A School System Family

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(This Post was written on Saturday by School Board member Robert Ohneiser after attending a LCPS employee’s funeral, but I neglected to post it up until now. I sincerely apologize for the delay. Thank you Bob for your contribution! – P13)

Can you really have a family of four thousand members most of whom are teachers?

I am now a believer. This morning (Saturday – P13), the Christ the Redeemer Church was filled to the brim with teary eyed family members which I believe were mostly teachers and administrators of the Loudoun County School System. As a school board member I attended the funeral of Laurie McDonald out of respect/admiration for her contribution to our community over some 38 years.

While listening to the positive comments by her peers regarding the fun they had at principal meetings I realized that school board members have been denied access to such meetings even if we promise to sit quietly on the side of the room to observe. Not only are school board members denied such access to the information flow among the leaders of the school sytem but now I realize that as a person of interest I had been denied the opportunity to see the McPrincipals in action. (McManus, McGinley and McDonald). Perhaps being able to watch the leaders of the school system is such a way might have allowed a better chance to viscerally appreciate what this wonderful woman brought to her job everyday. The setting today was impressive and I am convinced the teachers of Loudoun County have formed a bond that even death has a tough time breaking.

If I have the privilege of serving for another term on the school board I am going to revisit the level of transparency with which the school system is run and ask for a vote of the new members to allow any of us at any time to have access to management meetings. With a student population fast approaching 70,000, an employee base of nearly 10,000 with a yearly budget approaching $800 Million one has to start to question if school board members can really stay engaged in their representative responsibilities by having the primary source of their information delivered through one person’s perspective.

I was very proud of our school system today because at its heart are people who are truly caring of each other and of our children just like a good family would.

20 thoughts on “A School System Family”

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  2. Barbara Munsey

    I understood the resplendent Al part. It was the “One on the most so” paired with it that gave me a bit of pause, but late hour could explain the typo.

  3. Loudoun Insider

    Larry Roeder and Tom Bellanca are a match made in … well, somewhere. Who is in charge of LCDC candidate search and recruitment anyway? You guys really are giving the LCRC a run for the money in picking wacky far-out candidates.

  4. Larry roeder

    Guess it is too late at night or I have away from boarding school too long. The Latin phrase simply meant Gore is brilliant, or splendid. I certainly always felt so, and do today. I knew the gentleman’s work through his efforts in emergency management. He took some things a lot of us were doing to the next level and developed a major global satellite concept which I eventually helped manage. Hs idea was to provide any government free satellite data at the onset of a sudden emergency in order to save lives and reduce property damage. The concept now is enshrined in the Charter, an international project. Seeing that opportunity was truly Sit splendens. Not a political act. Just great policy and American leadership.

  6. Barbara Munsey

    Agreed on the lower case “r”, however, if someone is spoofing him, they have his style down pretty well.

    I await with interest.

  10. Barbara Munsey

    “Gore Sit splendens. One on the most so.”

    That might make a very interesting bumper sticker.

    (David, are we all still politicizing a funeral, or has it moved on?)

  12. BlackOut

    I find it a little concerning that you found anything worth learning from Al Gore. Probably not a good thing to say on the campaign trail.

  13. Larry roeder

    What I also appreciate about public schools is their non partisan nature, in other their exposure to all points of political view. I learned from both sides of the aisle in life, whether it was conversations with Ronald Reagan on Poland and public speaking, or what I learned from Al Gore on the climate. In a smaller way, public schools do the same thing.

  14. Larry roeder

    Bob, you are truly the best, a humanitarian and a man of real substance. It is essential that school board members have full access. What bothers me so often in the current political debate is some of our partners in public discourse have failed to understand the importance of full investing in our schools. How can we continue to be the leader of the free world if we fail our kids? I am a product of public, private and church related school. All of those choices are wonderful; but the specialness of the public school system is how it causes boys and girls to learn together in a unique multi-cultural, multi-lingual environment. As a Supervisor, I will be your partner in that journey.

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