Do as I say, not as I do

Updated below 7:50 a.m.

C’mon, you didn’t really think I was going to let this one go, did you?   Don Roberts writes on Alameda Daily News:

In yesterday’s edition of the Alameda Journal, Eve Pearlman incorrectly wrote in her front page column, that the position of School Boardmember “pays nothing”. In fact, each Board Member is entitled to a maximum payment of $300 per month for attending 2 meetings, or is entitled to a payment of $150 per month for attending only one meeting. Eve Pearlman could have obtained that information with a simple phone call to the School District prior to publishing her false column. Pretty dweeby, Eve.

I was disappointed that this wasn’t closed with a signature “tch tch tch” from Don R., but I guess he decided that the “dweeby” was condescending enough.   Here’s the ironic thing about Don R.’s finger wagging at Eve Pearlman telling her that she could have obtained the information about the School Board members’ stipends with “a simple phone call.”   Had Don R. made that same “simple phone call” or perhaps combed the depths of his memory he would have recalled that the School Board had voted a few months ago during the height of the budget talks to suspend receiving both their stipends and health benefits (for those that choose to opt for the health benefits).   In fact, according to Board Member Mike McMahon, as of July 1 the Board stopped receiving the stipend and for those that have the health benefits also stopped receiving those benefits.

So when Eve P. wrote in her column:

So let us have respect for these five individuals, all of whom are vying for a position that comes with a huge workload, bucket loads of responsibility and yet pays nothing.

As of July 1, this position became a non paying one and so Eve P. was right in describing the role of a School Board member as one that comes with huge responsibility for no compensation at all.   Had Eve P. written this column on June 30, perhaps Don R. could take the satisfaction of calling her wrong, but unfortunately no satisfaction can be derived from this incident of “who’s dweeby now?”   Of course, Don R. could have just typed into google the following search term: alameda AND school board AND stipend and he would have turned up this Alameda Sun article which describes what happened with the stipends:

…Cut items that were left off the comeback list include the board’s stipends (about $100 per month each)…

Superintendent Ardella Daily answered [Janet] Gibson’s charge, saying that “the language in Measure H does not support administrative salaries,” and she took that to mean no board stipends, in keeping with the spirit of the measure in saving programs first. Gibson argued that it is important for board members to be trained, and that being a board member can add up, cost-wise. “Some people don’t need the stipends; some people do. I think it should be up to the individual,” she said. “”It’s not very effective to make such a small token sacrifice.”

Other board members sided with Dailey’s interpretation…[Bill]Schaff said he sees his role as a volunteer community-service position. “Even if [the stipend] seems like a small amount, it makes a very strong statement that we’re putting the district first,” he said before calling for a vote…

Even more puzzling than Don R,’s failure to take his own advice was the headline which calls her column a “false column.”  I’m not really sure what a “false column” is, but I assume it’s not a good thing.

Update

Good thing I screen capped the post from yesterday because it has since been removed and Don R. and with him as always is ADN has retracted his statements, blaming it on the school district giving him the wrong information.   Of course, in true Don R. fashion even his retraction and correction contains errors, incorrectly spelling Eve Pearlman’s last name (Pearl like the jewel not Perl like the programming language) and incorrectly identifying Andy Currid as a School Boardmember.