Lanning drags school board to a new low

By NewsPress Now

After Mayor John Josendale delivered the annual state-of-the-city address, the “what-about-it” crowd launched its predictable response.

“What about all the red tape?”

“What about the library board mess?”

“What about the potholes.”

All of this is fair game in assessing municipal leadership, but these remarks appear nit-picky next to the broader theme of Josendale’s speech. The city has unveiled several initiatives (thanks to gobs of federal stimulus money) that carry the potential of making St. Joseph a more attractive place to live.

But there is one legitimate “what-about-it” issue that could become the fly in the mayor’s ointment of optimism. Housing developments, clean neighborhood initiatives and children’s discovery centers amount to nothing if outsiders conclude that St. Joseph’s public education system is deficient and the board of education is a basket case.

It was hard to avoid that conclusion following the emergence of a video that purports to combine expletive-laden audio with the previously viewed video of Whitney Lanning’s explosive confrontation with fellow school board member Isaura Garcia.

None of this comes as a shock. No reasonable person, after viewing the silent video a few weeks ago, would have concluded that Lanning was asking about the next day’s lunch plans when she hurled her purse at the wall and followed Garcia out of the building.

Now we have evidence that Lanning has a full repertoire of four-letter words and used many of them in threatening Garcia with bodily harm. A good lawyer – and Lanning has one of those – will make the case that this could be a separate audio track combined with the original video.

If it’s not a single recording, it’s open to dissection about whether Lanning said this particular thing at that particular time. That level of detail might be relevant in a legal or administrative proceeding, but in the court of public opinion, the damage is already done.

Really, it doesn’t matter what St. Joseph people think about this. Their opinions on Lanning, Garcia and the school board are already established and won’t change based on this video, that audio or this editorial.

The problem is with the outsiders looking in. The Lanning video has now reached the ignominious depths of the Wire Rope coffee pot and the “boots and pants” commercial. When you look up St. Joseph, the Lanning tirade is what’s going to come up.

That better be an awesome children’s discovery center if you want people to move here.

Some might blame the organization that released this video for crossing the line from supporting private education – a laudable goal – to undermining public schools. But there’s too much blaming the messenger in that sentiment.

Regardless of The Lion’s and The Heartlander’s motives, when it comes to hurting the cause of public education in St. Joseph, nobody does it better than Lanning. She needs to take responsibility for the damage she’s done.