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.