Societal problems aside, this conversation (to me, at least) needs to remain focused on the Superintendent and the school board members that have allowed the culture that now festers there.. to live and breathe.

It is a culture of arrogance, nepotism, disrespect for employees as employees, as parents, and as taxpayers. The absolute refusal to cultivate ideas and input from good, intelligent, thinking people.

It is bad.

Don't believe me? Ask the actual working people (not the money wasters) in their Technology department about the $250,000.00 that was spent on support software. Bloated, commercial software that they continually gravitate towards.

While you are at it, ask them why they have highly paid programmers employed.. that do not do any programming.

When times are tough, you turn to your people and ask for their help and input.. you don't slam the door in their face because of some convoluted insecurities.

Margaret Smith is either a willing participant in the gross mismanagement of our money, or she is irresponsibly out of touch. Either way she needs to go as a way of sending a strong message to our School Board members that this kind of old school "educational establishment" way of operating, is over.

Then each of the school board members should be challenged in elections with vigor.. and simply showing their record will make a case for their replacement.

I challenge anyone to look through the minutes of past school board meetings:

http://myvolusiaschools.org/school-board/Pages/Agendas-and-Minutes.aspx

.. and see if you can find even one meeting or vote where a school board member has cast a vote of dissent, after the queen has made her recommendation to approve especially as it relates to spending the taxpayer (our!) money.

Go ahead, at a minimum it will make for interesting reading.