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.