What If Rocco Were On A Corporate Board of Directors?

There's some interesting discussion in the comments section of my earlier post, "Fred Smoller's Rocco-mentary."

In response to a question about what important work OUSD's Area 51 Trustee Rocco disrupts, Chapman U. professor and Rocco-mentarian Fred Smoller replies:

What important work, "Rock Me" asks? How about a $100 million bond issuance that was discussed at the last Board meeting, or the drug testing program being discussed this week? OUSD has a $250 million budget, 31,000 students, and several thousand employees. Would the private sector ever tolerate a "Rocco" on the board of directors of a similarly sized corporation?

Smoller has point - up to a point.

I think Rocco is a loon and if there's a credible, non-teachers union candidate alternative, I will vote for that candidate. But I don't think he is enough of a nuisance to warrant a recall, and I'd wager most OUSD voters agree with me.   

And I agree with Smoller that Rocco wouldn't last on a private sector board of directors of a similarly-sized corporation. But a private sector board of directors, responsible to shareholders and driven by the need to turn a profit bu attracting customers, wouldn't tolerate the educational mediocrity of the Orange Unified School District. They wouldn't promote and financially reward managers regardless of how well or poorly district schools are doing.

A private company (with the exception of government-sanctioned monopolies) doesn't have its customers supplied by law and guaranteed regardless of how poor an educational product they provide. Public school districts like OUSD do because education is compulsory.

if we're going to point to what the private sector would or would not tolerate when discussing the public school system, let's get to the heart of the matter -- how public education is structured, the quality of education provided and who the system really benefits.

Comments

[tylerh]

minor nitpick: I think this sentence is missing an adverb and has one too many prepositions.

"They would promote and financially reward managers regardless of of how well or poorly district schools are doing."

But your general point is so obvious that I don't think the missing "not" matters much.

[Jubal]

tylerh:

Thanks for the nitpick. Blogging a leeetle too fast there.

Matt,
While I can see your point of view on the existence of and product delivered by public school systems, I most certainly do not subscribe to the same view point. To that, I find your tacit support of and lack of holding Mr. Rocco accountable to his actions and behavior on the OUSD School Board regrettable.

Think what you may about the institution of public education. But don’t become complacent and in effect supportive of the likes of Mr. Rocco simply because you find it a fun way to stick your finger in the eye of public education and "union backed candidates".

I have not paid much attention to the Rocco circus going on at OUSD but I have watched several of the clips on the Smoller postings about Rocco. My assessment is this; those who are so vehemently anti-union have gotten what they deserved in Rocco.

To vote for a guy simply because the other candidates have been painted with the vile broad brush of the local GOP as Union Thugs is the act of lemmings. And when they opened that door and the Tiger named Rocco came out instead of the princess they had hoped for, and then the lemmings get what they deserve.

That being said, I think all voters in the OUSD should be made aware of this guy and the depth of his actions and behavior tot he detriment of our students in that district.

I grew up with John Ortega in orange and we went tot he same schools in OUSD. John is one of those Union Thugs that got elected by the vast majority of the voters after the far right wing board was ousted in the last recall.

When I saw the remark that Rocco made about Johns brother I was expecting a fist fight to break out. But instead John showed exemplary restraint and professionalism. Not the behavior of a Union Thug for sure.

Anyway, my rant draws to an end. I think you have a platform here that can be used for good in the helping of the Recall against Rocco and help rid our students of this pariah and you should use it as a modality to dispense information about this clown so we can get rid of him. Not support him because he’s not with the Unions.

Thank you for your time.

Paul Lucas

[Fred Smoller]

Matt,
Public education, OUSD, and the teacher unions --and all of academia--should--and are being challenged by society. And the alternatives--school vouchers, charter schools, solid performance indicators, merit-based pay, etc. are worthy of sustained consideration. Academics are wrong to close their ears to these voices. However, Rocco is NOT one of these voices. And you do the causes and values you believe in a disservice by not supporting the recall.

Watch this clip of Rocco from Tuesday night's drug forum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXeZhckyE80). Can you detect any coherent argument? Or, is it very possible that this is a mentally ill person, paranoid and delusional, a pseudo- populist, who might possibly be a danger to himself and others? Would the school district keep an employee who 1) regularly disrupts meetings with personal rants; 2) has twice come to near physical confrontations with two other board members; 3) joked about bringing a gun to a school board meeting 4) has personal hygiene issues, that indicate neglect of self; 5) has cost the district $60K in legal fees; 6) and has caused a range of reasonable people from across the political spectrum to conclude that he is nuts? Haven't we seen this type of personality before--someone who feels victimized by life--at Virginia Tech, Columbine. He is more than a nuisance; this guy is not well, and he needs help. Unfortunately, the school board is not the place to get the help he requires. Help us get him out as soon as possible.

Fred