Hamilton County School Superintendent Dr. Justin (“Dr. J”) Robertson’s school system budget passed the School Board and now goes to the Hamilton County Commission for approval.
In response, our Little Prince “lambasted” the school board’s budget and threatened an immediate tax increase.
Both Dr. J and our Little Prince presented a school budget to the Hamilton County Commission in May.
Dr. J’s school budget calls for a $20 million increase from last year. Never in 20 million years would the County Commission fund that ask.
But you have to ask.
Our Little Prince offered the school system only a $5 million increase over last year.
And that was that.
No more conversations. Take it or leave it. Our Little Prince has spoken. Just not to Dr. J or any member of the school board.
Is this the state of dialogue in Hamilton County government? You would think that something as important as education funding for our children, the mayor and school superintendent would have more dialogue than each of them giving a power-point presentation to the County Commission.
Instead of communicating, our Little Prince chose to lie in wait and see what budget the School Board would present to the County Commission. No surprise it was the same school budget Dr. J proposed in May.
Also not surprising, Mayor Wamp “lambasted” that budget. Instead of “lambasting” now, our Little Prince should have been communicating back then.
After all, our Little Prince has created two new positions for situations like this: Hamilton County Chief Operating Officer and Hamilton County Chief Financial Officer. No other county mayor has delegated important county operations and financials to unelected individuals, costing the taxpayers almost $1 million per year. Our past county mayors did the job they were elected to do. However, hiring these individuals did improve our Little Prince’s quality of life. He now has more time for social media posts (Weston is a great father and husband) and photo ops, the fun stuff about being county mayor.
Our Little Prince just doesn’t like the hard part of being county mayor: the daily grind. True, he has hired others more willing to work the grind instead of him. But even those “million dollar minions” were not enlisted to talk to the School Board about the budget. To be successful as a county mayor, it takes a desire to communicate and compromise, instead of an attitude to dictate and destroy. This self-centered mindset has plagued our Little Prince from day one.
And now our children may suffer.
C. Mark Warren
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Can anyone play C. Mark Warrens silly name calling game? If so, I would like to join in. "C" seems to think name calling in a public forum is a clever political attack, an erudite insult but, in fact, is nothing but a showcase for waning intellect and a sad education.
"C", who hides behind his desk and lobs school ground insults, no doubt thinks he is fighting the brave fight, but alas, all he is doing is exposing himself as the shyster that he is. Is he an ambulance chaser? I don't know but what does that matter?
"C" doesn't exercise common restraint when bellyaching about a policy or action he doesn't agree with, so why would he deserve the same care and attention.
Leah Garaghty
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I admit that I was incorrect about my belief that accident lawyer C. Mark Warren had realized most of the readers had grown weary of his drivel regarding his hatred of the Wamp family.
What troubles me the most is his completing lawyer school and then passing the bar exam. I have no idea how many times he had to take it, and frankly, I don’t care. What I do care about is his redundancy of the use of “the little Prince”, perhaps because he believes we are too stupid to understand his disdain.
If he kept up with current events he would have read that County Mayor Wamp and Superintendent Robertson have met and tried to work out a budget that would work for both our schools and our county taxpayers. After all, County Mayor Wamp wanted a pay increase for our teachers.
I learned a long time ago that snipers can just find a target, even if it’s the wrong target. Well trained snipers know better.
County Mayor Wamp has a staff of assistants so that he can do an effective job serving this county. Lawyer Warren has assistants who chance ambulances to help him reel in more clients. His thinking the pot can call the kettle black only adds to the plethora of pity I feel for him.
I have no expectations that he will learn better. Just keep exposing yourself because it provides me with early morning humor.
J. Pat Williams
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I would think that the two positions the county mayor has hired are nothing compared to the 500 (superintendent's words) new positions the superintendent has hired. The HCDE has not increased in enrollment enough to justify hiring 500 new positions. Also, the super hired a person to help with coordinating the recruitment of security staff. What?
Super says the Central Office only represents 8 percent of the overall positions in the district. Well, if you increase the staff by 500 then the number in the Central Office has increased by 40. Warning, anytime you get percentages about certain facts you better take a closer look at what is going on.
Super also stated that the adult to student ratio was 1:10. So, if your student has more than 10 students in their class, call the super. We all know that this statement is not true. Unless he is counting the Central Office positions as people that teach your child or the unknown number of SEED teachers or the unknown number of Lead teachers and supervisors walking around with a cup of coffee. I think he is.
I didn't vote for County Mayor Wamp, but I will next time. He may not be perfect, but he is doing a good job, in my opinion. I like him.
I don't know all of his staff, but I do know David Roddy and Cory Gerrin. They are both hard workers and the citizens of Hamilton County will get their money's worth from them. They will do a good job. I bet the rest of the county mayor's staff are hard workers also. He has surrounded himself with good people.
Go county mayor and little sis, our attorney general.
Ernie McCarson
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One might expect a lawyer to exhibit greater resolve and decorum than Mr. Warren. His posts frequently involve name-calling, particularly targeting Wamp.
If there is a personal grievance, it would be more mature to address it directly with Wamp. Resorting to playground taunts gives an 'I know you are, but what am I?' vibe is unbecoming, especially at an advanced age. This behavior is indicative of the current political climate—full of vitriol and one-upmanship, with little actual progress.
Do better.
Christopher Cooper