Des Moines Public Schools is a national embarrassment
The Des Moines public school system is not merely faltering; it is a $670 million dollar behemoth built on a foundation of sand, designed to fail its students and its city.
The architects of this impending disaster? A handful of part-time, unpaid ‘volunteers’ called School Board Directors. This isn’t governance; it’s a reckless abdication of duty. Even a child can see that entrusting a budget larger than the GDP of a small nation to well-meaning amateurs is a recipe for absolute catastrophe.
The system’s inherent incompetence is enshrined in the very policy it clings to: Policy Governance. This is a deceptive shield under which the directors jettison their solemn responsibilities, handing unchecked, autocratic power to a single district superintendent. What is the horrifying fruit of this failed experiment? National embarrassment. Our single, all-powerful illegal alien superintendent now is behind bars, allegedly running from law enforcement following a simple traffic stop. This isn’t just an isolated scandal; it is a seismic crack exposing the rotten core of DMPS governance.
The time for polite suggestions is over. We must choose: do we continue to accept this bureaucratic zombie, or do we finally demand a system worthy of our children’s future? The solution is not complex — it is a matter of political will and common sense.
We must abolish this amateur-hour model. We must pay our DMPS directors a salary commensurate with the responsibility, and in turn elect full-time, qualified individuals whose expertise and dedication match the staggering scope of this two-thirds-of-a-billion-dollar enterprise. We need leaders who will run this immense bureaucracy with the seriousness, rigor, and accountability of a major corporation.
The crisis is now. Will we stand idly by as incompetence cripples our schools, or will we rise up and demand the professional, accountable leadership our children deserve?
Marlon Mormann, Des Moines
Government-sanctioned hatred takes root in Iowa
It is hard for me to recognize the Iowa I grew up in. It is harder to recognize this country. Sixty years ago I watched police officers spray young people with fire hoses on TV. As a child, I could not understand why police would be so mean and why this was happening. I asked my dad what was happening and he explained that this was happening in the South and Iowa was in the North and we treated people with respect and dignity.
On Sept. 26, I watched news of the arrest of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts by immigration agents. I also view the use of a stun gun on a Hispanic immigrant in Iowa City and I do not recognize Iowa. What do we do? How can we let this happen? Most importantly, how do we explain this to a 9-year-old and our grandchildren. I know that they accept diversity in their classrooms. We cannot let this hate and criminalization continue.
Lynn Cannon, Des Moines
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Public Schools is a national embarrassment | Letters
Reporting by The Register’s readers / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
