Get Your Damn Heads Out of the Sand !! (By Bob Guerin)

It has been pointed out several times that the Sandwich Community School has been losing money  and draining resources from the School Department for years..  Instead of working to resolve the issue, too many elected officials chose to yield to popular pressure and continue to sell the fable by diverting attention from the basic problems plaguing the program -- and driving out anybody who would question the situation.  Their inaction may result in the complete elimination of not only the Community School program --- but also any public confidence in the credibility of local government.  

Last night’s Finance Committee meeting was it for me.  I have officially given up all hope, trust and faith in local government and all elected and appointed persons.

Folks watching the Fin Com meeting last night on local cable TV were treated to the following:

1.     Evidently, by their reactions, Fin Com Committee members want taxpayers to believe that they were caught totally unaware that the Community School is a financial disaster and that they were unaware that both the Schools and Town have been surreptitiously funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Community School operating budget for years.

2.     The sole Finance Committee member who actually tried to get to the facts (Bill Diedering) was effectively cut off and muzzled by the Committee Chair.  Lord knows, nobody wants to make anybody feel too bad or actually be held responsible for what’s gone on.  

3.     After acknowledging that the Community School currently has more than $135,000 in unpaid debts (including IOUs to the Town and Schools) the Budget Director said of the Community School that: “their budget was currently showing a profit.”  How’s that?  Except for a massive unpaid debt we’re profitable?  This is our school’s Budget Director?  Think anyone questioned that amazingly ridiculous statement?  Of course not!

So, after years and years of out-of-balance Community School budgets, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported School budget and Town budget transfers to prop up the Community School, and multiple written audit reports highlighting the long-term and chronic financial problems at the Community School:

·         NOBODY on the Finance Committee asked for a full accounting of the debt.

·         NOBODY asked when, if ever, the Community School actually covered all of its expenses.

·         NOBODY asked why this mess has never been publically acknowledged and documented by the Schools or the Town Manager, and

·         NOBODY was brave enough to suggest that it is well past time to pull the plug on this already dead patient.

I really do give up! 

Don’t ask me to care and don’t ever ask me to consider supporting a tax override for anything.  My answer will be: NO, because I just don’t care. 

And, I don’t care because it’s so very obvious to me that NOBODY in local government including our elected and appointed persons cares either.

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For some background on this issue click here to see Community School Q&A (Kissing The Third Rail - Pt I) which appeared in this space in July of 2010.

The REST of the Story ....

The CCT did a hard-hitting expose of a persistent duck who made numerous attempts to get inside of the Market Basket in Sagamore during yesterday's mid-day breaking news update.  (See story)

Unfortunately, this story just seemed incomplete and left me with far too many unanswered questions:

1)  Was the Duck a former Stop & Shop customer who had become tired of being gouged or was she a former customer of the New Bedford Market Basket pleased at a shortened grocery trip?

2)  Had the Duck been subpoenaed by the Town's attorney in the the Johnson vs. Sandwich lawsuit?  (everyone else has -- including a group of weasels! )

3)  Had the Duck been displaced by recent changes at the Sandwich Community Pool?

4) Would the Duck's emergency generator have worked during an actual emergency?

5) Did anybody alert the Town Clerk that there was an undocumented duck in the area? 

6) Was she collecting signatures to run for School Committee?

7)  Or, was she just duckin’ around?

Never one to miss an opportunity to pile on, the "fact-challenged" Sandwich Enterprise ran its own update later that day:  "A Chicken  was spotted walking into the Stop & Shop on Route 6A in Sandwich today.  Unnamed People have said this wouldn't have happened if we had a new Senior Center, a New Public Safety Building, and a New Library -- all things we could have had if the Town hadn't wasted all of its money building those damned new schools ... 20 years ago!!"

WTF ?

It's getting worse.

Not only did the generators at Police/Fire HQ, the Emergency Operations Center at HSB, the High School Emergency Shelter, and the Oakridge School all apparently fail (or run out of fuel?) --  the Town's fueling station also went down!

According to the Broadsider, the DPW pumps went down, forcing cops to buy their own gas for their cruisers -- until Hess ran out of gas! It's bad enough that the Town's fuel supply was apparently inaccessible in a power outage -- but there was no backup arrangement with multiple local gas stations to fuel emergency vehicles and then bill the Town?  

Huh?

And, the Oakridge damage is now expected to exceed $500,000 -- not even considering the loss of class time and additional costs for parents who work for a living.  How much would it have cost to  maintain a working generator?

No word on the cost of replacing the SHS generator.

The folks at The Broadsider apparently have a sense of humor and have been saving this little nugget since last fall -- Before Warren was elected!!

At least the lights were still on .....

(Note:   This post has been revised as more facts become known about recent events)

In case you're keeping score at home ....

Interesting article in today's CCT about Sandwich's response to the most recent storm.  Here's the highlights:

• The High School generator failed requiring shelter occupants to be re-evacuated to Falmouth
• The Police/Fire generator failed requiring Police HQ to be evacuated to Human Services Bldg (HSB)
• HSB generator failed requiring 911 calls to be re-routed to Bourne
• Oakridge generator failed and did $500,000+  worth of damage when a sprinkler line burst.

The Broadsider reported that the masonry repairs to the High School will be considerably more than expected -- $300,000 - $500,000 not the $50,000 originally estimated.  (This is on the A Wing -- which is maybe 15 years old?)

The Emptyprize reported that the School Committee was planning to bail out the Community School and make some operational changes to ensure its survival.  (In case you are curious -- those changes are exactly what was recommended and partially implemented in 2008-2010 but then mostly reversed in 2010 - 2011!).

The Return of Yogi ....

(Click here to read 2010 discussion of Community School Audit Findings.)

I frequently wonder if some School Committee members are hearing a different meeting in their heads than I am watching on TV.  Last night,  the Superintendent acknowledged that the Town and School District have been subsidizing Community School operations and announced some proposed policy changes necessary to salvage at least some of the Community School:

• District will be responsible for all facilities costs
• District will collect rent for all non-school use of facilities
• ALL programs must cover ALL their own costs
• EVERY group must pay a fair share
• All Groups will pay rent -- not make voluntary contributions
• Space will be rented out to an independent driving school by the District
• Students will have use of the Pool during the day
• Community School MUST pay all of it administrative costs -- including employee benefits

These ideas sounded familiar, because they were exactly the same ones proposed several years ago -- but were subsequently gutted by committee members supported by those who would had been enjoying the fee-free ride and would be impacted by the new policies.  Not only did they manage to reverse most of the policies, but they drove off or fired those that supported the reforms.

Surprise... not!

A quick review of recent Agendas for both the Board of Selectmen and School Committee shows that The Community School is once again popping up on the municipal radar.  It seems the $5,000 pool part arrived and then something else broke.  The pool may still be shut down -- but it does look prettier with that new $5,000 Thingamajig attached to it.  

It's hard to overlook the basic Pool issues -- (1) It has been heavily subsidized by both the K-12 budget and by the patrons of other Community School programs for years.  And (2), members of the general public were not only able to completely bypass school security by buying a pool ticket -- they were also allowed to roam naked with the kids in the locker room during the day .... at no additional charge!  (Parents, however, still needed a CORI to accompany their own kids on a field trip -- despite the fact they were also presumably required to keep their clothes on!)