Fighting

In the wake of a special committee assigned by the school board to research the best options, the elementary school that my kids attend is closing. Though there was a series of meetings that were held and open to the public previous to this decision, all of the sudden parents from my school are coming out swinging and accusing the school board of having an "iron fist" and being unjust. The whole argument seems to have become an us against them argument and I'm watching it from the sidelines in awe.
I'm not going to lie; I have not been happy with the level of education that the school has offered. On top of this, I have had my issues. I used my voice before a decision was made to voice my opinion and made my thoughts stand out when I had the opportunity. This, to me, seems like the equivalent of people throwing their children into the ocean to swim against the warnings of the lifeguards saying that there is a rip tide and ignoring the children, then getting mad at the lifeguards when the children get into trouble. The fact is that the school board didn't make the decision without thought, research and ample opportunity for people to have their voices heard. In the end, the decision was made that their school was the best choice to have close in terms of budget, scores, etc. The fact is that SOMEONE was going to end up mad about this but it is flooring me how quickly these parents are going for the jugular and trying to attack these people, not even close to what has to do with the topics at hand. They aren't looking at what's best for the district; they are mad because their children will have to switch schools.
While I am happy to see people get passionate about something because I believe that our culture has a real habit of being sort of lazy on some counts, I am astounded that people waited until the vote was cast BEFORE getting involved. I equate that with not voting in an election and then complaining about the chosen candidates.
In short, I think that people need to aim their focus on making this as easy a transition as possible on their kids. If the school closes, it's not the end of the world as we know it. It doesn't impede on their ability to have their kids in a good school, etc. What it means is change....and change is hard. I just wonder when people stopped making this argument about what was best for ALL the kids and started making it about what was best for their own? When did our culture become so selfish as to have this me-me-me mentality? It's frightening where our nation and our community is headed at this rate.