By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The Clark County School District stepped up and selected a new Superintendent of Schools. Our School Board Representative Chris Garvey was instrumental in collecting the votes necessary to make a common-sense selection.
The President of the Board Carolyn Edwards thought the decision was too fast for her. She would have liked more time to vet Pat Skorkowsky.
I would ask where Ms. Edwards has been for the last 25 years. Mr. Skorkowsky has spent those years working his way through the district. He served as a classroom teacher and a principal at all levels. He has successfully filled various district office administrative positions working his way to second in command. He has served as the interim Superintendent since Mr. Jones bailed out halfway through his contract two months ago.
Ms. Edwards was holding out for another national search. We did that last time, remember? How did that work out?
Mr. Jones was selected after a national search was made to replace Mr. Walt Ruffles who was a local hire. Ruffles was one of the best superintendents in the history of the district and he was homegrown.
Mr. Jones was selected when all the other candidates bowed out and he was left standing. In two years Mr. Jones and his cronies not only spent millions on a program that had to be scrapped before it was instituted; but he also destroyed any meaningful relationship that the central office had with teachers. The district was left without a working education model and no contractual agreement with the district teachers. The new superintendent will have to rebuild all of that. The selection of a man who has been there and done that is a great step in mending these fences.
Ms. Edwards worries that Mr. Skorkowsky is too mild-mannered to deal with the teachers. That is because Ms. Edwards understands only one method of dealing with people: confrontation. The very idea that the district administrators and the teachers could work under a collaborative model is as foreign to her as it is to many upper level administrators.
It may be beneficial to have someone who can work cooperatively with the teachers; someone who will institute any program developed for educating the children of Clark County. The philosophy that has permeated the district for the last few years, “The beatings will continue until morale improves” has failed to produce the results desired and it may be time to regroup.
It would be refreshing to have leadership that understands that fear and punishment may work short term but, if anything of merit is to take place, trust and cooperation is a must.
No one asked me but… It has been reported that the FBI has identified the five men who are most likely responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. While they say there is enough evidence to justify seizing them as terrorists, there is not enough to win a case in a court of law.
The President has indicated that he is no longer interested in dealing with terrorist as “enemy combatants” which would land them in Guantanamo Bay. President Obama prefers to have them apprehended and tried by the countries in which they live or were arrested.
There are two problems with this thinking. First, the courts of the country where the attack took place do not see these people as criminals; they see them as heroes. An old cowboy who was asked why he was lynching a cattle rustler explains this best.
“You don’t courthouse a varmint,” he explained.
The second problem is that an attack on the American consulate is an attack on American soil.
Obama administration representatives have indicated that using military force to detain these men might harm relationships with Libya and other post-Arab-spring governments. Let me see; would that be the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt, the dictatorship in Syria, or the chaotic, inept government we support in Iraq? Maybe he is referring to the Taliban in Afghanistan that will overthrow the existing government as soon as we leave in 2014.
Mr. President, we have no relationship with any of these countries. It is time to realize we are at war. These men are members of Ansar al-Shariah and they are at war with the United States whether the United States is at war with them or not. They have attacked American soil and that is all we need to know.
War has traditionally been nation against nation, and was won when territory is conquered. This new war is a war of ideology and American’s are ill-prepared to fight this kind of war.
We learned very little from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In conventional war if you win the battles you win the war. In the war of ideology, battles really have little effect on the outcome of the war. It is like fighting your little brother who won’t stop because you beat him up. He will only stop when it is too painful for him to continue. This is not something for which the American military is prepared.
We send warriors out to win the hearts and souls of the enemy. A civil rights worker in the 1960’s explained the frustration of this new war best when he said, “I don’t want them to love me. I just want them to stop killing me.”
The situation reminds me of the story of the old Missouri muleskinner who watched an eastern dude who was having trouble with his mule team. The dude spoke nicely to the team, he pulled and he cajoled but the team would not respond. The old muleskinner picked up a two by four, hit the lead mule between the eyes and then whispered in his ear. After that, the mule followed his every command.
The dude asked him why he hit the mule. The muleskinner replied that was to get his attention. The dude then asked him what he said to make the mule respond so favorably. The muleskinner said, “I asked him if he wanted me to do it again”.
That is the kind of war we are in now. You have to continually get the enemies attention and make it cost too much to have the enemy continue his attack.
Thought of the week…Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.
-Napoleon Hill
