To all those folks who have been unhappy with the direction of the Oxford school district over the last seven years, now is your chance to act.
In November, four seats ? a voting majority ? will be up for grabs on the school board.
The time is ripe for change.
The question is will all those people who have voiced their opposition to the district’s current direction have the intestinal fortitude to run for these seats or will they continue to cower in the shadows, hoping someone else will fight their battles for them?
Will all those critics who take their potshots at the district via Facebook make the effort to actually do something beyond hitting computer keys?
Will all those critics who have written letters ? some signed, most anonymous ? taking the district and its actions to task finally pull petitions and start knocking on doors?
Will all those people who tell everyone they’re sick and tired of ‘business as usual? finally stop making excuses for why they sit on the sidelines, stand up and get in the game?
Quite simply, it’s time for these folks to put up or shut up.
Make no mistake, there is a definite, desperate need for new blood on the Oxford Board of Education and it would be healthy to see four brand-new, independent-thinkers occupying these seats after the November election.
But that won’t happen unless people decide to run.
For those who disagree with the direction of Oxford Community Schools, there will never, ever be a better opportunity than this to truly change things.
But opportunities are only opportunities when they are seized by the bold and the brave. When no one takes advantage of the opportunities before them, when they are squandered by the foolish and the weak-willed, they quickly degenerate into waste, regret, loss, shame and failure.
The choice is yours, Oxford.
You can continue to do nothing, thereby giving tacit consent to the district and its actions, or you can transform your discontent into a powerful instrument of change.
Four votes can’t change the world, but they can change Oxford Schools when they’re cast by board members.
The deadline to file for the November election is 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 22 and it must be done at the Oakland County Elections Division (1200 N. Telegraph Rd.) in Pontiac.
There are two ways to file. One is to submit nominating petitions containing at least 40, but no more than 100, signatures from registered Oxford school district voters.
Or, in lieu of circulating and submitting petitions, potential candidates can pay a $100 nonrefundable filing fee.
Will the Oxford school district’s critics do the right thing or will they continue to do the easy thing? Time will tell.