‘Twas the day before the night before Christmas – what better time for Valley News columnist Jim Kenyon to publish a dispatch that is so devoid of news, and so redolent of his need to vilify his home town of Norwich, as to achieve true self-parody.
Weeks and weeks ago, principal Rob Edson of the Marion Cross School announced that he would be leaving the helm of the Norwich elementary school at the end of the current academic year. The fact was duly reported in Kenyon’s paper, regurgitated now by Kenyon himself.
Surely there must be some scandal, intrigue or controversy involved, Kenyon seems to have resolved. But he apparently couldn’t find any. As far as anyone can tell, Edson simply decided he was tired of his job and prefers to do something else for a living. (Ordinarily, people in that position embark upon a confidential search for a new job prior to resigning, but that option isn’t open to Edson, in no small part because the Valley News thinks people who take important public sector jobs should forfeit their privacy.)
Indeed, the only real news in Kenyon’s column about Rob Edson is that the principal refused to return Kenyon’s phone calls. It is a positive development, suggesting that officials in Norwich have wised up and determined that they have nothing to gain by cooperating with Kenyon’s quest to make Norwich look like Hooterville (a fictitious sitcom town where wily farmers coexist with rich nitwits from away, for those too young to remember Green Acres).
“Norwich can’t keep a principal,” proclaimed Kenyon, even though Edson’s longevity hardly advances the hypothesis. Never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, Kenyon trots out the sorry record that preceded Edson’s tenure, which involved four principals who failed to catch on. Thus, to make the Kenyonesque innuendo explicit, in this columnist’s opinion even a relatively generous $90,000 salary is inadequate to keep someone at the helm of the public school in a town of wealthy whiners.
Earth to Jim Kenyon: The world is full of thankless high-visibility jobs. They tend to pay better than positions that don’t involve overseeing zero-sum games like public school systems. The phenomenon is hardly unique to prosperous communities.
And by the way, Jim Kenyon, since you seem to appreciate innuendo: One would have thought that if 2007 taught you anything, it would be to ‘judge not lest ye be judged’ when it comes to relations between parents and their kids’ public schools.
Instead, 2007 made clear that Jim Kenyon essentially has only two columns, which he keeps writing over and over again. The first one identifies a nonprofit that is underfunded and largely unrecognized because it tends to serve downtrodden folks who are generally invisible. The second picks some successful local institution and, by consulting only with those who have an axe to grind, manages to make success look like failure.
Here’s a great new year’s resolution for Jim Kenyon: In 2008, stick to column no. 1.
Weeks and weeks ago, principal Rob Edson of the Marion Cross School announced that he would be leaving the helm of the Norwich elementary school at the end of the current academic year. The fact was duly reported in Kenyon’s paper, regurgitated now by Kenyon himself.
Surely there must be some scandal, intrigue or controversy involved, Kenyon seems to have resolved. But he apparently couldn’t find any. As far as anyone can tell, Edson simply decided he was tired of his job and prefers to do something else for a living. (Ordinarily, people in that position embark upon a confidential search for a new job prior to resigning, but that option isn’t open to Edson, in no small part because the Valley News thinks people who take important public sector jobs should forfeit their privacy.)
Indeed, the only real news in Kenyon’s column about Rob Edson is that the principal refused to return Kenyon’s phone calls. It is a positive development, suggesting that officials in Norwich have wised up and determined that they have nothing to gain by cooperating with Kenyon’s quest to make Norwich look like Hooterville (a fictitious sitcom town where wily farmers coexist with rich nitwits from away, for those too young to remember Green Acres).
“Norwich can’t keep a principal,” proclaimed Kenyon, even though Edson’s longevity hardly advances the hypothesis. Never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, Kenyon trots out the sorry record that preceded Edson’s tenure, which involved four principals who failed to catch on. Thus, to make the Kenyonesque innuendo explicit, in this columnist’s opinion even a relatively generous $90,000 salary is inadequate to keep someone at the helm of the public school in a town of wealthy whiners.
Earth to Jim Kenyon: The world is full of thankless high-visibility jobs. They tend to pay better than positions that don’t involve overseeing zero-sum games like public school systems. The phenomenon is hardly unique to prosperous communities.
And by the way, Jim Kenyon, since you seem to appreciate innuendo: One would have thought that if 2007 taught you anything, it would be to ‘judge not lest ye be judged’ when it comes to relations between parents and their kids’ public schools.
Instead, 2007 made clear that Jim Kenyon essentially has only two columns, which he keeps writing over and over again. The first one identifies a nonprofit that is underfunded and largely unrecognized because it tends to serve downtrodden folks who are generally invisible. The second picks some successful local institution and, by consulting only with those who have an axe to grind, manages to make success look like failure.
Here’s a great new year’s resolution for Jim Kenyon: In 2008, stick to column no. 1.
0 comments:
Post a Comment