The Blame Game

Great Coverage on the MYR story in today's N&O, and in the Cary News. Much thanks to Ryan Teague Beckwith for the link to my blog. The Cary News Opinion section is exclusively comprised of letters from citizens who are disappointed with the hell-bent approach toward MYR, and who are disappointed with the performance of our Cary Town government. Ann and I both have letters printed there. I'm tired of the blame game regarding MYR, and it is time to put it behind us and start focusing on the real reason we have a school system in place: children. This is not about re-election, who's right/wrong, or reneging on promises. To that end, here's the text of an email I sent Patti Head today:

Ms. Head,
There has been enough finger-pointing on this issue. The school board blames the county commissioners for reneging, the County commissioners blame the school board for proceeding against their wishes, and the parents blame both for failure to provide the leadership in the past which would and could have avoided this crisis.
The N&O's coverage of anit-MYR parents who have become passionate over this issue should demonstrate that this is a non-trivial matter, one which affects a very large number of families in Wake County. Every one of the parents believe there are alternatives, or they would 'shut up and row' like some of our elected officials would prefer.
Dawn Graff's letter in the N&O yesterday makes a pretty clear case that alternatives exist, and she's using WCPSS statistics to do so.
It seems like everyone is more worried about playing the 'blame game' than they are about our children.
If it would help, you are all welcome to placing the blame on me instead. Maybe I wasn't watching close enough to see the school crisis developing, and I probably should have been more focused on my Cary Town government's refusal to manage growth, thus fueling the problem. I won't make the same mistake again, but at least I admit to the mistakes I have made.
I believe Dave Duncan and Dawn Graff have done a fair job of evaluating the growth statistics and the true costs/benefits of MYR. If you can convince the two of them that MYR is truly the only alternative that we have, then I'll 'Shut up and Row.'

Best Regards,
Joe Ciulla