I Had Informed You Thusly

Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

I had long since given up my efforts to effect the change needed to improve the quality of education being provided in the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District.  For as long as Carol Woodbury is at the helm of this district, I knew there was absolutely no hope.  Our school district would continue to fail.  Our taxes would continue to rise.  Fewer students would attend their home district and we would continue to pay disproportionately high out of school sending tuition (sixth highest in the state of Massachusetts again this year, almost $2.2m and beat out only by Springfield, Worcester, Pittsfield, Fitchburg and Greenfield – fine company to keep, eh?).  Taxpayers would continue to be deceived and manipulated.  The School Committee would continue to drink up every lie that Carol Woodbury poured for them.

As long as the current School Committee members continue to show the astounding level of complete ineptitude, incompetence and ignorance that led them to sentence our district to another six years of imprisonment with Carol Woodbury as the Warden – I knew there was no more point in continuing any efforts to shine a light on the dirty little secrets this superintendent has kept.

Woodbury has been hiding situations from the public (and from her own School Committee) for as long as she been on the job here.  Does anyone remember when the former Director of Finance proffered his resignation with several months’ notice, but she kept it a secret during one of the most financially turbulent times in recent history until days before he left?  Does anyone remember the Finance Subcommittee being formed on the QT and outside the purview of the open meeting law?  Does anyone remember the secretive, sudden and undisclosed meeting to offer an unprecedented six-year contract to the superintendent?  Does anyone remember the many political finance law violations committed by this superintendent and acknowledged by the Attorney General?  The list truly goes on and on.

Woodbury has consistently stooped to any level to cover up, deceive, obfuscate or misrepresent any truth which may threaten yet another Prop 2.5 override

What now do we say to the parents of vulnerable young girls who are justifiably concerned that some lecherous, disgusting, immoral and unethical teacher will prey on their child?  I know Woodbury well enough to know that she will meekly hide behind the fact that, in this instance, the victim was 16 and therefore it is considered consensual (are we back in the days when victims are victimized all over again by the perpetrators who say they asked for it or they deserve it?).  Will that comfort the parents of the victim of Mr. Tierney or of other girls who may fall prey to other dishonorable teachers who are, as a matter of policy, openly permitted to take advantage of and abuse their positions of authority with students?

It wouldn’t comfort me.

This superintendent has been protecting teachers who are the most unscrupulous, most abusive and who believe they are above policies, rules and laws since the sad, fateful day that she was hired to protect the best interests of our children.  That Carol Woodbury places her own interests and protecting her own hide well before any modicum of thought about protecting the children in her charge is nothing less than criminal.  There are plenty of great teachers in the district and we are lucky to have them.  But even those teachers, if they dare to speak against Woodbury, are not safe from her lack of scruples.  Unfortunately, it seems that the only teachers she protects are the ones who deserve it the least.  The rest have to bear the burden of being associated with Carol Woodbury and her ilk.

She counts on parents getting so worn down from fighting her that they finally just give up and take their children elsewhere (hence the high out-of-school sending tuition paid to other public schools).  She knows that students are only in the district for a certain number of years and that if she can wear their parents down enough, their children will either leave or graduate out of the district and the parents will not have the fortitude to continue the fight.  She has a very nasty and underhanded group of followers (Support Our Schools, DY Schools are Great, to name a few) who will stop at nothing to shut up the voices of anyone brave enough to stand up against her.  These people have been known to go so far as to reach out to the employers of someone who spoke out about the miserable performance of the district in an effort to impact that person’s livelihood.  They stop at nothing and it is at Carol Woodbury’s bidding.

I know this because I am one of those parents.  I did my research.  I found facts upon which I based my opinions.  And then I spoke out and I spoke out loudly.  I made waves.  I fought the good fight.  I utilized every means available to me to get my findings known to the public – from speaking at school committee meetings and town meetings, to publishing this blog, to having letters to the editor of the Cape Cod Times published, to supporting qualified candidates for the school committee.

I have always said that the truth stands on its own and will, in good time, show to be true north on the compass.

How far does this superintendent have to go in the abuse, neglect, victimization, exploitation and indifference of the children who are unfortunate enough to be in her charge before she is forced to pay for her deceit and injustice?

And what of the School Committee member who is related to the perpetrator of what any decent citizen will consider to be a crime? The law may consider it consensual, and if this were between a nineteen-year-old boy and this sixteen-year-old student, we’d all probably agree. But when a teacher of any age takes advantage of his student and doesn’t have the sense God gave a billy-goat to stop from crossing this line, it may not be punishable by law but it certainly should not have been rewarded with protection and pay and more opportunity. Are we to believe that School Committee Member Tierney knew nothing of his family member’s situation? It seems reasonable to assume that he and Woodbury were in cahoots in this cover-up.

To the School Committee members who adamantly support this horrible woman, I again say, “Shame on you.  Shame.  On.  You.”  You’d better hope none of your children or grandchildren are destined to do time under Warden Woodbury.  How well do you all sleep at night knowing what you’ve done to the taxpayers of Dennis and Yarmouth?

To parents in these two towns, I implore you to find a way to place your beloved children in better care than leaving them at the doorstep of an abuser who cares no more for their well-being than Woodbury does for the truth.

To the parents of the victim of this particular incident, I’m profoundly sorry that you were so egregiously failed by a teacher, administrators, a superintendent, a long-unneeded union, elected officials and an environment of corruption which not only tolerates such atrocities but celebrates them with smug satisfaction.

Carol Woodbury has been reaping the profit of her over-inflated salary for the last decade and she will undoubtedly retire reaping the benefit of her undeserved and excessive pension for the rest of her life.  Next to the infliction of pain and unwarranted shame she has exacted on the parents of Mr. Tierney’s victim – this is perhaps the biggest injustice of all.

To Carol Woodbury, since you know that your feeble-minded school committee members do not have the backbone, the fortitude, the gumption to publicly admit that they have wronged the communities who elected them to serve, is there any hope that you will dig deep – or perhaps as is a more feasible option, look outside of yourself to someone with scruples and ethics to role model, and resign?  Is it too much to hope that you have finally sated your bottomless hunger for the destruction and deterioration of the fiber of education and the well-being of the children in Dennis and Yarmouth?

Those were rhetorical questions.  I know the answers and maintain appropriately low expectations.

My View

This is the article I submitted to the Cape Cod Times this morning for the “My View” section.  Whether or not it is published remains to be seen, but the message is on point.

President Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

Election season is upon us again and, in Yarmouth, I’m afraid that may well mean that neighbors will begin lobbing nasty condemnations at one another over differences of opinion about our school district.

I honestly believe that we all must want the same thing.  Surely, we want a great school district with well-rounded opportunities for every child.  Such a district would offer great academics, sports, music and other outlets for our children; would enhance property values for the taxpayers; would provide an inspiring workplace for teachers; would be a source of school pride for students and would provide parents with a sense of relief.  For what more could anyone ask?

The problem appears to be a difference in opinion about how to achieve such a goal.  One side espouses that such a bucolic situation already exists; the other side sees facts which absolutely prove this not to be so.  The latter is chastised for being “negative” when they point to the facts of declining enrollment (a cost of $4 million of our tax dollars this year alone!) and worsening performance indicators (lowest MCAS scores of Cape schools, lower than state average matriculation rate to colleges, etc.) – to name a few.

Those who wish to see the areas of deficiency in our district acknowledged and addressed by those in a position to do something about them are summarily dismissed as “negative” and as “naysayers”.  It is a fact that the district’s deficiencies are unequivocally driving our top achieving students to other schools.

This distraction tactic is unproductive, damaging and naive.

D-Y Schools have some wonderful things to offer our students (sports and music, for instance) and there is much for which to be proud.  I implore parents to imagine what it would be like to know that our children are attending schools where they are getting the best well-rounded education offered on the Cape, or at the very least, an education that can readily compete with the best there is to offer.  What would that do for our future, for our children, for our property values?  How can anyone in good conscience deny THAT is a goal for which we should be proud to strive?

The problems our district face are not with the children (we are told that lower-income families’ children simply cannot perform), they are not with the teachers (who are mostly dedicated people who care for our children and are doing their best within the parameters set for them by an inept administration), they are not with the parents (who want the best education possible for their children – even if it means getting them to better districts), and they are not with the taxpayers (who want accountability and credibility).  The problems in our district exist because the leadership refuses to acknowledge, admit and set forth a plan to fix the areas of deficiency.  So much time is spent redacting data, editing facts and putting a spin on the truth that no one in a leadership position puts effort into fixing what is broken.  So the downward trends continue and hurt EVERYONE involved: the children, parents, schools, taxpayers.

Calling voters negative who wish to see the deficiencies addressed, ignoring the problems, and simply repeating that everything is wonderful will not, does not make it so.  We must be resolution-oriented, not blind to the challenges we face.

The current course of action is failing our children and our common goal.  We must put the children of Yarmouth and Dennis first.  It is time for measurable changes to address our district’s deficiencies – not more of the same.

Big Brother

I received an interesting call today (and timely too, I might add).  On August 8, 2011, I forwarded a lengthy and detailed complaint to the Attorney General’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance.  That complaint (AG and OCPF letter) prompted a six-month investigation by an attorney in the Attorney General’s Office and she called me today to inform me of the outcome of her investigation.

I was told that she has spoken to the players involved with the groups named in the complaint, as well as to the Superintendent and other named district employees, candidates and others regarding their violations of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts campaign and political finance laws and regulations.  She felt that although there were clearly violations, much of the evidence I was able to gather and provide was just short of being sufficient to take action against those involved.  She did however state that they have all been put on notice that such actions would not be tolerated and any further evidence would be acted upon.

During the last election, it was very disturbing to see the lengths to which the Superintendent would go to push through the override and her preferred school committee candidates.  It became ever more clear to me that she believes herself to be untouchable and above the law.  She shrouds herself behind a couple of misguided groups of people who do her bidding, utilizing public resources to feed and support their position and impact what is intended to be an impartial and fair election.  Shame on you, Carol Woodbury.  I know you know better.  I just don’t think you care.

Suffice it to say that I am one taxpayer who does care and who is well-versed enough in these matters to take you and your sad, ignorant group of followers to task.  You may cry “sour grapes” at me.  It will not change the facts.  And the Attorney General’s Office of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agrees.

Another election is coming and, no doubt, another budget override will be sought (how else can this district afford to pay the over $4 million in school sending tuition to our neighboring districts AND maintain staffing at status quo?) and, this year, I can at least hope that those groups who protect the Superintendent and do her bidding understand the consequences of not registering as PACs, Ballot Committees or Charitable Organizations and consequently, not filing any of the requisite tax forms with the IRS and with the state.

It’s probably far too much for me to hope that our devious and [nothing if not] resourceful Superintendent now understands that in towns as small as Dennis and Yarmouth, she cannot get away with the misappropriation of public resources to further her own personal political interests.

And maybe, just maybe, some of the parents who blindly followed these groups under the false pretense that they were “supporting their schools” but wound up being manipulated into acting as the groups’ political mechanism (which is the definition of a Political Action Committee or a Ballot Committee, by the way) will think twice about getting involved in some of the illegal functions and activities which took place last year.

Because Big Brother is watching.

Dead District Walking

I haven’t been publishing any posts to this blog for a while, but I haven’t disappeared – much, I’m sure, to the dismay of our illustrious School Committee and our fine Superintendent [sarcasm intended].  But I’m not so big a person that I can readily walk away from a golden opportunity to scream, “I told you so!” to the aforementioned individuals and their minions.

To what, specifically, do I refer?  See my earlier post of April 28, 2011, entitled “We All Deserve Better.”

Now that this school year is in full swing, the disturbing and disappointing numbers are coming in.  Our district has lost even more students this year (charter and choice), which will cost the taxpayers some $600,000 more than last year in out-of-district choice and charter tuition.

We will not win any awards for our MCAS performance in the state, but we may be in the running for the district paying the highest amount in out-of-school sending tuition.  Last year we came in sixth in the state.  This year we have climbed to fifth.  Never let it be said that we aren’t “racing to the top” of some list in this state.  It would be nice if it weren’t for being the worst at something.

Yet again, Carol Woodbury put her own twisted spin on the MCAS scores, and blamed it all on our “churn rate” (that’s a new one – another “Carolism” perhaps?) and all the low-income families in Yarmouth and Dennis.  Because let’s face it, if we’ve heard it from her once, we’ve heard it from her a thousand times, poor families have under-performing children who are not capable of learning.

In 2011, the DESE shows 139 students having elected to attend charter schools at a tuition cost of approximately $1.39 million.  Then Sturgis opened a temporary expansion facility and that number climbed dramatically this year to 197 students at a tuition cost of approximately $2.26 million.  The number of students wait-listed for next year at Sturgis is 79 students and Sturgis expects to expand further by next year.  A conservative projection for next year is another, say, 50 students more than this year (let’s round the total number off to 250).  Using this year’s per pupil tuition amount of $11,486 means that we might expect to pay as much as (or more than) $2.87 million per year in charter tuition!

The School Committee thumbed their noses at the taxpayers by signing a six-year contract [death sentence] with Carol Woodbury.  So, let’s take a look at the consequences of that decision.  If we average the trend over the last five years and project the trend – until 2017 (through Woodbury’s contract) – in enrollment numbers, here’s what we can expect:

2008: 171 choice students @ $1.63 million

2009: 222 choice students @ $1.43 million

2010: 257 choice students @ $1.6 million

2011: 306 choice students @ $1.92 million

2012: 324 choice students @ $2.04 million

Five years of numbers average out to an increase of 37 students per year choosing other schools for an average increase of $234,950 per year (the average per pupil tuition cost over the past five years is approximately $6,350).  This is only an average per year, so the number may likely be higher each year given the very obvious trend and the impact that trend will have on parents electing to place their children in better districts [districts which are not dying on the vine].  That factor and the reality that Harwich is opening a new high school next year will definitely make have profound impact beyond what I’m projecting below.

2013: 361 choice students @ $2.29 million (add approximation of charter tuition of $2.87 for a total of $5.16 million)

2014: 398 choice students @ $2.53 million (add approximation of charter tuition of $2.87 for a total of $5.4 million)

2015: 435 choice students @ $2.73 million (add approximation of charter tuition of $2.87 for a total of $5.6 million)

2016: 472 choice students @ 3 million (add approximation of charter tuition of $2.87 for a total of $5.87 million)

2017: 509 choice students @ $3.23 million (add approximation of charter tuition of $2.87 for a total of $6.1 million)

Is it possible to change these numbers and turn this trend around?  Sure.  Is it probable, or even likely, if those in positions to do so refuse to acknowledge there is a worsening trend?  Absolutely not.

During the election in May of 2011, the Superintendent and her band of merry minions flooded the media and preached at every public microphone that the DY district is phenomenal, great and wonderful and that the very best plan of action is to stay the current course.  They believe this to be so true that they made a loud and clear statement to the taxpayers by signing Woodbury in for another six years – unprecedented.

Well, my fellow taxpayers, the above is the staid course/plan/trend to which they have committed our school district.

Carol Woodbury has assured that if any facilities are closed, the staff of those facilities will be absorbed into the other schools.  As our student numbers decline, our staff numbers stay reasonably stagnant.  She cut the librarians last year, added some reading teachers and is suggesting that we add back the librarians next year!

If Dennis splits from Yarmouth and develops their own K-8 district, what would we have to offer them to take Carol Woodbury with them?  I’m sorry Dennis, you are my neighbor and I am very fond of you, but oh, how I’d love throw that particular baby out with the bath water.  Our two towns are condemned to death.  Dead district walking.  Walking the last mile.  Resident of the condemned cell.

Dennis, take our Superintendent.  Please.

 

Our 2011 Graduates

So the visitors have left and everyone’s back to work and getting on with our everyday lives, but graduation for the 2011 senior class was phenomenal!  I am proud to say that my son was a part of the Class of 2011.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the flash mob the seniors did at the Senior Last Assembly.  Note the proud display of American flags at the end!  Good for you, seniors!

http://www.youtube.com/user/DYMedia1#p/a/u/0/mdLJ7MMzB0Y

And also, here’s a link to the Lip Dub:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DYMedia1#p/a/f/0/u6aML7bRdE4

No question about it, the Class of 2011 is a fine group of young men and women who will make a great contribution to the world.  Go well and make your way in the world!

2011 Graduates

In two and a half weeks, the 2011 graduates at DY will be recognized and honored in this year’s Senior Last Assembly.

I cannot express in profound enough terms my hope that the administrators at DYHS will have prepared their staff for appropriate behavior at this event. There should be NO anti-war protests, no fatigues worn by staff members, no disrespectful displays of shunning our graduates such as happened last year.

The district has finally adopted a policy prohibiting political bias by public employees, so one might hope this would discourage staff from violating such a basic premise – but one would have thought common sense would have taken precedence last year; however, this was not the case.

I would go so far as to suggest that Marybeth Verani and Adeline Koscher should be summarily dismissed from the event.  For that matter, they should be required to stay home WITHOUT PAY for the day for their blatant and disgusting display of disrespect and selfish promotion of personal political bias at last year’s Senior Last Assembly.  They proved without question then that they have no ability to formulate decisions based on sound judgment.  Let’s not leave it up to chance to learn whether or not they know better this year.

This is an occasion of recognition for the graduating students – NOT an avenue for teachers or staff members to hijack the event and abuse their positions of authority to promote their own political agendas.

Do I dare to hope that the leadership in this district would, might, could, will do the right thing?  Will they actually do what is right for the students?

Time will tell.

In My View

Last night’s Candidate Night at the Yarmouth Town Hall provided citizens with an opportunity to get a glimpse into the views, opinions, outlooks and perspectives on our school district of three of our candidates for School Committee.  And enlightening it was.  Well, sort of.

There was a surprising lack of substance in the answers provided to many of the questions put to John Poole and Andrea St. Germaine.  In general, I could summarize nearly all of what Ms. St. Germaine had to say by saying that she likes everything that is going on in our schools, she wants to encourage our neighbors in Dennis to see that we are their friends, and that she feels the School Committee needs to work hard to put a positive [spin] on the schools and then everything will be coming up roses.  Oh, and she thinks Carol Woodbury walks on water.  She is very impressed with how hard Carol Woodbury works and what great relationships she has with her staff.

John Poole also expressed a great deal of satisfaction with everything going on in our schools today.  He qualifies that opinion by saying that when he volunteers at his children’s school, he sees the kids smiling and having fun.  His main qualification for serving on the School Committee appears to be that he volunteers at his children’s school once a week and attends school events regularly.  I’m not sure how this qualifies him to make serious decisions about the education being provided to our children, but it’s nice that he is able to give some of his time.  He also expressed his view that Carol Woodbury works really hard and seems to have great relationships with her staff.

As my husband so eloquently pointed out, you can get a shovel and work hard digging, but you’re still just digging a deeper hole to get out of.  And I’m not really certain that there is tremendous credibility to be taken away from employees getting along with their boss.  It’s always remarkable how amicable and supportive one can appear when it means a paycheck in one’s pocket.

It was blatantly clear from Ms. St. Germaine’s answers that she and the current Committee have no interest whatsoever in anything their constituents continue to tell them at the polls about the direction our school district is heading.

Doug Peabody made what I think is the biggest take-away point of the night.  The fact that Yarmouth won’t pass an override is not a vote against education, it is a vote of no confidence in the leadership at the helm of our schools.  The voters want change.  The voters – parents and non-parents alike – want to see accountability for and acknowledgement of the issues plaguing this district before they agree to give more of their hard-earned tax dollars to the school district.

Another great take-away made by Mr. Peabody was that he felt the School Committee’s decision to [thumb their collective nose at the voters] offer a six-year contract to Carol Woodbury was a major error in judgment on their part and on the part of the Superintendent.  He stated that doing so puts the override in jeopardy and puts their personal interests [certainly not the interest of the voters] ahead of the school’s.  Very insightful, Mr. Peabody, very insightful.  In my opinion, that act alone better proves the incompetency and arrogance of the current School Committee members who voted to do so (Andrea St. Germaine, Steve Edwards, MaryEllen Angelone, Jim Dykeman and Tom Broadrick) better than nearly any other.

Mr. Peabody spoke with specificity and clarity on the issues and answered all questions with sound reasoning.  He stated that he would like to see short- and long-term plans developed to address the continually growing mass exodus of students to other schools.  This can only be done with constructive critical analysis of the issues at hand.  Mr. Peabody spoke about the curriculum being offered in our high school (no Latin is offered, no grammar is taught outside of a possible inclusion in ELA composite classes*) and expressed his opinion that this contributes to parents placing their children in other schools.

*I can clarify one point on the curriculum.  The idea that grammar is being taught as a composite in ELA classes in incorrect.  At Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, grammar is not taught to students in any way.  In fact, my son’s freshman English teacher responded to my question, “Is grammar being taught in English classes throughout high school?” by saying, “We are not allowed to teach grammar or to grade grammar usage in students’ papers.”  My son has attended schools in this district from kindergarten on and grammar has not been taught since elementary school when he learned the most rudimentary elements of grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs).  Throughout middle school and high school, not one teacher has ever taught any grammar and he has taken Honors ELA classes every year.  This year, his senior year, his English teacher has discussed punctuation occasionally, as the students were writing their college essays.

Mr. Poole and Ms. St. Germaine believe that our district is losing students because of a negative image.  From what I could gather out of their responses, positivity, sunshine and lollipops are the answer to all of this district’s problems.  Ms. St. Germaine essentially said that we all just need to paint everything a pretty color and be friends and everything will be fixed.  Mr. Poole generally agreed.  Apparently, if we all join hands and sing Kumbaya, all the bad will disappear.

Conversely, Mr. Peabody has a clear vision for improving the educational product being provided in our district and has a sincere desire to put effective improvement plans in place to bring back the over 400 students who leave this district each year (and take over $3 million in our tax dollars with them).

It is clear to me that Mr. Peabody is the only candidate who has any interest in serving the interests of the students, the parents and the silent majority of voters in Yarmouth whose only means of being heard is to speak at the polls every year.

On the other hand, anyone who wishes to see the trend of declining enrollment, decreasing revenue and substandard measurable performance indicators continue – then John Poole and Andrea St. Germaine are your best choices.

Voters who actually care about their property values and about the education of the children in Yarmouth need to cast their vote for Doug Peabody only.  To do anything else is a mistake our children will pay for, for years to come.

We all deserve better

The School Committee, in all of its interminable intelligence, has signed an employment contract with Superintendent Carol Woodbury for – not the requisite three years – but for SIX more years.

It’s like a death sentence for this district.

We’ve already had six years of Carol Woodbury and, as a result, our district has shown a remarkable decline in measurable performance indicators and a mass exodus of students to other school districts and charter schools.  We are paying over $3 million in tuition to those schools.  Her supporters (naive and misinformed, though they are) would have us believe that parents are pulling their children out of this district because of the budget controversy each year.  Parents do not  go to the extra expense and inconvenience of transporting their kids to neighboring [better] schools because of budget controversies.  If they still live in Dennis or Yarmouth, they will still be dealing with budget controversies each year, whether or not their child[ren] attend school here!

And when will any of them acknowledge the irrefutable fact that we would have no budget controversy if we weren’t losing $3 million in school choice and sending tuition?  When will any of the supporters on the School Committee acknowledge the facts that our graduation rate is worse, our attendance rates are worse, our matriculation rate to colleges are lower and nearly every other measurable indicator is sub-par in our district?  These are the reasons parents choose other schools over ours.  Plain and simple.

The incompetence of the School Committee members who agreed to Carol Woodbury’s six-year contract is second only to their arrogance.  And it is not lost on those of us who really do care about the educational product being provided to our children that this was done just a couple of weeks before the voters could yet again speak loudly at the polls by electing new members who may actually respect the will of the voters.  It is not lost on us that, by electing to grant a six-year contract, they are thumbing their nose at the voters for – not just this upcoming election – but for many elections to come.

Who do these people think they are?  Judge and jury, apparently.  And they have sentenced our children to death by a thousand paper cuts in so doing.  Again, shame on them.  This School Committee continuously proves that they are small-minded, petty, short-sighted, egotistical and largely ignorant of the cancer which is growing (and being fed by them) from the top of this district.  The proverbial fish rots from the head, folks.  Plug in!

Let me put this a little differently.  The voters of our towns have consistently spoken loudly at the polls that they have no confidence in the leadership of this district by voting against every override, electing new members to the School Committee and they have voted with their feet by leaving the district.  In essence, the voters are saying that they are not interested in investing any more money, time, energy or effort into the current leadership of this district.  The voters are not satisfied with the product being provided by this leadership.  It’s not that complicated, but the School Committee members (those that voted in favor of a six-year contract anyway) don’t seem to get it.

Let’s say the board of directors of ABC Widget Company hires a new CEO.  Under that CEO, the financial reports begin to show that sales of widgets take a dramatic downward turn and profits begin to diminish.  Customer complaints about the widgets increase every year under the CEO’s leadership and faculty and staff begin to show evidence of deteriorating morale.  Meanwhile, other competing widget companies begin to show such a dramatic increase in sales that they must open new branches and expand their production in order to keep up with the demand.  The board of directors of ABC Widget Company go back to the bank and to its investors year after year, asking for more money – but the bank and the investors continue to tell the board that they see no credible evidence of value and/or return on their investment and they refuse to increase their investment or lend more money to ABC Widget Company.  The CEO of ABC Widget Company refuses to acknowledge or is incapable of recognizing that the source of declining profits is the poor quality of the widget being produced and the board of directors does not hold the CEO accountable.

This is the definition of incompetence – at every level.  And this is exactly what has happened in our school district.  The saddest thing about it is that we are not manufacturing and selling poor quality widgets, we are sacrificing our children’s education.

Any parent who chooses to support this failing leadership should look into the mirror with shame.  Blindly following the path this district is on is not only neglectful, but downright immoral.  What will it take to make the blind followers demand more for our children?

We all deserve more and it is time we demand it.

Reality Check

I have been exposing some very disturbing and startling truths about our school district.  I have done extensive research and I have published the factual results of that research.  All of what I have published can easily be confirmed and I have provided the sources for everything for just such a purpose.

The facts are not pretty.  In fact, many of them are downright negative.

But there are some individuals who are upset that I am “promoting negativity” about our school district.  These individuals seem to think that what I am exposing is somehow personal and emotion-based.  They apparently believe that no one should say bad things about our schools.  They apparently believe that by not saying bad things (even when they are absolutely factual), then everything will be good.  Even if the truth is bankrupting our towns, destroying our property values, robbing our children of the education they deserve – these individuals apparently believe that denying the truth will make it all better.  Oh, and we should always throw more and more money at the problem.

How naive, short-sighted and ignorant!  Do they not want our children to have the best educational product possible?  Am I the one doing harm by exposing the facts, acknowledging the problems and promoting solutions?  Or, is it logical to believe that staying the course on a sinking ship is the best way to proceed (while we all join hands and sing Kumbaya)?

Am I to look the other way and ignore the facts?  Should we all bury our heads in the sand while whole generations of children lose every competitive edge in our global economy from receiving substandard educations which do not hold up to the standards of the rest of the world?  The facts that I have exposed are true – across the board, without exception.  Ignoring the truth will not change it. And changing the facts about this school district from negative to positive is just what I want to see happen.

You cannot change what you don’t acknowledge, folks.

Our entire nation is facing the brutal fact that throwing more money at education is not the answer.  Our entire nation is grappling with the difficult decisions it will take to fix what is broken.  Our entire nation has spent too much time and sacrificed too many children’s educations looking the other way while their school leaders bankrupt their towns and cities with unsustainable budgets and provide inferior educational products to our children.  Our nation has fallen to the very bottom of global standards of education for the 30 wealthiest countries.  That is criminal.

Edgar Allen Poe said, “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”

I am dealing with reality here.  This is not about emotions and it is not personal.  I am doing my level best to promote reality, not negativity.  If the two are not mutually exclusive, then let’s do what is right, what is moral, what is ethical.  Let’s change the reality.

A Petition for a Vote of No Confidence

A Petition for a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Carol Woodbury has been delivered to the School Committee Chairman with 272 signatures.

I know I have no confidence in her ability to turn this district around and take the reigns of the runaway train that is driving our students away in droves to other better performing schools.  Do you?

I believe that this district is at a crossroads and it is time for our elected officials to take a stance.  The facts are irrefutable and they prove that the performance of this district and the educational product being provided has plummeted in the six years Carol Woodbury has been Superintendent.

Anyone who chooses to support her and advocate for “more of the same” is choosing to fail.  The time for change is now and we need leaders who have the courage and fortitude to put our children and their education first.  If this School Committee commends the Superintendent for her performance and rubber stamps another contract renewal – then we simply MUST elect new School Committee members.

There is no shame in recognizing a problem and taking steps to resolve it.  There is great shame in hiding in denial.