Weiner Dogs & Hunting

The Daschund was bred to hunt. The standard size was developed to hunt badgers, thus its German name which literally translates to "badger dog." The miniature breed was downsized to hunt rabbits. They are perfectly willing and able to go down into their burrowing prey's home to flush it out. They are loyal to their owners and, when properly trained, dedicated hunters; however, they were not bred to hunt and fight bears. To send a daschund to fight a bear is to ask the dog to go beyond its capabilities and not to stop from attacking one that you found in confrontation with a bear would be to doom the dog. Besides that, you won't be bring the bear home for whatever purpose you were hunting it.

Recently, the Board of Trustees of the Clay Community Schools Corporation had to consider the renewal of administrator's contracts as happens every year. The five members present and voting voted not to renew the contract of one employee who has been with the corporation for several decades. Personnel performance issues are discussed in Executive Session by the Board, however, action can only take place in the public meeting by vote. Therefore, we, the public, only know the action but not the reasoning behind the action on these types of issues.

I am not going to write out my opinion of the reasons that I suspect might have caused the members of the school to have voted as they did. That has been discussed in the on-line comments on the article that broke the news to the public. I will note that that article also stated that it was "standing room only" at that particular school board meeting as people turned out to support that individual.

It is a hard decision to be faced with when you must weigh the effect on a person to end their employment against the effect on the organization of keeping them employed and one that I do not think is ever taken lightly by a responsible person. It is, however, one that must be made by those with that responsibility.

Many of the people who spoke in support of this employee spoke of his loyalty and dedication, of which I agree that he has displayed a high degree. However, he is human and, therefore, he has his strengths and weaknesses as do we all. As the vote was five to zero not to renew his contract, there obviously was information that showed that his weaknesses in performing the duties of the position outweighed his strengths in the collective opinion of the people we have elected to decide the issue. One may disagree with that opinion and even work to change it, even as I have disagreed with past decisions of many people and boards or other bodies of decision-makers and continue to attempt to change, however, one cannot find fault with a decision that is based upon information that they do have no knowledge of or access to. That is to say that I regret that the board found cause to vote on this issue in such a manner, but I would have no idea how to argue against the decision except on what I have observed of the person's loyalty, dedication, and long service. Weighing that against what I have observed of this employee's reports to the board and information given in school board meetings by this employee over the last four years and considering that the main reason to employ a person is to get the job done at minimum cost would be to send a wiener dog to fight a bear. Loyalty, dedication, and length of service are factors of comparison to be considered along with job performance, but they cannot outweigh any serious fault or flaw in performance in any decision that is to be made in the best interest of getting the job done.

To hunt bear using dogs, you need a dog breed that is bigger than the daschund. One dog bred specifically to hunt bear is the Karelian Bear Dog. This is a rare breed that hails from Finland and there are only about three hundred of them in the United States. It is considered a primitive breed of canine, extremely hardy, and requires little hygiene as it does not develop that "doggie" smell. It is medium in size, but is not a "family" pet as it does not readily adapt to life indoors, requires an experienced trainer to train it, and is not recommended for children as it can exert a bite pressure that exceeds over 230 pounds per square inch. This breed bites its prey and holds until released by command from its hunter companion when properly trained. Yet even these rare black and white dogs that were bred to hunt the bear are rarely sent to attack the bear alone, they are sent as part of a small pack.

Employees are part of a team, too. If they do not work well together, little is done and money is wasted. If each does not do his job, then the overall productivity of the organization suffers. When corrective action is not taken when any of these conditions become apparent, more money is lost through waste or decreased productivity. Corrective action only reaches the point where the termination of employment is considered when the team fails to support the employee by not letting performance decline to the point where it is noticeable to those with the responsibility of deciding to keep the employee or let him or her go. In this, the "team" failed the employee in question.

Now, let's get the right dog, whether that be the one that we had or a different one, train the pack or "team" to work in concert in all aspects of the Clay Community Schools Corporation by attacking at the same time without holding back, and hunt the bear of a task it is to educate these students.

Let's not send another wiener dog to hunt the bear alone!