Ms. Cheryl: Why I Am Leaving the Flagler Youth Orchestra

Pretty much sums it up here: "The faction’s conspiracy theories on the board and on social media, with current board members engaging and taking prejudicial positions in these threads, have made me realize that the audit could come back with routine or minor exceptions, only for these folks to be disappointed, not relieved. They cannot see past my last name. They are looking for an execution, not a solution. I cannot work for people cheering for failure, and for whom the program is an afterthought."

 

Only because it would make no sense, nor would it be accurate.

While bigotry and hatred are pervasive in all groups, all races, all religions, the vast majority of the western world is Christian, and it is not even close. Were I to ensure my statement was factually accurate I would have said White Christians, which would capture us Catholics too.

If, for instance, you were to give us one your standard responses and blame this hatred on black Americans, which you are smart enough not to do, but rather find an obscure "news story" that alludes to that for you, it simply would be statistically inaccurate. If every single black American were outwardly bigoted and hateful, they still could not even come close to total number of bigoted, hate-filled white Christians. So, you could say it, and you would be attacked because the math simply does not add up.

 

Your argument would be much stronger if you had some stats to back it up. Right now… it’s just your opinion.

 

Not just his

 

I truly believe if you go out there and talk to the average black man on the street then talk to the average white man you will find out where the hatred lies. As a matter of fact I wouldn't doubt that you would find more total hatred for the white race in the black community. A very small number of whites have the hate in their hearts that you imagine.

 

31% of the population identifies as Christian

86% of Christians are Catholic or Protestant or 27% of the world's population

~ 1.9 Billion people. Can't find the breakdown of white vs. non-white, but I am ok with assuming the vast majority of white. Regardless, it is still the largest population globally.

I then extrapolate that back to the US where Christian and White are both the majorities, especially as compared to any other group.

 

And I will still say that there is probably more bigoted hate filled black Americans. When is the last time you saw nationwide white christian riots & looting?

 

Where is the looting? Where is the bigotry? Where are the burning buildings? Go on preaching your hatred son.

 

This thread is getting sideways. What was the topic again?

 

Bye bye Ms. Cheryl.

 

The MAGA Nazis are everywhere. It's unfathomable to me that there are people, including some on this site, who think this is perfectly okay.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...mination-gender-identity-maga-desantis-trump/

"At first glance, the plight of Katherine Rinderle, a fifth-grade teacher in Georgia, might seem confusing. Rinderle faces likely termination by the Cobb County School District for reading aloud a children’s book that touches on gender identity. Yet she is charged in part with violating policy related to a state law banning “divisive concepts” about race, not gender.

This disconnect captures something essential about state laws and directives restricting classroom discussion across the country: They seem to be imprecisely drafted to encourage censorship. That invites parents and administrators to seek to apply bans to teachers haphazardly, forcing teachers to err on the side of muzzling themselves rather than risk unintentionally crossing fuzzy lines into illegality.

“Teachers are fearful,” Rinderle told us in an interview. “These vague laws are chilling and result in teachers self-censoring."

In short, when it comes to all these anti-woke laws and the MAGA-fied frenzy they’ve unleashed, the vagueness is the point."

 

Thanks for removing all doubt about what you are.

 

The fact is a lot of counties would not let a program like this even exist. This would be like a coach starting a youth baseball program and asking to run it at a school facility and at the same time, request to be paid for doing so. Instead, there are Little League and other youth baseball programs available to kids at a fair registration fee and run by volunteers who spend hours working with kids. The same type of youth programs are available for other sports, drama and music programs in almost every area of the state.

I’m sure Flagler County has music classes and programs available for all students in all grades as part of their daily or weekly curriculum. I know they do in our county and if a parent wants more for their child, there are other programs available outside of school that can provide additional and often more comprehensive training but that comes at an additional cost to the parent. It sounds to me this is about parents complaining that a free program is possibly going to be discontinued.

Finally, regarding Mrs. Tristan’s comments regarding being paid only $30K for a part time job, keep in mind there are people who again, volunteer hours and hours of their time in all different youth programs who don’t get paid a dime. And at the same there are plenty of band directors, drama instructors and athletic coaches that are employed by the school system that would kill to be paid $30K for their efforts. Instead, despite often putting in as many, if not more, hours than Mrs Tristan, they are lucky if they can get a $5000.00 yearly supplement for their efforts.

 

I had a lot of the same thoughts when I scanned through the article but realizing none of us know the whole story kept my mouth shut. The folks arguing in Ms Cheryl's behalf have little idea what is going on except for what they read about her bitching. I'd say your take is probably more realistic than theirs but none of us really know.

 

Well, I guess someone had to come in and try to defend the indefensible. Congrats. First, to your baseball analogy.

• Many after school sports programs do, in fact, use school facilities.
• Several other enrichment programs use school facilities too.
• Baseball is not a class, but music is. Why do you suppose that's true?

Obviously, the parents whose children participated in this program cherished it. Why dismiss it as a "well, they can get their music elsewhere."? Your comment about parents complaining about a free program being discontinued is also dismissive, not to mention conjecture. Read the comments. They loved the program for what it meant to their children.

Finally, sure . . . "lots of people give their talents for free" is a horrible riff perpetuated by folks who either know thing about the arts or don't give two shits about them. Conducting an orchestra requires a great deal of intellect and skill, not to mention thousands of hours of dedicated prep. Next time the plumber or electrician comes over ask them to do it for free. After all, they do it because they enjoy it right?

There aren't plenty of band directors who run band programs for 5k and would kill for a 30k salary. That's hogwash. This was an exceptional program which provided an immeasurable service to the community and its director was attacked for unrelated political reasons.

 

No, you were just hoping for a reason to side with the shitty SB members.

 

It sounds like the school board had an axe to grind and that is BS. I’m just pointing out that the woe is me “CYA” letter written by the instructor and printed in her husband’s newspaper was over the top also.

The best thing to happen is for the school board to disband the program and have the instructor move on.

 

I have no dog in the fight but again, we agree all schools have at least one full time certified instructor to teach music and also lead musical programs throughout the school year. Mrs. Tristan is not a certified teacher and did not teach daily classes in any school in Flagler County. Instead, she was paid $30K by county taxpayers for a business that should have been run independent of the school system. And I am in no way saying Mrs. Tristan should not have been paid but it should have been directly from the parents just like any other instructor or coach who help kids in various other after-school programs. If a parent wants little Timmy to take flute lessons above and beyond to what is offered in music classes at school, then that parent should be responsible for paying the bill and not the Flagler County taxpayers.

And I’m not sure where you live but regarding your point about many youth athletic leagues and other enrichment programs using school facilities after hours has gone by the wayside in many communities due to increased security measures. In all elementary and middle schools in the county where I live, the gates are locked as soon as school is out (or the after-school program is over in elementary schools) and no one is allowed on the grounds. The high schools give you a little more leeway but you have to pay a steep price to use an auditorium or any other facility. For example, my son is a high school athletic director and baseball coach and he had to pay school a hefty facility rental fee to host a summer baseball camp.

And it seems you are almost being critical that as I suggested, there are lots of very talented people who give hours and hours of their time to help kids and others. Again, no one is being critical of Mrs Tristan getting paid but the fact is there are people even more talented in their field than she that give hours of their time to help others.

Finally, I wonder why parents “cherished” the program? It couldn’t be because they were receiving hours of basically free instruction and training that they would not have been able to get anywhere else, could it?

 

Just glad my kids graduated before this state went to hell in a handbasket.