Link to Standard Times piece on Doug Roscoe is here
Mr. Roscoe also has a website
The URL is: www.dougroscoe.com
no further after the jump
Friday, February 26, 2010
Mr. Roscoe in the Standard Times
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A political blog from Dartmouth, Massachusetts. I encourage debate of the issues facing our town on this blog.
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- Full Day Kindergarten and budget priorities
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- Mr. Roscoe in the Standard Times
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42 comments:
Another member of the parent group and if he wins, they will have a majority on the school committee.
I will be voting for Doug Roscoe because he wants greater transparency with school issues. I think the public is still trying to regain the trust of the schools in general. I support full day kindergarten, but I want to hear all the facts. I was hoping that we could have a class or two at Potter School for the kids in the way north of town.
Very happy to see Mr. Roscoe run. Best of luck, you'll have our family's votes for certain!
I have butted head heads with Doug Roscoe on town issues more then a few times. But the longer I have gotten to know him the more I like and respect him. Doug will have my vote come Election Day.
I find it humorous that the people who do not want the "parent group" on the school committee have no problem electing CEOs to the govenor's office or the presidency
And if Mr. McDonald wins a seat on the Select Board, we will have an ex-School Committee member on the Board, and therefore a majority of Board members with school agendas or biases sitting on a board that is supposed to be representing the whole Dartmouth community.
Mr. McDonald will join Ms. Stone and Mr. Watson in pushing for the schools and the general public will no longer have any chance at fair representation.
If you think it's bad now, wait until he gets elected. We stand no chance on expecting anything fair from him.
Just a clue: overrides HAVE been mentioned.
schools are not SEPERATE from our community, they are PART of the community as a whole.
If schools go by the way side YOUR HOME VALUE diminishes...because the demand to move to Dartmouth goes down.
My parents moved to Dartmouth because of the school system, I am currently bringing my children up in our school system.
If you want our economy to thrive in the future, you will have to fund the schools.
Relax, Doug Roscoe is a parent, but he's not irresponsible. I'm voting for him and the woman from the Potter PTO, Ms. Monteiro.
Just a clue should get clue: Overrides aren't bad when done thoughtfully and prudently. But go ahead..just keeping thinking the formula of shrinking revenues and higher expenses is going to continue to work. And if you answer is to keep cutting people and services..I don't know what kinda town you wanna a live in...but here's a thought ..MOVE !
If the town insists on FDK then there should be an override to fund it. Let the voters decide if the community wants it instead of trying to squeeze more money from the town side to cover the costs. And what about the hidden costs like adding more salaries and benefits which will grow larger every year. The teachers' union will certainly insist on raise after raise even as the taxpayers are just trying to hold onto their jobs.
Mr. Watson seems to have a desire to get the voters' views and opinions. He requested that a non-binding question go on the ballot about a charter commission. How about a question regarding FDK? Lets find out if the community supports it.
There is a growing movement in this country to have more say in our government. Why not start right here in Dartmouth?
anon 2:50 p.m. Maybe you should move. What makes you think your idea of what the town should be like is what everyone else wants??? There is a whole community out there. Perhaps you are the minority.
I think it is good to have well-educated parents on the school committee. Doug fits this profile but he has a problem. Does anyone remember his website from the '07 override created by his group, the Coalition for Dartmouth? He actually twisted reality so much that his figures had Dartmouth taxpayers increasing the tax levy by 26%, yet still "saving" money. The last thing we need is more public officials B.S.ing us. Sorry Doug but the misinformation you put out trying to pass that irresponsible override makes you the odd man out when I vote for School Committee.
2:50, you make a good point. But you can't tell me that the $8.5 million override favored by Lara Stone, Doug Roscoe, Shannon Jenkins,and others in that parents' group was "done thoughtfully and prudently," or it would have passed. Apparently the majority of voters didn't think the $8.5 million figure was that thoughtful and prudent.
When income can only increase by 2.5% but expenses increase far more than that...we have a problem.
I understand the walkers and others want to keep taxes low no matter what the cost...but i don't. i view taxes as an investment.
If it cost money the community will not support anything to do with the schools. A referendum would be unfair. I have two kids in DHS and worry that money will be taken from their school, but I want education decisions in the hands of people in the know and who care about our future.
Look at all the angst about Lara Stone coming onto the SB. I believe the argument was similar to what I am reading here "she will only push for the schools." Yet she and Mike Watson have done more in their first year in office for the town as a whole then any other SB members that I can think of.
Just because someone is a parent doesn't make them purely school focused and not conscious or respective of other town needs.
Doug Roscoe and Shawn McDonald are intelligent men dedicated to working together with the Fincomm to solve the difficult financial issues that burden our town so it’s not just surviving it's thriving while bringing educational prosperity to our children.
Those are the kind of people you want on SB and SC!
I think it's a balancing act. I'm in favor of full day kindergarten but at the same time, I don't think it's fair to ask the town employees to cut, cut, cut, all the time either.I have kids in the schools and also have friends who work for the town. I think Dartmouth is suffering from growing pains. Not sure how to solve the problem.
The only person who has mentioned or spoke of an override so far this year was none other than your host Bill Trimble. He spoke of small overrides for budget purposes. No other candidate or sitting office holder has said such a thing. So for you people out there claiming Stone, Watson or McDonald or Roscoe would be fighting for overrides, your wrong.
You and I may see it as a balancing act, but somehow the school just doesn't get it. No offense; I am all for FDK as well. But, what I find discouraging, for lack of a better word, is the constant drilling of how the town must fund the school even more than it can afford or is required to. It's almost a sense of entitlement, and I don't think the powers that be that gave in to okaying halving the activities fees gave too much thought to what the consequences would be. We gave the school eliminated transportation fees (which I do agree with) and also halved activity fees. Now it unfortunately seems a pattern has been set. When you say "yes" too often you spoil the child and teach them to expect everything they ask for in life to be given to them. Entitlement.
It's nice to be the nice guy, but at what cost (no pun intended) to the rest of us?
Stone, Roscoe & company will not ask for an override because they know they will not get it considering the town's past refusals to give more to the schools. Don't think for one minute they would hesitate to ask if they thought they could. Instead they will work behind the scenes stealing from any source they can which means the town side will suffer to cover their "wants".
FDK is not a "need". We have done without in the past. The schools have chosen the worst fiscal crisis most of us have ever seen to spend more money they don't have. Irresponsible and downright selfish on their part.
Stone, Watson, McDonald and Roscoe would LOVE to have override after override. They are simply afraid of saying it publicly because of the political consequences.
6:14: Don't be too sure. Don't get too complacent and stay alert.
Don't underestimate Ms. Stone.
The ex-Board member I referred to who was voted out was not Ms. Gilbert.
Stone and Watson would vote for an override, but they know the voters would defeat it. Likely the same with McDonald. Why do the voters not want it? Because this is the day of givebacks. Anybody heard of any give back offers by the unions? Thought so. Just blame the voters for not supporting overrides right? They call it a "one way street". It has a name too. Arrogance.
The only arrogance I see is what transpires on this blog.
Precisely.
Entitlement, perhaps?
If the schools are really interested in gaining the trust of the community, I would suggest an open & honest approach to FDK. Give the community the REAL costs, not the mumbo jumbo we always get regarding school costs, and ask for an override to cover it. Everyone is scrambling to scrape money together to implement this program. The town has finally turned the corner and is in much better shape. We have been holding onto the services we have, in some cases even eliminating them, by our fingernails. What about trash collection? Now we are going to add yet another service when we can barely afford the ones we already have or have had in the past? Doesn't make sense to me. It certainly does nothing to restore trust when we are paying for trash collection which should be a basic service provided by tax dollars. I have no objection to the PAYT program. I do however resent adding more services when we had to eliminate something as basic as trash collection which benefits the whole community. It's not right and I don't appreciate how the process is being handled. The voters gave the town several overrides to cover shortfalls and bide some time until policies and new ideas could be implemented. The taxpayers did their part and town officials worked hard to get the town back on its feet. Now this is a slap in the face to the residents who made the sacrifice of paying more while getting less service. I wonder how many town officials are also feeling resentful after the sacrifices they have made and all the hard work they have done to balance the budget? This is just another case of circumventing the voters, leaving them out of the process and letting them pay the bill.
Anybody heard of any give back offers by the unions?
Of course there have been concessions and "give backs" by the unions. The PD gave up uniforms last year at a substantial cost and the town employees union gave back some sick days if I remember correctly.
Just because you didn't know about it doesn't mean it hasn't happened.
My "Precisely" comment was intended as comment to 7:26's post, not the one immediately following it.
To anon Feb 28th, 10:30 am, Could you please list what Stone and Watson have done since they have been on the SB? I do not see all the meetings, but I am a town meeting member. I would like to see a list of accomplishments that you refer to in your post. thanks.
to 12:37
It is a short list:
NONE
To 11:05
Items you described were 1 year give backs, correct? Therefore, they will be on the list of standard benefits in the next contract right? Just checking.
anon 11:05 a.m. Exactly the point. Concessions have been made on the town side. Where are they on the school side???
Yes anon 2/28 10:30 a.m. Please list the accomplishments. Where are all those grants Stone kept promising during her campaign??? The only time she refers to grants is when she is asking someone else to get them. Where are all the outreach programs and resources she claimed were out there just waiting for someone with the foresight and talent (her of course) to tap into them??? Please don't claim one or two SB members are responsible for doing more than any other present board member when one of them cannot even fulfill her campaign promises.
Stone wasn't elected to write grants for the town but she is, in fact, helping in that area. You can't expect an unpaid, part-time Select Board member to do that sort of thing.
Grants were part of Ms. Stone's campaign propaganda. I have no idea why people bought into her candidacy for that reason. Frankly, the real reason the special interest groups supported her was her history of leading the charge for overrides. Watch out voters, she is keeping her horse and saber well prepared for the next override campaign. Her aide de camp sits on the other end of the SB podium.
If you don't want me to expect a part time SB member to do that sort of thing, then don't run an election campaign that implies you will be.
Write a grant for the Youth Advocate, then. We need money for FDK.
Ask our grants department to do that.
There's some money for FDK. Cut the Youth Advocate's job. It's always been questionable, anyway. There's the town's share.
Come on, the school has to ante up some money, too. We hear about their poverty-stricken budget. They're skinning ours pretty fast, too.
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