Dialogue with Lynne Varner

On October 25, Lynne Varner wrote an editorial, Silas Potter's alleged criminal enterprise, that appeared in the Ed Cetera section of the Seattle Times opinion page.

To her great credit, Ms Varner often engages with her readers in the comments threads that appear at the end of the online versions of Seattle Times articles. We don't see this from the other Times Editorial staff - at least not nearly as much as Ms Varner does it. A few readers used the comments to challenge Ms Varner's perspective on the Board's role. Ms Varner responded indicating that she was interested in continuing the dialogue. She committed to answering some challenging questions I posed (I write under the name coolpapa in the online Comments of the Seattle Times).

Ms Varner could not return to the thread before it was automatically closed by the Seattle Times, so I have created this thread here for the exclusive purpose of continuing that dialogue. I'm going to enforce that. I will remove any off-topic comments. The ball is in Ms Varner's court. I am saving this space for her to continue the dialogue with her answers to the questions. Let's see what she has to say.

Comments

dan dempsey said…
Ms. Varner wrote the following:

October 25, 2011 at 3:05 PM

Thanks for the links Dan. I'm reading your legal arguments for recalling Randy Dorn right now.

Will read the other links later, likely not in time to comment on this thread.
-----------------------

Her taking more time on this is fine with me. I would love to see articles and discussions based on facts.

The other links, she mentioned, included Joy Anderson's TFA appeal in which she maintains the board did not perform a careful review of all options to close the achievement gaps.

Ms. Varner has my email.

Mr. Rosenthal is also aware of the situation.

--- It will be interesting to see if either responds to Charlie or discusses "What OSPI views as a claim by the Board" that a careful review of all options to close achievement gaps was performed.
10/28/11, 12:38 PM
dw said…
I guess there was no interest in a dialog after all.
10/31/11, 12:24 AM
mirmac1 said…
Unless you think her petulant tweets are "dialog".

: )
10/31/11, 9:49 PM
dan dempsey said…
Well ... without responding to Charlie, Ms. Varner is at it again =>

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2016665146_lynne02.html
11/1/11, 9:32 PM
Charlie Mas said…
I'm beginning to suspect that Ms Varner is a coward.

I never would have thought it of her, but it is becoming clear that she lacks the courage of her convictions. Perhaps she knows that her position is indefensible. Even still, she should make the beau geste and go down fighting for her hopeless cause.
11/2/11, 9:08 AM
P.T. Daphule said…
Maybe there's a disconnect between what she writes and what she believes. If that were so, why would she visit this blog to expound on the editorial her bosses want in her own time?

Some people claim the unhingedness of her multiple editorials comes from ignorance, but what if she were harried? Can you imagine being bullied at a newspaper with dwindling readership and scant credibility, hanging on to your job in a bad economy, typing out things you know to be garbage and that you can't excuse with logic but muster with bland labels because you're middle-aged and in a dying field, and people you haven't met are kicking at you in the comments? It'd be like defending Bank of America, or claiming The Great Pumpkin exists. And wouldn't you be sucking up to people who can blow $425000 in a blink on a political action, in case they can help find you a post-newspaper job, by writing to make them happy?

Nowadays online paid writers don't really care if anyone takes them seriously, or if they themselves make no sense: it's about being audacious and shocking enough to attract eyeballs to the ads.
11/2/11, 10:29 PM
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12/22/16, 11:49 AM
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