Last spring, Governor Kristi Noem replaced experienced educator and former legislator Jacqueline Sly with dentist and conservative toady Richard Meyer on the Board of Education Standards. Meyer’s appointment happened after the 2022 Session, so yesterday the Senate finally got around to considering this executive appointment.
And surprisingly, the Senate heard opposition to Kamp “Rich” Meyer’s appointment from Meyer’s and Sly’s neighbor, Senator David Johnson (R-33/Hisega). After the standard encomium from Senator Kyle Schoenfish (R-19/Scotland), Senator Johnson rose (SDPB video timestamp 29:36) on behalf of educators in District 33 and urged rejection or Meyer’s appointment:
…I was in attendance at the committee on Education when Mr. Kamp “Rich” Meyer was brought up, and there was some opposition from teachers in my area related to the fact that his background in education was lacking. So for that reason I… would ask for the Senate floor to reject this nomination [Senator David Johnson, remarks in opposition to appointment of Kamp “Rich” Meyer to the Board of Education Standards, Senate floor, 2023.02.22].
With that fart in the perfume shop, the Senate voted 32–3 to consent to Meyer’s appointment. Two Republican Senators joined Johnson in advising that Meyer was a bad choice for job: Tim Reed (R-7/Brookings) and Michael Rohl (R-1/Aberdeen). The four Democrats in the chamber acceded to the Governor’s ideological stacking of the Board of Education Standards.
There’s more to Myer’s appointment that could have been brought up. He was appointed to the original standards committee in summer of 2021. He left on the last day taking with him, rough draft copies of standards that were not to leave the room. He later resigned from the committee, after the fact we were done.
So, why oh why did the Democrats approve?
It does take some guts, or stupidity, to oppose these sorts of nominations based on policy differences. If a nominee spends evenings locked up, a nominee may be turned down. Otherwise, it’s usually unanimous or with a few naysayers just to keep the nominee humble. South Dakota isn’t DC, where the Legislative Branch actually vets nominees. Yes, the vetting in DC sometimes goes overboard, or is just a political exercise, but at least you know the nominee gets a going over. The vetting in South Dakota occurs at the Governor’s office, where it is determined if the nominee is a buttlicker. Sly, apparently, wasn’t. She was more interested in education, so she had to go, and in comes Mr. Meyer.
What I think is funny, and which is a pretty good tip off, is Senator Johnson’s statement, “I… would ask for the Senate floor to reject this nomination….” The Senate floor doesn’t have a vote, but each individual Senator does. You wonder if he spent any time actually lobbying other Senators on this nominee. It was a perfunctory performance, but it took some guts. The Senate could have sent a message about good education versus dumbing down education standards, but this is the South Dakota Senate, where all the children are above average.
Come on, conservative Repubs are desperate. They are tired of standing on boxes screaming STOP into the winds of time. Time marches on, they can’t stop it and it’s really showing. It’s a war they have lost.
At least it’s fun to watch.
Mr. Anderson- your comment reminds me of this great school board speech.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CDcD4a_CYNE
When I gave mine the other day, I found myself sitting on deck next to a rabid cult member spouting off the most foul ideas. The room sat shocked while he bellowed how Natives want to kill whites and blow up Mt. Rushmore. No bs. He said Natives demonize Christian white men. By this time, I am looking for my easiest exit because I am not so great at choosing my words over pushing back the little front chicklets of a guy literally foaming at the mouth while saying Native Americans are-not heathens, no, not savages, nope, but cannibals! Right before I shut the guy up, the brand new president of the board cut him off and told him he was done. I am grateful he wasn’t given the rest of his time to finish spewing his mentally ill diatribe. That will probably be the only testimony KN will consider from the Social Studies Standards meeting in Rapid City.
Beware, my compadres. There was such a North Korean feel and look to that meeting. For starters, KN’s Kim Jong-Un wannabes were lurking behind pillars and doors trying to sneak pictures of individuals. At the same time, Olson’s tow trucks were cruising the whole premises in hopes a retired teacher was running late and had to accidentally park in one of the dozens of empty spots marked off for no reason but to make it inconvenient, the entire front entrance was caution taped off for no reason right before the meeting, the panel took their sweet time for four hours doing other things while the entire board room was packed with patient activists take an entire day off for one thing. After doing their agenda, we had to sit through 90 minutes of testimony of people who weren’t even in SD and had nothing to do with our public education. Then, of course they had to break for lunch. Those of us who got there at 9 am didn’t get a chance to speak until 1 pm. Every facet was meant to deter the opposition. How very North Korean.
Teachers are a force you do not want to recon with and SD public educators are what keep the whole thing together so our kids can grow up with fond memories of a normal, healthy childhood because their minds were nourished and that is love, baby.
Mr. Pay, I know you are a good math hound and know it is impossible for all the children to be above average. Just like how not all the teachers on the SILT scale can be above average. But grudznick does agree with your comments on young Mr. Johnson.
That was a great video All Mammal. It should be shown at every school board meeting, everywhere.
It does get tiresome. New buttholes are continually attracted to the Sarasota area. Its a DeSantis thing. A recent one is Jon( not the Dells Jon) Minadeo Jr. He’s from California but naturally thought Florida would be for him. He’s the Goyim Defense League founder. It’s how he makes his cash. He recently recorded himself and some kindred souls yelling, blocking traffic, screaming with a blowhorn at a Jewish school in Orlando. It’s about as sick as you can get. The only place he’s been arrested is in Poland and he’s spreading his hate nicely everywhere in America. We value free speech even if it ends up killing people and it has and it will.
Rapid City has been dysfunctional for its entire history. Bikers, dealers, Birchers, white trash and the disadvantaged all living in a cultural wasteland. Apartheid in South Dakota hides American Indians in concentration camps out of sight and out of mind. Another Republican secretary of state is purging voter rolls and the resident electorate is withering under overwhelming disgust and hopelessness.
What the hell are the four Democrats in the chamber doing? What is the strategy behind just rubber-stamping Noem’s stacking of the Board of Education Standards?
Grudznick, why is it impossible to put a staff together that are all above average on your imagined SILT scale? The more you speak of this, the more subjective to your whim it sounds.
To the larger issue, Governor Noem is removing educators/teachers from Education Boards and education policy procedure. The writing of the Social Studies standards and the adoption of those standards have both been taken away from SD teachers; teachers have been removed from the governing boards deciding content and classroom practice. The Governor has made SD teachers the enemy in her declared war on education — an ideological war to draw the spotlight of conservative media to her “heroism” — an ideological war igniting communities with boogiemen of conservative news fevered dreams — an idealogical war that needs enemies, so targets the public servants of education for its witch hunt. For perceived national political gain, Governor Noem burns down an institution so important its guarantee is written into our state Constitution and demonizes those who work to ensure its success.
Dems apparently decided to become unnamed members of magat party to get re-elected. Isn’t that what certain posters have suggested all along?
All Mammal here’s the weirdo live in Orlando for hours. https://twitter.com/jnewsgabe/status/1628517440530563072?s=20
Well, Mr. O, I suppose it is possible to have a small staff of teachers, say in the smallest districts, where they are all above average. It is possible, but unlikely. It is more likely that all the children in a given family, like all of grudznick’s progeny, are above average. Because there are many others elsewhere below average, like there are many below average teachers.
Well grudz, if you pick them, on what basis do you decide who’s good or bad ? Ugly is the easy one.
O’s point is absolutely valid…teachers have one “above average” trait very much in common: They have a commitment to children fulfilling their potential as human beings and as citizens which guides their professional and personal lives. Grudznick see the world in such simplistic, Social Darwinist terms that his views on Education make me shiver. He most definitely “gets my goat” when he starts babbling on the subject.
Mr. Anderson, do you mean the teachers, who are self-sorting on their own performance, the people put on this worthless board, or grudznick’s progeny?
Mr. Anderson- that guy needs a hot bag of burning dookie on his front porch so he knows exactly how he treats people. Not delivered or left at his door, mind you. A special growler squat is required for people that ratchet. Stoop to take a poop on his stoop then light it on fire and fly the coop.
kyle, e platy:
“At this writing, Republican have total control of state government. The state house consists of 63 Republicans and 7 Democrats. The senate has 31 Republicans and 4 Democrats. And Republicans hold all the major state offices. That’s how the state votes, and with those huge majorities, alternative ideas don’t even get a hearing. That reflects the dominant attitude in the state.” David Newquist blog
Educators Grudz ,educators.
Mr. Anderson- that guy you linked yesterday stuck in my craw something fierce. It is hard to comprehend that goyim ish exists. I showed my man who fell quiet for some time. After viewing the most abhorrent behavior of the dude web chatting with little kids, he felt compelled to turn the dude into cyber tip line dot org and to the clearinghouse for the exploitation of minors, and also in to the twitter ignoramuses because that dude is a clear and present danger to America and our kids. And elon is a pos for protecting that speech and should be deported by ICE for carrying out putin’s agenda.
Thank you All Mammal. I recently found out about him and I couldn’t believe he gets away with everything he’s done. I mean two cop cars watched him for hours in Orlando while he used his megaphone on people while they are trying to negotiate and move into traffic. He lives off this. It’s only going to get worse. I tried to find his address but he’s too clever. It’s in the Sarasota area. All the disgusting people seem to be trying out Sarasota. Sarasota has always been Republican but in reality it’s RINO town. I mean DeSantis elected the school board here last fall, but they barely won. I believe the Sarasota people I know will not put up with this for long.