During the last School Building Committee meeting, School Board Member John Bagley abstained on three consecutive votes, including the replacement of Bassick High School’s roof and the creation of an information website for school construction projects.

One has to wonder why? Why abstain from voting on projects that only help children and better inform the community?

What’s interesting about this is that at last school board meeting, Bagley complained about a lack of information from the facilities department, which he noted as the reason building repairs are often put off until the last minute. Yet, only a week before, he abstained from voting on keeping the Bassick High School’s roof project on schedule.

The vote was specifically on seeking an architect so that Bassick High School’s roof could be replaced next summer.

More incredibly, Bagley essentially refused to support creating a new website for school construction projects that would feature all the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection reports on the Harding High School construction project. The website would also include tracking of all other projects and meeting minutes.

The irony is that Bagley and the rest of the Working Families Party members of the school board tried to block the Harding High School project on the basis of a supposed lack of transparency.

So, why abstain when all this would do is allow for greater transparency… unless, of course, he doesn’t want greater transparency?

It’s funny because, in similar fashion, his buddy Chair Sauda Baraka pulled the same trick—calling out the Mayor for his “lack of transparency” on the Harding project, meanwhile, behind the scenes, canceling a public forum that would have given the community a chance to ask questions.

You see, you can’t use scare tactics to block a construction project if people understand what’s going on.

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