Trails in the Sand by Peter Traceit, the Street Detective
Ahhh we can be nice
Ol’ Pete was rather impressed as droves of people showed up to the Board workshop on last Tuesday to air their concerns with the Broward School District getting its own police department. Mayors, commissioners, police chiefs and concerned citizens showed up to each have their three minutes of fame and when it was all over the nine Board members unanimously listened to their constituents.
There were some common themes with a lot of the speakers simply getting up and saying, “what he said” instead of throwing the same dirt back out there.
The themes were:
- Is it really less money? The math wasn’t adding up as Nathalie Lynch-Walsh stated with her customary eloquent sharp tongue and thoughtful analysis.
- How do you do this without first engaging the community? It appeared that Broward Sheriff Office and other municipality officials were left out of the discussion loop.
- What happened to first things first, like making sure the district is an A school district. Have we taken our eye off the ball?
- Will the district be able to hire to capacity with these officers making less money?
The discussion was not the usual tense mudslinging the Street Detective has become accustomed to. It was cordial and each Board member was committed to listening to their constituents.
It left Peter Traceit to wonder what was the difference between this meeting and others when certain constituents show up and would leave feeling undervalued and unheard and the tenor felt like these constituents don’t know what’s best for their own children in their own communities.
Ol’ Pete has a hunch but is going through the trails in search of more clues.