Please get to know the candidates before you vote...

[thunderstruck]

Ms. Weaver is currently running for a Board of Ed. position in St. Mary's. This is a screenshot taken from Ms. Weaver's Facebook account that was shared with me earlier today. Her post both concerns and offends me. I truly hope that this isn't an expression of her true feelings towards SMCPS Special Education staff but until I hear/see otherwise, I'll have to assume she does. I have no desire to have someone that has such little regard for the professionals she will be working with in any sort of leadership position and I hope you feel the same. So please share this and spend some time to get to know the candidates running for office this election cycle so you can be an informed voter.

Thanks!

 

[takingtimeout]

It is upsetting to think someone running for the school board has a low opinion of the staff and would make a joke condoning physical violence. If a teacher had written this there would probably be an investigation of some sort. I thought the school board at least supported the school staff. I often wonder when I read posts about school/teacher grievances what the other side would say if they could. Remember, school employees are bound by confidentiality laws and cannot defend themselves or retort grievances in a public forum.

 

[Monello]

I'm guessing candidates for those positions are real people just like the folks here on the forums. They all have flaws. Who hasn't made fun of a useless co-worker?

 

[kom526]

In other words, Look for the union label! :yesman: :mpds:

 

[Goldenhawk]

Disclaimer: I have no idea who Rita Weaver is. I've never met her. I have no connection with her campaign and I don't even remember if I voted for her in the primary.

You know, I'm rather suspicious of this image. It would be fairly easy to create some "evidence" like this in Photoshop, take a screenshot with a cell camera, and send it to people in an attempt to smear someone's name. There are just too many items here that don't line up. There may be some rational explanation for them but there are so many it's hard to believe. For example:

- Look closely at the image, and notice the remarkable difference in compression artifacts and blurriness between the yellow SomeECards image and the text immediately below it. That sharp text is consistent across the lower part of the page, so I do not believe this is because of a tilted camera angle leading to different focus lengths. SomeECards images are always small enough to embed in a page without such compression artifacts, so there's no reason for it to be unclear and pixelated like that.

- Rita posts very few things on her FB profile. The three items visible are not currently on her profile. They must have been from 2013, since the second one refers to Furlough Fridays which were NOT an issue this August. Also, the comment about Monday matches Monday Aug 5th 2013. In 2013, she apparently posted only six total items.

- There are no public images in Rita's profile matching the SomeECards image on her purported page, and no link in that timeframe to such an image on someone else's page.

- There are no images on Rita's profile pictures that match the one on her purported page. Profile pics are usually publicly visible. There is no good reason for her to have deleted such an innocuous image later. There are also no "Rita changed her profile image" messages matching this image.

- There is no evidence in the supposed timeframe (Aug 12th) of any of these status updates, including the school board one. I can understand if Rita deleted such an inflammatory comment on her own page, but there would be no reason for Sue Weissner to delete her own status; it's funny but nothing for Sue to be ashamed of.

- There is no evidence on Rita's page of such a status update about the school board. (I can understand she would delete it upon realizing it might impact her campaign.)

- There is no evidence on Greg Weaver's page of her comment about him. I can understand this if she deleted it for personal reasons but other similar comments about Greg are still there, making it unlikely she deleted such a comment later. However, on Aug 5th 2013, Greg was convalescing from a knee replacement at home, not stuck on a Furlough Friday. This makes the existence of such a comment questionable.

- I cannot find any SomeEcards image matching the one shown.

So is any of this, or all of it, proof that this image is faked? No, I can't state that as a fact.

Is Thunderstruck intentionally misleading us? Probably not; the image may have come from somebody else.

But the image itself should not be used as proof that Rita is an unworthy candidate. It SHOULD be viewed as proof that someone is smearing her name, whether correctly or not.

 

[Merlin99]

View attachment 104906

Ms. Weaver is currently running for a Board of Ed. position in St. Mary's. This is a screenshot taken from Ms. Weaver's Facebook account that was shared with me earlier today. Her post both concerns and offends me. I truly hope that this isn't an expression of her true feelings towards SMCPS Special Education staff but until I hear/see otherwise, I'll have to assume she does. I have no desire to have someone that has such little regard for the professionals she will be working with in any sort of leadership position and I hope you feel the same. So please share this and spend some time to get to know the candidates running for office this election cycle so you can be an informed voter.

Thanks!

Got me sold, I like someone with a sense of humor.

P.S.
Don't be offended so easily, it's bad for the digestion

 

[thunderstruck]

I can see all of your points Goldenhawk. I have been unable to find the ecard as well. However, I'm not familiar with how they are generated, distributed, and/or stored. The source of the image indicated that this post, along with others was deleted immediately following Ms. Weaver's declaration to run for the Board of Ed. Is it possible it was deleted along with the posts?

While there may be no current profile images that match the one on the post, there are several on Greg Weaver's page of Ms. Weaver in a red kayak that looks very similar to the one in her supposed profile picture. If it were me, and I were running for office, I would not only delete the post itself but also the profile photo associated with it to further distance myself from what had been posted.

I also know that Ms. Weaver had several disagreements with SMCPS during 2013 regarding her son so I can see how her frustration with the school system/Special Education Staff could lead to a post like this.

Anyways, I have e-mailed Ms. Weaver asking for a comment regarding the post/picture but have not gotten a reply. If I do, I'll pass along the information it contains.

 

[Goldenhawk]

If I could only get my teenagers to understand that their sub-optimal choices of information shared on Facebook might come back to haunt them... this is a great example, if it's true.

 

[Gilligan]

Glad to see she has a sense of humor..I loved that joke when it first surfaced some 7 or 8 years ago.

 

[BernieP]

I would never vote for a member of the union OR a relative of a union member OR for that matter any employee of the SMCPS for the board of education.
IMHO it would be a conflict of interest.
I want someone who is going to ask tough questions and not rubber stamp the educrats.

 

[Uncle Charlie]

Well I can tell you with 100% certainty that the post was taken from her Facebook page. It was in 2013 and since then she has changed her privacy settings and removed a lot of content. The worst thing that could happen for st Mary's county public schools would be for her to get elected!

 

[JustStoppingBy]

I've heard SMCPS is footing the bill to send her son to to the charter school. Doe anyone know if this is true? Why would you want to sit on a board if you don't value their services or product?

 

[Merlin99]

Well I can tell you with 100% certainty that the post was taken from her Facebook page. It was in 2013 and since then she has changed her privacy settings and removed a lot of content. The worst thing that could happen for st Mary's county public schools would be for her to get elected!

All because she repeated a joke? It looks like the teachers don't think anyone from outside the education system should have any say in how the system is run.

 

[thunderstruck]

I've heard SMCPS is footing the bill to send her son to to the charter school. Doe anyone know if this is true? Why would you want to sit on a board if you don't value their services or product?

It's not quite true. SMCPS offered to send her son to the Harbor School so that he could receive the services that she was requesting. She turned it down. Eventually, the school system provided her son with home teaching for the remainder of the year.

 

[thunderstruck]

All because she repeated a joke? It looks like the teachers don't think anyone from outside the education system should have any say in how the system is run.

I took issue with the post because I don't believe she will spend her time actually doing her job. Would you want someone with a vendetta against a particular organization/business place in a leadership role in that organization/business? I don't. My question to her, which she has yet to answer by the way, is whether or not she's moved past her negative feelings towards SMCPS and is willing to do what needs to be done to ensure the success of the school system. If not, why attempt to be elected to the BOE? There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done by the members of the BOE in the coming years. How useful would a member be that was just there to 'settle a debt'? It bothers me, as a voter, that she hasn't taken the time to respond to my inquiry. Especially since one of the parts of her platform, a major part that she mentions over and over in various articles, is that the BOE needs to be more communicative with members of the community. If she's unwilling to communicate with a member of the community now, why would she act any differently were she to get elected?

 

[Merlin99]

I took issue with the post because I don't believe she will spend her time actually doing her job. Would you want someone with a vendetta against a particular organization/business place in a leadership role in that organization/business? I don't. My question to her, which she has yet to answer by the way, is whether or not she's moved past her negative feelings towards SMCPS and is willing to do what needs to be done to ensure the success of the school system. If not, why attempt to be elected to the BOE? There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done by the members of the BOE in the coming years. How useful would a member be that was just there to 'settle a debt'? It bothers me, as a voter, that she hasn't taken the time to respond to my inquiry. Especially since one of the parts of her platform, a major part that she mentions over and over in various articles, is that the BOE needs to be more communicative with members of the community. If she's unwilling to communicate with a member of the community now, why would she act any differently were she to get elected?

You're pissed off at her because she won't answer a "have you quit beating your wife yet" question? What would be the benefitt, to her, of answering you?

 

[thunderstruck]

You're pissed off at her because she won't answer a "have you quit beating your wife yet" question? What would be the benefitt, to her, of answering you?

There wouldn't be a benefit for her. But that's not what being an elected official is about. It's about serving the public. I think that's half the reason our country is having some of problems it is. People have forgotten that our elected officials are here to serve us, not the other way around. At the very least, she could apologize. Some people might respect that. Staying silent about the issue is tantamount to admitting guilt. Not to mention being a little juvenile about the whole situation. To be clear, I didn't ask her a loaded question when I contacted her. I simply asked if she had any comment about it. I left it completely open ended for her.

 

[GregV814]

Heyyyy we dont need to research candidates...After all, Joe Biden told us Barack Obama was a realllll clean one that speaks real good....thats all most blacks had to know....and look what happened.

 

[BernieP]

... It looks like the teachers don't think anyone from outside the education system should have any say in how the system is run.

Exactly. Not only should they not come from "outside" the education system, they should be intimately familair with the unique nature of the SMCPS.

Honestly, I think we should allow the elected Board of Commisioners to appoint the school board. Since the school boards job is oversite of the school system and they are spenidng the tax dollars the BOC is responsible to proivde, the BOC should have a more direct hand in how that money is spent. Way to easy for the BOE to pass along a budget and point the finger at the BOC, but the fact is, the BOE does not have to answer to the people for tax increases. They rightfully can claim they never voted a tax increase.

 

[awpitt]

Exactly. Not only should they not come from "outside" the education system, they should be intimately familair with the unique nature of the SMCPS.

Honestly, I think we should allow the elected Board of Commisioners to appoint the school board. Since the school boards job is oversite of the school system and they are spenidng the tax dollars the BOC is responsible to proivde, the BOC should have a more direct hand in how that money is spent. Way to easy for the BOE to pass along a budget and point the finger at the BOC, but the fact is, the BOE does not have to answer to the people for tax increases. They rightfully can claim they never voted a tax increase.

St. Mary's County used to have an appointed BoE and the schools sucked. No accountability to the citizens. Wether or not you like the SMCPS these days, they are much better today than they were in the 80's and early 90's. Also, the BoCC is not the only funding source for the SMCPS. School funding comes from the County, State, and the Feds.