I wish I could tell everyone that the Mineral County School Board acted in the interest of the community, but that was not the case last night. As usual, the Board seemed confused as to what their role is in the current state of the school district. It was almost like watching a kids’ marionette puppet comical theatre.

The crown jewel of their accomplishment was giving Superintendent Andre Ponder a second raise, which spans two years. We can thank the board members that negotiated his contract for this clear windfall in his favor. I think the District Attorney also deserves a round of applause for approving a contract that included not only a standard raise, but a trapdoor that gives him a raise anytime the Administrator’s get one as well.

Any ethical person would’ve made some concession given the fact that the windfall was clearly an error, but not Andre Ponder. He was happy to do a money dance with his body language. I personally think it is pitiful that not has he allowed people like Hope Blinco to rob the children for her life of leisure in Human Resources, but he is thrilled to rob depleted coffers and leave small sports teams with no uniforms or gear as a result of his action.

The only real applaudable thing was Stephanie Keuhey who took the time to point out the myriad of shortcomings of both their school board and the Superintendent, Andre Ponder. I have certainly experienced many of the issues that she pointed out, including the lack of transparency. The only separation is now that I am not under their unethical imprisonment they know that I will litigate to get documents if they don’t provide it thanks to the NRS. Probably ten times at this point I have had to remind them that the law provides priority status of open records violation. I obtain documents from numerous Nevada agencies as well as Idaho and Mineral County School District is the only one that shows such contempt for the very people that are paying their way with tax dollars while relying on the next generation to be greater than the last.

I also stand with Stephanie in the fact that if the school board can’t pull anything together except for windfalls for the useless Andre Ponder that they need to be voted out. Our kids, community, and dedicated educational staff absolutely deserve better than what they are getting. You could almost park 5 pet rocks at the table and obtain better results than what is currently happening.

As with every other time, the Board and Superintendent were silent on the whole heat and air not working still. I feel this is important because they know what is wrong with it as do I. The issue is they are so deep in the lies and deceit that I am not sure they remember the truth anymore. Rather than attempting to rectify the problem and obtain assistance, they would rather let Hope Blinco protect those that almost certainly got their pockets lined in the transaction of a deficient system.