If you want a chance to meet and question me, I will be at the VFW on Cross Road tomorrow night at 7PM. The VFW has opened their doors to the public for this meeting. I will being making a statement and taking questions from those in attendance.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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Sorry BillT - there will be a forum at the Dartmouth High School at that time where parents will learn what else should be cut when/if the current override initiatives fail. I know where you stand on the schools and need to learn what else my kids will lose out on because of the agenda the CFRG is pushing. I wonder if you or the Walkers have gone to ANY of the school forums and open houses scheduled for this or next week - I don't recall seeing any of you. I know that there have been numerous personal invitations to Barry to tour the schools in the past but he has not availed himself of any of those invitations-he went to the schools 30 years ago so he knows all there is to know about them-should be good enough. Have you been to any of the forums or open houses or plan to go to one? I know you're running for select board but this is one town and the schools like it or not are part of that town.
Thanks, I can't make the Grange Sat. night or the Rotary due to work.
So, see you tonight at the V.
Anonymous,
I will be attending the Middle School open house on thursday. I have also taken the time to meet with Dr. Russell. I have attended school committee meetings and the public forum for the schools. I have participated in research to help the schools save money through contract negotiations. The money saved could more direcly benefit the children in our community. It is unfortunate that you try to portray me as someone that doesn't take the time to be informed. If you haven't seen me at any of these meetings then you are not looking.
I'll be there tonight. Let us hope that dignity and maturity prevail, allowing the audience to ask questions and hear answers without all the disrespect evident on the ST blogs.
Barry, I am glad to hear you will attend the middle school forum it is not too late to see for yourself what problems the middle school is facing. It is unfortunate however that you declined invitations to tour the school prior to your public assertions that since the school was fine when you attended as a high school student you dont understand why they are having problems now.
Those are the comments that stick in people's mind when they consider the question of the schools and are very hard to dispel after the fact.
Anonymous,
It is unfortunate that you put words into my mouth. I will say that I am having a difficult time understanding the school plan as it pertains to eventually having only the 7th and 8th grade occupying the entire Middle School. When this plan was unveiled at a school committee meeting, I was present(contrary to your false claims) and I asked if this would open up space to bring some out of district SPED students in house so that we could save money. The response was blank faces and silence. By the way, I have been through most of the schools many times through the years after I attended them. Again the attempts of your posts to discredit me are unfortunate and divisive.
Barry- I'm not putting words in your mouth. Correct me if I am wrong but you were offered several opportunities to tour any of the schools while school was in session by several different adminstrators long before the current plan for the reconfiguration of the schools was announced. Perhaps these administrators are mistaken and were thinking of another cfrg member.
Barry, please refresh my memory. What advance degrees do you have on education that qualifies you as a creditable consultant?
Barry - what is divisive is when folks from the CFRG tell parents with students in the schools that only you have the right answers to the schools problems or even get you to acknowldge some of the problems exist at all. Crowding at the Quinn and the Middle school has been well documented and yet we are told thats not the case by you and your 'steering committee' so whats the beef? Thats divisive. And to expect those same parents to sit back and be quiet while you make uninformed comments without benefit of first hand knowledge well that's bound to cause division too unfortunately.
What do you anonymous people think about the question Barry asked the school committee about bringing some sped students in house? It sounds like his question is a good one to me. Do you think that the current Middle School can only hold two grades? You people should stick to constructive conversation instead of trying to attack him. It just makes you look bad to me.
uku - 2 things on the sped issue. If the override passes and the middle school can decompress I believe it would be possible to bring more sped in from 'out of district however an equal part to this equation is being able to hire the additional sped coordinator that is asked for as part of the bundled question #1. Its another reason that bundling the vasrious poeces makes sense rather than breaking them into pieces as has been suggested.
You need the space but you also need the staff and vice versa. If more sped can be done in house there likely will be some reduction in sped costs.
Back to the topic of this post. Happy to say I was at the VFW last night. Heard some great questions and some great answers.
Now, if the schools get the money to re-open the elementaries, they can bring some sped in-house and save money. Couldn't the savings be used to fund the sped coordinater. Also, it is my understanding that the sped coordinater should be able to save money in this area so even if the override fails, they should be able to fund the position with the savings that it generates. Our sped spending is well above average and I heard that a previous coordinater was fired for poor performance so there must be room for improvement and savings.
uku - if the override fails there will not be a chance for the sped coordiantor to save money - she will still have to travel out of the area for her duties and will still be sending children out of district for services that we have no space or staff to provide in house.
If the override passes there is the possibility of saving some money by bringing services in house - is it enough to fund the position? I don't know but that would be a good question to raise at one of the school presentations. I've gone to 2 of these so far and there has been several thought provoking questions raised which is a good thing. This sounds like it would be one of those questions to ask.
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