Needed this St. Patrick’s Day – Great Communicator Ronald Reagan

From The Augusta Chronicle

This isn’t supposed to happen. But thank goodness it is. According to myth, Republicans aren’t supposed to care about the underprivileged. That’s always been a bunch of bunk. Scratch most any conservative and you’ll find a mission trip or other unheralded charitable act.

And Democrats aren’t supposed to be for anything that even hints at alternatives to traditional public school. Sadly, that’s been mostly true.

Nor are Republicans and Democrats supposed to work together these days. Well, that dictum certainly appears to be the case in Washington, D.C.

But in Atlanta, Republicans and Democrats in the House - led by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal and Republican House leaders and Democrat Minority Leader Stacey Abrams - just cooperated on a desperately needed bill to turn around failing schools.

H.B. 338 would create a state Chief Turnaround Officer to shepherd local schools and school districts through a turnaround plan that they, and the schools’ parents, help author.

A similar effort in the form of a constitutional amendment failed last year, due in large part to the public school bureaucracy’s opposition but also a more widely held view that it gave the state too much power. This page didn’t happen to share that view.

Though the state would still have broad authority to step in where it sees “unacceptable” schools, the turnaround process in H.B. 338 is designed to be less heavy-handed and more collaborative.

The bill passed the House March 1 by a wide margin, 138-37 and even enjoyed the support of half the Democrats in the House, thanks to Leader Abrams’ urging.

“It’s been built across party lines,” bill author Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville, said. “A step in the right direction,” Abrams said of the bill. Even the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, which wasn’t thrilled with the bill, remained neutral on it and, notes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, did praise Tanner for a “good-faith effort’ in seeking input from educators, saying it is ’refreshing’ to see such bipartisan collaboration in a polarized political climate.”

That doesn’t mean the bill comes without teeth. There are a series of steps the state can take with chronically failing schools and districts, including removing staff and reassigning students elsewhere.

“Non-improving schools with recalcitrant leaders,” writes the Atlanta newspaper, “could be handed to other school districts or to nonprofit managers, or they could be converted to charter schools. School districts could also be forced to bus students to better-performing schools, and the turnaround chief could replace all the staff. “

Truth be known, as the Journal-Constitution notes, “Most of these interventions are already allowed under current law.” This bill adds steps, reduces critics’ concerns and focuses everyone on the problem like never before.

There’s no money attached to the bill, but there is a promise of potential increased resources for targeted schools, with the governor’s backing.

We wish the constitutional amendment had passed. But the silver lining is, its failure required lawmakers to work across the aisle even harder to find a mutually agreeable way to save chronically failing schools and rescue the students within.

The bill must also pass the Senate. But we appreciate Democrat representatives’ willingness to think outside the public school bureaucracy box and join with Republicans in doing whatever we can to help children, particularly in disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods.

We also applaud Gov. Deal for sticking doggedly to what may become a huge part of his legacy — and the state’s future.

It was on St. Patrick’s Day 1988 when an unexpected visitor arrived at Pat Troy’s Irish pub in Alexandria, Va. — President Ronald Reagan.

For 27 years, it’s been a favorite watering hole for Washington insiders. Some of Reagan’s advance men had been regulars. They secretly arranged the president’s visit.

Just before noon, the pub was half-packed when Reagan and his entourage arrived. As news got around, the pub quickly filled to capacity. While Reagan enjoyed a pint of Harp and some corned beef and cabbage, Troy was so busy tending to patrons, he didn’t have time to react to his famous patron.

“He had an energy about him that put you instantly at ease,” Troy told me. “He made it easy to carry on as though he was just another patron, so that is what I did.”

Troy took the stage and led the audience in “The Wild Rover.” He directed sections of the audience to compete with each other to see which could sing and clap the loudest.

“You have to clap louder, Mr. President,” he said to Reagan, prompting the president, not used to being given orders, to laugh.

Troy next led the audience in “The Unicorn Song.” While Troy sang the words, the audience mimicked the animals referenced in the song:

“There were green alligators and long-necked geese, some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees. Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you’re born, the loveliest of all was the unicorn.”

Reagan turned to watch a group of young women act out the song. His face showed curiosity and delight — he’d never seen this song performed before.

But that was how he was: At the same time he was the world’s most powerful man, the man who felled communism and restored American optimism, he was a man of youthful innocence who found immense pleasure in the simplest things.

When Troy finished, he handed the president the microphone. The normally raucous crowd became extraordinarily quiet.

Reagan spoke off the top of his head. He graciously thanked Troy for having him for lunch. He said it was a great surprise. He talked about his father, an Irishman.

“When I was a little boy, my father proudly told me that the Irish built the jails in this country,” he said, pausing expertly. “Then they proceeded to fill them.” The crowd laughed heartily. “You have to understand that for a man in my position, I’m a little leery about ethnic jokes,” he said. The crowd roared. “The only ones I can tell are Irish.”

He talked about a recent trip to Ireland. He visited Castle Rock, the place where St. Patrick erected the first cross in Ireland.

“A young Irish guide took me to the cemetery and showed me an ancient tombstone there,” he said. “The inscription read: ‘Remember me as you pass by, for as are you so once was I, and as I am you too will be, so be content to follow me.”

As Reagan paused, the crowd eagerly awaited his follow up.

“Then I looked below the inscription, where someone scratched in these words: ‘To follow you I am content, I wish I knew which way you went.’”

The crowd roared loud and long, causing the president to deadpan to his advance men: “Why didn’t I find this place seven years ago?”

The pub visit was videotaped by Reagan staffers and released to Troy 10 years after Reagan left office. I watched that video and got to see a snapshot of pure, unscripted Ronald Reagan.

It shows how powerfully and eloquently the man was able to engage any audience, large or small, just by being his genuine self. As we begin the process of selecting our next president, we sure could use another fellow like him.

I’ll be sure to offer up a toast to the Great Communicator as I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year:

“To follow you we were content, and grateful for the way we went.” TOM PURCELL