We need a watch dog on the school board

There are six school staff for every student listed on the books, a cost ratio of $87k. It costs $14,500 per student, whether active or inactive. That's $80 per day. For that kind of money, students should be eating gourmet meals and enjoying the safety of steel-reinforced bunkers while receiving the best, most intense education in the world. But they're not getting that because the money goes to administrative BS and world-class salaries instead.

On top of that, the sense among many of us is that the school board approves questionable big money deals and its members have questionable ties to notorious crooks.

So as taxpayers and parents, we need a watch dog to follow the money and hold the school board's feet to the fire. Sure, I'd rather have someone who could effectively communicate with parents instead of making unsubstantiated claims or feeding us shovels full of incomprehensible drivel, but Jon Narcisse is all we've got.

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City)

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City) announced his forming of a candidate committee to organize and raise money for the 2010 Gubernatorial race in Iowa on Jan Mickelson's program on WHO Radio (Des Moines) this morning and we caught up with him in the afternoon on Steve Deace's show.  Watch the video below.

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Grassley to meet with Des Moines "Tweeps"

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) wants to meet with members of the social networking web site "Twitter" in what's called a "tweet-up", a physical gathering intended for discussion and networking. This town hall-style "#dmtweetup" is scheduled for Friday April 17, 2009 from 3:45pm to 4:45pm at Impromptu Studio, 300 SW 5th St, Suite 220, Des Moines, Iowa.