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Offer limited to topics related to Norfolk.
Free post shall not be interpreted to mean that the time taken to
compose or type the message or to read the responses will be compensated.
Other restrictions may apply in your community or if the phase of the
moon is wrong. Offer void where prohibited. I should probably think of more
conditions because I've never read fine print that was this short, but it's
late and I have other things I have to finish.
Thank you for your understanding :-)
- Maintaining a database of the addresses that fall within the 2 mi restrictionIn additon to all the operational expenses, what will it cost us to defend any legal disputes arising from this? I have read a lot of legal language on this site so far, and it seems that someone could bring a case over interpretation of the laws around this.
All of this seems to add up to a lot of expense to me. The risk
here is that our revenue is capped by the number of students, but
our expenses are ambigous. Worst case scenario is that this ends
up costing us money. In looking at this program it seems to require
at least a dedicated part time resource, potentially a full time
resource and some level of new technology. My question is do we
know the cost and how valid are our assumptions? Have we asked
other towns the costs incurred with their fee programs, that would
be a logical place to start if we haven't done that already.
So if the best case scenario 'net' number is an uptick of $5 or
$10K is it really worth all of this grief and agravation it causes
us?
As a side note, instead of charging people who actually take the
bus, why don't we impose a fee on those who choose to drop their
kids off at school? It always bugs me when I see a long line of
cars dropping children off at the school when my tax dollars (today)
pay for a bus seat for each and every one of those children. Very
simple program - sell tickets for a dollar a drop-off. If you need
to drive periodically - you can. If you choose to drive daily -
you pay us back for the bus seat we provide to your children. Count
up the cars tomorrow and see what that would mean to our bottom
line.
Regards,
Isn't that comforting! He's an employee and can't be voted out, therefore,
we can epect a tone which is "demeaning and arrogant".
Where is Howie Carr when you need him??
Can we try being a bit more neighborly?
Speaking
of assessments, I urge everyone to get a copy of their Vision report
from the assessors dept. This report details how your home is valued.
Square feet of living space is the major input. I found out my
foundation size has been wrong since the house was built 20 years aga. I
could do nothing about prior years and I'm more than upset that the
report showed the house was measured and reviewed at least 4 times in
the last 10 years and the error was not discovered. They must have
forgot their tape measure and just used their shoe size. Even a foot or
two off could save hundreds of dollars a year. There are rules about
when you can file for an abatement so it may take a while but do your
homework now. It is not the inside but rather the outside measurements
that they use.
All I needed was a SPAD XIII and a Fokker D7 to make the scene complete!
Very much appreciated!
DM states that the school committee was blind-sided by Mr. Hathaway's
failure to file these documents as well. If Mr. Hathaway and the current
officials did in fact withold this information from the school committee,
then I think a change is in order. Norfolk should not tolerate a lack of
fiscal accountability. The different boards in this small town should be
working together, not against each other. Clearly the Selectmen and the
School Committee do not have effective lines of communication. They need to
work together to keep Norfolk moving forward. If they cannot, I will vote
for change. I hope you will too.
SR: I believe one action to take now is to call the people who can
approve changing the motions at Town Meeting. If you will prepare a
motion which will add the amount
needed to pay for busing for those within 2 miles, and review it with
the moderator candidates, it doesn't matter what Hathaway thinks, as he
has nothing to do with whether
the motion passes or not. What you have to do is to convince citizens to
vote for the money, and be sure that the change is proper. The
purpose for reviewing it is to see if the motion to change an article on
the warrant is legal and properly worded. If it is OK to proceed, the
Town Meeting can take up the substitute motion, pass or reject it, then
go back to the main motion. Call Dan Winslow and Marc Waldman, the
candidates for Moderator; tell them what is desired, and they could give
you guidance as to what can and what cannot be done at Town Meeting.
Plan to do something to add money for busing. Talk to the School
Committee members, too. Then, plan what you want to do, and get a lot of
people to support it, and do it.
Don't forget to have someone move to reconsider an accepted motion;
there is a way to lock in the vote taken in that way. You might even
talk to a Selectman or two. Jonathan Smith has a lot of experience on
the Advisory Board; he can give you pointers.
I will vote to add that money for busing. Good luck.
So follow me here ... If I am reading this properly, Norfolk is not
required to offer busing to students outside of 2 miles (the quoted
section is under "eligibility"), but apparently do so because they
have determined that the physical safety and health of the children
make this service essential. So is the point now that there are
no safety issues? If there were no safety issues then they shouldn't
have been offering bus service to these children in the first place
since it was not in compliance with the Pupil Transportation Guide
for Massachusetts.
[You're messing with our minds, I know you must be, I just can't pin it down exactly... :-) - Wm.]
It is utterly unreasonable to ask that children who live less than two
miles walk to HOD which is located on Main Street. In this case, buses
are not a "convenience" but rather a necessity to effectively and
efficiently transport children. There is no reasonable alternative,
whether it be children walking or parents dropping off. HOD is not safe
for any kindergartener to walk to, yet only some consumers of the bus
service (likely around 75%) are required to pay while others are not. It
would be a fee if all consumers paid a charge based on use, but this is
not the case. How is this not discriminatory and essentially a tax? The
need for bus transportation is the same for all families with students
attending HOD and FCS but only an arbitrary group is expected to pay.
This is apparently legal and completely unfair. Please stop calling it a
fee unless all consumers are expected to pay for the service (that's
what a fee is). Names have meaning. Let's call it what it is... A
live-less-than-two-miles-from-school override tax to save a teaching
position. Not catchy, but I believe more accurate.
I have a few things I'd like to say on the bussing issue:
* This is a safety issue that affects the entire town; increased
pedestrian traffic on mostly unwalkable streets increases accidents.
Increased car traffic increases the likelihood of accidents as
impatience grows from long waiting times, and as congestion decreases
visibility. Traffic backing up onto streets causes safety concerns and
transportation headaches for anyone traveling in Norfolk.
* We are lucky to live in a reasonably wealthy community, but some
families are not as lucky as others. Some families in this town already
struggle to make ends meet. These families will be disproportionably
impacted by a 2-mile bus tax.
* As learned at the meeting last night, the line item for the proposed
2-mile bus tax can be moved to the town budget, and spread out among all
residents-this is, after all, a community safety issue. The net cost to
each resident would be measured in pennies. But, Jack Hathaway indicated
he would not even consider this. So, he has taken the ability for the
people to decide whether or not they think this tax should be applied
community-wide. I understand that his tone was demeaning and arrogant. I
am never going to vote for Jack Hathaway if this is the kind of
"leadership" that he practices.
(taken from
http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/transport/guide_1.html)
"Eligibility: All children in grades kindergarten through six who reside more than two miles from the school they are entitled to attend and the nearest school bus stop is more than one mile from their residence and all children residing in regional school districts in grades kindergarten through twelve. Exceptions to this policy may be made when road conditions do not provide for the physical safety of the children and when the health of students make this service essential."(my emphasis). I think all reasonable people can agree that many of the roads within 2 miles of the schools are not walkable. How do we residents therefore apply for "exceptions to this policy?" I have taken a first step by speaking with the Compliance Officer for Norfolk at the state level; he will be returning my call and providing me with further information on how to fight this.
I'd like to add that so far, my full-day Kindergarten student has
received an excellent education and that I am very impressed with what I
have seen from the teachers at both of our elementary schools. I have
never voted to cut teacher positions or funds for important school
subjects. There are other areas where costs can be cut. (and other ways
to generate funds.) It really depends on whom the Powers-That-Be want to
curry favor with. And they have chosen to prey on families within 2
miles of our schools.
How about next year; we impose a fee on families using the town
playgrounds and recreation equipment who live within 2 miles of them? Or,
my favorite, a tax on people who drive their kids to school in Hummers?
p.s. the bus fee has already cost us $500 in software purchased by the
school committee to calculate who lives inside the 2-mile radius. Is
that really a good use of resources? So, we are already $500 in the hole
from this program, never mind increased costs due to infrastructure
accommodations and safety personnel. And this bus tax is supposed to
save us money??
Sincerely,
So until that happens reliably, and I do mean reliably, here's an
out-of-the box idea. Any Norfolk town employee, outside of their
regular duties, or a Norfolk citizen or otherwise, who comes up with a
plan to save the Town money receives a monetary reward, as a percentage,
say 10%, of calculated savings. That includes whistle-blowers who
uncover waste, fraud, neglect, redundancy, monetary-based favoritism,
fixed bids, nepotism, padded payrolls and otherwise. It would give the
taxpayers a level of comfort that their tax dollars were exhaustively
being watched over.
Any support out there?
Fees are supposed to be avoidable -- if you don't get the service, you don't
pay the fee -- but you can't avoid going to school and the town has SO
IRRESPONSIBLY NEGLECTED THE BASIC MAINTENANCE AND UPKEEP OF BOARDMAN STREET
from the school to Needham Street (Wm - keep the all-caps there, I know it
looks like I'm yelling, because I am) that it's downright irresponsible to
make your kid walk that street in the morning (particularly with the
combination of a) reckless drivers, and b) SUV/land barge drivers, and c)
reckless SUV/land barge drivers. So unless you want every parent who avoids
the fee to drive their kids to school, it's not all that avoidable.
But that's not what I wanted to write about.
This morning I had the occasion to drop one of my kids off at school for
the first time. I had no idea what a mess the whole system is, with
SUV/land-barges running out the driveway and onto Boardman Street. But what
really got me was that a significant number of them, including the one right
in front of me, were sitting there and idling for about ten minutes.
Now it wasn't so cold this morning that you absolutely needed to keep the
heat on, and your battery is not going to die if you listen to the radio for
ten minutes without your motor on. And with today's ignition systems, if
your car is going to be parked in one place for more than a minute (the
actual number is something like 30 seconds), it's actually more
fuel-efficient to shut off the car than to keep it running; cars simply
don't use as much gas as they used to in starting up.
What you are accomplishing by idling for ten minutes is sending lovely soot
and carbon and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere for no reason. And
through my open window.
Now, aside from it being against the law to idle for that long (chapter 90,
section 16a - five minute limit), it's wasteful. Isn't it kind of ironic
that the people who will be trying to save money by dropping their kids off
at school will be blowing bucks right out their tailpipes as they sit there
and idle for 5, 10, 15 minutes?
Has the school committee done an Environmental Impact Report as to the
increased auto emissions through more trips and longer idling times? Quick,
someone call the EPA!
(The other)
As far as the full day kindergarten is concerned, I am
willing to bet that very soon, all kindergarten will be full day. Kids are now
indeed ready sooner for a full day than they used to be. When my first child
went to kindergarten in Norfolk we had to pay for it, there was no public
kindergarten.
And you want this same environment for our children? No thank you.
And MON - if you can get all three towns to agree to regionalizing
services at the Superintendent level, great!
I must be missing something because renders moot the discussion of
the income level (DWL, PB, MJD), since practically all of Norfolk
is included. (It definitely includes the priciest neighborhoods
that I know of--among others, the Berkshire St. neighborhood
and the $2M homes of Keeney Pond.)
Am I missing something?
[The distance is measured as driven "portal to portal over a commonly traveled route," and is not a radius. The reference is cited in the post of 3/18 6:40pm - Wm.]
I
have a good idea! We all need to take a very deep breath and go and
experience any one of the extraordinary performances by the King Philip
Music Program. It is absolutely magical to see how the commitment to
excellence on behalf of the teachers, students and parents make this program
consistently regarded as one of the top programs in the country! Their
passion for excellence affords them the opportunity to consistently showcase
their talents at such places like Carnegie Hall, Giant's Stadium, The RCA
Dome, Boston's very own Hatch Shell and Symphony Hall and countless national
and world championships! Go and see them!! I promise you that you will
walk away from any performance with a feeling of wonder and a sense
of community pride... They are YOUR town's kids!
Just one final comment... as one can imagine with this type of success,
fees are involved... but somehow the families seem to and want to make it
work!!
The Principals and Assistant Principals perform many functions
such as curriculum coordinators. If we were to eliminate the Assistants
(hypothetically--go with me here) then that job function would need to be
picked up by another professional. As it is these professional staff
positions are paid similarly to most professionals in the "real world",
in other words they get paid for 40 hours a week. I know from direct
observation that these people put in more than double that on a regular
basis. I only bring this up to point out that there is no slack in
other areas to pick up these tasks so you would be eliminating one
position to only pick up additional ones.
Most other districts we have had discussions with and studied
that have fewer "top administrator" positions actually end up spending
more on support staff since they need a similar (or in most cases more)
number of personnel to handle the curriculum coordination, 504 work,
grant writing, etc. The bottom line is if you use the Administrative
line item as a proxy for all these tasks (since all schools need to
perform these tasks-or at least should be doing so), and compare that to
our total budget we are well below the state guidelines which is what
the state says we should be spending on this function. In my opinion
there are two explanations for this, either we are doing less work than
required or our staff is currently running very lean. Having worked
with the administration for a year now I know it is the latter. Does
this mean we're done and that's the end of it? No, the SC is constantly
asking probing questions and ensuring there is adequate justification
for our current structure and will continue to do so in the future.
Our current proposed FY08 budget calls for the elimination of
18-19 classroom special education aids. This decision was not made
lightly and is the result of two years of effort to study the situation
and find the appropriate structure to meet the student, education, and
classroom management needs as the primary goal. It also happens to have
a significant budgetary impact but this was not the primary goal of the
effort. Approximately 10% of the staff will be leaving the Norfolk
system as a result of this restructuring and we all appreciate their
effort and dedication to our schools and children. This in no way
should reflect poorly on any of these individuals performance, it is
simply that the positions are being cut.
Regarding your comment on the HOD roof, I know that the repair
work is incredibly nasty due to the location the workers need to get to
in order to complete the work. My recollection is the original bids
received no takers since the firms interested couldn't adequately judge
the amount of time and effort they would need to expend. Toby Lions
broke the work down and using the competitive bid process contracted out
a section. Using this data (since we could see their costs) the rest of
the project could be priced out and price pressure applied. I encourage
you to discuss the matter with Toby directly as he has much more
information on the process. It is unfortunate that the town was stuck
with this repair bill, we have inquired about legal action against the
builder with town council and the BOS as well. Technically this effort
doesn't fall to the responsibility of the schools but since we "live" in
those buildings it made sense for us to manage the process so it is done
properly. Hope that helps explain my thoughts on these issues.
(the comments included in this post are those of myself only and do
not necessarily reflect the views of other School Committee members or
School Administrators)
Regards,
Release the hounds!
MON - I agree with you. $12K for a security system? Yikes. Could you
fill us in further please... Am I reading you correctly in that the
library now wants a security system after the building has just been
completed? One would assume this should have been included in an new
building design? Also, do you know anything about why Town Hall is
getting a new dormer installed when simply a gutter could solve the
problem of rain leaking in front of a doorway?
Hospitals running in the black didn't happen overnight. It took lots of
self analysis and cost containment to find a system that worked.
It is totally do-able if the responsiblities are defined, the
expectations are high and people are held accountable!
And yes, there are many small
companies whose managers have 40-50 direct reports. But you are making
excuses for their workload. Follow the steps above and you will save
the taxpayers at least 260K before their benefits are subtracted. If
they are that sorely needed after some time frame, hire new personnel.
The schools have a HR [human resources] director. Maybe she can even help with those
burdensome evaluations.
While you are approachable on Norfolknet - which, by the way, is
commendable; most Town Officials read this religiously but don't
respond - cutting out 19 teachers aides seems like the easiest thing to
do. Why don't you cut administrators? Is it because you and the Board
see them as indispensable? Or are you too close to them? One
administrator sitting behind a desk equals at least 5 or 6 in-the-
classroom teachers aides, and would show the Town that you really value
education.
You didn't answer my question on inflated contract bids. The HOD roof
costs tell me no one is minding the bids or the vendors. The library
budget is telling as well. I was also shocked at how much it costs to
install a burglar alarm system in the Library. 12,000$ to install a
system sounds like the vendor is part thief himself. They cost a
fraction of that, Mr. Hathaway.
Maybe its time for the Town "Leaders" to sit down with town vendors and
say the days of inflated costs and free money are over.
Think of the money that would be saved if we had real, competitive bids.
Are you saying they're not? Perhaps my information is out of date.
No, in fact, the "bus fee" is not a tax. The reality is that, at
least theoretically, it is perfectly reasonable to ask that children
who are within walking distance of the public school not get a free
ride to the school. Norfolk has been giving a "free ride" to all
these children for years and has now chosen the perfectly legal
option of charging for this service. So, it's not a tax; it's a fee
for the convenience of getting a bus ride over walking.
Now, before everyone jumps down my throat on this, let me say that,
given the lack of sidewalks in most of the town, especially on
Boardman Street, it is not reasonable to ask some of the children
who live within two miles to walk to school; it's simply not safe.
But to say that this bus fee is a discriminatory "tax" is incorrect.
I would also be curious to find out exactly how many members of the
board that decided to produce this fee will also be paying it.
SM a few days ago you specifically
attacked the School Committee for giving away the store to the teachers
with unreasonable salary increases. In response I provided data
calculated from the publicly available town budgets on the salary line
items for General Government and also all other town departments salary
line items excluding the schools. To be clear, I did this to counter
the incorrect assertion that the SC is mishandling its funds and not to
point fingers at any other department.
You respond discussing the
entire General Government budget, not the salary line item. Since you
mention health care costs, I'll address that as well. Through creative
thinking (offering a variety of plan options) the SC and Administration
of the schools had the lowest increase in health care costs of any
department in town (not the double digits other departments had to
endure), so again your own argument works against you.
Lastly, you make
my point for me. To ponder your own argument and use your own numbers
(and I'm not vouching for their accuracy) you prove that the SC is at
least in line with the entire town if not better when you look at the
salary line items and exclude all benefits. This is not the
unreasonable "this is going to double the town expenses in nine years"
you claimed a few days ago. Still want to ramble on about how the SC is
mishandling the town's money? The facts simply do not support you.
That said, I do appreciate your vigilance and all those in town that
make sure we continue to spend the funds made available to the SC in a
responsible manner. Frankly I wish all town decisions and financial
dealings received the same scrutiny, maybe then the town would have
avoided the current crisis we find ourselves in due to missing major
deadlines and putting over a million dollars in town income at risk.
Regards,
Now, that is not to say that some people, myself
included, can't pay the fee without pain. I have heard, maybe because I
listen empathically, several parents express that this fee (especially
with multiple kids) is a burden to their budget and that other things
will need to be cut next fall (activities, sport etc).
Attitudes like
yours are a sad comment on the tone of this debate.
Unfortunately, Norfolk has developed a reputation for having tolerant
special-needs criteria, which over the years has resulted in a much
higher proportion of special-needs students in school than in other
towns.
When looking at per-pupil spending, the state averages are not to go by,
because the average spending is skewed by the cost structure of large
urban cities like Boston and very affluent towns like Dover, Lincoln and
some on the Cape, which are very different from ours.
I like comparisons to
Medfield: the town demographics are similar, but their schools are
better, and their cost structure much lower. If they can do it, we
should be able.
This bus fee is expected to offset $30,000 in the transportation
budget with a $270k line item for bus transportation. There is clear
unwillingness on the part of town leadership to share the $30,000 across
the entire tax base by considering moving the all or part of the line
item cost to the town budget. The issue represents the town budget
crisis and the financial woes will only get worse in the future. Perhaps
next year we can introduce the special
live-more-than-two-miles-from-school tax to offset costs for school
extracurricular activities or for additional costs to support the
increase in pedestrian and automobile traffic!
This is ultimately a public safety issue! This so-called fee will
absolutely encourage more drivers and more walkers. Traffic will
increase, pollution will increase, pick-up/drop-off will be encouraged
by this policy, and safety overall will decrease. It's just a matter of
time before the live-less-than-two-miles-from-school tax results in a
pedestrian accident.
So, I
presume you mean to imply that because Norfolk's numbers including
special ed. costs are higher than Plainville and Wrentham and other
towns, that somehow we are funding our schools excessively or
exorbitantly? Why do you think our numbers including special ed are
higher? Could it possibly be that Norfolk has more special ed
students and more severe special ed students that require out-of-district
placements? If you go to the SPED charts on that website, you will
find the following: Norfolk's Sped Population is 21.4%, Wrentham
is 14.9%, Plainville is 13.7%. Out of approximately 300 schools
listed, I count only 14 that have a higher spec ed. population than
Norfolk. That puts Norfolk in the top 5% of special education
population.
It is a pretty well known fact that Norfolk has a high
special education population. The school department recognizes that
and has taken steps to try to reduce the special ed costs. They are
currently proposing to eliminate 19 teacher aid positions. They are
also working to provide adequate in-house services for many special
ed students so that they can be taught at our schools rather than
be sent out-of-district to more expensive schools and have to pay
the costs to transport them to and from those out-of-district schools
each day as well. It is required by law that those students and
their needs be accommodated and that their transportation costs to
and from out-of-district placements be paid for in full by the
school district. By law our school district must pay the first
$30,000 in costs for a special education child and then 25% of any
additional costs above that amount (not including transportation.)
Transportation costs are to be paid at 100% by the schools by law.
Those children are entitled by law to be accommodated. So please
explain to me again where we are overfunding our schools??
[Update 4/4 9:05am: the state per-pupil figure mentioned was not directly comparable - MD]
I'm still waiting for the SC to propose an "education fee" of $6560 (or
$8450) per pupil... yielding the ultimate pro-choice education stance...
but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
On the other hand, I have done research on my own and looked at the
financial issues. Let me show you and others how to find some facts.
Here is a link to the Massachusetts Government Website that shows per
pupil expenditures for every single city and town in Massachusetts. The
most current data is for the '05 school year.
[mass.edu ppx].
According to this chart,
Norfolk's per pupil expenditure is $6560 (not including special ed).
Wrentham is $6594, Plainville is $6863. By looking at this independent
data, I do not see where there is possibly a large feedbag of money
being held onto by the School Committee. The website clearly states how
the numbers were calculated and includes all operating cost such as
administration, teacher salaries, pupil services, etc. Other towns are
shown including Lincoln and Weston at over $10,000 per pupil. How can
you say that the citizens of Norrfolk are pouring too much money into
our schools? In fact, at the bottom of that chart are state totals and
it shows an average of $7421 per pupil for the state of Massachusetts.
So your claim that we are paying too much for our schools is a
misrepresentation of fact.
You are doing nothing but a disservice to your own community by trying
to pit parents against the school committees, parents against parents,
and seniors against parents. If you have facts and would like to engage
in an intelligent dialogue about the issues, it would be extremely
refreshing. Otherwise, I suggest you start writing your first fiction
novel instead of boring us with your tired rhetoric on Norfolk Net.
[Update 11:15pm: restored original wording; edits were not called for in this context - Wm.]
All taxpayers need to be vigilant and demand that town officials supposedly
elected to represent the taxpayer are forthcoming and that facts and
figures are not misrepresented to suit their own personal agenda. As the
saying goes, "a little government and a little luck are necessary in life
but only a total fool would trust either."
I do not have children in the Norfolk schools, but I resent the nasty
remarks against the School Committee in general and against DM in
particular. The School Committee members are elected volunteers doing a
difficult job in accordance with the statutes and regulations. The
members are attempting to reflect the will of the townspeople in the
performance of their duties. I suggest that people who want to help
contact the Committee and volunteer to find potential grants from
foundations, etc. Thank you.
See the announcement below, The Town of Norfolk is seeking individuals...
[on the
CALENDAR]
If they lose the money then you and the Board members have a case,
until then, DM, why don't you look inside the school finances. Find out
why a 75K repair to the roof of HOD School and insulation was requoted
by the Capital Outlay Committee at 30K. I wonder how many other over-inflated
bids are on the table of both our Town and the School District.
People are watching all of you.
The SC's voracious cash needs kind of remind me of a baby in diapers; the
baby has a huge appetite on one end and no responsibility on the other end.
It's time for the SC to strap off the feedbag. We are tired of runaway
spending (overpaid/bloated administration) made under the cover of
darkness. Taxation without representation is tyranny.
Congratulations to our 7th & 8th grade band!
Congratulations to all of the students who are part of the King Philip
Regional School music program. This past weekend was a very busy week.
On Friday evening both the 7th grade band and 8th grade band performed
in the MICCA Concert Festival held at Hopkinton Middle School. Both
groups had fantastic performances and each earned a Gold Medal earning
them the opportunity to perform at either Symphony Hall or Mechanics
Hall later this month. The 7th and 8th grade chorus had a wonderful
performance at MICCA Choral Festival in Norwood and earned a Medal of
Merit. The Winter Percussion and Winter Color Guard both performed the
NESBA Championships at the Mullens Center at UMass Amherst.
The Winter percussion came in first place in their division and The
Guard performed in exhibition and earned a Gold Medal. Best of luck to
the Winter Percussion and Winter Guard at WGI finals later this month.
Again congrats to all of the students in the King Philip Music Program
on a wonderful weekend.
Congratulations to these kids! They work really hard. Their
performances were awesome.
There has been a 60 percent drop-off in the number of students who say they are interested in majoring in computer science since 2000. [link]Computer science used to be one of the top jobs -- now out of favor? What does this mean for our nation's future as the intellectual workers in an era of globalized design and production?
Your voice is important but only your vote is counted!
I find it disturbing that you do not feel proper filing of financial
forms with the state that are now over 5 months late and the amount of
money at risk an issue; to each his own I guess. The teacher contract
is a three year contract which is up next year for renegotiation so no,
the teachers are not guaranteed 7% raises for 15 years, only another 18
months or so. What is interesting is if you look at the entire budget
line item for all K-6 salaries (a larger amount than just the teachers
salaries by the way), last year it went up only 2.7% from the previous
year and the average for the past three years was 2.4%. General
Government (town hall) went up 12.7% last year and 9.5% on average for
the past three years. To not single them out, let's consider all town
departments combined (General Government, Public Safety, Public Works,
Human Services, and Culture and Recreation), their salary line items
went up 7.2% on average last year and 6.0% on average for the past three
years. Obviously this takes into account fluctuations in the workforce,
but given the facts, it is clear the schools are doing more with less. I
want to be clear, personally I believe we should be paying our teachers,
public safety personnel, and all the other hard working men and women of
this town more than we are today, but we also have to live within our
means and make difficult choices for the proper management for all
citizens of this town. Dr. Augusta-Scott is doing an amazing job at
containing costs while providing a high quality education for the youth
of this town. Take your pot shots at me all you like, but I'd prefer
you to get your facts straight so we can have an intelligent discussion
about real issues.
Regards,
9/15 12:18pm CM, The School Committee did return over $26,000 to the town at the end of the last fiscal year at the end of June, so as a habit, no they don't spend every dime they save through their efforts. To your last point I thought what you and many others are asking for is to save money, that is exactly what the lease buyout accomplished, more details to follow....While we all appreciate your passion and willingness to point fingers and offer the easy solution (just replace them!), it would be much more beneficial to the town and the School Committee to attend their meetings, provide input to the process (what they asked for in announcing open hearings on the budget in October, November, and beyond), and help make things better. - DM
And FYI, your personal attacks reflect badly on you and others...
[From the article: IN FIVE years, there's going to be a teacher shortage, Tom Carroll said Monday at a Simmons College conference. Two groups will collide: The wave of retiring baby-boom teachers will crash into the wave of teachers who exit the profession after five years or less, leaving a lot of empty desks at the front of the class. Every state faces this crisis, explains Carroll, the president of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.- Wm.]
Also, as I read the subsequent post regarding the rabies clinic, I couldn't
help but ponder the thought of coughing up $10 for each of the SC members,
in order that they might themselves vacinated. How snide is that? ;)
Just kidding folks !
As far as the School Committee unloading unfair bus fees onto
the backs of parents, you should check your facts first before
speaking. Busing is not required to be paid for by the school
committee by any law or statute for children within 2 miles, except
for regional schools. Norfolk elementary schools are not regional.
The SC is now considering imposing a busing fee similar to what
many other towns and cities in Massachusetts are doing to offset
the lack of funds for schools from the state. If you read you local
paper, you may have noted that Franklin has been charging its parents
$200 per pupil for at least a few years now. Now, due to their dire
financial picture, they are discussing eliminating busing within 2
miles altogether!
No one likes these fees, but at $150 per pupil
with a cap, it is not an unreasonable option to be considered by
the SC. Why can't the Town of Norfolk, including the Selectmen,
find ways to generate revenue in Norfolk? Why can't they find grant
money? Why can't they obtain more prison mitigation funds? If they
did that part of their job instead of blaming the schools all the
time, we would have additional funds to support all our services,
including our police, fire and roads.
Respectfully,
Also, does anyone know if and when the school system plans to make a formal
announcement regarding the kindergarten situation? Clearly this is a hot
topic that has planning ramifications for many families. The sooner an
"official" statement is issued the better.
If the School Committee wizards were paying attention to their jobs
maybe the Teacher's Union wouldn't be laughing all the way to the bank
with a busload of taxpayer's money. The Teacher Contract signed in 2006
guarantees teacher raises of almost 7% for 15 years. This is going to
double the town expenses within nine years. Certainly some of this
money could pay for unfair bus fees that the School Committee is trying
to unload onto the backs of parents. What's the next financial shell
game the SC wizards will dream up?
But a reasonable second factor in deciding who gets
in to full day should be family situation. I just don't believe (as you
apparently do) that "everyone should be treated the same." It's not
neighborly. And it assumes everyone has access to the same "choices,"
which is not the case. One of the reasons we moved to Norfolk originally
was because of the community. The sense that people care about each
other. I can only assume from your post and your tone that you don't
care about community, or the needs of your neighbors. And I think that's
sad.
Sincerely,
To say because you work outside your home - whether by choice or need - and
therefore your child should have preferential treatment for selection
for a full-day kindergarten program would be like another resident
saying "I pay more property taxes than you so my child should have
preferred treatment." If a full-day kindergarten option is imperative
to your lifestyle, there are towns (Franklin being one) that offer only
full-day kindergarten classes to its residents.
The tasks for gathering
the required data and submitting the paperwork to the state is entirely
the town finance department's responsibility. The Superintendent has in
the past and again as recently as last week offered any assistance
possible to help move things along so the town can meet its financial
responsibilities to the state. To say the Superintendent or the School
Committee haven't been "screaming" for this money is incorrect--they find
this situation unacceptable and have made this clear to town leadership.
The entire administration of the schools was blindsided by this issue.
Come to find out the Board of Selectmen and town administrator knew
about it since January but had never communicated to the affected
parties or to the town. To date the Superintendent has been told the
same thing by town leadership that the Boomerang reported, which is
effectively, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it. This is a
serious issue for the town since we have been in the bottom 5% of MA
towns twice in the past 3 years when looking at meeting our paperwork
deadlines (one of approximately 15 towns out of 330 in the state who
have failed to meet the deadlines) and due to their inaction have put
over $1 million at risk that Norfolk cannot afford to lose.
Regards,
[Comment submitted by a member of the Norfolk School Committee; these views are his personal beliefs and not necessarily that of the entire board. - DM]
While it's wonderful that
many have the means and/or flexibility to deal with any lottery outcome,
other families do not. Failure to recognize this will ultimately hurt
families and children. How is it not the school system's responsibility
to be reasonably accommodating to a family's needs (especially when
paying for the service)? I can't help but think of depending on the
school to care for my child during full-day school hours as utterly
reasonable.
Both groups will be heading out to Dayton, Ohio to compete in the Winter
Guard International (WGI) world championships.
The Guard has twice before headed out to the world championships, and this
year performing their show: "Streams of Consciousness", featuring music
from the movie "The Hours" they once again are striving to make it into the
finals. The show has already garnered them top marks at several regional
shows.
Winter Percussion, having an exciting season performing their show:
"Systematic", featuring music from Jim Bonney's "Chaos Theory", have
attained first place in their group in all the regional shows in which they
have competed, including first place in this past weekends New England
Scholastic Band Associations Championships held at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst.
Secondly, one could argue that full day K in 2007/08 is the equivalent
to what full day 1st grade was 5 years ago. The state frameworks in
addition to the MCAS has required school systems to ramp up the
curriculum. K is not the same as is was 5 years ago.
But, on the other hand, I
fully agree with MJD, that the full day program should be based upon the
child's ability (as I had mentioned in an earlier post too). My child
is currently going through a licensed full day kindergarten program at a
pre-school, as he missed the cutoff, being an October baby. Would it be
beneficial to him to then be put in a half day program and then into
some type of daycare situation for a second half? I don't believe so.
I asked the administration why the lottery wasn't more geared towards
each child's situation and needs. But, the administration is unwilling
to take any other elements into consideration and have chosen to stick
to a pick out of the hat type lottery.
JGG: I agree with your comments regarding Linda Balfour and have had
the same thought many times myself. She is out there every day no matter
the weather and always welcomes the children and parents with a smile
(as do all of the other teachers and aids). She is an example for all
to look up to!
I completely agree with ND - that the plight of full vs. half day is
more severe and worrisome for working parents. Not everyone works
locally and the need to either meet your child at home and then bring
them someplace else for the rest of the day is not an option. And if
you can find someplace that is acceptable and equally challenging as a
kindergarten program, switching it up half way through the year might
not be an option either. The lottery does not take into account those
who need full day and those who want it. Remember, the administration
said that the programs were equal in their ability to prepare your child
for first grade.
CS, it's unfortunate that you've come to town when so much mismanagement
and controversy is around. Having lived here 9 years and having our
first child not have had to go through a lottery for full day, it seemed
like an idyllic and growing community. Lately, it hasn't been so great,
namely due to what seems to be poor town planning. If it wasn't for the
great people who live here, we'd probably be second guessing our
decision, too. We too grew up in Medfield, and I believe maybe graduated
with you, but as someone mentioned, Medfield has even more limited
kindergarten options. It seems everyone is going to have to cross their
fingers and pray!
[Did you receive this e-mail today, April 1st, by any chance? - Wm.]
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