Nothing left to say .....

Welcome to the Mad Hatter's Underwater Tea Party .....
I mean the Community School Pool Task Force Meeting ...

On Tuesday night, FinCom raised serious concerns about the Community School's accounting practices. Not only was it acknowledged that school funds are being diverted to pool use -- but that apparent diversion probably has reduced the chance of FinCom supporting a school budget increase. 

The School Department has acknowledged that business has gotten worse.  I assume this means the pool will lose more than the $128,000 the auditors stated it lost in 2009 -- if the costs of operating the pool are actually acknowledged -- and not buried in the School District's Budget.

All that being said, the SC heard a report from the Pool Taskforce.  Not a business plan for developing new revenue streams, or reducing costs -- but a discussion of how they are going to renovate locker room space.  They plan to seek donations and "do fundraising" to pay for the work.  Given the success of  fundraising efforts since the idea was first mentioned 3 years ago, I won't be holding my breath.

I think Alice had it right when she left the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, "Of all the silly nonsense, this is the stupidest tea party I've ever been to in all my life."

Sandwich Schools Looking for a few Good Men ...

Travis Andrade of Forestdale has reportedly returned his papers for School Committee. I've never met Mr. Andrade, although I did hear him speak at Town Meeting a while ago and I thought he made a great presentation. He's a Latin teacher at Sturgis and a Detachment Commander in the United States Army Reserve.

He appears to be well-spoken, well-educated, and has managerial and tactical abilities.  And, he should certainly have a good understanding of why Sandwich students have been flowing into Sturgis!

Nobody will be threatening the Latin classes on his watch!

Welcome aboard, Mr. Andrade!

Rolling that Stone up the Hill one more time ...

I don't get it.

The School Department is planning to resolve their budget gap by charging parents for school buses and student parking.  They are even willing to turn an Assistant Principal and the police officer assigned to the High School into parking attendants to collect the fees.

But .... 

They have decided that Community Pool users can continue to pay only a fraction of the cost of operating the pool and that the Community School can also keep the money from renting out the facilities that the District pays to maintain.

Why?  Because the Community School can't afford to pay those costs!  

Guess what -- neither can I ! 

Overlooking the fact that this violates state law (misunderstanding legalities has been a recurring theme for the School Department!) -- why are they willing to charge parents for school buses and parking but unwilling to charge the people who use the pool the full cost of operating it?

Easy.  Because the pool crowd is loud.  They vote and make lots of noise.  Parents don't pay attention. They may bitch and moan, but far too many are completely clueless. And, not many go to Town Meeting.   

At FinCom this week, the question was raised as to why the Community School was the only group paying to use the school facilities.  Easy answer --- because every other group yelled, screamed, stomped their feet, and packed every meeting to rant and rave like spoiled 10 year-olds.  Because so much time had already been wasted on the issue --there was not enough support on the Committee at that time to waste any more time continuing to push the issue.  So we rolled over. 

Anybody who uses a school-maintained facility should pay their fair share of the cost.  Why should the school budget absorb the operating costs of every group that wants to use its facilities -- especially, when some of these groups manage to find some money to pay some of their "volunteers".

How about, I pay for my family's recreation and you pay for yours?

UPDATE -- Click here for draft of 2009 Community School Audit (The only one ever done)

Adventures in Budgeting ...

I would like to apologize to my neighbors.  

Those blood-curdling screams you were hearing tonight were caused because I was one of the six people in town watching the FinCom discussion of the School Budget on local cable.

There was a decent discussion of many of the issues plaguing the school budget.  Both sides were well-behaved,  most were well-prepared, and most were actually paying attention.  It was nice to see!

A few random thoughts:

Donating your money to Mashpee, Bourne, Falmouth, etc.?

It was casually mentioned that Facilities Rental income will now be given to the Community School  and that a janitor who had been paid for with Facilities Rental fees will now be paid by the High School.   This reverses the hard-fought reorganization of the Community School -- it means that, once again, taxpayers will be paying to maintain facilities that will be rented out by the Community School for the benefit of their other programs -- particularly the pool -- which benefits the nice folks from Barnstable, Mashpee, Falmouth, etc.  Under Mass Law, revenue from School Rentals must be used for school operations -- not recreation for folks in neighboring towns!

(See http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section71E )

When was this change in policy voted?  I haven't seen anything in the meeting minutes.

Donating More money ...
Does anybody see the irony in the fact that the School Committee seems willing to charge parents for their kids to ride a school bus, or park their car at the school -- but aren't willing to charge non-residents for the the full cost of the facilities they use?

And then it happened ...

There was a decent discussion of the Community School Situation (something we haven't seen at School Committee meetings in a while!) -- at the conclusion of the discussion, the School Department acknowledged that the proposed budget did not include any proposed reimbursement from the Community School, and that only a very minimal amount was reimbursed in the current year. They agreed to discuss the issue further -- FinCom made it clear they expect that discussion to happen sooner rather than later.

But let's be clear ...

There were a couple of comments about the depletion of the Community School's reserve account -- It's amazing what a huge cash reserve can be built up when you get somebody else to pay your bills!

No, I'm not picking on the Community School!

Let's also be clear about motives.  I have no problem with the idea of the Community School -- I think its a great program with great possibilities.  My ONLY concern is that it needs to pay its own way.  It can not rely on a shrinking school district budget to cover its costs.  If program revenues don't cover program costs -- either raise the revenue, or cut the cost.  The cost can not be dumped on the School District.  Parents shouldn't have to pay to put their kids on a school bus so that somebody (who may not even pay taxes in town) can have a reduced-price swim.

It's that simple.

Friends Don't Let Friends Buy the Emptyprize ....

OK, I did it.

I was doing my part to aid the local economy and I ended up walking out with an Emptyprize in the bag with my Sam Adams.

I wasn't disappointed.

It's nice to see they have their priorities straight -- we're in the midst of budget discussions, debates over public safety buildings,  and an election without candidates -- yet the Emptyprize managed to find space on page one, above the fold, for a hard-hitting story on .... dog parks ...  in Mashpee!!  (I will admit to drinking while reading the paper --- if somebody in Falmouth will admit to drinking when they write it !)

There was the beginning of a story on the School Budget which allegedly was continued on page 3 (but was actually was continued on page 10 --- after the Mashpee Dog Park issue had been fully explored in the earlier pages).  There was nothing new -- still no teachers contract, still no word on Community School financial statements.  I wonder what the budget gap would look like if the Community School paid their utility bills for the pool?

It's interesting that the Falmouth Public Schools' advertisement soliciting School Choice students from Sandwich got better placement than the continuation of the school budget story.  It was a good ad -- hello, free market economy.

The Police blotter had an interesting entry -- it seems one of the picketers at the Forestdale School called the Police to complain that a passerby had "yelled at her".  So, how's that public support working out for you?  I still haven't seen any heart-warming stories of parents joining the picket line, or delivering hot tea and scones to protesters.

Maybe that's why they're now scheduled to reduce their picket lines to two mornings a week?  (I hope that notice wasn't copied on a school machine!)

The Editorial Page had the standard letter from a student supporting his teachers' quest for a contract (apparently regardless of WHAT they wanted in the contract).  The amusing part was his comment about teachers coming to work, not knowing if they would have a job the next day because they didn't have a contract.  The reality is:  teachers don't get fired because they don't have a contract.  Teachers are rarely even fired for being incompetent.  Teachers usually only get fired when the Town can't pay them -- which is what will happen if the schools can't control operating costs.

The letter talked about cancelled field trips and activities, but also raised a far more serious issue of teachers not writing student recommendations.  He expressed concern about not getting into programs because of missing teacher recommendations.  I would hope he will specify exactly WHO refused to write a recommendation ... that would make an interesting response the next time a union leader climbs up on her soap box and talks about enduring her $70,000 job, prep periods, time off for union business, medical/dental benefits, 184 day work year, 3 PM dismissal, etc. --- for "the good of the children"...

Building Emergency ?

KMG 365 ...

I've been a big supporter of a new Public Safety Building.  But I'm sensing a disturbing trend.

We can't afford to fix buildings, but then get excited because we can "fix" the Wing by spending "only"  $19 million on the high school and shifting some kids around -- we're excited because its better than spending $30-40 million (make up your own number!) for a new building.  (If Sturgis Charter can build a second school for $10-$15 million, why would it cost $40 million to replace the Wing?  But, that's another story.)

We couldn't afford to keep the Library open on Sundays -- so it was proposed we spend millions (again, make up your own number) to build a SECOND library -- with "video conferencing" and "rooms for pizza parties".  For that price, I would propose buying every taxpayer a Kindle, and a $25 Amazon gift certificate, they can support the local economy and have their own pizza parties at Two Brothers!

The School Budget is in continual crisis, yet almost nobody is asking why Sandwich taxpayers are using school budget dollars to subsidize the entertainment of folks from other towns.  (Before the clucking starts ... if the Community School is not paying its share of operating costs -- including pool utilities, it IS being subsidized by taxpayers.)  And, why haven't Community School financial results been released?

How about that proposed Boardwalk to nowhere?  Fortunately that seems to have been referred to the "Committee on Things That Should be Ignored" -- before more money was wasted on a vast array of feasibility studies and pointless public meetings.

Town Hall?  We spend millions to reduce the number of employees the building could hold.  We also built a (very attractive) auditorium that duplicated the assembly halls we already had in 4 school buildings -- except with no parking and little septic tank capacity.  We also now have a local cable feed that makes the Selectmen look like the hamsters at Cape Maid Farms (or maybe that's just the picture on MY own TV?)

The Clark-Haddad Building?  We couldn't maintain it, it fell into disrepair, we evacuated employees with the intent of selling the property to somebody who (a) needed it and (b) could afford to maintain it.  Several years later, it still sits -- only in worse shape -- while we spend time arguing over historical significance and whether or not public dollars can be used to relocate a "historical" building to a less than historical site (ie. next to the Dump) -- assuming that the laws of gravity and physics would allow such a move.

Now, the $26 million Public Safety Building discussed in January seems to have been joined by a second new fire station.  Presuming that two of the existing stations would actually be sold -- really sold to people with real money -- not given away to a non-profit, or turned over to the Recreation Department, or the Tree Warden; the concept might be reasonable.   BUT -- BUT -- do we need to recreate the wheel? Can we utilize somebody else's existing station plans?  We certainly aren't the first Town to build a fire/police station (we're probably one of the last ones!) We need a building that not only meets our needs for the foreseeable future, but we also need one that we can afford to build -- AND afford to operate.

We don't have a good track record.  Unfortunately, our discussions of sustainable spending, prioritizing expenditures, investment in the future and the maintenance of public assets, seem to take place on a giant hamster wheel -- around and around, but never going anywhere.

I saw her lips move !!

How can you tell when the President of the Teachers Union is distorting the truth?

Easy -- her lips are moving!

As one school committee meeting observer noted, he's pretty sure the only completely truthful statement she makes in front of the cameras is when she gives her address -- but he is even tempted to double-check that!

Another case in point was buried at the end of Emptyprize article this week (Surprise -- the Emptyprize missed yet another opportunity to mix a little news in with their pablum !!).

President-For-Life Carlyle stated that "we will meet whenever the School Committee is ready to meet" yet there is absolutely no follow-up to a school committee member's published comment that they were left sitting at the table when the UNION'S attorney cancelled meetings.  Wouldn't a logical question to the President-For-Life be --  "Hey, you say you'll meet anytime -- yet you keep cancelling meetings -- what gives?".

There was also a comment about the union working for a zero increase in FY '11.  That's bullshit because the FY '11 contract still isn't settled. It may eventually be settled at a 0% -- but if not, her members will be getting retroactive increase checks as soon as the contract is signed.  If they really accepted a 0% for all of FY '11 I can't imagine it would be a secret!!  They have never signed a contract with a 0% increase.  

Then there was a comment about the School Committee reneging on a "tentative agreement" in December of 2010.   Standard procedure is for the members of the School Committee's negotiating team to reach a preliminary agreement with the union (and amongst themselves) and then go back to the full School Committee (plus one Selectmen) for a vote.   Because of conflicts of interest, the current negotiating team has only 2 members.

Given those mechanics, the "tentative agreement" story is questionable at best!  I would suspect that one of the two Negotiating Team members missed a meeting (which happens to people who have real jobs!) and the other one (who has a name very similar to an Australian jumping varmint) decided to advance a proposal all by herself.  I would suspect that once the laughter stopped, it was pointed out that a single member (even one that knew what he/she was doing !) can't reach a "tentative agreement" on anything!

Another opportunity to mix a little "research" into the story would have been to follow-up on President-For-Life's comments on comparative salaries.  As much as we enjoy stats from the Mass Teachers Association - the Mass Dept. of Education provides average salary teacher compensation for every district in the Commonwealth (Click Here). Here's some better details of average salaries for FY '10:

DISTRICT	Average Salary
NAUSET	$80,494
BARNSTABLE	$72,234
CAPE COD	$71,421
FALMOUTH	$71,156
MASHPEE	$69,883
SANDWICH	$69,609
STATE AVG	$68,781
CHATHAM	$68,534
UPPER CAPE COD	$67,543
DENNIS YARMOUTH	$67,513
BOURNE	$66,010
BREWSTER	$65,360
HARWICH	$62,322
ORLEANS	$62,159
PROVINCETOWN	$59,187

The more this nonsense drags on, the more I agree with Mike Merolla (not something you hear every day!) -- negotiations should be televised.  Let the world see what really is going on -- I would bet the whole process could be wrapped up in no time!

I was once criticized by President-For-Life for referring to the "Theatrics of Negotiation"  (when some of her members gave my daughter a hard time during the negotiation of the last contract) -- lately it's become a theater of the absurd.  It's unfortunate that her antics and rancid rhetoric seem to have have continued to prolong and distort the negotiating process.  She seems to have gone out of her way to stick a finger in the proverbial eye of every taxpayer and even members of every other town and school union.  She has done nothing except harm to her cause, her members, her employer, and -- worst of all -- our students.

I hope union members can encourage her to get another hobby.

Killion Kommission: "Ding the Wing!"

Once upon a time, I argued against the idea of consolidating schools because I didn't believe that a Town full of four bedroom colonials would not once again support 4,000 students.   BUT .... that was before hearing that it would cost somewhere well north of $30 million to fix or replace the Wing.  It was also before the huge growth in Choice and Charter Schools.  The reality is that students have already begun shifting from town to town -- based on programs offered, rather than how close the school is to their homes.  Every Town no longer needs to maintain classroom space for every potential student.

Stockpiling empty seats and excess capacity is a luxury Towns can no longer afford.  Consolidation is inevitable if Districts have any hope of providing a quality education in the future.  (See interesting article on school regionalization)

That being said, it was good to see the CCT's article discussing the potential of closing down the Wing and shifting all 7th & 8th graders to a new wing at the High School (would we call it the  "Wing wing" ?)-- a plan that would "only" cost $16 Million (let's call it $20 Million so we can avoid being "surprised" when the cost overruns start!).  

This would likely start a chain reaction of consolidation across Town -- town offices from the Annex, Jan Sebastian, Oakcrest, the HSB, and the Back Table at the Taverna could all be shifted to some piece of the Wing -- even the School Administration could go there which would actually encourage consolidating the two major financial functions under the same roof.  That would also allow the Town to liquidate some assets that are in miserable condition -- which they could not otherwise afford to repair or replace.

BUT .... those old buildings need to be sold.  Nobody can pull a "Clark-Haddad" where six years after the decision to dump the building, folks are still sitting on their hands trying to get the guts to acknowledge that it is a crappy building that we can not afford to maintain -- and that it should be sold -- REGARDLESS of who went to kindergarten there!

We can deal with the Newly-renovated Town Hall later.  I am sure the Hysterical Society, or the local Chamber of Commerce could fight over it --- maybe they could even build a Boardwalk from it -- or sell "free" spring water from the $325,000 faucet to pay the rent.

Buried deep in the story there was also an interesting point about the potential High School renovation displacing The Community School.  I guess that's one way to solve the pool problem --- THAT uprising should be amusing!

It Takes Two to Tango / Norma Rae doesn't live here anymore

The CCT is reporting that the Teachers Union began picketing this morning. Seems logical -- particularly if they are trying to eliminate the precious little public support to which they cling. The Town unions and many of the smaller Sandwich School unions settled for contracts and wage freezes two years ago. The SEA still hasn't agreed to anything.

Maybe the SEA would like to explain exactly what the unresolved issues are? 

 Do they expect taxpayers to support a contract without even knowing what's in it?

I think its time the SEA shows a little "ResPect" (that was the spellling on the sign at SHS this AM -- must have been a math teacher) to the taxpayers and parents who are already working multiple jobs with little vacation time, few benefits, and no pensions.

Now the schools want to triple the K-8 sports fee, and teachers are threatening to not write college recommendations, and cancel after school activities -- even though teachers are paid to "volunteer" for them (see pg 35 of the contract) ?  That should help build support for the schools!

Maybe the School Committee should finally execute the Evergreen Clause (see pg 37, final paragraph) which states:

"In the event the parties commence negotiations for a successor Agreement as provided herein, and such negotiations are not concluded before August 31, 2010, then, in such event, the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect until a successor Agreement is executed; but in no event beyond August 31, 2011." (emphasis added)

Throw the old contract out, and start over.

MY STANDARD DISCLAIMER ON TEACHERS -- My kids have had many great teachers in Sandwich.  My oldest daughter graduated from SHS and is now studying to be a Teacher, my mother and many members of my family were teachers.  I readily acknowledge I don't have the patience to be a good teacher.   I am pro-teacher, but I believe that good teachers should be well-compensated  based solely on their own ability -- just as any other profession.   The biggest beneficiary of union protection are those teachers who could not be retained based on their own abilities and merits.  

Survey This ... (By Bob Guerin)

Almost every time I hear a story or read an article about our school system two things occur. First, I find myself wondering how the staff and administration have let whatever I am reading about happen and second, I try to imagine why such an obvious problem or shortcoming hasn't been previously identified and corrected. 

Today's story, from the Cape Cod Times, highlights discipline and suspensions. 

The story reports that during 2010/2011 2 students at Wing School, 8 at Oak Ridge and 25 at Forestdale School were suspended. I am sure Wing is the smallest of our 3 schools; while Forestdale and Oak Ridge are comparable in size. Still, aren't these numbers alarming? 

At nearly 3 times the rate of Oak Ridge, and twelve times the rate of Wing, Forestdale School is suspending children from a K - 8 school. If we can assume that nobody in grades K through 4 ever gets suspended, then all of this disciplinary nonsense is taking place in just 4 classes -- grades, 5, 6, 7, and 8. 

Either the children of Forestdale are a mob of undisciplined, perhaps violent and chronically prone to unruly behavior clan, or just maybe, the staff or administration of Forestdale is failing our children dramatically. 

Either the neighborhoods of Forestdale are producing and raising a disproportionate number of budding social misfits or the teachers and staff at Forestdale are failing to lead, to teach and to role model. 

Maybe this should signal a problem to someone in Administration. Maybe? 

Maybe we should take a survey? Maybe.