The last two weeks of December 2008 present the same feeling as climbing the initial hill on a roller coaster. It’s pretty quiet, no meetings, not much email traffic, few phone calls. But each passing day clicks by ominously, bringing us closer to the most challenging year that a Loudoun School Board has ever faced. In a week the Superintendent will unveil the coming impact of the budget crisis. At the same time as it tackles the budget the Board will begin boundary adjustments that will affect fully half of our County. I have spent this time readying for the work to come in several ways, including reviewing my past writings on this blog.
The blog is a key part of my public service, my contribution to open government. I started it several weeks after joining the school board, and have posted 276 entries in that time. Looking back over those entries there is a clear evolution from my first year to the second. Where 2007’s posts were largely informational, 2008 was an occasionally contentious year. My posts reflected that reality by strongly advocating for a continued commitment to excellent public education in budget and land use.
Looking ahead, it is time for this blog to evolve again. This year’s challenges of budgeting and boundaries are so severe that they call not for territorial advocacy but sober, clear-eyed commitment. The people I write this blog for, the residents of my district, want to know where we're going and how we're going to handle the challenges. They need to know how the changes they’re reading about at the state and national levels will affect their children in the classroom. I don’t have all the answers, but I can let you know what the questions are, how I’m approaching them, and ask for your input as we move forward together.
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