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| "I got Nuthin! " said the Groundhog ... |
In the movie Groundhog Day, Actor Bill Murray portrays a weatherman who finds himself living the same day over and over again.
Here in Sandwich, it’s the School Committee that seems to be reliving their yesterdays.
About the only difference between life in Sandwich and life in the Murray movie is that here in town it’s all about the community school pool not Punxsutawney Phil.
Don’t believe me? Read this week’s Sandwich Broadsider.
This week’s paper reports that Superintendent C. Richard Canfield has broached the idea about the town picking up utility and chemical costs for Sandwich High School pool operations. “I think its discussion we should be having,” Canfield told the school committee. “The cost for utilities and chemicals is $60,000. This would preserve the pool. Otherwise, we’d have to work away from that and say we just cannot absorb the cost.”
Did Dr. Canfield really say this is a discussion we should be having?
Bob Simmons and I began this very “discussion” 6-, 8-, maybe 10-years ago!
Much like Bill Murray’s character in the movie, after reading this week’s paper, I am wondering if anybody else but me is experiencing a sickening sense of Déjà vu?
5 comments:
Bob. For a moment I actually thought the blog had regurgitated an old blog entry....and then after watching the school committee meeting...wham... I guess we are in Kansas. I would like to offer an old management problem that was actually studied at the Harvard Business School when a bright young guy put forth the idea for his masters thesis. Its called 'Who's Monkey Is It'. The simplist explanation is, that an employee may, as a work habit, attempt to transfer back onto the manager, responsiblity for something that was a task given to that employee. Smart managers discover these employees quickly, otherwise they are buried with minutia or paperwork that orginated from their desk. So, returning to our Ground Hog Day conundrum otherwise known as the Community Pool, we find that 'the monkey' is being cast onto our backs once again. I have found that our Superintendant is so politically polished that I am going to start calling him Dr Teflon. Is is painfully obvious that he finds himself with 'a monkey' that belongs to someone else but he does not appear to have the political will (I could have used an old military term here but I must remember this is a family network!) to shed the burden. He has hired people to handle the Community School and it is obvious that no one can afford it, nor do they want it. Ooops, I keep forgetting those folks who come all the way from Marstons Mills to swim! Perhaps Dr Teflon should speak in clearer terms instead of dodging the bullet. True leaders, from time to time, have to say it like it is. Considering the repeated shortcomings that Bud Dunham has faced over these past years with his town government side of the budget, I have trouble believing he is offering to take on these utility costs. I am trying to imagine how the town will cough up 19 million for STEM along with a new, seperate entrance into the Monkey Cage, er, the pool! Someone pinch me cause I truly believe we have been through this all before and its just a bad dream.
Bob, Bob, Dana, and others have been trying to get the SC and the School Department to pay attention to this problem for years. A professional evaluation of the poor business practices of the Community School couldn't inspire anyone to take action. A superintendent who took real steps and consistent steps to make sense of this couldn't get things going. The CS has been operating with a huge subsidy from taxpayers for years that should have been going to our children's education but instead went to the pool and other operation cost. Now it is clear we can't do that or afford that. This is just a new way of trying to solve an old problem that only a few people had political will to tackle.
The overall problem of mismanagement is still with us and will be until the SC faces their responsibility. This is not the municipal sides problem. But perhaps the municipal gov. can help retain a pool that could be put to good use and even better use by its citizens. Do we have the staff, time and resources to put that plan together with all the other things on the agenda without endangering a more critical need. We'll see. Clearly the CS does and has the most to gain by finding a way to keep the pool operational. They have jobs to protect and probably gain. At least the CS and School Department are talking turkey but it could be a day late and dollar short. The pool is only part of the problem.
The pool situation, I feel, is now being handled in a more effective manor.Yes, it is a "monkey" on the back of the district, but now, thoughtful processes are trying to be implemented, not the knee jerk reactions of the past. Unfortunately, the way things were done in the past have caused major complications that need to be overcome. I don't see a quick resolution. But if the anti-pool people give Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Canfield a chance to implement their ideas, maybe just maybe, things can work out in the end. In the last year things have been done to try to turn the poor decisions of the past around. There are no longer two highly paid co-administrators, but one who is making less than one of the co-leaders did. Plans are actually being discussed and thought out instead of just being implemented on a whim. I give them credit and hope that the SC will allow them the ability and time to do what is necessary to move this issue forward.
I don't think anybody is "anti-pool".
I do think people are against using tax dollars intended to educate our kids to subsidize the cost of somebody's pool membership. I also think that many of the people who use some of the other Community School Programs such as the Pre-School, Adult Ed, Summer Camps, and Drivers Ed are against paying extra for their programs in order to fund the operation of the pool.
I have nothing against the pool -- I think its a great community asset. BUT the Community should have the option to fund it (or not).
How can we justify cutting courses, requiring parents and taxpayers to provide ever-growing lists of supplies, pay extra athletic fees, and charge for full-day kindergarten --- BUT we let some people swim at discount prices?
For clarity, I am omitting posts that are blatantly incorrect.
It's silly to waste time putting up an incorrect post and then spending time correcting the record.
I re-ran a couple of posts from two years ago that address some of the silly questions that have come up this week.
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