Who Should Apologize?

East Penn's infamous Ghost Contract vote approved a new teacher's contract WITHOUT a final, written copy for review. This incomprehensible travesty was also discussed in East Penn: Talk about secret government!. Because citizens were constantly told that this practice was "normal" and that there were no issues for such a ludicrous process, a citizen compared the old contract with the new and with the "Summary Sheet" used to approve the contract.

He found a number of discrepancies, went to a school board meeting and during the public comment portion he mentioned his findings and asked a few questions about the discrepancies. How do politicians and bureaucrats react?:

Here is a summary of the letter:

"I am pleased to relate that your accusations are completely unfounded and wrong."

"Basically, you uncovered omissions from the current contract."

"I am inviting you to come to a future Board meeting to offer a public apology regarding the derogatory statements that you made..."

Okay, so the citizen discovers discrepancies and points them out at a Board meeting. Superintendent Seidenberger declares that the discovered discrepancies are "completely unfounded and wrong." Then he later admits, in the same letter, that the citizen "uncovered ommissions" from the contract(s) and the Summary sheet. Then, this political bureaucrat demands that the citizen APOLOGIZE for being correct?

So a citizen, who dares to ask the "ruling class" a question is urged to apologize to the government?! What country is this?

Morning Call columnist Bill White also has some serious issues with the response of the East Penn Superintendent.

http://blogs.mcall.com/bill_white/2009/06/harrumph-harrumph.html


"But in my opinion, public employees have no business asking taxpayers to apologize for questioning their actions, even when the concerns are unfounded. You answer the question — if there’s a misconception, you clarify it — thank them for their interest, and move on.

I also see no reason why taxpayers should be expected to schedule private meetings to air their concerns, although I’m glad that's an option in East Penn. Courtesy of the floor is a perfectly appropriate forum for raising questions, if not for getting an immediate answer.

So as far as I’m concerned, Superintendent Seidenberger is the one who ought to be apologizing. We’ll all appreciate his sense of fairness."