This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

The Community will not elect Eileen Tyrrell to the Board: See the numbers.

It is mid-day on the day of the Rockwood School Board election.  The polling stations are open until 7 p.m. and there are no reports of lines, so make your voice heard through your vote.

Several, including me, have authored articles this past week on the Patch about the suitability (or lack thereof) of some of the candidates running for the Rockwood School Board, providing important facts to consider and also expressing our opinions. This resulted, as it typically does in small number of readers becoming enjoined in a battle of information, opinion, and even rhetoric in the lowermost Comments section.  As one of these authors, I have wondered "is this article being read by just a few people?  Is it possible to reach and inform a larger audience through the Patch?"

Let's look at the numbers.

The purple Facebook "Share" button at the top of each article provides an option for people to attach a link to the article in their timeline, share in groups, or pass along to friends via a Facebook Message.  Pressing the Share button means the reader thinks the article is important and worthy of sharing with friends.

It is instructive to catalog the several Patch articles discussing the candidates and separating them into the two clear-cut groups the represent: the Vote for Doell and Kinder and Paul group, and the Vote for Tyrrell group.

They say that numbers never lie, so lets look at them.  Below I have listed the articles, the authors, and the number of Facebook Shares listed at the top of each article. 

pro-Doell and Kinder and Paul articles:

  • "Keep Eileen Tyrrell off the School Board - go Vote!" (Romero) received 1030 FB Shares
  • "Time for Change - Stop the lies and let the School Board election represent the wishes of an honestly and accurately informed public" (Romero) received 251 FB Shares
  • "A 'Common Sense' Voting Guide to the RSD School Board"(Lazar) received 340 FB Shares
  • "Meet the Rockwood School Board Candidates" (Romero) received 382 FB Shares (292 + 90, some glitch posted this article twice)
Total pro-Doell and pro-Kinder and pro-Paul "Shares" = 2003
(and still climbing)
Pro-Tyrrell articles:
  • "Rockwood Voters Clean House on Tuesday" (Rizzo): 5 FB Shares
  • "Keep Kinder and Doell off the Rockwood School Board" (Miller): 30 FB Shares
Total pro-Tyrrell "Shares" = 35 

These two totals, 2003 vs. 35, illustrates the staggering difference the community places upon the communications from these two camps.  Now many readers are busy with life and are not always aware of the many issues, some trite, but most very important, that Rockwood schools are facing.  I am hoping that it will encourage people to go the polls who are thinking they don't have time, the issues are insignificant (not at all), or they won't make a difference (each vote is truly needed).

Go to the Polls. You get three votes and there are five candidates. 
Vote for Kinder and Doell and Paul.

-Artie Romero
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The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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