Q & A: Dave Ash, school board, Churchill County, Nevada

Dave Ash, aka Super Dave, the Nevada school trustee whose Web site caused quite a rumble between his school district and its teachers union before the union bullied him into taking it down, answers some questions from Municipalist. This is a follow-up to this post from Thursday.

This guy is thoughtful and obviously a trooper, and is one public official who enjoys engaging with his community. He sounds as if he lacks any bitterness whatsoever. It appears Ash has found a workable solution to his situation, one that could be a model for some public officials seeking to post online about their work. A sample of our conversation: What did your constituents and the community as a whole think of your site? "According to polls taken by the local newspaper and KOLO TV in Reno, NV 75-85% favored its continuation," he said. "They felt that all it did was expose issues that in the past had been covered up."

The "Super Dave" moniker comes from Municipalist, and is a reference to a hero of ours, the glorious Super Dave Osborne, the -- in our humble opinion -- frequently slammed-about but very noble stunt man. The name is used here with total respect, and is completely appropriate, in our view, given the crap Ash has put up with. Again: Please read yesterday's post for the full story. Finally: On with the show!

When were you elected? I was elected to the board in November of 2000 and took office the following January. There are about 4,400 students in our district.

The history of DaveAsh.net: I don't remember when I officially opened DaveAsh.net. It started as a blog called DaveAshII.blogspot.com. That I started after finding "blogspot.com" while surfing. Interaction with my constituents was limited so I enlisted the talents of 2 local high school graduates to help me build a web site (it turned out to be a message board).

How did it operate? I established titled forums and allowed anyone to post (by name or anonymously) their opinions of the operation of the school district, the board of trustees, the district administrators, district contractors, or school administrators. I monitored the posts and deleted any posts I considered obscene, clearly slanderous, or posts that specified students by name.

You obviously believed in it very much: Of course I did. In real life, many times when parents complain to officials about the treatment of their children, genuine retribution occurs against the kids. My site provided an outlet for parents to express their concerns without fear of their children suffering from retributions. Of course this site also provided an outlet for false accusations and unjustified complaints.

How did it impact your work on the school board? When there were scores (or hundreds) of responses it could often give my an indication of the general atmosphere in the community regarding significant issues. However, being able to post anonymously, one person could post multiple opinions. It was when posters chose to engage in one-on-one dialog that the site proved productive. The site's overall impact on my work on the board was multi-faceted, but the bottom line was that it was just another (though modern) way of communicating with my constituents, students, employees, and taxpayers. The opinions expressed by the posters on the site were never the only deciding factor in my work with my fellow board trustees.

What did your constituents and the community as a whole think of the blog? According to polls taken by the local newspaper and KOLO TV in Reno, NV 75-85% favored its continuation. They felt that all it did was expose issues that in the past had been covered up.

Was the revelation of the drunk teacher story the moment trouble began? And is that the story that angered the union? Yes, that is when the trouble began. As to whether it is the story that angered the union I can't say. The story was first posted on the site and verbally confirmed to me by a union member. Many union members have relayed their support for my position. Union leaders have opposed me and my site because that is their job: Defend dues-paying members.

What does "soon to be interactive" mean? Are you back online? Not only am I back online, I've never been offline. I simply agreed not to control the site I used to discuss school district (and now community) issues. Interactive means I am posting mine (and the communities') opinions on a site not controlled by the district or any trustee. Interaction is already occurring at the Lahontan Valley News site and at fallontownhall.freeforums.org.

Should school board members blog? That's a question each school board member has to decide. I choose to blog (or post) so that the people that that put me in a position of significant impact in their child's future, have an opportunity to say "yea" or "nay" about me continuing to be in that position, and also to ask me directly why I take a stance on any given issue.

If we blog, what do we need to know? At best, 10% of what is posted is fact. 10% of that fact is accurate. Ask everyone that posts to contact you directly (give them your phone number). Those that actually contact you probably have needs to be addressed and if you don't address them, maybe you have issues.

Thanks for your interest in this issue, and I trust you support even small town elected officials to retain the freedom of communication with the citizens who elected them to office.

UPDATE: Municipalist followed up with Super Dave asking for his clarification about his 10% truthfulness claim:

10% is just a figure I pulled out of my hat. When someone posts and makes an accusation or other type of claim about activities going on in the district, it first has to be taken with a grain of salt. Under most circumstances the poster does not provide me with a complete and accurate account of their issue.

They are sometimes uninformed, misinformed or even misleading. It's the parent syndrome, "my kid can do no wrong," or the administrator syndrome, "I stand by my teachers, and believe their version of the situation," or the taxpayer syndrome,"there's too much waste going on in the art department at Blah Blah Blah Elementary School." There have been many claims on the website that I have discovered to be baseless, or that one or more parties have received only limited information regarding the issue. Hope this makes the mud a little clearer.

In all honesty, I believe 90% of what is posted on my site is meant to be honest and factual. But my research has discovered that it is often incomplete or misunderstanding of inaccurate newspaper stories.

Comments

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