Does Stegeman plan to use procedural sleight of hand?

by David Safier

My recommendation to TUSD Board members: Keep good track of your wallets, purses, watches and votes. It looks like Mark Stegeman may try to pick your pocket one way or another.

Stegeman has a letter in today's Star. For a man who prides himself on making clear, logical presentations, he's put together one of the more opaque pieces of writing I've seen on the letters page, and that's saying a lot. Here's what I think he's saying: The Star was wrong to report that some Board members were hornswoggled in December when they thought they were voting to get rid of an earlier objection to part of the proposed deseg plan. After all, there was a unanimous vote to keep the objections.

What happened was, somehow or another, Stegeman pulled a fast one. While the majority of the Board thought it was removing the objection to the multicultural courses being part of the core curriculum, Stegeman knew that's not what they voted for.

If this is going to be Stegeman's new tactic when he's in the minority, which will happen more frequently with the new makeup of the Board, the rest of the members had better have a procedural expert on hand to watch for motions that mean the opposite of what they appear to mean.

Stegeman is smart and hard working. He may figure out ways to pull a fast one now and then, kind of like Senate procedural wizard Mitch McConnell. But the purpose of the Board is to decide policy for the District based on careful discussion followed by a majority decision, not to have one member subvert the will of the majority by resorting to tricks. I hope Stegeman understands that.