BA Gets Punked By School System Recommendation ... We Hope

On March 21, Broken Arrow Public Schools' High School Configuration Study Steering Committee (try saying that five times fast) somehow reached a consensus regarding a recommendation about how to rework the Broken Arrow High School and its population growth. The article (which you can read in its entirety here: BAPS Preliminary Recommendation Article) goes on about two years worth of research and data to reach their recommendation, and to the horror of the community revealed a plan that is the most divisive, dangerous, and economically destructive plan I have ever seen in my life. After I thought, "How are they going to pay for all of that?", I eventually came down to the conclusion that this has to be a joke.

It has to be. There are eighteen people on the steering committee consisting of all ages from high school students to retirees and even the current BAHS principal. How did these people put this plan together and not realize the disastrous implications of it? No one along the way considered any of the ways this could go horribly wrong? Nobody? It's got to be someone's pet project. Got to be. There's just no other way this is real. Maybe I misinterpreted it. Maybe they left out some key words that would change it all. Or maybe it is what it says it is.

Walk with me through the ways this plan can take Broken Arrow from a thriving suburb with an enviable school system to complete ruin. Note that this is my impression of this plan, but I also think that if you come up with something that has even a chance of going this badly, you gotta come up with something else.

And just so you know, I'm a Broken Arrow native. I grew up here. I went to Northeast Elementary (now Rhodes), Sequoyah Middle, North Intermediate, and graduated from Broken Arrow High School. I remember the Sound and Spirit of Broken Arrow marching bands and their rivalry as was a member of the Broken Arrow Pride. I now live in Broken Arrow with my wife and three children who are 6th, 9th, and 12th graders. Moving on...

So first, let's deal with the core of the recommendation. They want to split the current high school campus by leveraging the current Freshman Academy as a second high school. Their idea is to have a max population at the original campus of up to 4,350 students and a population of the Freshman campus of up to 1,950 students. Yeah, that's a lot. There's also an "Options Academy" that isn't thoroughly explained, but it's supposed to have 650 students. This building is currently the "Alternative Academy." I'll let you guess what it's for. Eventually, they plan on adding STEM classes or something and then eventually, eventually add a third high school if the community votes in a $200 million bond in 2027. The number split by that time will be 3250 at campus 1, 2250 at campus 2, and 3250 at campus 3. They refer to these as "comprehensive 9-12 grade high schools."

Here's the problem. Our current high school is what you might call a Rolls Royce of high schools. It is the largest one in the state of Oklahoma and has all kinds of amenities for students to use. The sheer size of it grants programs of unparalleled specialization because you have that many different interests to fuel them. My own child is in a class of eight people because of it specialization. It has twelve but four dropped at semester. You only get that in a student body of this size on a campus of this magnitude.

The Freshman Academy is ... well, not that. Compared to the high school, it's a ... well, 3 door hatchback. One with an engine so small that you can't put an air conditioner on it without burning out the engine and it only comes with a manual 5-speed transmission. No automatic. Engine too small. One of the "great things" about splitting the high school was supposed to be increased opportunities for more students. The theory here is that when you have two schools, you have, say, two football teams and now, more kids can make the teams. Well, the Freshman Academy doesn't have the facilities to support a football team, really. It barely has a stadium. Additionally, when you split the population like that, you dilute the talent base. You have two teams, sure, but they're only half as good. You also lose that specialization I mentioned. all those neat classes you can have with a massive student body? You can't do those in a smaller school because two or three students don't make a class. They won't be offered.

Let us not forget, though, that while this smaller school is attempting to validate itself, the original one is still sitting out there in all its luxurious glory. That means that in this town, you'd have the "good" school and the "bad" school ... well, it isn't bad so much as the one that's not as good as the good one. Kids will pick up on this and hate that they're not going to the high school they were promised in the beginning. They're going to graduate from BAPS, and one of their memories will be that they didn't get to go to the good school. Teenagers are grumpy about school anyway, and we want to encourage this? Well, I suppose that will also decrease the population. Parents will also pick up on this which leads to my next point.

Schools fuel where people live. When looking for a house, realtors always put down which school district the house is in. People want to live where their kids will go to a particular school. To date, living in Broken Arrow Schools meant that you would attend the fabulous Broken Arrow High School and get all that that entails. In the future, realtors will need to notate which BAHS the kid would attend. The good one up north or the other one down south. Given the choice between the Rolls and the hatchback, which would you pick? The Rolls comes with its own driver, by the way...

Yup, you picked the Rolls. Who would live in the zone with the other school? The people who are already there, of course. You know, there is already talk of leaving the district or moving up north by people on the south side if this goes through? Already. And this is "just the preliminary recommendation." Fast forward that a few years, and what do you have? A wasteland of empty houses in south Broken Arrow. The former Indian Springs neighborhood where houses went for hundreds of thousands of dollars now can't sell a single one because the people who can afford those houses can also afford the ones closer to the good school. Businesses dry up and close. I know a business owner who considered opening a restaurant in South BA. He's now waiting to see what happens with this school thing cause he's not willing to build anything if it passes. He knows what's coming. Another friend advised his mother to sell out of her house quickly if it goes through. You know, before the market drops and you lose your equity.

Will this happen? Who knows, but it's not only pretty dark but fairly plausible since people are already talking about doing things that would fuel this scenario. We're pretty scared about it on this end which is why I think this plan has got to be a joke. How could a group of people be so blind to not consider the economic repercussions of a plan that would affect their entire city? This whole thing is fueled by population growth. I don't know. Maybe the plan is to stifle the growth so they don't need that third high school. This certainly looks like an effective way to do it. I really don't know how they could have missed it. I went from plan synopsis to Armageddon in only a few paragraphs. Like I said in the beginning, we're being punked here.

You may note that I listed a bunch of problem adjectives above. Could there be more wrong with this beyond economic ruin? Oh yes. This thing has yet more problems beyond just driving our town to bankruptcy. Another reason this seriously must be a joke.

How about the core problem in above that leads us to this ruin? Unequal schools. This is not how Broken Arrow Public Schools makes such a change. Historically, when the district needs to split a school (at the elementary or middle school levels), it always builds a new school that is superior to the old one. They've always done this. Highland Park and Oneta Ridge are a couple of the newest, I believe, and they are amazing. At least from the outside. I've never been inside, but the exterior looks great. When I see the Freshman Academy, I see South Intermediate High School with a different name. The inside hasn't changed much, I hear, in thirty years. Of course, there have been changes, but it's mostly the same. That's not the way we do things around here. You see, Broken Arrow people are spoiled, demanding, friendly, and unified. We want things a certain way, and the plan doesn't deliver that in the way they've always done it.

Broken Arrow has always resisted a high school split. Always. They were discussing this when I was at the high school in the 90s. We were getting bigger, but the community did not want their school split up. Why? A huge reason is community unity. We are the Broken Arrow Tigers. The whole town is. Every middle school has the Tiger as its mascot. Everyone from all over our city works together for the students because every single person knows that every child in our city, regardless of where they're going to elementary or middle school, will end up together in a single community at the high school. When I was in school, we had a rivalry between North and South Intermediate, but at the end of a band competition when North and South took 1st and 2nd, someone from South came up to me and randomly gave me a hug. She said, "I don't know who you are, man, but I'll see you in the Pride." In that moment, the rivalry melted away, and we were one city. One team. One band. One people. We want to remain one city, and a high school split threatens that one thing we hold most dear. Our unity. We love that we're one. Love it. That aspect is why someone people came here. They don't like towns that are split over their school structure. I love that when I talk about Broken Arrow, I don't have to qualify anything. Broken Arrow is one city. Why would we do something to destroy that unity?

It goes further than that. I mentioned the Pride in my last paragraph. The Pride of Broken Arrow is one of Broken Arrow's most nationally known items after Kristen Chenoweth. The Pride has a member who came to Broken Arrow from Indiana because he wanted to be part of it after seeing them on a national competitive stage. The Pride's shows are unlike any marching band show you've ever seen. Seriously, look them up on YouTube. They have won the National Marching Band Championships with Bands of America three times, but their shows are amazing every time. A bitter school rivalry dissolved with the words, "I don't know who you are, man, but I'll see you in the Pride." People who aren't part of it don't understand that being in the Pride was not about winning. We didn't win OBA my senior year, but it was still amazing. I met my wife in the Pride, so it is part of my life's fabric. The idea that the school planners would throw this and so many other programs away hurts. The Pride isn't the only nationally awarded program in the high school. As we've been discussing this, the list just kept growing from other fine arts programs like Show Choir to Cheerleading to Debate. Broken Arrow is on the map of the world because they are awesome and this awesomeness comes from our unity. Together we can change the world as long as we remain together. Why oh why would you want to ruin that?

I love this town, and I love these schools. I don't think the planning committee knows what they are dealing with even though they have the current principal and a former director of the Pride on it. These elements alone make me think this plan is someone else's. Not a recommendation of the committee so much as the brain child of someone who doesn't understand Broken Arrow or what the high school structure means to us.

So what can we do? There is no denying that the growth of the student population is a legitimate problem that needs a solution. Well, let me share what I initially thought this proposal was giving us. You see, I went in with a positive mindset and real into it what I thought it must be saying before I realized none of these words were in the article.

One proposal for fixing the growth was an Academy or University model. This means that regardless of where you went to a high school campus in Broken Arrow, that campus was part of Broken Arrow High School. All the opportunities and classes from every campus were available to you, as a student. You simply might have to travel to a different campus to take advantage of it. The core of everything would still be at the original campus while satellite campuses primarily housed core and common classes. The multiple locations were their biggest advantage. For instance, there are classes for students at Tulsa Technical College which is only a few miles from the Freshman Academy, but quite a distance from the Senior High. It would be advantageous for a Tech student to attend classes at Tulsa Tech and then only have a few miles to their closest campus for the remainder of their day, even if they have a sports practice of some kind at the main campus later. You see, when I first read the proposal, that is what went through my head because that fits Broken Arrow. We keep our unity, but the student body gets dispersed to convenient locations around town more conducive to their homes. It's a simple solution where everyone wins. No businesses shut down. People don't move away. You end up at the campus that is best for your path while losing none of the grand opportunities the size gives you, and Broken Arrow, as a city, keeps its unity. We continue to support one high school and one set of programs. Third school building? No problem. More student dispersal and growth is supported while maintaining everything we have now. It even follows their timeline.

What they have put before us can be read two ways. One way gives us an answer to a problem in the best way possible to allow unlimited growth while maintaining our city's unity and high school opportunities. The other divides us and brings us to economic ruin. If it's the former, I fully support it. If it is the latter. Seriously, we're being punked.

Addendum 3/29/2017: I posted a link to this blog post on the Broken Arrow Public Schools Facebook page as a comment to a recent post about this topic. They deleted it. So their definition of an "open discussion" only involves opinions they like? Suspicious...

Unusual Words

Being a writer, I like a wide variety of words, and over the years, I've amassed quite a few words that have some specific meanings that English doesn't have a word for. Some of these I've pulled from other languages, some were swiped from a couple of articles on Cracked.com about words, but I figured I'd share them all right here today.


grevaldor (noun) - (pronounced grev-ALL-door) a parent who has experienced the death of a child. A person who has lost a child. Based on the Old French grever which is the root word for grieve and Old English ealdor for parent.


prepone (verb) - to rescheduled something to occur prior to its previously scheduled time. The opposite of postpone.


stinn (noun) - a person who is standing in a stationary position blocking whatever it is you need to do for no discernable reason. This most often applies to two people talking in front of a sink or water cooler without actually using those items. Sentences: "I needed to refill my water, but I couldn't make the stinn move." "The stinns were blind to the world talking football in front of the restroom door, so I figured I'd just go upstairs."


prax (noun) - Anyone trying to sneak more than the posted maximum allowed items in an express lane at a grocery store. "It clearly says 10 items or less, and that prax has 15."
prax (verb) - the act of taking more than the posted maximum allowed item in an express lane at a grocery store. "You'll never be able to prax with that many items." Future sign at an express lane: "No Praxing"


drevend (noun) - an item you want to deal with or accomplish at some point, but probably never will. Usually part of a list of other, similar items. "He ranked reading the Bible with the other drevends in his life." "As they searched through his effects, one drevend after another revealed itself." "The 1001 movies you must watch before you die is more of a list of drevends than something anyone might actually do."


neech (noun) - An inevitable, obvious, and often childish, comeback or notion (that may or may not be clever) that someone (who clearly thinks they are clever) felt they had to say eventually about a subject. "I had to concede to the neech that yes, Queen of Hearts does sound like Queen of Farts." "Yes, I have heard the neech that the Retardis was the slower second version of the Tardis."


requiz (verb) - 1. to ask the same question over and over again. 2. to ask an incessant number of questions past the point of logical understanding of the subject. requizzer (noun) someone who requizzes. "The new person has requizzed me so many times, I'm not sure they'll understand." "How many times can we requiz this subject?" "I try to steer clear of requizzers. Too much time lost."


probochondriac (noun) - someone who has the same problem over and over again. "This probochondriac has managed to break their PC a dozen times this week."


Slacosphere (noun) -  1. a region consisting of a cluster of non-productive people, aka slackers. "Henderson works up on the 17th floor in the slacosphere with the rest of those boneheads." 2. a room designed for the sole purpose of avoiding productivity. "Have a seat on the comfy couch and check out my new 84" flatscreen, the centerpiece of my slacosphere."


rollaction (noun), rollact (verb) - the literal eye roll or reaction your wife gives when you do those weird little things she loves about you that she rolls her eyes at every time. "Tell that joke she's heard before? She rollacts as expected."




backashan - a beautiful girl, as long as she is viewed from behind. Similar to butterface, as in everything about her its hot but her face. Etymology: from Japanese Bakku-Shan

stairway comeback - when you think if the perfect verbal comeback...much too late - Etymology: Espirit d'escalier (French)

Lapinye - a look between two people that suggests a shared, unspoken desire - Etymology: Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan)

Backfang - a person with a face badly in need of a fist. As in smug or not knowing when not to say something stupid or embarrassing - Etymology: Backpfeifengesicht (German)

Nunchi - the art of not becoming a backfang (backpfeifengesicht). As in knowing when not to say something to get punched. - Etymology: Nunchi (Korean)

Shlematzle - someone who had nothing but bad luck - Etymology: Shlimazl (Yiddish)

Tatamay & honay (ta-ta-may & hoe-nay) - what you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively. - Etymology: Tatemae & honne (Japanese)

Malareach - when people interrupt you at meal time - Etymology: Sgiomlaireachd (Scottish gaelic)

Tingo - to borrow from a friend until he has nothing left - Etymology: Tingo (Pascuense)

macgyver - to pull a MacGyver. The art of slapping together a solution to a problem at the last minute with no advanced planning and no resources. - Etymology: Desenrascanco (Portuguese)

Shemojam - to eat past the point if being full just because the food tastes good. Lit. I accidentally ate the whole thing - Etymology: Shemomedjamo (Georgian)

sad-weight - excess weight gained from emotional overeating. - Etymology: Kummerspeck (German) Lit. Grief bacon

Kikamore - a teenager or 20 something who has withdrawn from society, often obsessed with TV and video games. - Etymology: Hikikomori (Japanese)

Nomborshule - an answer that is unrelated to the question. ex. to give a nomborshule. - Etymology: Gadrii nombor shulen jongu (Tibetan) Lit. Giving a green answer to a blue question

dorcheck - to go outside to check if an expected visitor has arrived, over and over again. - Etymology: Iktsuarpok (Inuit)

Kail - an ugly miserable woman who yells obscenities at her kids - Etymology: Kaelling (Danish)

snidebow - a building (often little our no value to the proprietor) constructed with the sole purpose of harassing or inconveniencing his neighbor in some way.  - Etymology: Neidbau (German) Lit. Envy building

grammar nazi - a person who believes it is their destiny to stamp out all spelling and punctuation mistakes at the cost of popularity, self-esteem, and mental well-being. Etymology: Pilkunnussija (Finnish) Lit. Comma Fuckers

==

Butterface - A person, usually a girl, who is beautiful everywhere except in the face.

Lie-chiatrist - An unqualifie person who diagnoses themselves with a mental illness that they don't actually have, for the sole purpose of using it as an easy go-to excuse for their irresponsible behavior.

Gasterval - the period between when a relationship starts and when you first openly fart in front of your partner

Bleakfast - the first meal of the day, consisting of cold leftover from the night before

Intelliduh - stupid actions or words by an otherwise intelligent person

slocking - a popular online pastime best known for being cruise control for cool (having something to do with CAPS LOCK)

zeitgaffe - a cultural reference that is sufficiently inaccurate or outdated to demonstrate that the make of the reference is out of touch with, or separate from, the prevailing group

malamorous - Of a villain in a work, being appealing to fans despite being the antagonist of the work, often because of handsome appearance or justifiable motivation

Friendstipation - the inability to poop when somebody you know might hear

Necroliker - someone who likes a post on Facebook about the loss of a loved one.

Xacuate - The process of attempting to rapidly close a web page before it can be seen by someone else.

Gamacho - The undeserved sense of grandeur and arrogance an individual gets at winning a video game, often making the game miserable for other players.

Wikinius - a person who claims to be an expert in a cetain topic when it's clear they've only read the wikipedia entry on it.

Factoidiot (fack-TOID-ee-uht) - 1. a person who (often incorrectly) quotes a movie or TV show they've never seen. 2. A person who repeats a bit of trivia and knows nothing else about the subject.

yammertia - The resistance of a tiresome, one-sided conversation to any change in its state of motion

apostraphy - The phenomenon of losing supporters in an Internet argument due to the inability to express oneself in proper grammar, orthography, and punctuation.

obstacolleague - a co-worker whose inability to work well (or work at all) forces you to neglect your own duties - so you can fix their mess.

Meeternity - 1. An unproductive business meeting that feels as if it will never end. 2. A string of pointless meetings that last all day halting productivity.

Malaproboner - an inappropriate or inopportune erection of the penis

Consterpation - 1. a long, painful conversation in which every word in a struggle to get out. 2. an awkward dialogue characterized by long pauses and uncomfortable silences.

McRibocrite - a person who complains about how disgusting fast food is, but eats it anyway.

Camoufanning - turning on a bathroom fan to muffle pooping noises

Interawktion - a moment wherein you and a person you've just met share an uncomfortable silence because you've shared something overly weird and/or personal

Soapbombing - deliberately steering all conversations towards one particular issue about which you are very outspoken.

cinefalsity - the spontaneous act of lying to someone about seeing a movie or TV show when you know you haven't.

qui-goner - a character who you always knew was going to die, right from the first scene.

Eleventurer - a master of one-upmanship. the person given to articulating the details of his possessions and his accomplishments deemed to be superior to any you might mention: his higer horsepower, more megapixels, better concert seats, longer workout, etc.

Moistery - inexplicable dampness

keyjam - the dirt, grime, and gunk found in between the keys of a keyboard

lactease - to place any size container of milk back in a refrigerator with only a half fluid ounce remaining at the bottom.

viewgling - intentional search of the internet for plot points and spoilers of movies, so you never again have to hear people gasp when you tell them that you haven't seen Godfather II.

greatsgusting - you knew it was disgusting, but you ate it anyway. And it was delicious.

ninjestrians - people dressed in dark clothing walking along unlighted roads at night

sortamatopoeia - a word for something that doesn't make a sound, but if it did, would sound exactly like that word. ex. bling, slink, glisten

======

"Farpotshket" (Yiddish) - Something that was a little bit broken ... until you tried to fix it. Now it's totally screwed.

"Yaourt" (French) - To sing along in nonsensical noises that vaguely resemble the lyrics of a song.

"Attaccabottoni" (Italian) - A person who corners you to tell you long, meaningless stories, usually about his oh-so-miserable life.

"Epibreren" (Dutch) - Pretending that you're doing something super important, while in reality you're being super lazy.

"Soare cu Dinti" (Romanian) - Weather that looks great until you actually step out in it. Specifically, a beautiful sunny but frigid day.

"Utepils" (Norwegian) - That first beer you drink outside when the weather finally turns warm.

"Drachenfutter" (German) - A gift a man gives to his wife to apologize when he's done something stupid (typically staying out way too late).

"Tartle" (Scots) - The momentary consternation you feel when you go to introduce someone and realize that you've forgotten his or her name. Can also function as a verb.

Forty

My birthday is on Friday, and I'm turning forty. Birthdays tend to be a time to reflect on a life and see where you stand after another year, but forty is a bigger milestone. It's basically a centerpoint since your average lifespan on this rock is around eighty years. Hence, I've been really thinking lately about what I wanted to do with my life and whether I've actually done that or not.

The biggest thing in my life has been my family, and to that end, I've been very successful. Been happily married for sixteen years, and my children are doing very well. I know what it takes to be married and how to stay that way. I know that it takes compromise and the desire to remain in a relationship in order to succeed, and I have been able to see where people have failed in that regard. I've always been a bit of a loner, but being in a solid relationship for what amounts to almost eighteen years (when you count the dating aspect of our relationship), I have a decent handle on what makes one work.

Moving past the relationship, however, I'm a failure. I have been in a job for the last eight years, and I've been successful in it because I'm exceptionally smart. That's about it. I probably the only one in my position without a college degree because I can just do what I need to, and I do it better than anyone else. Why don't I have a college degree? Because this isn't what I wanted to do, and it still isn't. I'm in the job I have to have in order to survive.

With everything else I do, when I run down the laundry list of what I've done, it sounds very impressive. I've written three full musicals and one was staged. I've had a play performed. I've published four books, and I've written dozens if not hundreds of songs. I can play lots of instruments, though my preference always falls to piano, and I can even play and sing at the same time. I've written a lot of screenplays, and I even produced and directed a couple of them. I've written the soundtracks for not only my movies, but also two others. I've recorded a ton of music which I arranged and performed. But none of that actually means anything since none of it is a living.

So I have written four books, and am wrapping up a fifth, which is the fourth in a series I'm writing. I've self-published all of them because no publisher is interested. People who have read them are enthusiastic, but they don't sell because it is not well known. This is what I want to do, and the world just doesn't want me to do it.

The musicals are all old, and I've never done anything further in that area because no one wants to hear any of it. They want stuff they know from people they've heard of. Unknowns get no attention.

Screenplays are fun, but again, unless you're established, no one cares.

I perform as a musician regularly in public at my church, and it's fun enough. Of course, that doesn't pay so there is no living there. Just to have some measure of success, I've written a lot of worship related songs, but my worship leader is not interested in them either. I can't even give away my work.

So I've a rousing success in the personal department. But I'm an absolute and unequivocal failure professionally. My epitaph will be "He never stopped trying." Trying is all I have though.

People pay attention to kids who appear to be very talented, and they believe that with so much talent, that kid will certainly do well. Well, here is a guy on the far side of that equation bursting at the seams with a ridiculous amount of talent, and you know what? No one cares. It doesn't matter one lick how much talent you have. I don't even have to give some random made-up example about someone with a lot of talent failing because I am that person. Everyone I meet remarks how talented I am, but it doesn't mean anything. If anything, being that talented alienates me from everyone else because no one has any idea how to relate to me. Being that talented has hurt me more than it has helped because there are very few people out there like me. When one has no experience with someone who has such an overarching talent range, they treat you just like everyone else.

You know what? I'm not everyone else. I never have been. It sounds stupid to say I'm special, but that's what it boils down to. Everyone has their specialties, and some people actually get to use them. I get to use what those in charge designate as useful and they waste the rest.

I want to be done, but that would be succumbing to failure. I don't want to be a failure. I don't.

But I am.