You have a singular wit, Steve.

Poking fun at recent debacles is not unifying --

it's too early.

I attended the “new” Perry Township School Board meeting last August 11th and was, mostly, very pleased.

The new Board President, Steve Maple, ran the meeting efficiently. He has a kind disposition; he kept members and audience on-track, so the meeting lasted only one hour. The three newly-elected board members gave the room a warm glow. It’s obvious that there was much less tension in the air...

Both new and old board members were talking up "coming together," "unity," "moving ahead" and "this is all behind us." Nothing is wrong with that essentially, but someone really needs to talk to Maple about his troublesome spontaneous "wit," which can be very dis-unifying.

At the Board meeting as Dr. Debra Barnes Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum was recommending the next text book the district would adopt, Maple interrupted her and asked: “is the Freedom Writer’s Diary going to be part of that too?” Instantly you heard groans from others who were embarrassed that Maple would say something so, well, not funny. Of course, Maple was referring to the recent huge controversy surrounding Perry Meridian High School teacher Connie Heermann, who was suspended by the Board for an incredible 18-months for using the Freedom Writer’s Diary in her classroom…they say, without permission. I’m not real sure what Maple meant: whether he just wanted to tease Barnes, in public, about the not-so-recent past (inadvisable to say the least) — or whether he was making fun of the still on-going, rather bitter controversy with Heermann. All I know is that after he said that, he held up stacks of letters which were in protest of Heermann’s suspension. Maple added, "In these letters we have been called Nazis, communists, censors. I don't want to be on TV anymore, just run this Board. The board has been terribly misrepresented by the media.”

Well, if Maple wants no more controversy (i.e., TV time) better leave his “singular wit” at home. With the board spinning the unity angle -- comments like Maple's won't work. It also makes you wonder just how fair Maple (or the rest of the board) was to Ms. Heermann in her gruelling two-day Hearing last March.

I don’t need to tell you how many open wounds we still have in this township. And all of us are cognizant that these wounds were caused — in part — by the three remaining, now-innocent-looking board members (Maple included). So if the new Board wants to talk unity, they better not dredge up the past and be sarcastic about it at Heermann's and her 150 orphaned students’ expense!

There is nothing funny about this board’s not-to-recent past. Instead of talking about unity and poking jokes at recent controversy — the Board needs to do something tangible: like start healing today what some of this Board broke yesterday.