I hate alarm clocks. Lamentably, they are a necessary evil. Having a very full schedule I have to wake up 6 days of the week earlier than I would prefer. So I must have an alarm clock. Of course, most of us use our phones as alarm clocks now days, and can pick from a variety of alarm sounds. We can even create our own alarm jingle. For a while I tried to use the song “Overcomer” by Mandisa for my alarm. It’s a fun, positive, peppy song. That lasted about two months: Now I hate that song. I don’t even allow it to play on my radio.

Know what I hate more than an alarm? Snooze settings. What wicked person ever thought of such a thing? Who wants to be reawakened every ten minutes to the same horrible racket when you were obviously too tired to wake up the first time? It doesn’t help that I am married to man that has been both a farmer and a truck driver who legitimately needs that snooze option. But it is fair to say my affection for snooze alarms is not growing any stronger.

Imagine my horror at realizing I am the snooze alarm. Even worse, I may have contributed to the lullaby that put us all back to sleep in the first place. Nevertheless, there is a time that someone has to be willing to step up and sound the alarm. I have looked for someone else. I have nudged a few. I have downright dared a few to take up the mantle. But, at the end of the day I was the one left alone with the knowledge, personal experience and responsibility to sound the alarm.  So with much regret,  I am going to play my jingle again–only louder.

I recently wrote a blog about several policies the Nestucca Valley School Board passed that undermined the First Amendment rights of teachers ( Teaching on Religion IGAC) and parental rights (Human Sexuality, AIDS/HIV, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Health Education IGAI) What is that smell in our sleepy Nestucca Valley? At the time of that blog I was completely oblivious to Nestucca Valley School District’s current gun free zone policy (Weapons–Students JFCJ). However, I have since come to a full understanding, and I am awake.

While I was originally misinformed about this policy, I was also duped by the June Nestucca Valley School District Board agenda with a lot of “mistakes” as to what was a “Policy First Reading–Proposed Adoption” and was a “Second Reading of Policy/Policy Adoption–Deletion.” I should note to the reader that these policies are not read out loud as these lines suggest by the board at the meeting, unless there is a grammatical error. Grammatical errors demand the policies be read in part, not in full. Also, I had only received electronic copies of the policies a few days prior and had very little time to peruse through them, let alone thoroughly inspect them. Finally, the board was referring to page numbers in a document I did not possess. I confess that I was struggling to follow the progression of the meeting.

However, the most pertinent happening that led to my confusion was a comment by Superintendent, Misty Wharton.  I had been alerted to some possible weapons policy changes by a comment at the May meeting by board member Diane Boisa. Therefore, I went ahead and voiced concerned about making our school district a gun free zone 24/7, year round, on all school property and at every place the district holds an event given that 98% of mass shootings occur in Gun Free Zones (Crime Research Center ) at the June 10th meeting. I received a lot of interesting looks from board members, but not one bothered to point out that they had already established Nestucca Valley School District as a Gun Free Zone (Former JFCJ Weapons-Students). However, Ms. Wharton did comment that the board was not voting on that policy that night. Several minutes later the board voted to approve all their proposed and deleted polices I-K/L, all 684 pages, in one swoop. There was not a nay or a even a question by a single board member: Next agenda item, moving on. And, yes, JFCJ Weapons in Schools–Students was one of those policies.

In all fairness to Ms. Wharton, she may have been referring to the Weapons policy for staff members Weapons –Staff GBJ. I did not reference that policy, but made my comments based on a quick review of the above referenced Weapons–Student policy. Furthermore, the board secretary noted in the minutes for that meeting that my public comment was concerning JFCJ (these minutes are not available online at this time, but can be requested at the district office).  Does that make Ms. Wharton’s assertion after my public testimony that the board would not be approving a new gun policy a lie? I don’t know. However, I can tell you that when I realized the worse of the two policies had already been passed I felt lied to. I felt deceived. I felt totally hoodwinked by my school board members and the superintendent. I will leave the sorting out of motives and intentions to the only True and Righteous Judge.

So how has the Weapons in Schools–Student policy (JFCJ) changed? Not a lot, with the exception of giving the superintendent to the power to refer “all other policy violations” to law enforcement. Prior to this the policy was rather vague about punishment “other persons” or non-student violators may face. So what kind of violations did our board just give the superintendent the right to report to law enforcement? For one, “possession of a firearm within 1000ft. of school property.” Full reading of the weapons policy leaves one to wonder if their can have certain fertilizers, a taser, or bear spray in their home or on their person within 1000ft. of school property. And, by the way, staff members must  report if you have such items within the Gun Free Zone up to 120 days after you violated the policy.

And, so now we have a school district that demands teachers renounce their personal convictions on faith and family. We have a school district that requires teachers to spend a specific amount of hours teaching “health” that includes transgenderism. A school district that readily provides minors with access to abortion on demand at all stages of pregnancy without parental notification. A school district that requires for staff to report if they see people in their homes next to the school with firearms, pepper spray or fertilizer up to 120 days after the fact that they noticed these items. Is this the school district your taxes pay for, you send your kids to, and that 3 generations of your family has graduated from? The school district funded by your property taxes and local timber sales? Why, yes it is.

So how did this happen? How do you ruin a school district in 3 years?

1. Don’t go to board meetings. They are boring. They don’t listen to the patrons. They are not scheduled at convenient times.
2. When you hear of your school board doing some strange things, rather covertly, and suddenly there is a new superintendent, don’t question it. Just go with it. Now the kids can play dodge ball again. Life goes on.
3. Be so excited and trusting of your temporary superintendent because they are “local” that you become more entrenched about #1 and less questioning about anything.
4. Don’t question how the interim superintendent suddenly became the permanent (3 year contract) superintendent even though the job offer was never on a meeting agenda. Then refer back to #3.
5.  Assume that the board members are more interested in representing you than seeing through their personal agendas or those of the superintendent.
6. If you begin to question the motives of the board or administration never call, question, or email them. Just re-elect them. They will get it right eventually.
7. Assume that the board and the superintendent know more than you do. They are the experts on all the educational laws and regulations. You are just the parent or community member, you don’t understand all these complex issues
8. Let the superintendent answer all statements and questions to the board members. Sure, they’re your elected officials responsible to you, but she is the one taking charge. Just roll with it.

Now, you understand why I called myself the snooze alarm. This is not pleasant to the ear. Especially if you are tired of hearing about it. And some of you have probably tried to voice concerns to the superintendent or the board members, but felt defeated or ignored. Trust me, I have tried to deal with many of these issues with them privately. They are not budging .

I have been guilty of all of the things on that list. If you feel that I am pointing a finger at this community, then rest I assured I know I have 3 fingers pointing back at me. I am quite possibly more responsible than anyone other than our board members and superintendent. Why? Because I knew the truth. I knew how the superintendent got her permanent job offer (3 year contract) in April 2017, and I did not make it public. I knew that she would have conflicting worldviews with most of the community, but hoped she would set those aside to be a true public servant. I even did a very flattering interview for the current superintendent for the Tillamook County Pioneer soon after her job offer. I have been responsible for leading the public to trust Misty Wharton.

Unfortunately, she has proven herself unworthy of our trust, and our elected school board members have refused to do their job of supervising her. In fact, it was Superintendent Wharton that gave newly elected board member, Bill Haggerty, his oath of office. In case, you missed the gravity of this happening: Mr. Haggerty is her boss, but she gave him his oath and shook his hand. Who’s the boss?

So the snooze alarm has sounded again. Are you willing to get out of bed this time? Is there not a cause for this community to come together and say enough is enough. People came from all over the state this year to protest cap and trade, gun restrictions, and mandatory vaccination bills proposed in Salem. Our we willing to fight for our constitutional rights in our own backyard? If you don’t, then expect a fight in a courtroom near you soon, paid for by you on both sides of the litigation. Or perhaps we are willing to let our schools be one more site for a school shooting in a “gun free zone?”

Let’s do what small, rural communities do best: Wake up early, go to work and support one another in a worthy cause. This is our school and our community. Let’s own it.