For even the casual viewer of Chanel 20, it is readily apparent how the district uses their televised board meetings to inform the public of the achievements of Dr. Eastwood and his administration. Ever effort is made to project a one-sided messaged to the public. All dissent or challenges to this image are forcibly suppressed. Behind the scenes much effort is directed to orchestrate this image. The president of the board meets with Dr. Eastwood and his administration to construct the meeting agenda. This agenda and its associated materials are send to the board usually the Friday before scheduled Thursday meetings. Board members are instructed to contact Dr. Eastwood before meetings with questions about the agenda or these related materials. They are instructed not to raise any issues or question in public that the superintendent and the board have not been given prior notification. The only thing missing from this scenario is a script for board member to follow. When board member deviate from this format, or opening challenge or disagree with Dr. Eastwood, they are ruled out of order, prohibited from speaking, viciously attacked by Dr. Eastwood and/or his supporters, and often characterized as being against students. By these tactics open unscripted dialog and free speech is suppressed.
Members of the public have also been enlisted to defend and promote Dr. Eastwood's and the district's public image. Contrary to what they would like the general public to believe, their participation at meetings is not random. These individuals routinely come to meeting for the purpose of attacking. insulting, and heckling board members who disagree, question, or challenge Dr. Eastwood, or the public image he has created for the district. No attempt is made by the board leadership to control these individuals. One can observe the same individuals always showing up for meetings. Some of them were members of the political action group (GET) that helped put several current board members into office.
When presiding at meetings, Mr. Geiger and Mrs. Knapp play a special role in promoting Dr. Eastwood, his image, and his agenda. They are charged with keep board member in line. When board members challenge Dr. Eastwood or his agenda, they rule board members out of order, and prohibit them from speaking. They even control criticism from the public. Mr. Geiger prevented Middletown's mayor from presenting his arguments to the board over the current water/sewer problem, and both Mr. Geiger and Dr. Eastwood are currently being sued for prohibited a member from another district from speaking at the district's "Opportunity to Address the Board". Mr. Geiger and Mrs. Knapp also always arrange to give Dr. Eastwood the last word on all discussions. Once, Mr. Geiger even threatened Dr. Mauro with expulsion from a meeting for attempting to challenge Dr. Eastwood's final comments. Unlike board members, Mr. Geiger and Mrs Knapp do not put any restrictions on the length of time or when Dr. Eastwood may speak. They have allowed board meetings to be turned into "superintendent press conferences" for his propaganda.
In part, Webster defines Fascism as: ...autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader,...and forcible suppression of opposition. For this part of the definition, The Middletown School District appears to fit.
