School Board notes: Patterson in, ABLE program moved?

[Jim O'Bryan]

It was announced the GED/Able Program will be moved to Taft School.

More to follow.

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[Jim O'Bryan]

FWIW


All "facts" as being reported by others are wrong! In everyone's rush to trash whatever
the story is wrong the facts are wrong.

1 robbery,
was student

for starters.

.

[Mike Zannoni]

FWIW


All "facts" as being reported by others are wrong! In everyone's rush to trash whatever
the story is wrong the facts are wrong.

1 robbery,
was student

for starters.

.

Uhh, Jim . . . ? What are you talking about? Did a page of this thread disappear or something?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Mike

No missing page, just frustration.

I am writing the story, and it will be here, I swear, as I might be the only non-government
person that was there, with photos, and interviews of everyone involved. Everyone.
The working title is, "You want the news, you can't handle the news!" A day in the life of
Jim O'Bryan, and then we can all discuss, just how bad I am.

It will be interesting to read any and all input.


.

[Mike Zannoni]

Jim, you mean bad in a this sense, right?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Jim, you mean bad in a this sense, right?

Mike

Thank you.

No, that is not what I mean.

I find my life delightfully funny, while others always ask, "How do I do it?"

What I am getting at is what is the proper position for the Lakewood Observer? And when
compared to other news sources, what should we do or be.

Valerie took me to task, for not reporting everything? Well, is that my job? Is it Valerie's job
she has kids there, I do not. Is it the school board's or the police chief or the mayor's? All
have now weighed in and the story is not nearly out there correctly. The "news" reporter
real journalism still do not have it right either, and more importantly they have no idea
how the entire event should be handled.

So, as I have become Lakewood's favorite pinata let's string me up, question me, and see,
was I playing games? being coy? Dancing around suspicion? Think I was somehow better
than anyone? I have been accused of so many things. So this will be a great learning
experience, and see who dropped the ball and when?

It was as in being bad. Not being BBBBBAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDD!

But I love the art.

peace

[Mike Zannoni]

Valerie took me to task, for not reporting everything . . .

. . . So, as I have become Lakewood's favorite pinata let's string me up, question me, and see, was I playing games? being coy? Dancing around suspicion? Think I was somehow better than anyone? I have been accused of so many things. So this will be a great learning experience, and see who dropped the ball and when?

Jim, though many people do understand that there are often reasons to hold back details of a story, different for different situations, and sometimes these reasons are very practical, righteous, sensitive, moral, etc., the fact is that Betsy started this thread as a recap of the School Board meeting, stating in only a portion of it that there was a strong request by a School Board member to move the ABLE program because of some sort of incident. Your immediate follow up post sort of zeroed in on that aspect and suggested that the incident was indeed serious enough that not only might it be MOVED, but that there was "some talk behind the scenes to rethink the entire program" and/or of "taking the program apart". Sounded very serious, drastic, ominous, etc.

So, I thought, I'll bite. I felt that I'd missed something, and desiring to take part in a constructive conversation, I wanted to know what it was I'd missed. I don't think I (or Valerie or anyone) was attacking you personally so much as wondering why someone who apparently knew wouldn't say.

I eventually understood that you couldn't say, or strongly felt it best not to. That's fine! But no one came to you out of the box and said Jim tell us, because it's your job, until you made such serious mention of the drastic consequences ("rethink the entire program" and "take the program apart"). Can you blame people for saying, whoa, hold up, before I can get into the wisdom of Lakewood's courting of a population needing social services beyond a healthy degree, uh just what did happen?

I'm not asking now, but I'm telling you that you covered yourself in honey and walked into an ant hill. That doesn't make you bad in any way, but neither does it make those who nibbled or bit hostile or judgemental towards you personally. I think it's just the way the conversation rolled out, and it wasn't the way you'd hoped. I never thought you were bad, though I did say "coy", and I retract that, because I no longer think that's correct. (But it did seem so at the time, honest.)

I just heard the best joke I've ever heard. . . it had me rolling on the floor. What was it? I'd really like us to talk about humor, and its history, and how great jokes affects us. Trust me, though, it was really funny, nominated for big awards . . . That's how it seemed at first, in a way. And that's why some of us were like WTF?

(Maybe it was one of those jokes that even in translation makes you fall out of trees and die, and if the Nazi's get wind of it they can use it in the war against us. But many don't know Monty Python, and now have no idea what I'm talking about, or what I'm getting at . . . You know? I'm sorry if you felt persecuted though.)

[Mike Zannoni]

I am writing the story, and it will be here, I swear, as I might be the only non-government person that was there, with photos, and interviews of everyone involved. Everyone.

Can't wait to read it. (But I can wait.)

[Valerie Molinski]

Geez. I am with Mike on this one. I could have written his response above. You chose to respond and imply there was more to the story. No one dragged you into it. And yes, I didnt want to address the issues you were raising until I had the complete story on what went down, which you were reticent to do. Again, all very cagey and cloak and dagger. I don't get it.

I didn't expect you to report anything. But I do question why you pull the journalist card in here on some days, and on others, you take the journalist hat off and allude and incite with comments and heresy. Pick one and go with it.

That being said, I am sorry if you felt personally attacked. That was not my intention. I just wanted answers before you steered this ship in the direction you desired (which should have been a whole other separate post). I don't think I was wrong for that. If you feel personally attacked, I think you need to re-evaluate some things if it makes you feel that way. In regards to taking you to task, well why not? I would do that to anyone who had come into this thread saying that they had the RIGHT info, but just couldn't share it. Why bother if you aren't going to share? Frustrating and pointless.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Val

You always raise interesting points.

You almost always make me question my posts and my actions.

I think this is a good thing, not a bad thing.

This is a pretty incredible story, and it will be interesting to see where others fall on
decisions I made, and why I made them.

At the end of this discussion, I hope I can do better, and others may understand or pitch in.

I took nothing as a personal attack, I took it as a chance to learn and grow.

Today Mark Moran came up to me and apologized, because he thought a comment made
I took the wrong way. I assured him I did not. I am very aware that I put myself out there
and in doing so perhaps am misunderstood, or will be found wrong or ignorant.

To me, it is all good and all in game. Maybe I can grow, maybe we can all share, maybe we
can all learn, and hopefully all do better down the road.

peace