Show up and say something at Public comment if you care.

I'll be there to thank her for helping to give our teachers a 24% increase over 3 years and then planning to give her senior staff pay raises with a gift from the school committee of $40,000. Oh, did I mention that she extended the work day by one minute in the new teachers's contract she signed off on? I guess if we wanted them to work another 9 minutes each day, we would need to increase their salary by 216% over 3 years! How do you join this union?

Yes, we should all attend to thank Ms. Taymore for another lack-luster year!

Thank you Cindy

Here is some information to consider concerning lack of transparency by our school committee: I asked one of our SC members recently where they came up with $40K in the budget to pay for senior staff raises (for about 10-12 people) since Ms. Taymore told us all at the last couple of committee meetings that the budget is "tight" with no extra dollars available for computers, software, or for needed positions. This SC member told me that this money had previously been approved in the spring by the SC. Well I found this hard to believe since if it was approved back in the spring, why would they need to approve it again. Something didn't make sense. I checked the meeting notes and discovered that she was referring to the budget as a whole and not specifically for this raise. In other words, she was not honest and forthright with me! This is typical when you talk to most members of the SC with the exception of CKK....they tend to obfuscate, divert, and mislead you....watch any committee meeting and you can actually see this occur in real time. Honesty and transparency is not what you will see in these meetings.

Gerry Mroz who attends most of the SC meetings always voices his concerns about the lack of transparency as it concerns budget deliberations. It seems each years when money is needed for pay raises, they always seem to find the money in a tight budget and that he knows they have "slush funds" that are mislabeled in the budget or worse yet, hidden away in secret accounts to be used for this purpose.

Until taxpayers have more confidence in their elected officials, any potential override for school needs will be unlikely supported by the community. This says more about the character and lack of honesty and transparency of the SC than it does about the community's support for better student outcomes. Until the SC understands this, their attitude will not change.

Waiting to see how they try to whitewash it all this time around. Just watch them gush about their Lord & Taylor leader. They'll bypass what any fool knows about this district in order to pave the way to give Paymore another enormous raise, now that they've signed over 40 Grand for her to dish out like candy to her favorite administrators. The frauds will duck for cover when all the test results come out in the fall and whitewash it all with more coverup powerpoints. Then there will be the lineup of administrators announcing their next positions elsewhere. Then they'll turn with their hands out demanding taxpayers write bigger checks while they go back to their parades and Trivia Bees. Nope. Not one dime more.

Switching my kids to parochial/private school this year. Rather pay for better education and tuitions than pay additional RE taxes that the city/schools are not open about or held accountable to explain. Agree, not one more dime! If the City has the nerve to try and put an override on the ballot, my family and I will vote a resounding NO....NO.....NO!

and another "NO" from me

Just turned on the cable access rerun during my kitchen floor mopping thinking I would get a bit more informed about current happenings. Could not believe the unmitigated garbage that they spent an hour pontificating--"SMART" goals, overarching goals, strategies, on and on and on. And who was the weirdo in the stripes? Wow. There they are gesturing and pondering and taking themselves oh-so-seriously. It was a real thigh-slapper when they started talking about "community engagement" and the camera kept doing wide pans of the totally empty chamber of City Hall (that camera person must have a wild sense of humor!). It was just unbelievable how seriously they took themselves when they were obviously talking about nothing, or worse than nothing, how to pretend they're addressing the needs of the school district they are tasked with leading instead of actually doing it! What do they mean spending all that time parsing words about goals when they have obvious imperatives screaming right in front of them?! Do their frick'n jobs and cut it out with the Playing Pretend School Official game! Frankly, it was just embarrassing to watch. My soapy bucket and mop had more meaning and integrity than that stupid charade taking up airspace. These people need a Tina Fey to show them in their true ridiculous light!!!!! So much for getting informed. Gotta switch to something less toxic or stupid.

Time to put up or shut up. 7 p.m. tonight.

The over/under for public participants is 3

A good bet is to take the under

Hey Jimmy,

We're betting (hoping) that your countrywoman hasn't lost heart and says it like it is, once again.

Carrie Kourkoumelios just shot multiple, realistic, and well deserved torpedoes at the Superintendent (and really the school committee itself)for exceptionally poor performance. This is still happening live. And it appears that Superintendent CT has Constantine wrapped around her finger.
Meanwhile Dolan scores proficient in just about all elements, basically telling us nothing.

Although I was disappointed that only two of us spoke at the public comment section of the meeting, I'm glad that we could make our points publicly about the $40,000 given to Taymore by the school committee to hand out as she sees fit to her staff without any accountability.

The second point I was able to make and document is the lack of communication and transparency which seem to be the hallmark of the Taymore administration.

The public can decide at the next election if they agree with the committee spending their money in this manner and accept the lack of communication and transparency from this school administration.

She did not disappoint. Laid it out there, exactly how it is. Easy to follow, plenty of graspable facts, fair, articulate, and credible. There were a few other negative scores sprinkled through the laughable "exemplary" ratings and ravings of the mayor, Constantine, Driscoll, Casatelli, who haven't a shred of credibility (except perhaps with others similarly twisted). There probably wouldn't be anything BUT Exemplary if the rest weren't so afraid to be embarrassed by the only one there telling the truth each year. New kid on the block is mostly a sycophant, it appears, though even this one came up with a few "Needs Improvement" grades and reasonably well-stated jargon statements (sprinkled with some kind of credible-sounding concerns). Thorp predictably rams through pro forma both barrels with The Agenda they've all predetermined (except one, thank goodness).

It's impossible to watch this stuff without gagging. Really don't know how Mrs. K can sit in that chamber with such a toxic dysfunctional group, let alone consistently (word of the night) taking the time to do the work. She Stands Tall and brings honor to her oath. This community owes her big time! The rest of them should be utterly embarrassed if they had a shred of shame (and clearly they don't). CT should "retire" like her predecessor if she knows what's good for her. She has made a royal mess of things and her legacy is growing into quite the monster of bad tidings. The kids of Melrose will be living with her mess for way longer than it took to make it (not that their idiotic and apathetic parents will bother to notice).

Also, notice how when Taymore had an opportunity to respond to SC member performance comments, after each standard being judged, she totally ignored those points and facts presented by CKK...including the point made about Taymore's swearing at one of the previous meetings! This should be all you need to know about Taymore....lack of transparency and honesty, refusal to apologize for poor behavior, and her arrogant nature!

Looked to us like she was just trying to appear to be In Control, even after what should have been devastating testimony from the one honest reporter evaluating her. Seemed like she sort of tried to pretend-acknowledge certain things--like using the word "CONSISTENT" after Ms. K referenced the lack of consistency repeatedly. But for the rest, it looked like the superintendent was trying to appear In Control and like nothing bothered her, even while some of her committee fan club gave her fairly devastating rankings on a few limited points (trying to look believable). Mostly she babbled in the typical "I will tell you" officious stuff that substitutes for actual leadership, understanding of the issues, or actual caring about the students. Lots of pretentious claims, but has not delivered the goods and done a huge amount of damage in a short time.

Word on the street is that there are many faculty who will be putting in their resignations just before school opens, getting out of Dodge but not letting anyone know in time to hire replacements (horrible for the district and the kids, but an understandable strategy for the many who feel screwed by this administration and who have to protect their own careers; super will be too busy dealing with the chaos to try and harm them professionally, as she is reputed to do).

By the way, what's up with our "out-to-lunch" Mayor saying that they should extend the super's contract for another 3 years! Seems to me he has been attending too many "rope cutting" ceremonies and not spending enough time on the job! Evidently he is drinking the "kool-aid" that Taymore is feeding him!

I have one observation after sitting through that entire meeting. We're screwed.

I have one question after hearing Dolan say he hopes CT gets another 3 year deal. Can anyone tell me on what planet he spends most of his time?

Screwed just about covers it.

Not sure, but Bizarro World seems likely.

My time would have been better served by watching paint dry.

He seems to live for the sole purpose of asserting his power and contradicting the only credible member of that committee. He really doesn't care what happens to the children of the district, including his own, as the facts clearly indicate (Did you ever once hear him protest or demonstrate leadership when that disaster of a principal was at his kids' school?). He only cares about his own power. He lives in an alternate universe where the only accountability he places value in is being reelected. So he will say literally any kind of silly garbage that he can string together if he thinks it will promote HIS agenda, which is about asserting his power, getting reelected forever, and getting even with all his juvenile vendettas. He and Vuvu (and CC & MD) are linked in the ugliness of their common purpose of going after their favorite target, the kids and taxpayers be dam#ed. Right now he's got this administrator and her cronies under his thumb and he wants it to stay that way, so he'll mouth whatever it takes to make His wishes and demands known (and the rest of us had better bow, bend over or move over). What sordid stupid ugliness.

Here is a bulletin.....heard that state school superintendents get some early results on the last batch of MCAS exams taken during the last school year and that Taymore probably has some of this data. The fact that she hasn't said anything about them does not bode well for the district. I guess she and her senior staff will now have to go down into their bunkers to come up with some excuses why the results are mediocre. One thing for sure - she won't be blaming herself for the results! Not with all those committees, subcommittees, site groups, special boards, teams, working groups, and panels! Gosh, there are plenty of groups to blame - take you pick!

Talk about disconnect! anybody who has never watched a SC meeting, and who watched last night must be completely puzzled. To see the \"exemplary ratings\" thrown around, and to see \"proficient ratings\" tossed out there. Then Ms. K with her comments- which were specific and well thought out. It was like bizarro world! how can anyone not see that there is a problem- forget about the students for a minute, how can the committee not see how dysfunctional they are? Its beyond crazy! And to get back to the students- it is this very dysfunction- starting with the SC, that has created and continues to perpetuate the problems.

It’s a done deal she will get a new three year contract, the mayor said so... Stop whining all you *itches.

It's not so hard to understand. They hired her, so they can't give her the evaluation she deserves because it would reflect badly on them, and you can forget about that. They don't have the moral fortitude to do that. Exemplary? Really?

Wouldn't it be nice if just once, they'd say "Okay, that didn't work. We need to try something else."