Veterans Day Oops

Tuesday the 11th was the 90th anniversary of the World War I armistice. According to the front page of a paper I skimmed while in Columbus that day, there are 2,269,000 vets alive from Operation Desert Shield/Gulf War. There are 7,125,000 Vietnam vets. Followed by 2,307,000 Korean War vets and 2,306,000 World War II vets. And one remaining World War I vet.
My intent the past few days was to write about the annual trip to Columbus to the Capital Conference and Trade Show put on by the Ohio School Boards Association. This was the 53rd such event and claimed over 10,000 attendees. That will have to wait.
One of the vendors at the show wanted to get more information to me about her product and she asked innocently, “Do you use email very much?” The question caused the same feelings that I get when a person in their 40’s or 50’s calls me “Sir.” Gotta be the graying hair and lining face causing this deferential treatment and assumed technological incompetence.
I replied slowly enough to watch her reaction vary from dang to wonderful as I said, “Only every couple of hours or so.” But I had been away from home for over a day and had not checked my email yet Tuesday. I used one of the complimentary stations and checked email about an hour later. It was then I knew there were problems afoot.
A local gentleman had written a polite but pointed email to me detailing his disappointment in finding our school calendar had chosen Monday the 10th instead of Tuesday the 11th to celebrate Veterans Day. He assured me that if we chose to make this same mistake again his children would be among the absent on the real holiday to celebrate and honor our vets appropriately.
Several emails back and forth over the next 24+ hours showed that indeed, at least one other time in the past 10 years the district’s calendar chose a day other than the actual 11th of November to celebrate Veterans Day. I suspect it was either a Friday or Monday to provide an extended week-end.
Not only had I received that email, but Central Office had received several phone calls with the same concern. Mr. Young fielded all of those calls for which he was available and assured the callers that as long as he had anything to do with it the error would not be repeated.
A friend recently offered me sympathy for the plight of school board members. When I asked why the sympathy he offered that he understood “…how little control you have.”
While his concern is valid overall, there are still many opportunities to shape the policies and activities of schools to reflect community values. Certainly determining the dates of holidays falls within the control of board members.
In spite of the many challenges facing us this is truly an exciting time for Marietta City Schools. Our academic scores have been on the upswing which speaks volumes about our staff and students. Our future with respect to buildings has many options which we will know shortly from the evaluations being done by the state.
We owe those veterans honored Tuesday no less than taking advantage of the freedoms they fought for and won for us. We owe our future generations no less than to honor the past and do the best we can to provide for the brightest future possible. The foundation of both debts is an investment in and commitment to education.
We erred. We will endeavor to not repeat the error. God Bless America.