not so much I would think.

  3. 3 Paul on October 23rd, 2007 6:05 pm

    The thing I find I have to be careful about with the blog is remembering that new readers come on over time, and some the good stuff is way back, and not easy to find. And I have to leave a post on top for a while so folks get a chance to discover it and read before I make something else the 'top story.'  I have 2-3 stories stored as drafts that I'll meter out over the next week or so. I'm sure there's a better way to structure my website and blog to make them more visually appealing. But I also have to remember that the group most likely to vote are the seniors, who care a lot less about flash, and a lot more about content. There is a thing called the Ohio School Board Association, but I don't think it does much in the way of facilitating networking. It seems to me that it's main role is to help the 600 school boards in Ohio keep up with legislative changes – no small task. If I win a seat on the board, I plan to keep blogging. About 99% of my beef with the current board is they tell the community almost nothing about what they think (and in fact spend inappropriate amounts of time in executive session). Who knows what the other board members would think about that, but I don't really care. The tendency in our district is for the board to act like a star chamber – almost a club. I see it as my duty to remain the radical the people who vote for me are expecting.

  4. 4 Jill Miller Zimon on October 23rd, 2007 10:32 pm

    Thanks, Paul.  Again, I wish all school boards and local gov't entities kept blogs.  Frankly, I would think it would save them a lot of money in communications, if done well.

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