Fallout

Today has been a bit nuts. Nobody is talking about anything but schools. Everyone is upset.

One woman came to see me today to thank me for speaking at last night's meeting. She said she had called 40 parents the night before to get the word out.

I also talked to some parents who have kids in the Catholic system. In contrast to what their board would have you believe, we freely associate with Catholic parents and are happy to, um, SHARE lots of things with them.

I do not want to speak for parents in the other system. Heck, I don't even want to speak for parents in my own system. But I'm pretty sure of a few things:

• They are concerned about the lack of space in their schools. They want something to be done about it. But they don't want it to happen this way.
• They are upset to see so many people so angry, and they don't want to be the cause of this anger. Some have said that they are embarrassed about the things that have been said and done on their behalf.
• In direct contrast to what their school board would have them believe, they are no different from us. In fact, it's stupid for me even to be using the words "they" and "us". We're all the same.
  

I thought one thing was interesting, though. The word "share" has been tossed around a lot, without really explaining what that means. I agree that there's a lot of room for interpretation here, and I don't know what other people might mean by it. But here's what I mean:

I mean that I personally would welcome Catholic students into the schools that I fund with my tax dollars. Pick a school and use any extra space. Fill up the empty classrooms with your students. Share the computer lab, the gymnasium and the library. Use the photocopier and help to clear the paper jams. Take turns manning the phone lines when the bomb threats come in. At the end of the day, send your students home on the same bus my son uses.

I'm not sure why this offer would be so completely rejected.