Aye Candy: Queen of the Boor'd

Queen Candy Olsen took her throne tonight and let Hillsborough teachers know how unhappy she was with them. She made it clear that there is nothing teachers can do about the 6/7 schedule it's a done deal, so they might as well just shut up and go home. She was down right indignant and really didn't want to be bothered with free speech. Oh, the petty insolence is such a droll burden for royalty.

Tampa's newest queen was in rare form tonight as she glared through the TV lights at her discontented subjects. It wasn't long after she opened her trap that the vitriol toward teachers began to spill. She just doesn't want to hear the educator politic talking about ridiculous things like sufficient planning time. Her sigh was palatable as she extolled the virtues of her position. A couple of times she just got up and walked out, perhaps to file her nails or primp for the cameras. Every patronizing mannerism one can think of found expression on her face tonight—even a bit of rolling of the eyes.

She read a few carefully edited emails she received to illustrate how fruitless and downright thoughtless it was for the teachers that showed up to participate in our political system. She was so quick to brag about being a constitutional officer until someone had the temerity to speak out, and then she couldn't be bothered. She must be a peach around the domestic help.

A couple of bright spots shined tonight though. I must commend Doretha Edgecomb who gave a genuine apology for accusing teachers at the last meeting of name-calling. It was a rare bit of humility one rarely sees from a politician.

The star of the evening was April Griffin. She spoke forcefully for teachers' concerns, going so far as to make a motion to extend the audience participation time by one minute per speaker. The other board members begrudgingly passed her motion for what amounted to an additional twelve minutes of lambasting of the board as a bunch of Elia ass kissers. Griffin suggested the administration turn off a few extra lights to try and demonstrate a little sacrifice to the effort. Maybe they could hire less administrators, "Uh huh" they mumbled. She's only one member though, not nearly enough to reverse Elia's unilateral decision to shake up the district.

Dr. Lamb, what can I say? Lee De Cesare was having her say and chastising the good doctor for using school secretaries for his personal use when he showed an uncharacteristic bit of spirit and told her to go home. That didn't go over well with the audience members who let out grumble and moaned in unison. You'd think by now they would let Lee have her say, but I guess she touched a little too close to home tonight.

Speaking of secretaries the board gave an obligatory good job to all the hard working secretaries. Oh, and another thing, they really love the teachers and know how hard they work and how important they are for the students. The teachers really make it happen in Hillsborough County—yadda, yadda.