Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Joke's on us ...









I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

Will Rogers, quoted in Saturday Review, Aug. 25, 1962



It's always interesting watching the traffic numbers for this site -- very shortly, we will be showing 15,000 hits since July. Not Boston.com -- but I think I made $28.00 from Google ads! (That's $8 more than a subpoena fee -- and I don't need to wear a tie!)

The response to the online petition drive was underwhelming.  The concept of people putting their names to their opinions just hasn't been fully embraced yet!  The organizers have asked me to take down the link until they re-tool.  That's fine -- if anybody else has a survey/petition they want to try,  send me a link and the NPTA "Editorial Board" will consider it!

I'm still amused about the concern over who "sponsored" the petition -- the petition is sponsored by the people who signed it.  There were 3 statements, sign if you agree, don't sign if you don't agree --- no need to over-think it!  The story is the signers -- not the sponsors !  (I was skeptical about the sponsors being anonymous -- but seeing how crazy it made some people -- I guess they made the right choice!)

The School Committee will be dropping by the High School for a  meeting next Wednesday night.  But, if you would like to share your thoughts with them individually, each member's email address is now listed on the School District's website.

If you are chatting with the Committee, you may want to mention that the Selectmen have been discussing a $2.25 million deficit next year (just in case they don't read The Enterprise -- although I WOULD agree with them on THAT point!) .  Of that amount, approximately $1.5 million relates to the school budget.  Given the fact that the school payroll goes up almost $1 million per year, plus utilities, transportation, LEGAL COSTS, etc ... It would appear that they are looking at a fairly decent sized financial pothole on their highway to excellence.



Pleeeeease tell me there's a Plan.  



Pleeeeeease Don't tell us ya gut nuthin' .... Again.


3 comments:

The Truth Maker said...

The Truth Maker, surely you jest that the our duely elected school committee does not have a plan Bobby?
From the window I am looking through it would appear that they indeed do have a plan.

The plan calls for them to go back in time and attempt to find the way out of the mess the majority placed the town in.

It is called, eating a little crow, chewing it up real good and spitting out [what did we get ourselves into]? The flavor must have burned a little going down the first time, so far it has not worked.

The duely elected, union vendetta members appear to be looking in the shadows of time, attempting to justifing the answers, as to why they voted the way they did.
Still gut nuthin' from the answers they gave.

Bobby, the plan they have is obvious. Make sure the school district places all of its schools in the under-achievement catagory and get some federal dollars to bail them out Make sure that the salarys continue to drain our tax dollars and not ask for a stabilizing salary that will help the structual deficit being created by run away controls.

Save the union leaders who forced an unworkable relationship between the school departments and its managment.

Perhaps I may be a little off base on my morning commantary. Bobby, believe me when I tell you, they do indeed have a plan we just can not see it yet.

JTD said...

I think of taxes as one big pot of my money that the government gets to spend. If it gets spent wisely I don’t mind giving it. If it’s wasted I won’t give more (without a gun to my head).

Here’s 3 silly but representative reasons I can think of (before coffee) to oppose an override.

1. The dump is staffed at the same level as our Fire Dept. And, they actually pay people to keep trash from being “stolen.”

2. The Fire Department doesn’t have GPS in their trucks yet (they still rely on paper maps) but this year’s department spending included purchasing a speakers podium for presentations and media events.

3. The School Department pumps tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars a year into the Community School to prop it up. And worse, they actually have no idea how much the Community School truly costs to operate.

Id bet a committee of 10 taxpayers could find $2.5 million of savings in a week. Whether the unions, old town/old boys’ network and everybody else who lines up to oppose change would make the savings happen is a whole other story.

Anonymous said...

JTD,

Well put.