Cedar Valley News – November 25, 2025
When Waste Quietly Drains Our Schools
By: Teresa Nikas, Editor
From the fictional town of Cedar Valley, where characters from Quiet Echo continue to respond to real-world events.
Mission: Guide readers with principles instead of noise. Help them see today’s headlines through the steady light of faith, family, responsibility, and common sense.
School audits across the country uncovered millions lost to waste, weak oversight, and bloated administration—proof that families pay a heavy price when no one watches the books.
Cedar Valley is not immune. We lean on property taxes to keep classrooms open, yet national headlines remind us of a truth our town cannot ignore. Before a community digs deeper into shrinking wallets, it has every right to insist on clean accounting and honest stewardship.
News from Bridgeport, Appoquinimink, and several other districts tells a similar story. Auditors walked into school offices and found problems hiding in plain sight. Empty buildings stayed open at full cost. Tech licenses sat unused. Bus routes carried three riders. Administrators multiplied while teachers paid for supplies out of pocket. Waste rarely arrives with a headline; it arrives quietly, month after month, until a whistleblower or auditor pulls back a curtain.
Families here live with budgets written in pen. When grocery prices climb, something else gives. When heating costs jump, they tighten belts. Homeowners in Cedar Valley do not have room for silent waste in any tax-funded system, including our schools. Good teachers and strong classrooms deserve every dollar we send them. Every dollar burned in waste steals oxygen from children who rely on those classrooms for safety, learning, and stability.
Accountability is not punishment. Oversight is not mistrust. A well-run school district welcomes light, welcomes questions, and welcomes evidence that money is spent with purpose. Reform starts with simple clarity: show us where funds go, why they go there, and whether they reach students. Families owe nothing less to their children and their future.
The national headlines remind Cedar Valley of something older than any audit. Wisdom grows when communities stay awake. Strength grows when institutions serve with humility. Prosperity grows when money works as hard as the people who earned it.
Our town stands at a moment when property-tax reform sits on many lips. Before we write new rules, we must be sure our schools run with lean purpose and honest care. No family should pay more into a system until that system proves every dollar moves children forward.
This editorial is part of the fictional Cedar Valley News series. While the people and town are fictional, the national events they reflect on are real.
It’s free, live, and fresh! Quiet Echo—A Cedar Valley News Podcast is live on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/4nV8XsE, Spotify: https://bit.ly/4hdNHfX, YouTube: https://bit.ly/48Zfu1g , and Podcastle: https://bit.ly/4pYRstE. Every day, you can hear Cedar Valley’s editorials read aloud by the voices you’ve come to know—warm, steady, and rooted in the values we share. Step into the rhythm of our town, one short reflection at a time. Wherever you listen, you’ll feel right at home. Presented by the Readers and Writers Book Club: https://bit.ly/3KLTyg4
Author Campaign Method (ACM) for Authorpreneurs
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. Author Campaign Method (ACM) of sales and marketing is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authorpreneurs who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for them.
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The Great Alaska Book Fair: October 8, 2016
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Jim Misko Book Signing at Barnes and Noble
Cortex is for serious authors and will probably not be of interest to hobbyists. We recorded our Cortex training and information meeting. If you’re a serious author, and did not attend the meeting, and would like to review the training information, kindly let us know. Authors are required to have a Facebook author page to use Cortex.
Correction:
We take the quote by Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble seriously: “The author is essential to the success of the book, giving energy behind the book to make it something that a customer will come in and ask for. That is what makes the difference in a book that sells, that develops legs, and has a life of its own. Otherwise the book goes on the shelf and stays there for three months. Then it gets returned.”
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. ACM is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authors who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for serious authors, but a burden for hobbyist. We don’t recommend ACM for hobbyists.
We’re the only publisher we know of that provides authors with book signing opportunities. Book signing are appropriate for hobbyist and essential for serious authors. To schedule a book signing kindly go to our website, <
An Author Page on Amazon Author Central is a serious author ACM requirement and desirable for the hobbyist. Author Central is a free resource designed to help authors become more active participants in the promotion of their books. In Author Central you can manage an Author Page, update information about your books, and view Customer Reviews and sales information for your bibliography. If you don’t already have an Author Page on 
We hear authors complain about all the personal stuff on Facebook. Most of these complaints are because the author doesn’t understand the difference difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page. Simply put, a profile is for personal things for friends and family; a page is for business. If your book is just a hobby, then it’s fine to have only a Facebook profile and make your posts for friends and family; however, if you’re serious about your writing, and it’s a business with you, or you want it to be business, then you need a Facebook page as an author. It’s simple to tell if it’s a page or a profile. A profile shows how many friends and a page shows how many likes. Here’s a link <> to a straight forward description on how to set up your author Facebook page.
Active Social Media Participation
Mosquito Books has a new location in the Anchorage international airport and is available for signings with 21 days notice. Jim Misko had a signing there yesterday. His signing report included these words, “Had the best day ever at the airport . . ..”
The Lyin Kings: The Wannabe World Leaders
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When he published those overseas blogs as the book The Innocents Abroad, it would become a hit. But you couldn’t find it in bookstores.
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Erin’s book, 
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