"The elected worthies who sit on its powerful school boards do not pursue objectives [such as learning] so much as balance competing local interests. This is a

"The elected worthies who sit on its powerful school boards do not pursue objectives [such as learning] so much as balance competing local interests. This is a recipe for risk aversion and inertia or, as MCPS’s wry superintendent, Jack Smith, puts it “not decision-making but mush”." https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/02/27/time-to-reopen-the-school-gates https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/02/27/time-to-r...