• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Monday, May 16, 2022
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Login / Sign-up
    • Results by Week
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem!
    • Login / Sign-up
    • Results by Week
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

4th of July

Guy Speckman by Guy Speckman
July 3, 2020
in Ponder the Thought
8
SHARES
190
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

Can we talk? I have been living a lie. I do not like the 4th of July. It ranks in my bottom 5 of holidays. Oh, I like the Declaration of Independence, freedom, and the Star-Spangled Banner. I don’t like fireworks, I don’t look good in a tank top, I like to personally be at room temperature to drink a cold beer and I prefer my hamburgers and hot dogs to be prepared by some back room cook and not some drunken uncle that has a “special recipe.”

Glad I could get that off my conscience. Please, do not think less of me.

RelatedNews

Budget, wars and tweets

Jesse James, Mother’s Day

Falling midgets, government propaganda


My friends used to have bottle rocket fights; I am sure it is still a thing with some. Shooting lit, exploding projectiles at each other. That seems dumb, doesn’t it? I knew an older kid that got hit in the eye with one. He had a glass eye after that. While having a glass eye is a cool conversation starter, I was fond of my eyes and chose not to participate in bottle rocket fights.

I am probably a “wussy,” but I’m a “wussy” with two human eyeballs, so pick your poison. I am not sure how buying a bunch of Chinese fireworks became an American tradition, but it has. Maybe tearing down our statues will replace it as our go-to celebration methodology. We can run around for the weeks before and after the 4th of July and tear down statues, drink beer and eat Uncle Jack’s secret recipe hot dogs.


My wife and I sat in a socially distanced Nick and Jake’s and had a beer last week. It was glorious.


There is significant rumbling in school circles that is interesting to note. Individual districts are complaining that the state of Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is not providing much direction to districts on the plans for this fall. While the entire nation is in a state of indecision, some districts are pointing out that many state departments have moved aggressively forward with plans for the 2021-22 school year and the implementation of a restart to school.

The Missouri School Boards Association has published a compilation of ideas and strategies for reopening but many claim DESE has been bureaucratic and slow to help.

They did form a Summer School Task Force, which is always a good sign that government has no idea what they want to do. Here is what they came up with. 1. Provide maximum flexibility to schools 2. Provide clear expectations for summer learning 3. Provide clear expectations for virtual summer school.

Ok then. You could have been help, but instead they were that.

They sent that out in a memo, so it looked pretty official. But if I am a superintendent of schools, I am not sure that those three things would help me much. For the record, I am not a superintendent of schools.

But, superintendents of schools get paid a boatload of money and this is when they really need to earn it. Decisions have to be made and it is not the time to wait on state agencies. The districts with the strongest leaders will succeed in this environment and those with the weakest leaders will be telling parents to be flexible and kids to wash their hands and mostly making sure their direct deposit payroll gets made. Just like small businesspeople have had to earn their keep in a grudgingly hard path during these times, school officials are not immune. They must work harder and with more precision than before. They must present parents of their respective community with simple and effective plans for getting students back in the buildings we paid for.

If they do not, we may figure out that all that money we have invested/given to educate was not really needed.

(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or eschewing bottle rocket fights)

Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman

Guy Speckman is a Landmark contributing columnist with his Ponder the Thought column. Speckman is the former owner of the Savannah Reporter, where the column appeared for nearly two decades. Speckman is a former city government manager, serving as city administrator in Maysville, Plattsburg and Savannah before entering business. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University (1989). He is originally from Plattsburg, Missouri. He and his wife own and operate a real estate valuation firm and a daily legal newspaper and are the parents of two grown children.

Related Posts

Pooping in the mail

Pooping in the mail

by Chris Kamler
May 13, 2022
0

When one approaches the age of 50, there are a number of opportunities that open up. The most obvious is that you can register for AARP, the old people club. Although, they really don't have an age limit, (once, a...

Budget, wars and tweets

Budget, wars and tweets

by Guy Speckman
May 13, 2022
0

The State of Missouri has passed a fiscal year budget. It nears $47 billion. Last year's budget was $36 billion. The largest budget increase in the history of the State of Missouri. If you still think Republicans are the fiscally...

45 Years Ago–May 13, 1977

by Ivan Foley
May 13, 2022
0

Dr. Carl Myers purchase the Platte Medical Clinic in Platte City this week and plans to open his office here in the near future. Dr. Nourbaksh will continue to be located in the Platte Medical Clinic. Mr. and Mrs. Louis...

30 Years Ago–May 15, 1992

by Ivan Foley
May 13, 2022
0

Bob Foster, vice principal of Fort Osage Junior High in northeast Independence, has been hired as principal at West Platte High School in Weston. Two girls tied with the same grade point average have been declared valedictorians of the class...

Next Post

We know better

Popular News

  • Large logistics park planned east of I-29

    Large logistics park planned east of I-29

    198 shares
    Share 79 Tweet 50
  • Area distillery releases first new bourbon in 30 years

    20 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • Memorial Day Weekend Celebration planned

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2
  • City extends lease on temporary police station

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • The Landmark enters 158th year of publication

    6 shares
    Share 2 Tweet 2
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pickem Terms and Conditions
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Online
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Pickem
    • Results by Week
    • Pickem Rules and Help
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • es_MXSpanish

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?