The rhetoric which will come

As the citizens of Dennis and Yarmouth face yet another vote on yet another requested budget override for the school district, we will undoubtedly begin to be barraged with the same rhetoric from the school administration and its supporters that the request is being made in the name of the “children”.  We will be implored to make an investment in “education for the children” and we will be told that to vote for “budget cuts” is unreasonable and short-sighted.

Never mind that there are no budget cuts.  Forget that the district receives an increase to its funding every year.  Ignore that this district has a higher per pupil expenditure than the state average and much higher than the national average.

And if we are expected to believe that throwing more money at the district will improve education for our children, then one would think that our significantly smaller than average class sizes and higher than average per pupil expenditure should result in measurable improvements.

Yet the district’s graduation rates, drop-out rates and absentee/attendance rates are all worse than the state averages.  Our MCAS scores have only improved minimally and are still lower than the surrounding districts.

Over the past ten years enrollment has dropped by 25%.  In that same period of time, the teacher headcount has risen.  Every year when the administration makes a budget (based on the increased funding provided by the taxpayers), they cut programs for the kids and make only token cuts to teachers and/or other staff.

Really?  And the override is “for the children”?

How is it possible to have less children each year, more money in the budget and the administration cuts programs for the kids?  One look at the Town Budget and the salaries of the school employees will show you that many of the teachers and most of the administrators make more than the average household income for families in Dennis and Yarmouth.  The average teacher’s salary in this district is higher than the state average as well.

The voters in Dennis and Yarmouth are not ignorant, short-sighted, unreasonable, irrational, delusional or irresponsible.  They have sent a loud and clear message to the district each year at the polls and the district chooses to ignore it.  The budget that is published for public consumption is vague and ambiguous to the point of being outright deceptive.  There is no accountability nor transparency on the part of this administration.

If the School Committee is not willing or able to respond to the obvious demands of the voters by simply operating the school district within the budget provided by the taxpayers — funds which INCREASE every year while enrollment decreases — then the voters must elect public officials who will do so.

Just because an “educator” says that it is all about the children does not make it so.  The finances of this district are skewed, manipulated and unbalanced in favor of the individuals who are earning the funds put into it – and the measurable performance indicators evidence that this is NOT for the children.

The state of the district

In the past couple of weeks, I was compelled to turn my attention to the school district here in Yarmouth.  The more scrutiny I gave it, the more disturbed I was.  I have learned a lot.  One of the things I learned is that I need to learn a lot more.

Like so many of these situations, one thing led me to dig deeper into other things, and the experience uncovered some issues which motivated me to start this blog.  I received comments from so many neighbors in our community who expressed their frustration and dissatisfaction with the administrators, the teachers, the School Committee and the union which has ultimate driving control over so much of what goes on.

There is outrage, discontent, frustration and mistrust growing readily by a great number of the taxpayers/voters in this town and in Dennis.  There are other organizations and the administration itself who continue to spew the same rhetoric about “improving our students’ education” and imploring taxpayers to continue to give the district more money or it will “hurt our children”.  Yet, enrollment in our public schools continues to drop.

I am not only a parent of a child who has attended DYRSD throughout his academic career, but I am also a taxpayer, a voter and a citizen of Yarmouth.  It isn’t only non-parents who are voting against giving the district more and more money to waste each year.  The majority of citizens of Yarmouth and Dennis are frustrated and fed up with the state of our school district.

It’s my opinion that the administration and most of the members of the School Committee want nothing more than to maintain status quo and to remain hidden behind a shroud of vague ambiguities regarding where the district’s money is spent.  They count on the perceived ignorance of the taxpayers and they smugly believe that the taxpayers will not delve deep enough to expose the flaws which exist.

I will be digging and I will truthfully and honestly publish the results of what I find.

I do not wish to “hurt the children” (although I do not doubt that will be the accusation levied my way).  But I cannot and I will not sit by and condone the irresponsible actions of the administrators of this district while it continues to pillage and plunder the taxpayers year after year.