This is one of those comments that definitely deserves its own post ---
"I love the logic here. The schools waste hundreds of thousands of dollars and nobody can be held accountable because our kids deserve better schools?
Really?
That’s it?
And, while the schools’ enrollment decreases by 25% staff levels and costs increase. Fewer students, more staff, more costs. Why? We’re told: Because our kids deserve better schools. Really?
So, just what exactly would inspire the school committee or administration to do better and manage budgets more responsibly if they’re never held financially accountable?
Beats me. This is much like giving a drug addict a limitless debit card and then simply hoping he or she will turn their lives around. Nobody would suggest that this makes sense.
Time for some tough love people. Turn off the money spigot and hold somebody accountable"
9 comments:
Hogwash. The budget is a sound budget. The message is sound. The message is not "the kids deserve good schools so we are going to feed the addict." The message is we can't stop investing in our schools as a matter of community values and good economic planning. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Yeah....hogwash. Wait until you have to "invest" $25,000 a year in a copy of a Coast Guard boat because the Fire Dept got a free $750,000 boat and the free boat requires a matching town "investment" for the maintainence......annually. That is good economic planning and sound community planning right? In this case two wrongs do make a right. This town is out of its mind to accept this "thing". The FD can't even cover its own town with receiving mutual aid %100 more than it provides and has for the last ten years. If you don't know what mutual aid is look it up so that those can understand. Just remember..... for $30 million when seconds count the Fire and Police Dept are just minutes away. Any represntation from the FD or PD because safety about this National Grid high pressure gas line down the Serice Rd because this is sooooo important at the last THREE selectmans meetings because of this ever so popular topic? By all means , stop feeding an addict or is it sound? In order for you to read this I have to prove I'm not a robot. The writer is not a robot but any one person who thinks this a good idea is.
Must see TV -- There will be a televised Candidates Forum for the three candidates for the two School Committee seats this week.
Picture three potatoes having a "meaningful discussion" in the vegtable aisle at Stop and Shop.
The Town will win only if all three of them could lose. God save us if this is our Best and Brightest !
The last couple of BOS meetings have been a joke! 40 people who are living in fear of the gas-line installation have taken control of the meetings it's a complete disgrace. Guess what there are more than 40 people that live within 300 plus feet of the Service Road between exit 2 and 4. They rest of the residents aren't spouting ridiculous fears about explosions and noise because they aren't worried!!!! So once again this town listens to a HANDFUL of complainers, rather than continue with the real business that needs to get done. Oh and at the end of the day, once again they kicked the can further down the road, so they can write a letter. Great job once again in Sandwich politics.
One thing is for sure we now know that if 40+ plus of us go to a BOS meeting to discuss the school budget we will be heard for countless hours because the gas line complainers have set a great precedent. Go in numbers and the BOS has to sit there and listen.
How about it lets go to the next BOS meeting in mass and take over the budget discussion/town warrant!
This town has been making poor decisions for probably three decades. Everything now is about trying to fix problems poor planning or no planning lead us to. Nothing will get fixed over night and yes plenty of stupid to go around. Like advertising when the taxes were low in Boston papers for people to move here. Advertising that schools were being built and people should move here. Changing the form of government before there was even a charter is another good example.
The town was not ready to shift from the size it had been for 3oo years to over 20,000. The infrastructure was not there. The leadership was not there. The systems were not there. The organization was not there except for local cottage industry of government jobs and small town politics,
The town wanted families. They wanted their tax dollars.Those families brought people who wanted jobs in the schools. The schools changed to hiring teacher assistants following a national model around the same time. The three k-8 system created a teacher heavy, staff heavy system. It created a teacher run system. It might have made families and teachers happy and created the communities each part of town seemed to need, but it has clearly cost us a lot more money.
Let's not forget however that salary and benefits for all town employees is cycled in negotiations to be lead by the municipal side. Talk to townies about their feelings about budget growth when fire went from call to professional. Normally towns grow slower but we are still playing catch up in a system that remains agenda driven with turf and job protection more relevant than accountability, and planning. And of course we have many volunteers exerting their influence on things, in many cases spending our tax dollars and proposing to spend them.
Now look at the competing interests in town given the highly educated retirement community. The competing interests in town are amazing The operations of town government both municipal and school probably wastes lots of money and good will putting out fires and going after the wrong things.
The school numbers will seattle. We will be able to close Wing and hopefully we will somehow get a more efficient and effective government. That last one though is wishful thinking. One thing for sure, we will keep plugging along. The taxes are not going down and the frustration and anger is not going away.
The first blog entry above says: we can't stop investing in our schools as a matter of community values and good economic planning.
I am not sure what Community values actually means; so, I will leave that one alone.
Let’s focus solely on the notion of good economic planning. Is it good economic planning to subsidize the Community School with school budget dollars that could and should be used for academics? Is it good economic planning to add faculty and staff to a school system where the student population has declined by more than 25%? Is it good economic planning to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at fiscal year-end simply because the school budget was in surplus? Since when has good economic planning meant spending budget dollars recklessly and wantonly and after exhausting all available funds crying poor?
The schools and our town operate in a way that reminds me of the boy who, after having shot and killed both his parents, begs the judge for mercy because he’s an orphan.
Is no one responsible? Is no one culpable? Is no one accountable?
Does Community Values require that taxpayers pay any price and expect nothing in return?
The Truth maker would say that the issue over the gas line instalation has long been decided by others back in the early 2000 years. They were given the ok to put a line right down the middle of the service road and the town asked them to move it becuase they had just spent a lot of money to put in a new road. Well that was approved and the next proposal was questionable because of water lines. Well it seems the next move was to go a little closer to Rt 6 and now every one that had been living in the homes next to this proposal and had been notified over many years have decided they do not want it there back yards.
What did you think was going to happen when they finished building the control blow off gas building as you came of the exit to go home?
One proposal by some one who did not want in there back yard, suggested they run the line along 130 and then place it under the main electric source for the whole cape under the high tension lines. Safety was a concern as long as it was going to be built in there back yard, but not so for any one living along the high tension lines. Just think of the impact a ruptured line would have on suppling electric power. More folks would be in trouble \, but that is fine as long as it is not in my back yard.
If the present course of action changes from the new proposal to cut down trees and run the line further North of the service road fail The line will go right down the middle of the service road and no one will stop this progess as they have all the permits and regulations in place to complete it.
So which is it, a safety concern or a noise and visual thing or just a bunch of smoke and mirrors.
You are right about how the meeting was conducted in the past two weeks, another good dog and pony show and nothing was acomplished. This is just like those who claim they were never notified about non conforming roads getting plowed, which they had been and then they cried wolf when they did not spend the time to bring them up to code.
Gas Lines are coming , one way or another in and around the service road and all the spouting will never change that avenue of construction. So hopefully it will be placed in the best location that does not cost the town some serious dollars later.It may not be what those living near want, but that was a case that should have been vented back in 2003 when they new it was coming. I would say that to wait ten years to acknowledge and then attempt to deny it from happening,is like trying to close the barn door after the horses have left the stall.
Well this is our little town like the song said, clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right and here I am stuck in the middle with you! This blog reassures my husband and I that we are not alone in our opinions and we would surely show up for any of our co-bloggers willing to go raise some hell upon the potatoes or the king and his court. Keep me smiling
The Truth Maker would ask has any one counted how many students are being picked up by the school buses lately?
It would seem that far to many are running around with not children in the seats. When you see a bus going into a school yards with only severel children it makes you wonder if any one is looking at reducing the number of buses or at the very least down size the buses.
It would appear that a small fortuned could be saved by making a few changes, that in fact fill the seats of the buses.
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