The Lakota School Board Has Always Been Political: So why do they want peace now?

Wait a minute, why was Julie Shaffer crying at the Lakota school board meeting on September 12^th? After all, she has been one of the most vicious political activists on the school board over the years. She has come after me before, quite viciously. In 2012, after Lakota had suffered its third levy defeat and figured that the only way they would ever win a tax increase from the community was to get rid of me, they came after me in a very public way, not in a softball manner. So since they couldn’t beat me in debate, Julie worked with several school board members and the Cincinnati media to destroy me viciously, which has been well chronicled. For most people, what she and the Lakota school board did to me would have destroyed them, and they didn’t care what it did to my family, life, or reputation in the community. They just wanted me gone, and they took the kill shot, and so did the Cincinnati media, which was hooked in lockstep with them, just as they are today. I have recently watched them do the same thing to Darbi Boddy. After voters elected her, the Lakota school board decided they didn’t want her, so they conspired to get rid of her viciously, with fangs out, and ruthlessly, blowing on the fires of liberal activism throughout the community. They didn’t care one bit what it might do to Darbi, her family, or her reputation. They simply wanted to destroy her in any way possible. 

But then, at the school board meeting’s closing comments, it came time for Julie to provide her’s; fighting back the tears, she said, “that I wish that people could remember that this is more than political theater and that these are people’s lives and future and what they worked for their entire career, and there are more people involved and that these are more than people’s points on a score card.” Well, isn’t that an astonishing statement? Who would have figured that she would say such a thing, given her track record? But then that opens up a whole new can of worms. Suppose she has such a public double standard depending on the political situation. How much bad behavior has she been willing to explain away in the past, knowing what this information tells us about her? I already know the answer, but for you, dear reader, let’s just have a little fun with it. For many years, I have heard of many cover-up stories that the Lakota school board has whitewashed. My hope was that with the current school board candidates that maybe that would change. But as soon as Darbi was elected, the knives came out, and surprisingly, Lynda did not come to her defense like I expected that she would and should. I have not been a fan of public education for many years now. I think teaching kids a progressive, liberal education is a huge waste of money. But I have worked with school board members like Lynda over the years to try and save the system. I have come to the defense of many who found themselves without a voice where the media did not want to tell their stories of bad conduct inflicted upon them to improve the school. I didn’t let my feelings toward people like Julie Shaffer inspire a campaign of complete destruction of the public school system in my district. I’ve held back a lot to make the thing work because I knew there were people like Lynda there trying to make it better. 

But then I heard at that same meeting Lynda gave a strange interpretation of the police report, which is available from the Sheriff’s Department as a public record’s request. Anybody can see it and read it, yet Lynda had a strange interpretation of it. She said, “there are no credible allegations against Mr. Miller. The Sheriff’s Office completed its investigation and found there was ‘no probable cause to initiate criminal charges.'” Well, actually, what the police report says at the end of a description of really extraordinary allegations and a police investigation that seems unreal is that the prosecutor said, “at this time,” as in to mean there wasn’t enough evidence at that point to further criminal charges. It does not “clear” Matt Miller as the media and Lynda said it did. Rather, it eludes to much more, suggesting that there may be more to come. What is implied, knowing some of the inside information from the various witnesses, is that it is hoped that this police report will shut down the investigation unless the public demands more. If the public does, then the prosecutor’s behind would be covered to further the investigation. What is astonishing is that Lynda establishes herself as the judge as to whether or not witnesses are credible or not. So what does that say about the school board that she leads? If someone comes forward with information that the school board doesn’t like, does that mean that the school board doesn’t take it seriously? If the Board is anti-Darbi, anti-Tea Party, anti-Republican, does that mean they will disregard the information if it comes from those sources? I have known Lynda O’Conner for a fifth of my life and think of her as a smart woman. A well-intentioned woman. These statements by her seem strange, not her. But then again, maybe the only reason I’ve ever had a relationship with her was for her to keep her enemies close. Nothing would surprise me. Like I say, always judge people based on what they do, not what they say. 

The hypocrisy of it all is that, on the one hand, the school board is all about politics so long as they are destroying the people they don’t want around. But, they will rally to their own people even if those people are guilty as can be, which everyone should find alarming. This isn’t some conspiracy theory; we see this publicly at school board meetings. Compare the police report with what the Board said at the meeting, and everything becomes very clear. Matt Miller created his own problems. Yes, people have a problem with his behavior and are making their opposition known. But people like Julie Shaffer and her school board accomplices set the ground rules for bloodthirsty politics long ago. They take public money to function, and I wouldn’t say I like paying it for the garbage we get from each graduating class. Lynda knows how I felt, but we still worked together to assemble a nice school board that represented the public more than we had. I am surprised that she turned on Darbi as she did. I was also surprised to hear her say the things she did at the latest school board meeting. But then again, maybe not. You never really find out about people until you go through the pressure cooker with them. If Matt hadn’t done what he did to Darbi with the help of the Board led by Lynda and people like Julie to destroy her completely, then the witnesses against Matt Miller would have probably never had the strength to speak out for themselves and go public with the information that has the Lakota superintendent in so much trouble now. He did it to himself. People are only willing to take so much, and because of what those antagonists did at Lakota toward conservatives in the community, over a long period of time, they have asked for what is happening now. And if Lynda doesn’t think the person who was married to Matt, and her many friends wasn’t a credible witness even after the police did their interviews, maybe she is having trouble with definitions these days, just as she obviously has with the police report.

Rich Hoffman