The trampling of common sense.

I once lived in a townhome.  Each month our “association” would circulate a folksy, informative synopsis of their board meeting.  Once in a while I read the report, but it was mostly boring crap: ”The board approved $130 worth of varmit remediation for Mrs. Liu’s unit.  The board signed a new snow removal contract.  Blah blah blah.  2-3 pages worth of blah.

One day someone tricked me into getting elected onto the board.  My election coincided with the hiring of a new manager.  Having a legal background, our new manager was outraged at our informative board meeting reports.  “What are you doing?”, he fumed, “This report is a paper trail.  Anything in here could be used AGAINST YOU.  From now on, these reports should say NEXT TO NOTHING.”  Thus began a sad era in which legalistic butt covering trumped common sense.

Déjà vu.  A year ago, a man named Mr. B came out of retirement to serve as principal of my kids’ school.  He’s been a hit with teachers, parents, and students.  Unfortunately, some agency, somewhere in the great state of Pennsylvania mildly frowns on retired administrators working as principals.  Rather than asking his legal advisor “How can we do what’s best for our children, and figure out a way to keep this popular principal?”, our superintendent, Dr. Joe Goodnack asked, “How might we best cover our butts?”  Alas, on the Friday before the start of a new school year, Mr. B was tossed in favor of THE ONLY GUY THEY INTERVIEWED.  (Note – this will make 4 principals in 4 years)  *Sigh*  I know I’ve had years to prepare, but I’m still not ready to live in a world devoid of common sense.