As was reported here last Monday night, at this month's meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education, Ron Price - who almost a year ago was caught stealing campaign signs on the night before the election and has since gone on to become the most arrogant and condescending school board member at least since consolidation took place 14 years ago - tried to get the board to put Standard Mode Of Dress (SMOD) aka "school uniforms" back on the table for discussion. Because there should be "policies" already in place if SMOD is ever approved, Price tried to explain.
In spite of everything that happened at the July meeting, Price actually had the nerve to bring up SMOD again. For sake of "guidelines" he claimed.
But is Ron Price insane enough to try to once again force this on parents and students?
It seems so, according to what Brittany Gibson - a student at Reidsville High and one of the members of POTSMOD (People Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress) - has told me. Last night Gibson was at the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners meeting and Ron Price happened to be there. She gave me permission to post her e-mails here so I'll let her put it in her own words...
Hey Chris,Here is the original e-mail that Gibson sent to Ron Price after last week's meeting...
This is the response I got back from Ron Price. Pretty much he tried to make me sound like I didn't understand the board's July 9th vote and the Constitution. We both know better than that! I went to the County Commissioner's meeting last night and he and I had a little "run in." It wasn't pleasant. He is dead serious about bringing SMOD back and I'm not having it! Please forward this to POTSMOD and let them know. Hope all is well with you!
Thanks, Brittany
Dear Mr. Price,And here is the e-mail that Ron Price sent to Brittany Gibson in response...
After tonight's meeting, you have raised a few questions for me. First of all, I don't understand why SMOD was added to tonight's agenda. Did you add this? I wasn't present, but one of the members of the audience that was there said that you added it to the agenda. Let me be frank, I feel like this is a very sneaky thing to do. I don't understand why it's necessary to ever talk about this subject again. The board voted to not have uniforms now or ever -- to my knowledge. I, along with many others, spent a lot of time and energy getting rid of the horrible idea of uniforms. I vividly remember Mr. Scales saying that he never wanted to discuss this subject again as long as he was on this board. I just feel like this is beating a dead horse. There doesn't need to be a policy in place "just in case" SMOD is brought up again because I may be seriously mistaken but, I find it highly ironic that after everything concerning SMOD has calmed down and I'm the only person still regularly attending board events, that it's being talked about once more. I feel that the subject needs to be dropped now and forever. I have a great deal of respect for the board and for adults in general, but events like tonight make me very leery of trusting some of the board members. Please e-mail me as soon as possible to clear the air. What are your intentions/reasons for bringing this up once again? What else is there to discuss if the board has agreed to not have uniforms--ever? Thanks for your time!Thanks,
Brittany Gibson
Dear Ms. Gibson,Has there ever been an elected official in Rockingham County history who shows this much condescension toward his constituents than does Ron Price?Thank you for writing your questions about SMOD at the October 8 board meeting. After reading your message I understand why you have a few questions. I think these questions are due to your misunderstanding about the vote on SMOD. The vote was to rescind the vote to implement SMOD. As far as SMOD being permanently voted out that is not legal under the constitutional. We cannot foretell the future and cannot know if this issue will ever be brought up again. If it is the school district needs to have guidelines in place for those considering such a question.
It is a testament to our democratic system of governance that issues can be brought up more than once. Such is the freedom of speech and a basic right guaranteed under the Constitution, we must allow both those whom we agree with and those we do not, to have an equal opportunity to speak freely.
I will be sure to keep your views in mind should the Board of Education consider SMOD in the future.
Sincerely,
Ron Price
"I think these questions are due to your misunderstanding about the vote on SMOD." What's to misunderstand, Price? The initial vote was based on very erroneous and some have even said fraudulent data... and you showed everyone how much you thought about them when you continued to champion SMOD in spite of knowing that.
"As far as SMOD being permanently voted out that is not legal under the constitutional." Here Price is making a thinly-veiled show of his sense of power. It's very much in keeping with the mindset he has displayed for almost a year now: that he believes that because "I was elected" (his exact words to one person), that this is some kind of divine anointment that he can do... pretty much anything he damned well pleases.
"We cannot foretell the future and cannot know if this issue will ever be brought up again." In other words: Ron Price has every intention to bring it up again. He's just trying to put his ducks in a row so that he won't take flack for when it does come up again (at his urging no doubt).
"If it is the school district needs to have guidelines in place for those considering such a question." No, the school district doesn't need these guidelines. Price just "needs" to look like a big-shot and this is a chance for him to throw his weight around.
I learned a long time ago that one of the most worthless things on Earth is a bureaucrat who has nothing better to do than to "look important". In that regard, Ron Price is not only the worst member of the Rockingham County Board of Education, but the most worthless, too.
And then there's this lil' line: "It is a testament to our democratic system of governance that issues can be brought up more than once. Such is the freedom of speech and a basic right guaranteed under the Constitution, we must allow both those whom we agree with and those we do not, to have an equal opportunity to speak freely."
Who the hell does Ron Price think he is, that he can lecture anyone about the Constitution? The Constitution is about the rule of law and Ron Price has demonstrated that he believes in anything but that. In his mind, right and wrong are a matter of personal perspective: it doesn't really matter to Price that he stole things that did not belong to him. It only matters that he was able to skirt around the law and get away with it. To Ron Price, the Constitution is something that he can freely interpret at his choosing to the detriment of anything... or anyone... else.
I hope this is all taken to heart by the parents and students of Rockingham County: what Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High families just went through, you're probably going to have to be preparing to fight SMOD too, 'cuz Ron Price already seems bound and determined to bring it back one way or another.
To the members of the Rockingham County Board of Education who I know and respect, and who I believe read this blog on a routine basis: there's a mad dog in your midst that needs to be effectively neutered before he does some damage. He doesn't care about what he does to other people. His only concern is for himself. This is the worst possible kind of "public servant" and you would do well to minimize the destruction that he can do not only to we in the public, but to you as well.
Thanks to Brittany Gibson for letting me post this here.
As for SMOD well, I'll repeat what I cried out last week...
POTSMOD ACKBAR!!!"
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWith society being as it is today I feel like it would be wise to have rules that set a standard about dressing. Now I believe that it is ok for the subject to come up again on the board. I can't continue to judge ron price by the past. You keep bringing up the past when the SMOD is right here and now. If it were up to me we would have uniforms in the school systems especially when you people have no respect for themselves and the way they dress. I also agree with the one person that was at the board meeting where you spoke. It is too expensive to "keep up with the jones". That is all that kids seem to be possessed with these days wearing the lates and greatest styles no matter the cost. In some households, it is impossible to maintain the requests of young people today. Let this stuff with Ron Price's past go and live for the day. Hopefully school uniforms will be put in place someday.
Your friend,
Johnny
Johnny,
ReplyDeleteThere's no way that SMOD can be financed by a lot of families in this county. We don't have the charitable infrastructure to help out here like Guilford and other counties do.
Ron Price should know this. Heck he DOES know this already. It's come up plenty enough times over the past few months.
And school uniforms do *nothing*. There has never been any evidence that they assist in raising the quality of education at all. There's lots of things that can be done to help with that. The uniforms concept as Price and others have suggested, is nothing but ignoring the real problems for sake of putting on a show to make it *look* like they're doing something.
So far as the past goes, Price's attitude has consistently been one of disdain for others and for doing what's right. His stealing the signs may have been a year ago... but it was plenty enough indication of what kind of board member he has certainly become.
Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteIt's downright shocking that the issue is being brought up in your county already, when the rescinded vote and the overwhelming opposition from parents and students were all so recent.
Johnny, if I may, I would like to respond to a couple of your points. First, I agree that the way kids often dress nowadays is shameful, but if parents and students are against uniforms, a reasonable dress code--e.g., no midriff-baring shirts, no shorts above mid-thigh (as it was when I was in school), no underwear showing over the tops of jeans, etc.--would be a perfectly good alternative. It sounds like such a code is in place, it just needs enforcement. Chris can correct me if I'm wrong here. Uniforms do have a place, but certainly not in the public school system, which was designed to provide education for all children regardless of whether parents could afford it.
Second, if Ron Price had shown repentance for any of his actions, there would be some substance for the "forget the past" argument. However, repentance for openly breaking the law during the time of election has not been shown by Mr. Price. People who set themselves up in a place of authority should be held to standards of common decency, even to the point of forfeiting that authority should they refuse to comply with those standards.
Chris & Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteThe board of education is not a jury. It is not a trial. It is not one vote and its over forever. A subject can be brought up as many times as it can if there is a need for it. I also believe that yall bringing up the past is not affecting Ron at all. He will continue to work to convince voters that he has their best interest at heart. He is not going to step down and evidently there has been no attempts by fellow board members or the county commissioners to take him off the board. So where do you fight now in the past or at the present. I believe in representation. I feel that if yall want to go before the board again then that it what will have to happen again to keep SMOD from becoming a policy. But yall aint even for a SMOD yall just want school kids to continue to dress in a provocative manner which affects everything. If you dont accept a SMOD now then more than likely there will be a uniform code.
your friend
Johnny
"He is not going to step down..."
ReplyDeleteIf he had, he would have been thought of a lot more highly by most of the people around here. Ron Price would have been remembered as an honorable man who did the right thing even though he had to pay a price for it.
Someone told me a few weeks ago that Ron Price is going to die someday and he'll be remembered as nothing but a despised and dishonorable man.
That's his choice. He made it, he's still making it, and he will have to live and die with it.
SMOD is a uniform code. It's not needed at all. The current dress code is fine enough as it is, if enforced. From what I'm hearing from Reidsville High and other schools, it's now being enacted upon more than ever, and there are no problems with it. Students are very free to dress as they wish and as their parents allow them, within reasonable limits. That is indeed what is happening.
The only people right now who will insist on SMOD, are the ones who are going to insist that there is a "problem" when there is none, just so they can try to "fix it" for the sake of looking good.
But nothing that Ron Price can do, or hope to do, at this point will redeem him from the horrible reputation that he has brought upon himself. Maybe if he did step down now, that would happen...
...but people as delusional as he is don't tend to be penitent, do they?
"It is too expensive to "keep up with the jones". That is all that kids seem to be possessed with these days wearing the lates and greatest styles no matter the cost."
ReplyDeleteSo because parents teach their kids that they have to "keep up with the jones" they should have SMOD forced upon them? How about the parents in question try a novel thing like actually parenting. Even better instead of putting money into uniforms and pointless documentation (guidelines which Ron wants) why not put the funds towards actually teaching the students about Economics.
Further SMOD doesn't help any of those parents that can't teach their kids that "keeping up with the jones" isn't realistic it actually hurts them further. Now they still have to purchase all those clothes their kids want for "hanging out with friends" and a stupid uniform.
"Has there ever been an elected official in Rockingham County history who shows this much condescension toward his constituents than does Ron Price?"
ReplyDeleteThe Reidsville City Council comes pretty darn close.
See on Ron's blog that he says he's an "AT LARGE MEMBER" I think that is why he acts so crazy. Ron don't think his member is large enough so he over compensates. When he is found embezzeling school money to buy Viagra everyone will see.
ReplyDeletelurch2
Nobody likes Ron Price.
ReplyDeleteThe man is a disgrace on this whole county.
I attend church in Walkertown and people there even talk about the the robber on our school board.
Ron Price is not a real Christian.
thank you for standing up to ron price and for fighting the school uniforms. my son goes to reidsville high and everyone there hates ron price. you didn't win election but you are showing the young people the example that price and everyone on the board should be setting. i think you are more a leader in this community than ron price will be ever.
ReplyDelete