What I don't understand is WHY Lockamy was coddled like that, and why the other board members go along with it. It doesn't make sense to me - the "local paper's" vendetta against Byrne, the public relations campaign for Levett, the ESPLOST contract, none of it. I don't understand why the rest of the board sheepishly goes along with all of this and leaves Byrne, who's really popular with parents, out in the wind.
I'd love to have someone connect the dots with more than social media rumors and off-hand remarks that only reveal that whoever said it THINKS they know something more than you and wants you to think that makes them special.
The problems seem so huge that there's no thread to pull on to start unraveling them, so I've started trying to think of things that I do that could to make the people in my life feel more loved, more accepted, more listened to - and the things that I do that could make them feel the opposite, and commit to changing them.
I can't help but think about the parents in these situations. The parents of the victims and the pain they're feeling; but mostly, I've been trying to put myself in the place of the parents of the perpetrators. What would I have done differently? What things might they have said that led them down those paths? How do we create a new definition (or broadened or whatever, I don't know) of manhood that removes the kind of shame that drives someone to do something like this?
They're not comfortable conversations with myself, but I think they're important. And I think they're conversations we probably need to start having in our communities too, or things won't get better.
Thank you for this. I don't know why there hasn't been more outcry locally about this case; I'm afraid it's because people feel there's no hope of change or justice.
I have a couple of questions about this after reading this, the SMN's inflammatory coverage and Facebook posts:
1. Who in the school system said no to the other potential bidders' requests to review the fleet?
2. Was MV/Reliant given information the other bidders weren't during this process?
3. Why wasn't the school board given the audit report? Was it given to any of the bidders?
I'd like to give the school board president the benefit of the doubt here - considering she had nothing to do with First Student's abysmal performance and was right to push for their ouster, but her ties to an employee of Reliant's need to be explained. The fact that ALL the other bidders dropped out and weren't allowed to review the fleet leaves an... odor.
Recent Comments
I'd love to have someone connect the dots with more than social media rumors and off-hand remarks that only reveal that whoever said it THINKS they know something more than you and wants you to think that makes them special.
The problems seem so huge that there's no thread to pull on to start unraveling them, so I've started trying to think of things that I do that could to make the people in my life feel more loved, more accepted, more listened to - and the things that I do that could make them feel the opposite, and commit to changing them.
I can't help but think about the parents in these situations. The parents of the victims and the pain they're feeling; but mostly, I've been trying to put myself in the place of the parents of the perpetrators. What would I have done differently? What things might they have said that led them down those paths? How do we create a new definition (or broadened or whatever, I don't know) of manhood that removes the kind of shame that drives someone to do something like this?
They're not comfortable conversations with myself, but I think they're important. And I think they're conversations we probably need to start having in our communities too, or things won't get better.
1. Who in the school system said no to the other potential bidders' requests to review the fleet?
2. Was MV/Reliant given information the other bidders weren't during this process?
3. Why wasn't the school board given the audit report? Was it given to any of the bidders?
I'd like to give the school board president the benefit of the doubt here - considering she had nothing to do with First Student's abysmal performance and was right to push for their ouster, but her ties to an employee of Reliant's need to be explained. The fact that ALL the other bidders dropped out and weren't allowed to review the fleet leaves an... odor.