School pickets make it personal

Sorry, Carson City school district classified employees. You lost all our sympathy when you made your protests personal against a school board member.

Carson City residents should take note, too, because the people doing the protesting by and large weren't the people working for you or your tax dollars. They were union agitators brought in to try to shame the school board into coughing up more dollars.

Well, the shame's on them.

On Wednesday, they directed their protests directly at School Board President Bob Crowell. "I don't know but I've been told, Bob Crowell ain't got no soul," they chanted.

They were half right: They don't know.

When Crowell left his legal office on Fourth Street, the protesters didn't recognize him. Neither did the bunch outside school district offices when he entered there. It wasn't until Crowell introduced himself to the protesters that they realized the man they were mocking was standing in front of them.

Crowell is a responsible member of the community and well aware of his responsibilities - and the slings and arrows - of holding a public office. His response to this personal attack was a thoughtful and reasonable one. He respects their right to protest but believes a more productive approach would have been to get involved in the school board's budgeting process, he said.

The fact is, not many people want to have anything to do with budgeting for a school district. It's tedious, frustrating work - like pretty much anything else having to do with serving as a member of a school board.

Carson City school board members aren't serving for the glory, because no decision they make can please everybody. They aren't serving for the money, because they don't get any.

If the aim of the protest was to draw attention to the classified employees' demands for a pay raise, it worked. If the aim was to actually help the cause, it backfired badly.