That was one of many defense statements, verbatim, attorney Barry K. Arrington will provide the Colorado Department of Education’s State Board of Education on behalf of the Owl Creek Community School during its appeal hearing Wednesday afternoon, Jan., in Denver.
I obtained the charter applicant’s (Owl Creek) reply brief to the State Board in support of its appeal after the Ridgway School Board of Education denied the charter school application on Oct. 24. I also have Owl Creek’s 19-page opening brief and the Ridgway school board’s 21-page presentation in support of its denial decision (by the way, anyone can access this info on the Ridgway School District webpage).
The quote I provided is just one of many where the mud starts slinging. It reminded me a lot of sixth-graders out on the playground. Here’s some more verbiage from the three documents: “The [Ridgway School] District should be ashamed of itself… in the [Ridgway School] District’s mind, different from what ‘we’ do is the same as ‘bad’… this charter application gets nothing right… the applicants [Owl Creek Community School] refused to work with the [Ridgway School] District… OCCS’ proposal simply is not a good idea… am I hearing you say that you want to bypass trying to work with us?… OCCS references a hodgepodge of educational methologies… classes look more like a day at summer camp, than a day at school… yeah, I don’t feel like this is the time and place to discuss this honestly.”
This kind of banter is nothing new. These two entities have been jawing from day one.
After reading all of these charter school documents to the state board, one thing has stuck in my mind. At a public hearing in October, a member of the Ridgway school board read a lengthy newspaper letter to the editor verbatim to a large crowd in Conder Hall written by an individual that was strongly against the charter school application and asked for the charter school committee’s “response to the letter.” The committee struggled with the somewhat vague question and asked the president to “be more specific.” The board member’s response was, “Well, it was in the paper.” That seems rather amusing in a sense that in the school board’s brief to the state school board, it states on page 21 that the charter school committee’s “supplement [to the state school board] was comprised mostly of newspaper articles, which should not have been included in the record pursuant to Section D.2 of the Administrative Policy.”
So if it’s wrong to use a newspaper articles in support – according to “Administrative Policy” – then why should one school board member use the same tactic with newspaper clippings that are against the charter school in favor of his view?
Look for in depth coverage on the state board’s ruling in the Jan. 15 edition of the OCW.
Ice Fest insert hits the racks today
The OCW’s inaugural Ice Festival supplement can be found inside today’s paper. It will also be inserted into the Telluride Watch and The Watch: Norwood, Nucla & Naturita on Friday, Jan. 11. Talk about promoting a Ouray County event to get the region involved! That was our No. 1 goal.
Copies of this insert were distributed to the four counties in which we normally publish, which includes all 14 communities (from Montrose to Silverton and from Ridgway to Norwood to name a few) and was produced solely here in Ouray County.
That’s what a community newspaper that has always had the capabilities of reaching the region is all about. We just did what we normally do and reached out to our normal regional readers. Pretty easy concept, don’t you think? We didn’t make special arrangements to produce regional coverage – it’s what we’ve always done!
Our classy 12-page insert is stocked with numerous feature stories and photos, a way of making anyone’s experience – first time or not – worthwhile. Three of our writers did a fine job in producing feel-good and informative material. And our graphic designer did a bang up job on the cover, which depicts 2007 champion Evgeny Kryvosheytsev en route to the title in his Ice Festival.
I hope you enjoy our insert. It was a pleasure to produce in our support of the Ouray Ice Park and Ice Festival.
Hometown made ESPN.com
I took the pleasure is watching my old high school’s former assistant football coach being carried off the field on his players’ shoulders Wednesday night (Jan. 1) in the Fiesta Bowl as the West Virginia Mountaineers, under interim head coach Bill Stewart, put a thumpin’ on the No. 4-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
Stewart grew up 11 miles from my hometown in the “Mountain State” and then later came down the Ohio River to the dynasty high school program we had. It apparently paid off since he moved through the ranks of high school rather quickly to small college coaching and then to the big time, which also included a stint as an assistant at my college alma mater, Marshall, and at Air Force near Colorado Springs.
After “out coaching” (that wasn’t my quote, but one I found on ESPN.com) highly touted Sooners coach Bob Stoops, WVU took the “Interim” tag off Stewart’s title and gave him a reported five-year contract worth $800,000 per year in what proved to be, in my opinion, the toughest public job interview in sports.
“I think I’ve been interviewing for the last two-and-a-half weeks,” Stewart said in a story posted on ESPN.com on Thursday afternoon, which also alluded to his stint as an assistant at my old high school. “It’s been the longest interview in America.”
Well, he deserved the job hands down and even with a slice of humble pie. Never once did he mention Rich Rodriguez’s name – he’s the WVU alum and longtime head coach that bailed on the Mountaineers after an embarrassing loss to Pitt in the “Backyard Brawl” for the likes of the State Up North, also know as Michigan (it’s an Ohio term) – nor did he take sole credit for the victory over Oklahoma. He first and foremost gave the credit to his “young men.” He didn’t say it for the sake of making a pitch to be the next coach (he wasn’t named coach until the next morning and he went on record during the weeks leading up to the bowl game that he refused to “politic” for the position), but did it because he truly loved his players and respected them for the past eight years as an assistant. He didn’t walk out on them for the mere fact that he wanted more money to coach a struggling Michigan program.
My hat’s off to you, “Stew!”
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