As a member of the Memorial/West Task Force, I recently received an e-mail for BOE member Johnny Winston. Doing his best caped crusader, Johnny pontificates to us about saving the day for Leopold families. To wit,
[title of his e-mail] “The Leopold Community Needs School Board Leadership
By Johnny Winston, Jr., Vice President of the Madison School Board” and,
“I pledge to provide strong leadership in both the short and long-range plans for Leopold Elementary school and the affected communities.”
Johnny’s BID IDEA is to build more space at Leopold. Like we haven’t proposed that before.
Among the proclamations he made in his mini missive was this sign off: “The time is now for the Madison school board to provide the leadership necessary to solve Leopold Elementary School’s current overcrowding and the welcomed challenges that growth brings.”

The only thing I like about this comment is how clearly it points to the lack of direction provided by too many of our incumbent school board members.
Johnny – the time to act was (at least) five years ago.
If I learned anything from the work of our task force, it is that the MMSD’s Board of Education has – somehow, some way – been paralyzed over the past several years by long-range PLANNING vs. long-range DOING. Committees, sub-committees, task forces, and meetings. Signs of a political bureaucracy firmly entrenched.
Too many of the current BOE members need to get over themselves, roll up their sleaves, put aside their emotions and egos (which are usually on full display at BOE meetings), and get to work on problem-solving action to address overcrowding – for the long term.