Dublin City Schools’ Unfortunate Kicking the Can on Redistricting Signals a Big Win for DEI Map Backers and an Absence of Political Courage

If you are angry with what DCS has done (or failed to do), then I strongly encourage you also to undervote the DCS board of education election. It is a symbolic, but powerful protest action.

I don’t care which one you like, but Barack Obama and Donald Trump are decisive politicians who used/use their power aggressively. Obama famously told Republican congressional leaders “I won” after listening to them gripe about his proposed stimulus package. He then used the power of his pen and phone to do what he couldn’t get out of Congress. As for Trump, he learned the hard way during his first term that if he wanted to get things done he had to take his electoral mandate and run with it, which he most certainly has done this year. You can label both men as authoritarians, dictators, or kings, if you like, but they had/have the political courage to push their agendas and let the electoral chips fall where they may.

Dublin City Schools (DCS) Superintendent John Marschausen is NOT a profile in political courage. His message on Friday to Dubliners letting us know that DCS was going to kick the can on high school redistricting another year was little more than a capitulation to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) crowd, backed by three DCS Board of Education members. It also conceded that my first column on this issue re Marschausen operating with humility was spot on. One of those pro-DEI members, Amy Messick, likely pushed hard for the can kicking given her presence in the Bailey Elementary School (BES) neighborhoods that are negatively affected by the DEI map she loves politically. Marschausen should have had the guts to stick to his map preference and used the authority vested in him to finalize the redistricting process on November 10. That doesn’t mean he should have rammed his choice down our throats; rather, he should have realized from the start how contentious the process would be, stay true to his stated metrics, and explain why he made the decisions he made. Lord knows, we pay him enough money to expect him to withstand expected parental pressures.

Nothing will change in the demographics across Dublin in one year. Parents won’t be less emotionally engaged next year, as if giving everyone a “time out” will calm legitimate concerns about high school assignments.

The reality on the can kicking is that BES neighborhoods will face the move to Scioto High School a year from now. Why? Because with Republican Diana Rigby leaving the Board of Education and with the four candidates running for the three spots all being Democrat candidates, the Board of Education will go from three DEI Democrats with one compromised by her presence in the BES neighborhoods against two Republicans to four DEI Democrats to just Republican Chris Valentine. That majority gives Messick the room to abstain from voting or voting with Valentine in all votes related to the new process to preserve neighborly relations. And don’t think for a moment the DEI board members won’t alter the process to ensure they can force the adoption of map 3 (or something like it). Thus, the BES neighborhoods are safe for a year then they will be the sacrificial lambs to protect Jerome Muirfield neighborhoods from being part of the Jerome overcrowding solutions. Again, why the answer to Jerome overcrowding isn’t to move Jerome neighborhoods to Scioto is, as the Will Ferrell character said in Blades of Glory, mind-bottling.

As I stated in my second column on this issue that offended many, if you live by DEI, then you can’t complain when DEI comes for you and yours.

Now, I have no idea if this failure contributed or resulted in the dilemma DCS now faces, but the failure to secure the Cardinal Health building had to make redistricting worse. For that failure, blame rests squarely on the Dublin City Council (DCC), which kiboshed the acquisition DCS had agreed to with Cardinal Health. DCC can make excuses for why it did what it did, but the bottom line is it acted out of greed and not what was in the best interest of Dublin. Specifically, for years, DCC has been made dumb, fat, and happy because thousands of employees poured into the Cardinal Health complex everyday who brought with them income on which they were hit with Dublin’s 2% income tax. As annual fiscal reports show, with the Cardinal Health income tax boondoggle, DCC usually operated with 80%+ of an entire year’s operating budget in a rainy day fund. You want some ugly, but expensive sculptures? Sure!! You want a Taj Mahal like Dublin City Hall? Well, of course!!!! As of 2023, more than 600 Dublin City employees make over $100,000 per year to work forty-hour weeks at that same time they also get great health care and generous government pensions funded by Dubliners.

Many of those Cardinal Health workers, however, didn’t live in Dublin, so Dublin didn’t have to expend resources on them. When the 2020 pandemic resulted in Cardinal Health adopting a work for home policy, many of those workers remained in their own suburbs. When many refused to return to work after the pandemic and Cardinal Health downsized, half of its complex was empty, thereby leading to the proposed DCS deal to turn it into a fourth high school. The complex was perfect for that function given its layout and the cafeteria already there. DCC, however, didn’t want to lose the 2% income tax from workers inside that building, so nixed the DCS-Cardinal Health deal to try to force Cardinal Health into finding another corporate tenant for the building. It remains empty today. I have to believe had the DCS-Cardinal Health deal been approved by DCC, the dilemma facing DCS in terms of redistricting would be minimal or eliminated. So, if you are angry, send a note to the DCC letting them know the chaos they caused by their greed for that 2% income tax revenue.

Let me add a brief word on voting. I already voted. There are four candidates for three spots. Just because there are three spots doesn’t mean you have to vote for three candidates. It is called undervoting. I do it all of the time. In fact, I refuse to vote in any race in which only one candidate is on the ballot regardless of whether I like that candidate or not. That is a coronation, not an election. As a matter of democratic principle, I believe firmly we deserve choices. If either party can’t fill a race leaving just one candidate, that isn’t a choice. I undervote those races by leaving the bubble empty. I’ve been doing it for years. On the ballot I just sent in, I undervoted most of the ballot, as most races only had one candidate. I undervoted the DCS board of education election, too.

If you are angry with what DCS and Marschuasen have done (or failed to do), then I strongly encourage you also to undervote the DCS board of education election. It is a symbolic protest action, but a visibly powerful way to show your frustration electorally. The absolute last thing you should do is give your vote to candidates who will force your kids to go to a school you deem inferior to where they are currently slated to go. We know at least three of the four candidates running will do that. Deny them your vote (or don’t complain when they do what they say they will do).

P.S. Of course, the answer to this question is “no,” but will anyone suffer a negative consequence because of the errors made by DCS and the unnecessary strife caused in our community? It seems to me that Marschausen, the members of the Internal Planning Team, and Cropper GIS should experience some accountability for getting so much wrong. They expended enormous sums of time, money, and emotions only to pull the rug out from under us with just seventeen days left in the process. In the private sector, creating such a mess would result in consequences for the mess makers.