I’d rather not think of Lakota schools, ever.  However, they are in my community and serve as a great example of everything that’s wrong with the public education system.  And they’ve had it for a while, but recently they’ve updated it with some content that many people have pointed out to me as a reaction to me personally.  I have to address it, even though there are many other things to consider in the world.  The biggest problem with government schools is that they assume they have the moral authority to collect property tax money because they have been given, by law, the expectation to provide for the upbringing of children in our society.  So they presume to have a moral foundation that defies criticism from the public, much like a parent might say to a child that they must do as they say, not as they do.  Meaning their authority is not to be questioned, and that is certainly the premise of their “Rumor Has It” section on the school website, which seeks to address rumors that might damage the image they want to nurture with the public.  My suggestion to them is that if they want to maintain a lofty image with the public, they should live a life befitting that image.  And don’t attend education conventions and get drunk, making fools of yourselves.  Or, cover up for bad behavior once you discover it because you fear that the public won’t want to give you tax money from their very valuable real estate transactions.   Be good, do good, and provide a positive role model for kids, and there wouldn’t need to be a damage control page on their website.  But when they act as they do, then try to control the narrative that gets out to the public, they leave themselves wide open to criticisms because they suck a quarter of a billion dollars out of our local economy to advance essentially Democrat political platforms that the rest of the community find reprehensible, such as transgender bathrooms, and woke social policies.

https://www.lakotaonline.com/resources/community-resources/rumor-has-it

I’m certainly not the only one; there are many more people these days who are critical of public schools than when I first started discussing these issues three decades ago.  And for really good reasons.  Public schools are going to change dramatically over the next few years, as I have explicitly warned everyone during that period.  And that is because people no longer find the value in them the way they used to, as a free babysitting service for their children while they are busy at work doing adult things.  That whole experience is something that this most recent generation of moms is dealing with, including the lack of fulfillment in their careers and the social implications of being paid the same as a man, for instance.  That is something that Democrats care about politically.  But biologically, women want a man to be a man, and women don’t want to do the jobs of everyone just to justify some government assumption about dual-income families that they can generate even more tax revenue from.  Many people are rethinking everything, including how schools should teach children and what they should teach.  And many of the people who have chosen to work in the public school system are far behind the curve on the direction education is taking early in the present century.  But what it has been has not given us a society of bright intellects.  It hasn’t produced many Thomas Edisons or Albert Einsteins. Instead, it has given us people who can barely put two sentences together and balance their family budgets.  And they have no moral authority to lecture anybody about anything. 

In the video provided here, I address many of the Rumor Has It bullet points with some context.  The essence of the issue is that there are two main problems with government schools, such as Lakota. One issue is that they have too many lawyers who make excessive profits from the system, and a properly functioning school board is not possible under the current conditions.  The second problem is that PR firms are too heavily involved in their communication process, including the Rumor Has It page.  They are much more interested in controlling the narrative with the community than in listening to and acting on it, and that, over time, has significantly eroded any trust that anybody had in them.  And they did that to themselves.  I think one of the most interesting statements that they make on their Rumor Has It page is the first item, “Lakota Local Schools is committed to being transparent and providing factual information to our community.”  Then immediately after it, they say, “Some of the loudest and most misleading rumors can taint even the strongest of school districts.”  There is a lot said there, but in essence, they have an impression of their social role that they don’t want to be challenged, and they are intent on pushing away any contrary opinions that might not give them the social respect they are seeking.  And to maintain that illusion, a significant amount of money is wasted in the process, including the money spent on PR firms to create a social illusion about the value of government schools, when reality tells an opposite story. 

Ultimately, what it always boils down to with the kind of people who support the John Dewey Public Education utopian vision, which the Democratic Party has built its platform on, is psychological validity in terms of the meaning of life, as well as an assumed parental role.  And parents want to be the parents to their children; they don’t want shared custody with a government school system, and that is at the heart of all education issues and how much we are willing to pay for that service.  Busy parents need someone to watch their kids while they are at work.  Teachers want to think that they can bring meaning to other people’s lives through the education process.  Most administrators are relatively empty individuals and seek to fill that void with social engagement built on big government ideas that earn them community respect they couldn’t obtain any other way.  The creators of public education had socialism and communism from Karl Marx in mind when they attacked property tax as a way to fund a new generation of social indoctrination among the youth, and destroy the concept of private property as the foundation of our entire country.  And once the smoke clears on all that, government schools like Lakota aren’t proud of their American heritage; they are intent on progressive politics that normal people find repulsive.  And the more criticism they have experienced, the deeper they have dug in, making the problem even worse.  I did find one thing very interesting on their Rumor Has It page, where they were backtracking on the proposed levy increases that they had been discussing for the fall election.  They say on their Rumor Has It page that the bond issues to fund the Lakota Master Facilities Plan have not yet been determined.  And I’m sure they said that because of some of my very popular articles on the matter.  Well, I knew they were trying to find an open window to put these levies on the ballot, and they announced it through Michael Clark, their staff reporter, who happens to work for the Journal News.  And he announced the $506 million sweeping facilities plan, which would be issued with two levies on July 1, 2025.  So, like a lot of things on their Rumor Has It page, it’s not a rumor.  However, instead of a PR document trying to control a narrative they don’t like, due to the public reaction to their actions, the article Clark wrote, which typically comes straight from Julie Shaffer’s mouth on the Lakota School Board, indicated two tax hikes on the fall ballot. 

Rich Hoffman

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