10/14/2026
So I left early tonight.
Not because things were resolved. Not because anyone suddenly developed a curiosity about where millions of taxpayer dollars are going. I just realized I could probably recite the rest of the meeting from memory.
I asked for specific items to be pulled from consent for actual discussion. Debbie Jordan pulled a couple. The other six? Nothing. Lockstep. Again. It’s basically Groundhog Day, except instead of Bill Murray learning important life lessons, we just keep approving expensive stuff.
And then come the greatest hits:
“We’ve always done it this way.”
“Other districts do it too.”
“The budget says UP TO that amount.”
Oh good. “Up to.” I’m sure everyone will suddenly become extremely thrifty once the checkbook opens. That’s not what happened with the never-ending Riverdale Highschool rebuild.
“We were already planning to do this, so why change now?”
I don’t know. Maybe because people asked whether it was necessary? Weird concept.
Meanwhile, Martha Crotty pointed out accounting that appeared to duplicate charges and said it needed to be corrected.
Amber Cebull with Parents for Transparency presented data raising serious questions about whether some of these schools are even needed.
But apparently facts are more of a seasonal offering at the School District of Lee County.
Instead, we get the same song and dance: classrooms lose resources, families are told there’s no money, employees are stretched thinner and thinner…and somehow there is always money available for the priorities connected people want funded.
Funny how that works.
But here’s the part people misunderstand: I don’t go to these meetings because I have some naive little idea that six board members and the superintendent are suddenly going to say, “You know what? Great point. Let’s rethink this.”
They’ve made it pretty clear they’re not listening.
I go because there needs to be a record.
A record showing that members of this community questioned these decisions.
A record showing that people asked where the money was going.
A record showing that people warned them what their choices were doing to teachers, staff, classrooms, students, and families.
Because when the day finally comes that everyone starts asking, “How did we get here?” there will be a paper trail approximately the length of I-75 showing exactly how.
Joyce Campana called them “shenanigans.”
Honestly, “shenanigans” feels almost kind at this point.
The bigger question is how long it takes the rest of Lee County to recognize what is happening to public education, follow the money, and decide we’ve had enough.
Until then, you can find me at the monthly School Board meetings. Somebody has to keep the receipts.
