Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

On Good Friday morning, I got out of bed and saw that the High School Senior had slept in late. I woke her up so she could rush to school. “It’s Good Friday,” she said. “We’re going to the beach.” Being the stepdad, I assumed she had worked it out with her mother, and let her fall back asleep.

And I asked Wifey about this. With rumors that there wasn’t going to be much “teaching” going on, Wifey didn’t see the point of going to school, either. I found later they weren’t really “rumors.” Plenty of teachers were discussing the “free day off” with students all week at the local high school.

The 2nd Grader did go to school. She and 3 others showed up at the classroom built for twenty. Those four joined another class of TWO, and those six students didn’t learn anything. They drew pictures for each other and they “worked” on their coloring books. That’s not all, according to the seven-year-old. They did have a Phys Ed class - playing at the playground. And Lunch.

It seems that the High School Senior got as much an education at Siesta Key that day as did the 2nd Grader at her Local Elementary School.

How is it that school is scheduled, but nothing gets done? There are many reasons, but they all come back to the same thing. The Hillsborough County School Board has no common goal, no direction, no guts, and is manned by a bunch of self-important ninnies who have way more power than they should.

Back in February of last year, board members were insistent that holding school on Good Friday would be a disaster:

“In this country, the majority of the people are of the Christian faith and have accepted it as a day off,” Faliero said. “If you begin to take things like that away, people believe that you are eroding what this country was founded upon, and that was freedom of religion.”

But that is a knee-jerk reaction without even looking into the the subject. In that same article, the St. Pete Times notes that Pinellas holds school on Good Friday, as does Polk County, Orange County, and Bay County. In 2006, Pinellas’ Good Friday absentee rate was 15 percent for students, and about 10 percent of teachers.

A 10-15% absentee rate is something they could deal with. But even a year later, with Good Friday coming upon us, Faliero insisted. In the Times on Tuesday, March 18, she planted the seeds of Faliero’s Fantastic Friday Fiasco:

“Parents, please hear this: Your buses are going to be late,” School Board chairwoman Jennifer Faliero said. “Be prepared for a backup plan.”

Doom, Doom, and more Doom (Doom III?), she prophesies. What’s next, locusts? Nope, but religion comes up anyway. Read on from the Times on Wednesday, March 19:

“What I see — which is something I haven’t seen in a long time — is Christians uniting,” said School Board member Jennifer Faliero, who favors a day off on Good Friday. “They are fearing that their religion is being overlooked.”

Aha! It’s to be an uprising of Christians - uniting to protest the assault on their holy day! But wait - just the day before in the Tampa Tribune, Faliero said it had nothing to do with religion:

Taking Good Friday off has nothing to do with religion, however, said School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Faliero.

“Parents have always taken off Good Friday - they always will,” Faliero said. “This is an American tradition.”

So it’s an American Tradition. A holiday, not a holy day.

Nonsense. She simply wants no school on that day and is saying anything that will convince students, parents, teachers, bus drivers - including Jews, Muslims, and atheists alike to play hooky. In addition, she counted on the newspapers to be her megaphone. And it worked. Did you see what both dailies did? Starting on Tuesday, both papers had section front stories all week proclaiming Doom III, and basically just pounded it into your head:

• Tuesday, March 18 - Many Teachers, Drivers Plan To Skip Work Good Friday, Hillsborough schools prepare for Good Friday flu
• Wednesday, March 19 - Schools’ Biggest Worry Good Friday May Be Buses, Hillsborough schools brace for Good Friday absences
• Thursday, March 20 - Schools Hope For Best On Friday and 19 Schools Will Have No Bus Service on Friday
• Good Friday, March 21 - Schools Hoping It’s No Freaky Friday, Hillsborough schools’ goal for Good Friday: a normal day

Good grief! They ran out of ways to say the same thing over and over and over. Not only that, but would you believe that TBO created a Blog dedicated to the saga? Yep, it’s entitled Good Friday for Skipping School.

Just because some teachers don’t read a newspaper, doesn’t mean they all are clueless. And kids can read too, you know. So is it any wonder that by Thursday, teachers, students, administration, bus drivers - hell, even the janitors were discouraged to show up.

And of course it worked:

Tribune - Lack Of Students Makes ‘Lonely’ Day, Times - Nearly 60% of Hillsborough County students absent on Good Friday

Or did it?

By the 20th, reporters heard that original numbers of absenteeism were being overestimated. And late Friday, the numbers that the Tribune got from each individual school was significantly different than the figures from the district. As far as I can tell, we have not yet received a verification of the correct number of absentees. Regardless, it was a mess.

Finally, this Tuesday, both papers ran editorials slamming the School Board for allowing a free day to occur. The Tribune and Times both suggest administrators limit the number of people taking a personal day, so the entire district doesn’t get shut down for a day.

The Times also specifically encouraged Jennifer Faliero to remember that the public school system is here to serve Christians and non-Christians alike.