I am beginning to forgive Team Tony Luetkemeyer’s tax increase on young people. As you may recall, he jumped on the “give senior citizens” a tax break bandwagon recently and I had to step off the Team Tony Bandwagon.
I can’t blame Tony; Jefferson City is amuck in confusion. Republicans don’t remember what they stand for and Democrats are busy with pronouns and such and so they rarely pass legislation, but when they do gather to do so it is often silly based things that make good headlines, like “freezing senior citizens’ property taxes.”
Anyway, Team Tony has signed on to oppose the newest rage in education: The four-day academic calendar. Listen, don’t “at me.” You’re not going to change my mind. The four-day school calendar is a continuation of the softening of our citizenry, it has creeped into our everyday society, fueled by a media that scares us into closing, cancelling, and rescheduling nearly everything anymore.
The bill that Luetkemeyer supports would roll back those districts that have moved to four-day weeks and prohibit the change for the districts that have not made the move.
Speaking of the schools, the Park Hill School District took a break from cancellations and awards they’ve given themselves on their social media sites to share this upcoming “banger of a meeting,” DEIB LEARNING SESSION.
Naturally, you ask, what would this be? They described it as such: “Join us at 6 p.m. on Jan. 18 for the second webinar in our Restorative Practice Series. Our guests and thought partner, Collaborative School Culture, will explore elements of restorative practices that help us be more aware of our own (and others’) reactions and feelings to build stronger relationships and the culture of community in the Park Hill School District.”
What the heck is that word salad? I’m a solid 17-18 ACT score guy and I have no idea what that means. What is a thought partner? Is this normal? Do I need a thought partner?
Whenever I see the word “collaborative” I know a bunch of garbage is soon to follow. Be sure to let me know how this one plays out, sounds riveting.
Here are other meeting words you should be wary of:
“Synergy”
“Click in”
“Circle Back”
“Get the ball rolling”
“Be in the loop”
“Thinking outside the box”
If you are in a meeting and someone uses any of these terms, simply get up and leave. Walk swiftly to the door and seek some real-world conversation at a bar, convenience store or local senior center, just don’t fall into this alternative language universe.
I have attended my share of meetings and I regret the time lost for each one. A few years ago, I was in a meeting when they kept talking about “opportunities” and I was confused for nearly 30 minutes. This was a meeting with highly educated university officials, and I finally figured out they were talking about problems and had conveniently renamed problems as “opportunities for improvement” and then shortened that to “opportunities.”
Next time you have a problem, I guess if you call it an opportunity it will make you feel better but nearly no one will understand. Proceed accordingly.
(Guy Speckman can be reached collaborating with this thought partner)