The CCT finally mentioned last summer's audit of the Community School this morning.
Here's a few clarifications:
Yes -- The pool did pay utility costs last year. But, only after kicking and screaming and fighting with the prior school committee. OK, slight exaggeration -- but the only reason ANYTHING was paid last year was because last year's committee fought for it. What about the 15 years before that? Did the Community School not know they weren't paying the bill?
Yes -- The Community School did contribute some "in kind" services to the School District -- BUT those "donations" were far less than the District's cost of funding Community School-related expenses and FAR LESS than the revenue from the rental of School facilities that the Community School was receiving!
Another great quote: "A lot of things have been rectified since '09," she said. "We're definitely taking (the audit) seriously, but we have to wait for the final letter." This raises two points:
1) Yes, changes were made last year -- particularly the disbanding of the old Executive Council but Sherry and the Community School crowd fought against those changes tooth and nail.
2) There is no "final letter". The auditor delivered the Committee a draft report for them to respond to -- their responses will be incorporated into the Final report. There can be no Final Report UNTIL they respond.
This can of worms needs to be cleaned out. The programs need to be run with a very simple mantra -- no program unless it can be fully paid for by its participants. The Sandwich taxpayers should not be expected to allow their K-12 education dollars to be diverted to outside activities.
12 comments:
Bob please tell me how much the community school has taken from the education dollars.
Well, if pool utilities are $50K/year and they didn't pay for 10 years, there's $500,000.
Then there's the money that has been collected for renting out school buildings that were being maintained by the School District. Just as one example -- how much was a local church paying to rent the Oakridge School ? I would assume substantially more than the $0 that the Community School paid to maintain that building.
I could go on for days on this -- the "in-kind" contributions were a farce.
This audit needs to be finalized and the firm needs to be re-engaged to do the next year.
The School Committee should also pass an immediate policy requiring that the Community School present a balanced budget each year and that it not be allowed to draw down on its reserve fund without Committee approval.
BOB
Iam little confuses sorry.The pool utilities did they cost 50k a year you said if so that confuses me and does the 50k exclude any income or is that just pure expense.
thanks
The pool utilities (strictly expense)have been calculated at approximately $55,000 in a recent audit -- there have been higher calculations, but I used $50K as a conservative estimate -- Sherry mentioned $54K in the paper this morning.
This is strictly an expense paid by the School for utilities -- no revenue or maintenance.
The Truth Maker would state that the report did not go back far enough. If it did, every one would have a clearer picture of all the money over time that was removed from the educational side of our School district to support the community school
Those in charge of this illegal operation of funds was led by the present Chair person of the School committee. Many side deals that became a standard practise over many years has finnaly been revealed to the tax payers of Sandwich. The incremental costs over many years that were allowed to be passed onto the school district has revealed itself in an audit, that should continue going forward into the future.
The same can be stated in regards to how the fields also are operated, when it comes to sports other then those operated by the school district.
It is time to break up all the good old boy networking and start concentrating on our educational system for our children.
Bob - How can Sherry continue to preside over these issues if she is so connected to the Community School? Wouldn't this be a case where she (and Nancy C.) should be excusing themselves from all discussions based on a conflict of interest? Thank you for your help in understanding the ridiculousness that is Sandwich politics!
This would probably explain some of the "friction" -- it appears Dr. J got trapped between the old Committee wanting to (rightfully!) reform the Community School and the Community School Gang (Crossman & Marshall) refusing to be reformed.
The Board changed, and the "no change" crowd got an opportunity to retaliate.
The annonymous writer that discribs some of the "friction" between Dr. Johnson and the majority rule of SC seems spot on. I was very grateful to see the Cape Cod Times article. I hope they keep at it. It is an investigation that is not only important to Sandwich but to all small to medium size governments who struggle to keep their heads above water. Money is always going to be tight going forward. Government has to be as efficient as it can and make as much practical financial sense as it can.
I think some people simply can't understand that the community school or any business like venture housed in the town budget can't cost the town money beyond reasonable operational and upkeep. The Community School was and is a good idea, but it is time (and the audit is hard data to this point) to revisit it's operation. The good idea of it and "service/porgraming" are not a positive, if they inhibit progress in vital services or damage financial planning.
How we have talked about the community school for years is now passe. It needs to make financial sense. We need to get to the real questions of a better operation that will not waste tax payers money. The size of staff and programs need to be addressed.
Governments greatest sin, especially at the municipal level is holding on to jobs and operating budgets. The status quo has and will continue to damage the integrity of our budgets.
The prior School Committee's began this exploration of the Community Schools/facility use, and rightly so. Turf wars have no benefit to planning and overall efficiency. It is irresponsible of the SC not to take every step to create an efficient use of what limited resourses they have.
Those elected officials who let misguided and uninformed agendas stand in their way, need to rethink where they are putting their energy. The SC have all taken an oath to always act in the best interest of the town. Perhaps some objectivity could be gained by truly thinking about that. A policy decision lightly made without enough investigation into all the current issues gets us nowhere. Political cliques may seem powerful, but as elected officials your duty is to alway do your best due dilegence for the good of the town.
To Ano 3:13 You are right - Dr. J got trapped.
But she got trapped in the fall of 07 when as Dir of Curriculum she wanted to use A110 - the professional development room at the high school for professional development with teachers between 8:00 and 3:00.
The Community School objected because they wanted the room at 2:30 for Driver's Ed. Dr. J. insisted 1st priority should be for school use and for professional development which ultimately impacted the students. Other classrooms were available at 2:15 for Drivers' Ed but they wanted that room and they had a fit.
Dr. J. also pointed out that it was silly to let someone else rent out your rooms and keep the money. When May came around "somebody" made sure that her name did not go forward for Supt even though she had a stronger educational background than the others and the rest is history.
I wondered what happened back then to get "somebody" on her case. How dare the cirriculum director think students and teacher developement were a priorty.
Someone once told me the most challenging aspect of trying to manage in the public educaiton world is that schools can become cottage industries. Thank goodness there have been members of the School Committee in the past few years who have tried to change that and help us stay on track.
Let's get back to work school committee and do what's right for our schools, our kids, and our community.
This is classic small-town crap at its best --- new Supt trys to hold teachers & Community School accountable so they do their damndest to railroad her out of town.
now i'm starting to get a clearer picture.
MEJ got trapped alright......trapped working for a town that is run by a bunch of fools!!!!!! MEJ deserves far better than us!!!!!!
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