Medford School Board.

   "I wouldn't have expected School Board elections to get so rough."

             Ed Battistella, linguist, and author of an upcoming book on insults.

There has always been controversy in the Medford schools over how much to tax and spend. 

But something is different now. 

The candidacy for re-election of Jim Horner, and the now-suspended candidacy of Kevin Husted, are a new twist in the evolution of school politics in Medford. Guest Post author Dave Strahan writes that Horner broke a norm of good behavior among people sitting on a board together.

"Troubling," he wrote me. People need to work together within any board.

I have served on many boards. There is such a thing as "good boardmanship." There will be disagreements within any board--this is good, indeed essential. But in non-partisan elected boards like a school board there is a simultaneous need for a team to work together toward common goals, a comity maintained through norms of behavior. Courtesies. It means not attributing bad motives to opponents. It means keeping a respectful tone. This traditionally means not openly campaigning against a fellow board member, not with personal attacks. 

There is an argument to be made that courtesy is two-faced and it denies the public an honest view of how a board member feels. Horner, or any other board member, has every right to campaign hard for or against others, and call them as he sees them. 

I grant that. 

Still, you sit next to that person at the board room. You will agree on some matters, disagree on others. The board works best when everyone keeps things a matter of agreement and disagreement, not "I will kneecap you if I can."

Some of what I observe I consider drift-down of smash-mouth politics we see at the national level. Especially since the 1994 Gingrich Contract With America victory, the language got harsher in Congress. Opponents were not simply called incorrect; they were disgusting. Voters voted for the name-caller, so we get more of it.

And some of it is drift-down of shadow partisanship into a non-partisan office. Medford school politics previously had a binary more-tax/lower-tax quality. Now school politics are getting flavors of state and national partisan issues: pro/con public employee unions, pro/con accommodations to diversity, pro/con sex education, pro/con mainstream media/talk radio, pro/con public education itself.

David Strahan shared his opinion on this. He was disappointed by Jim Horner's public personal criticism of a fellow board member. Here is what Horner wrote:  Click  I invite others who have thoughts, either in agreement or disagreement, to speak up. Write me at peter.w.sage@gmail.com.

David Strahan

David Strahan Guest Comment

"I have been reading with interest your blogs and follow up comments,  concerning the dust up concerning the Medford School Board candidates.

I served on the Three Rivers School Board in Josephine County for eight years, two terms.

In one blog you wrote, "Board member Jim Horner brought up an old charge, and one that had been debunked. Horner surely knew that the newspaper had
 followed up on the issue of his accusation, and had resolved it in Starchvick's favor. He brought it up anyway."

As a School Board veteran I find it troubling that Mr. Horner brought this up in the first place.  Regardless of the Mail Tribune's debunk, Horner should know the rules of Board members gathering, and it should have never been questioned in the first place.  Any sitting School Board member should be well aware that members are not disqualified from socially meeting with their elected peers, as long as decisions and discussion of board issues are not part of the conversation. 

Further, to bring up that the board members were in the setting they were to "imbibe alcohol",  is nothing but a failed attempt to discredit his peers  in my opinion. Mr. Horner may be surprised to know that there are people that meet peers in pubs, but do not consume alcohol. That aside, there is nothing wrong with adults responsibly imbibing alcohol, and like the implication of a violation of public meeting laws, should not have been part of the conversation. 

Horner

In my years on our board I learned the importance of members' having the ability to work together through many issues respectfully. I shudder to think how working with the likes of Mr. Horner will be, now that he has publicly entered into a confrontation with his Board Chair.  My experience tells me this confrontation will indeed soil the relationship and their ability to work as a board should. 

In terms of Horner's defense of Kevin Husted, with his irresponsible attempts to discredit Karen Starchvick, I am reminded of an old political adage I heard long ago; "Sometimes your friends can do you more harm than your enemies.".  I submit that Mr. Husted take those words to heart. 

For full disclosure, please know that I am not acquainted with, nor have I to my recollection, ever met any of the parties involved here. I speak only out of interest of our schools and those that oversee them.

Dave Strahan 
Grants Pass, Oregon."