How toady.

It is what it is nothing new.

Haven't seen any more info about this federal investigation. Does anyone know what its really about? If the federal government is investigating, you know it must be really bad.

The school committee should be discussing and correcting the problems and firing all the people responsible for this embarrassment. But they aren't having executive sessions to discuss - they just have secret meetings to get around those open meeting violations. I'll wager there's one member they don't include.

"The school committee should be discussing and correcting the problems and firing all the people responsible for this embarrassment. But they aren't having executive sessions to discuss - they just have secret meetings to get around those open meeting violations. I'll wager there's one member they don't include."

It isn't just an "embarrassment." That Federal Office for Civil Rights doesn't investigate for silly reasons. Go online and look at their process and their determinations. They won't even start a case unless there is concrete evidence.

The revelation of this investigation was the most telling part of Kristin Thorp's so-called "apology" (did you notice how it was an "error" but no admission of breaking the law?).

There should be outrage that means something about whatever has led to such a serious matter, and that is quite clearly being actively hidden by school officials and their boss, the Melrose School Committee. Where is the moral compass of this community? Does it even exist anymore? There is so much that is wrong with what is going on other than the superficial nonsense that officials, and their nasty operatives, want very much for us to focus on. Where is the focus on the ethically corrupt system that is now in place? This isn't just about a political majority bullying a minority (with directly poor consequences for students in Melrose).

This is an unusual situation where the local press is delinquent in covering the issues that are important. Week after week we see fluff pieces written and directed by the Mayor's office substituting for real journalism in the Free Press and Melrose Weekly. Meanwhile, there is a full blown Federal Civil Rights investigation of the School Department going on, exposed only after a good citizen alerted the AG's office of the SC chair's attempted cover-up, an OML violation under State law. That's two blockbuster stories not being covered. By the press not covering these issues, crooked government officials feel emboldened to violate the public's trust. That was supposed to be the beauty of Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment. It was meant as deterrent against corruption of government officials. Unfortunately, the Melrose Weekly and Free Press are not brave enough to do their job.

How long do these types of federal investigations take, anyway? It's been going on since February. Will it be months or years?

From what I've heard, this has been going on since last spring, more than a year. All of these government bodies seem to take forever, just like lawsuits do. But from what I've heard, this one is not something the administration can sweep under the rug, even though it tried and tried (hence the "apology" from Thorp for violating the OML, though she didn't apologize for trying to hide a federal investigation which is now out of the bag). When this one comes out, it really does have the potential to unravel the whole stinking thing. Then the rats will really race from the sinking ship!

My sources tell me that the Ted Wells firm has been hired to investigate this matter. The report should be out in about 100 days.

And how about this mess? What's happening?

"They latch onto one isolated incident from more than a year ago"

Wouldn't bet on that number. Want an example? How about the teacher who recently received their eval with, lets say, improper comments within like referring to a certain group of students as "colored."

Please tell me this is not true.

Swear to God it's true.

nothing,nada[:))]

Well you just wait an see. The OCR case number is already out there. Time is on my side.

This is an unusual situation where the local press is delinquent in covering the issues that are important. Week after week we see fluff pieces written and directed by the Mayor's office substituting for real journalism in the Free Press and Melrose Weekly. Meanwhile, there is a full blown Federal Civil Rights investigation of the School Department going on, exposed only after a good citizen alerted the AG's office of the SC chair's attempted cover-up, an OML violation under State law. That's two blockbuster stories not being covered. By the press not covering these issues, crooked government officials feel emboldened to violate the public's trust. That was supposed to be the beauty of Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment. It was meant as deterrent against corruption of government officials. Unfortunately, the Melrose Weekly and Free Press are not brave enough to do their job. There should be outrage that means something about whatever has led to such a serious matter, and that is quite clearly being actively hidden by school officials and their boss, the Melrose School Committee. Where is the moral compass of this community?These people need to be handed their walking papers!Just how much of a bill is this district likely going to be footing as this continues to unfold? Is this the real reason behind the freight train known as the done-deal Override that the mayor is assuming will take care of all?It isn't just an "embarrassment.

School Comm July 28
https://vimeo.com/134795094

1:02:30 CKK tackles this month's installment of the whitewash/coverup: $24,500+ of legal bills

$24,500+ of legal bills for one month's warrants. No wonder they claim to need an override. What are all these "special" funds the idiotic biz manager refers to? Loved CKK's low-key but intelligent tenacity, laying it out for us and letting the idiotic non-replies speak for themselves.

Also loved CKK's earlier grilling about the $600,000+ in surplus funds after they supposedly "balanced" this year's budget. Obviously they are padding everything. Gerry's right about calling them "slush funds"!

There is nothing credible about what this administration is doing. It's all smoke and mirrors. The DoDefense should hire this "team" to hawk its acronyms and BS!

I think that if you wrote it up in a letter to the editor, you would get published. Especially if sent to the MWN which seems starved for material.

I also find it funny that in the thread tearing down JMG (new comer) when I asked MFD, et al, what they would want the platform of GM to be should he run again, no one answered. This silence only supports the lack of real action behind the bloviation on this bulletin board.

Hey Chem...the reason why I did not respomd to your question is because you live in la-la land - you know - that alternative universe of ignorance and indifference!

Anyone who knows what]s going on in the schools for the past 3 or 4 years understand what Gerry Mroz represents and his viewpoints on education, especially after he ran for school committte the last time around! I helped him in this effort and even held up his signs during a snow storm! If you reaaly care to learn about what's going on - go do some reading for yourself like a "big boy" and grown-up - watch these videos on MMTV of the school committee meetings - even attend these meetings - and go out and talk to people in the community. In other words - get off your recliner!

Well said Myron! I thank you for your advice.

For the purposes of constructive debate (aside from the implications of my fat ass being stuck to a recliner and not out in the schools, watching the SC or BOA meetings, or otherwise being proactive) Just wanted to remind you and all that:

GM got the least votes last SC election. He had no campaign to speak of. I saw no signs, and as someone who is a 'high frequency voter' I saw no real substance from GM in literature, door knocking, the press, the video he did with Melrose Matters or even in the debate at the Roosevelt by the League of Women Voters.

Next, the purview of the SC is to:
* hire, fire and otherwise review the superintendent of MPS
* manage the budget of the schools
* amend or otherwise effect and uphold policies of MPS

So, one more time, in hopes you won't deflect in a personal attack:
What would you have GM's platform be? What solid and substantial pieces of policy or fiscal waste/modification would you have him stand for?

"$24,500+ of legal bills for one month's warrants. No wonder they claim to need an override. "

And that's on top of all the other accumulating legal bills, hiding who knows what in that compost heap called the Melrose School District.

Stop the silly arguing over GM, who by the way, didn't campaign or waste his time in the superficial campaign activities that Melrose pols do because he was busy doing real work analyzing the real issues here and sticking up for all of the true Patriots here who have nothing better to do than take cheap shots.

Well, GM always says we need to regionalize our schools, that is one of his platforms. I am not exactly sure how this would be implemented - is Wakefield really going to give up its superintendent, school committee, and administration to merge with us? Would we do it either? Sounds like a great idea for a talking point, and GM certainly harps on it often enough - but I don't know exactly how it could be implemented.

Dear Platform - please forgive my insolence but just because you can't think of a way to implement such policies - doesn't mean there is no way to do it! With creative, cooperative, intelligent, honest, and sincere efforts put to this task, any problem can be solved. It seesm that our Mayor has implemented similar regional agreements in the areas of public health and veterans services and the educational system should definitely be looked at to see where we could realize financial savings and better utilize existing resources - we have to get out of this mindset where creative thinking and problem solving pertains only to certain areas of city government.

The health departments and VA are much lower hanging fruit- what are their budgets, how many people in these departments - 1 or 2? To combine school systems would be giving up control of over $60 million dollars - over half of any town's general budget - and to say it is easy or doable is a stretch. Very few systems regionalize - and the ones that do are very small - not the size of any of the systems of our neighbors, which are all much larger. If it was easy more systems would be doing it. I find it annoying when GM throws it out there like it is so easy - and if only the SC and admin would listen to him, it would have been done yesterday.

Dozens of cities and towns in the DC suburbs regionalize schools, fire and police. Fairfax and Montgomery schools are some of the highest performing systems in the country and pay their teachers very well.

Why would Wakefield, or any other city or town for that matter, be willing to enter into an agreement with Melrose, given the deplorable state of our system? Only a fool would even consider it at this point. Some other time? Perhaps, but not until Melrose gets it's house in order, if it ever does.

It is not just DC that regionalize their school systems - it happens all over the US. Most systems outside of Mass have far fewer, much larger, schools which saves on administration costs (much easier to manage 1 large elementary school than 6 small ones). However, this in not the case in Mass, where communities have typically held firm to their own local services and schools. I am not saying the mass system is better (although maybe it is, since Mass has the best educational outcomes in the country), but I am saying that is the way it is here - and that attempts at regionalization have failed in other communities that have tried it. Mostly, only small, rural communities have been able to regionalize. So to make regionalization in Melrose seem "easy" or "doable" and to throw it out as an easy solution to our budget problems at every SC meeting is misleading.

Not an apt comparison at all. Fairfax (#4) and Montgomery (#10) counties, along with 4 others in VA and MD, are all listed among the top 10 wealthiest counties in America. Home to lots of overpaid federal government workers and contractors.

Which is why Dover-Sherborn Regional works, but Swampscott-Lynn Regional would not.

Agree that Fed workers are getting too many benefits on taxpayers backs..just like Ma state and city workers get too many benefits on taxpayers backs....Melrose taxpayers are ripped off paying BOA health insurance and they aren't even "true workers" who deserve "benefits".....RD bought them for his 26% raise....thus they authorize the OVERRIDE vote ....NO....not ethical or fair .... VOTING NO on the Override...

How do so many parents in the district come to the conclusion that there is effective management by this administration overall currently?

If school employees violated any laws or attempted coverups, they should pay their own legal bills - not the taxpayers. Otherwise the citizens get doubly harmed - by the act itself and in paying for the coverup. If the supt. or other admins didn't follow the law, her legal fees should come out of the salary she gets paid. Otherwise she is getting paid when she fails to do her job properly and taxpayers pay her again for her legal fees. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay her salary when she does'nt follow the law.

My understanding is the $24,000 plus in legal bills is for just one reporting cycle. The actual bill for this is going to end up being a whole lot more than that. The SC will no doubt attempt to convince us that this amount is not solely expenses for just the Federal matter (it probably isn't - it also probably includes expenses in dealing with the open meeting law violations), but if you're expecting the SC to provide an accounting of the actual expenses in dealing with the Federal matter, you probably shouldn't hold your breath. Not a bad deal for the lawyers - first, give really crappy legal advice, then rake in the fees for defending the results of your crappy legal advice.

So what do they call 100 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean? A good start.

Yes, there is a an article written by the MA DESE as to the reasons why school consolidation has seen so much resistance in Massachusetts. It is here:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/reports/2009/11consolidation.pdf.

And this article was written in 2009 - when the economy was crashing and school districts were cutting back due to budget issues - there was never more of an incentive as there was then to consolidate services and budgets. If it couldn't be done then, I am not sure how it can be done now. It is not the solution to our budget issues.

What the heck are you talking about....back in 2009....there was a hugh stimulus bill passed by congress when Obama became president! Every government group got money and especially education. All government agencies expanded and some - big time! Just take a close look at the department of education in Washington - they had plenty of money over the years to come up with "Common Core" - you know that Washington derived education, bureauracy ladden initiative!

The situation is much worse now with federal dollars drying up...no more stimulus money, state dollars are being reduced each year, while salaries of education staff, admin, and teachers, along with bloated benefts and mostly unfunded retirements accounts, are putting pressure on city budgets! It certainly does not take a brain surgeon to figure that something has to change in this equation - it is certainly time to look at some sort of regionalization of some part of the education system - and it better be started soon!

I agree MFD. You made a strong case for the override. You have convinced me I am voting yes!

I really hope that was a facetious comment. An override won't address the bloat, it will only add to it. Yes, Myron is a blowhard, but every once in a while he gets something right - law of averages maybe. The school system already spends about 70% of total revenue. They just soaked us for 5 mil for a bond for "renovations", and now they want this override, which in case you haven't figured it out yet, is forever. Please tell me your comment was a facetious reaction to Myron's hot air.

Just a quick reply to the last two posters: I agree that I am opinionated, have opinions about most issues, and am not afraid to voice my opinions given that we live in a free and open society - thank god! If some of you think that it makes me a blowhard - so be it! Unlike many who are part of the "silent majority", I intend to have my opinions heard - then others can decided whether my comments have merit or not.

Kudos to MFD for expressing his views openly. He and Patricia Wright are the only two on this message board to sign their name. You can count on one hand the people in Melrose with enough courage to express their opinions publicly.

Many need to post anonymously to protect their families from illegal intimidation and retaliatory tactics of the current school administration and their legal counsel. Expect more of this institutionalized corruption in the near future and don't expect the DOR's Civil Rights investigation to change this behavior long term.

Perhaps not, but the accompanying civil suit might.

On Nov. 3, the city of Melrose will vote on whether to enact a property tax override. It is what it is.

This is right at the heart of the dysfunction in Melrose. From the start of this mayor's term he has surrounded himself only with those who tell him what he wants to hear. He has legal counsel that has provided truly wrong "guidance" over many issues. Same with School Committee, who hired the attorney that the Boston Schools had fired, and has kept this one in place all this time, despite many hundreds of thousands of dollars in "settlements" over the past 13 years for highly questionable cases. The taxpayers are largely kept in the dark on all of it, on the grounds (mostly specious) of "Personnel" or "Student Confidentiality" though anyone with half a brain can see that a lot of other issues that have nothing to do with personnel or students are being concealed as well. It's clear after reading the Secretary of State's recent ruling on the illegal "redactions" of the School Committee and Superintendent Taymore (done in total contempt of the laws they know only too well) that these officials are willing to risk everything (including many taxpayer dollars) in order to protect themselves, regardless of whether it's legal or not, and more importantly that they have employed their fleet of attorneys to shore up their specious claims. This means that they get to double-dip: get paid for giving (bad) advice and then get paid again for defending the bad actions, which certainly works for them and most certainly hurts every taxpayer in Melrose.

Here's an idea: someone with a bit of know-how (or better yet, one of those (spineless wonders) on the BOA who are currently or have been city solicitors themselves) could research the possibility of filing legal malpractice against those attorneys who have given overtly wrong (and even illegal) "advice" to any of the city's boards leading to findings against the city.

A city solicitor giving bad or incompetent advice is one thing. Using the position to threat and intimidate civilian complainants who bring forth violations by teachers and administrators in order to scare them off is illegal and a violation of Mass Bar Rules.

If this is true (and not doubting your account!), you should file a formal complaint with the MA Board of Bar Overseers. This should happen!

Citizen is right. This would be a violation of Rule 3.4 para(h):

A member of the bar shall not present, participate in presenting, or threaten to present criminal or disciplinary charges solely to obtain an advantage in a private civil matter;

Comment

[1] The procedure of the adversary system contemplates that the evidence in a case is to be marshalled competitively by the contending parties. Fair competition in the adversary system is secured by prohibitions against destruction or concealment of evidence, improperly influencing witnesses, obstructive tactics in discovery procedure, and the like.

[2] Documents and other items of evidence are often essential to establish a claim or defense. Subject to evidentiary privileges, the right of an opposing party, including the government, to obtain evidence through discovery or subpoena is an important procedural right. The exercise of that right can be frustrated if relevant material is altered, concealed or destroyed. Applicable law in many jurisdictions makes it an offense to destroy material for purpose of impairing its availability in a pending proceeding or one whose commencement can be foreseen. Falsifying evidence is also generally a criminal offense. Paragraph (a) applies to evidentiary material generally, including computerized information