When "No" Has Different Connotations - And Motivations

I know a few lawyers who say "No means "no" only until it means "yes".

Yesterday's HCPS board meeting did not disappoint those who wanted to see some action at the dais. I was watching to see how the Alafia Elementary issue was going to be professionally smoothed over as a non-issue, fully expecting to hear the phrase "isolated incident" at least once.

The real action came after Ms. April Griffin attempted to ask for an "exception" for a rule she was just about to vote on. Admittedly, that was an awkward position to take. How does one get an exception from something that doesn't exist yet?

Perhaps the awkwardness of the order of events is what prompted Ms. Faliero, the Board Chair, to attempt to stop Ms. Griffin's request. For reasons I am sure we would all love to know, Ms. Faliero chose an interesting behavior when Ms. Griffin asserted her efforts to complete the request. From my perspective, when Ms. Griffin continued to speak, Ms. Faliero stated Ms. Griffin was "out of order". Ms. Griffin refuted that statement, and continued to speak. Ms. Faliero again stated Ms.Griffin was "out of order" and placed an emphasis on the fact that this was stated one more time. Ms. Griffin continued speaking.

What happened next is something that tells a lot about Ms. Faliero. I don't know what it tells, but it tells a lot. Ms. Faliero called for the removal of Ms. Griffin. Could this call have gone to the same person who was called to remove Ms. DeCeasare a few months ago?

Lee Drury De Cesare's Casting-Room Couch: Search results for freedom of speech: "Enter Lee Drury De Cesare, sharp-tongued critic, frequent speaker and perpetual thorn to certain public figures, Faliero included. Guess what? De Cesare said a name and kept talking as the buzzer sounded. Faliero told a security officer, 'Do your thing,' and De Cesare was escorted out."

After this command from the chair, there were several people speaking, Ms. Griffin being the most assertive. However, a female voice is heard to say "(please?) don't do that". I wonder who said it.

There is something to be said about the power and authority of a public school person. I write about it frequently on my other blogs, usually about how this authority is abused.

Hopefully there will be some learning from this event. Ms. Griffin later made an excellent point that what employees witnessed was not helpful in getting employees to come forward to express their concerns and that this type of action did not further the attempt at changing the culture of the system of fear of retaliation or words to that affect.

After all of that, what I haven't figured out is why would Ms. Faliero result to saying that Ms. Griffin just doesn't like to hear the word "no".