There have been multiple editorials lately highlighting APS school board dysfunction and comparing school board members Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski, AJ MacArthur and Eric Lawson to clowns, which may be unfair to clowns.

To compare:

1. Clowns make people happy. By comparison, many people are unhappy with what the school board is doing, and with what they’re failing to do.

2. Clowns cater to the needs, wishes and happiness of children. Some school board members wish to shame, humiliate, and marginalize a segment of APS students, also known as children.

3. Clowns responsibly manage their resources. Squirting flowers, balloon animals, colorful costumes, and the like, serve and support their mission.

Certain school board members seem oriented to wasting tax dollars by hiring an unneeded law firm, awarding contracts to not-the-lowest bidder and edging toward initiating a Potty Policy that will put APS into an expensive lawsuit.

4. Clowns are responsive to feedback received from the public. Clowns will adjust their program to better meet the needs of their audience. Our school board seems disinterested in public input.

5. Clowns have an extensive and creative repertoire. Clowns create balloon animals, perform magic tricks, tell jokes, etc. Some board members seem to be stuck on a singular task … creating the best Potty Policy ever seen.

6. Clowns show intellectual engagement with the world around them. School board members who demonstrate intellectual rigidity and are unable to see, understand or respect people unlike themselves … betray the very narrow viewpoints they adhere to and strive to make everyone else bend to.

The school board members who object to the clown comparison could benefit from some exercises in self-reflection. Or do the blinders they wear completely obscure their vision? Clearly, in this case, it’s clowns who should be objecting to the comparison.

KAREN HANSEN

Alpena