Who Should Be Atop the "Loser" List?

Should it be Rick Outzen of the InWeekly?

Rick outzen, publisher of Rick's Blog and Inweekly,  put me on his loser list for not supporting A.A. Dixon Charter School.  But I voted to accept their Corrective Action Plan to give them the rest of this year to come out of financial and academic challenges.

Here's my email to Rick:

Rick,


I see that you've placed me atop your weekly list of losers, which I feel is a bit unfair.

Remember, I voted to accept the Superintendent's recommendation to accept A.A. Dixon's CAP at the last meeting. (which is recorded online--go look for yourself) In fact, it was a unanimous 5-0 vote. I don't think they are out of the woods, but I voted to give them a chance. This makes me a big "loser" in your opinion?

A.A. Dixon violated their contract with the district and have some significant financial issues which necessitated close scrutiny by the school board--surely you don't find fault with that?

And in your outtakes, you make an assertion that the school district has failed to address education in the inner city--however you are wrong in this. The district, and I, have stood shoulder to shoulder with Jackie Harris Prep, just ask Celestine Lewis.

We also have made tremendous strides at Weis, Montclair, and yes, Warrington Middle.

Look, it is apparent that you dislike me--I get that. But if you want to call me a loser, try to find a subject to base this upon which is reflective of reality. With respet to A.A. Dixon--you are wrong

But this is not the only time you've made baseless, inaccurate accusations about the district that you've been proven wrong about:

1. You said we violated law with respect to DCF reporting protocols at Tate--you were proven wrong, no retraction

2. Recently, you stated in your blog that the district was going to pocket Title I money that was earmarked for A.A. Dixon, and this was the reason we were motivated to close this school. (totally false) Again, this was proven to be false yet you offer no retraction.

3. You state we fail at offering educational opportunities in the inner city, yet we've just spent $20Million at GLA which serves inner-city youth--you neglect to mention this as you attack us for being failures while you skip the ribbon cutting at GLA.

Try to get some of these stories about the district right for a change, why don't you?

If you can't, don't, or won't--how about just putting yourself on the top of the "loser" list, as that is what you will be (are?).



Jeff Bergosh

Escambia County School Board, Dist. 1
850-469-6147
http://www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us