Dolan's holy pay grid (created individually for each of his Exemplary administrators)
What a scam
And what about those 3 attorneys and consultant at that irregular 6:00 meeting (only caught part of it, but it was all very stagey and strange)? They so desperately claim the district needs money and then they hire all of those people just so they can try and prop themselves up with all the bad press they've got and so that they can beat up on CKK. First, they weren't successful because only when Ms. K showed up for the regular meeting did anything become real, with substantial questions about real things, including calling out the chair's bullying by referencing the district policy on bullying (good for her!). They showed what lousy hiring our district continues to do. No surprise that the SPED attorney (who bragged about representing the district for 25 years) would be happy to take some more thousands of our taxpayer cash to sit there and make more errors that give him more billable hours. They did such a bang-up job on that civil rights issue (or issues) after all.
This site is great reading. I love coming here when there is another positive article about Melrose and watch everyone twist and turn and agonize over the publicity Melrose is getting. I think it is fantastic.
It says a great deal about you when you think an article that has to do with a teacher humiliating a minority student, and our school system wasting a great deal of money to "defend" itself for a Civil Rights violation is a "positive" article. I am glad for my house prices that there was a survey that was positive about the city. This string is not about that. I am sad that we have to spend so much time hiding our faults to keep our zip code looking good, instead of fixing the problem. The fact that the teacher in question had no reprimand or consequence is outrageous, and that is the problem. We would rather ignore a real problem for our own sense of community pride than deal with it.
Well said...To Vermont.....now if only .....Vermont...can comprehend what you just said!
Well stated. No, Vermont does not have the intelligence to comprehend. Say, can we impeach Taymore with a petition? If so, I'll draft one. Well stated at the SC meeting last night CKK. The only honest one there.
I couldn't make the meeting last night but look forward to viewing it on MMTV when they put it up. I did get a chance to see CKK's evaluation of Taymore and it is
devastating - 20 pages of documentation to back up every one of the 9 Unsatisfactory and 4 Needs Improvement ratings she gave her. Everyone should read her evaluation - it is an absolute indictment of Taymore's incompetence!
I have read it as well. Way to back up the ratings of CT with well documented evidence. Please continue to stay strong CKK.
It was very nice to see Carrie Kourkoumelis speak about what's going on here, maybe the rest of the folks on the school committee and our mayor they only see and hear what they want to see and hear. As a parent tax payer, the truth was spoken last night, it's to bad that the rest of the members on the school committee continue to rubber stamp everything saying that everything is fine and everything is good. There has been so many different stories in this community about what's going on with the grammar school, middle school and high school. We all know the truth, but the rest of the members of the Melrose School committee including mayor Dolan seem to have forgotten what the truth is. As tax payers and parents of students we're lucky to have Carrie Kourkoumelis. Atleast she stands up for the truth, the Melrose School committee has done everything it can, including the mayor, and the superintendent to make her job hard, let me put it to you this way. When the superintendent is executive secretary for all elected members of the school committee, basically these elected officials is the superintendents boss. As tax payers we're paying her salary. When she chooses to hold information back Carrie Kourkoumelis you have to start to wonder what she is hiding. For her to say 'just send me a letter and I'll give you all the information that you want from Carrie Kourkoumelis' sounds like from the public point of view she is full of hot air. Maybe she is getting a lot of pressure now, from the attorney generals office on public records request, which follows under the secretary of the states office which is available online. By the way the folks in this community have to start asking the question is our superintendent really doing the job? And are the members on the school committee covering up for her? You can read about any string on here, and speaks for itself. You can go to the meetings, you can watch the meetings on tv, or you can try to talk to her in person. The questions becomes, for all of us in Melrose, what road is this superintendent leading us down? And when is all members on the school committee going to start to take more responsibility to what's going on here? It's important to realize nobody can make this up, everyday we turn around it's a new chapter. Thank you all, I'm looking forward to any of you bloggers who is trying to discredit this, bring it on. PS enjoy the rest of the summer school starts real soon, thank you all.
What happens next in the quest to get the documents from Taymore & Co?
Her is CKK's original request:
1. Office of Civil Rights Notice of investigation sent to Melrose Public Schools. (Finally received with much effort, improperly redacted info)
2. All communications between and among members of the School Committee, the
Superintendent and legal counsel surrounding the Office of Civil Rights Investigation. (CKK already entitled to receive this as member of school committee as it concerns deliberation between SC members)
3. All communications (email, US Mail) between Superintendent Taymore and/or
Melrose Public Schools staff and/or any members of Melrose School Committee and
all attorneys representing the Melrose Public Schools resulting in billable hours from
January 2014 through the present. (Already entitled to this info as member of SC committee, having fiduciary responsibilities to the citizens of Melrose for the proper spending of tax payer dollars, as well as being required to vote on the superintendent's frequent requests for additional budget $ for legal fees.)
4. Superintendent Taymore's phone log indicating contact with any and all attorneys
representing the Melrose Public Schools resulting in billable hours from January 2014
through the present. ( A phone log of calls made/received is readily available from the School Department's phone service provider).
The phone logs she's probably asking for are the ones the superintendent or her secretary Diane Hogan would keep as a matter of course. No legitimate office operates without phone and appointment logs. I don't think she's looking for records from the phone company. Those could prove useful if the superintendent tries to redact them in her log.
Hello Melrosians how are all of you doing? It's Monday evening and we're getting closer to opening day of school isn't that exciting? So let me get to my point, it is so strange that our superintendent, the city solicitor, school attorney are using every excuse in the book, not to give up the public records request that Ms. Kourkoumelis is looking for. It should concern all of us, we're not only talking about our superintendent, were not only talking about our mayor, the school attorney, what is so hard about producing these records? What is the real privacy here. I know I would like to know how much is cost us so far. And these pending law suits, that may be tide, to this federal investigation. Why is it, that a Melrose school committee member, Ms. Kourkoumelis cannot get these records? Is it because the city attorney, I believe he is an elected official in Everett. Does that raise a question, I don't know the answer to that right now, but I will tell you that I will look into it. Do we have a conflict here? It's amazing that a Melrose school committee, our superintendent, and the mayor think they can do whatever they want and continue to hide information. Maybe the bigger question here, is it possible that we have an open meeting law violation here? I'm trying to figure out where they're getting the money to pay these bills. It's only a thought of what I've read in the news papers and seen on tv. But nobody can give me a straight answer on what they've spent. And you still have to wonder, can we trust the mayor? Can we trust the school committee? Can we trust the city solicitor, and can we trust the school attorney? So what are some of the thoughts out there folks? We all read the board, but for some reason, we are footing the bill, for all this legal action, that our superintendent has hired nothing but the best. How come she is able to hide all of this, and nobody and I want to repeat the word nobody, is holding our feet to the fire, is this because our mayor, and our superintendent, city solicitor, and the school attorney thinks its none of our business how much it is costing us? They are wrong if they think it is none of our business, what is this going to turn into a public request record for what it's cost Melrose tax payers for this federal investigation. The only question that will be on there is how much has it cost? If that doesnt get the answer, it shows this current administration, yes Mr. Mayor you, are afraid of what the people will say, maybe that might embarrass you, and it should. You're about transparency but the way that I look at it, you pick and choose. Yes Mr. Mayor I used the words pick and choose. It's like when you want to be in the paper and have your picture taken when you've done something great. But Mr. Mayor you have done nothing great by hiding this. I'm not making this up, all that you have to do is go online and look it up, the attorney generals office, secretary of states office, public records. Maybe you don't respect that people are looking for information in regards to what this is costing us. Mr. Mayor it is not your money, it's the tax payers money, so you're basically telling the tax payers to pound sand. That's an opinion, these are nice words that I am using. Mr. Mayor how in the hell do you expect to get an override in November if you're holding information back about the tax payers money being spent? This is not about the name, it's only about the dollars. Isn't that amazing. So Melrosians what do you all think about this tonight? Do you all have the extra $260 a year for this override forever? And we can't get city government to answer questions that should be answered truthfully. Well folks that all that I have to say, bring on the bloggers that are trying to discredit me. I stand by the truth, and I think that every melrosian that lives in melrose believes in the truth. Good or bad. Good night to you all and enjoy the rest of the summer, thank you very much.
This school committee is out to lunch.
No....they are just plain "out" - out of touch with teachers, out of touch with parents, out of touch with the residents of Melrose - they are just plain "out of touch"!
MFD hit the nail on the head. The school committee has no idea what really happens. They 'touch' no one but the superintendent. They accept her version of reality(fantasy) that her admins spin time and time again.
Teachers don't have a professionally safe way to tell the school committee what's really happening that hurts students in Melrose. There is no real two-way communication. Admins should be the solution, but they're the biggest problem here.
After every latest spin, school committee members proclaim how 'wonderful' everything is and how 'wonderful' the admins are making it 'even better.' They demonstrate either complete ignorance or complete conspiracy - it can only be one or the other. Things aren't 'wonderful.' They're ugly here.
Open your eyes and ears, people. Don't fall for the incessant spin of superintendent and principals. Don't act surprised or outraged when the truth finally comes out, usually after they leave. You know some of the real truth today. Mrs. Kourkoumelis may understand elements, but it's clear even she doesn't know the full extent. They absolutely hide some of the things from her.
No matter how much global warming, the snow always flies thick from the Melrose schools, school committee and Mayor's office.
You have it right. Another year, another Snow Job.
No one is looking forward to Monday when admin starts it up all over again, blaming us for their failures. Even so, they'll go to school committee in September and say, again, how wonderful a job they're doing.
This is not good.The job that is being done is like being out to lunch.
Kourkoumelis filed a second appeal. According to Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin’s office, that appeal was opened Aug. 12. State officials are looking into the matter, he said.
At the beach house for the long weekend, but compelled to add my two cents.
It's no surprise that the schools don't improve when the superintendent appears more concerned with hiding bad acts than sharing information with the school committee.
Let me rephrase that - Apparently, the superintendent has long been conspiring with most of the school committee to hide bad acts throughout the school system. They keep information away from the one school committee member who cares enough about students to try to protect them.
To Rob, Mayor Dolan - You have spent years tightening control over Melrose by playing your political games. It's by your hand that the school system has violated a basic tenet. The school system has harmed children. You are responsible for that. You are personally responsible for the poor schools, the abuse to all these students and the coverup(how many now?). Your inability to make a responsible comment to the paper betrays your culpability in this matter. After all these years, you're still too immature to admit when you've done wrong.
That's actually an easy question - because admitting she's so bad would also mean admitting they made a mistake in hiring her, and that's something they are loathe to do, especially Dolan, who thinks he's incapable of error. Giving her another raise is just another way of maintaining that mindset.
Apparently the school department operates with a different set of rules than the city side. On the city side, when you want to spend money from one line item on an expense from another line, you must go before the aldermen and request a transfer subject to their approval. Not so with the school department, where such approval appears to not only be not necessary, but not desirable. I found the Mayor's rather vehement assertion that there was no "hanky panky" going on pretty amusing.
So I'll be charitable - given current operating conditions, perhaps there is nothing improper in what they did, but that's not the point. The point is that the money never gets put into the right line item, so it creates the illusion that there is less being spent on legal that is actually being spent. How is an independent observer supposed to know that the Toshiba expense item is actually a legal expense item? All CKK did was attempt to point that out, and all the Mayor did was to highlight the point. It's a terrible accounting practice, which is why the city side doesn't do it.
I don't find anything that comes out of the Mayor's mouth amusing. The disrespect and derision directed at CKK for no other reason that she disagrees with them is largely the result of their taking their cues from him. In his world view, anyone who questions or disagrees with him is "the enemy" or a "hater". He has no understanding of the concept of loyal opposition. He is hateful, narrow-minded punk.
And here's a word of advice for DC: It's better to remain silent an be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and confirm it.
One final fun fact - in the 2013 election, some guy named Blanks got 27% of the total vote. The next highest candidate got about 15%.
Didn't DC get the 27% allotted to him - there were blank - correct?
Hopefully for next year, the School Committee Members Mayor Dolan, Kristen Thorpe, Margaret Driscoll, Don Constantine, Jessica Dugan and Chris Casatelli will actually provide some facts to support their stellar ratings for Superintendent Taymore. Thank you Carrie K. for providing data and facts to support your rating which actually reflects reality.
What is wrong with these parents who continue to accept the cr@p being fed to them by the SC? Seriously, some of the biggest looney-lefty, self-proclaimed "progressives", who wear their "tolerance" and "commitment" to minorities like a badge for all to see, are the same parents who are defending the SC and this Civil Rights violation. I got into a pretty heated argument with a group of them yesterday, asking them how they could defend such a cover-up. How could they support a system that just ignored the student and supported the racist teacher? They are nothing but a group of hypocrites. It is fine to be "progressive" when they don"t really have to back it up with actions. But when it is a choice between doing what is right or doing what will help them sleep at night (dreaming of the imaginary perfect school system they would like to believe they pay for), they will always choose the latter. Sickening.
Yes, unfortunately it is the pretend-progressives here who are vehemently and blindly supporting this bunch of power-abusing fascists. The local dems masquerade as real democrats when in fact the conduct of many (maybe even most) of the politicians and those they are supporting may as well be any variety of corrupt thuggish officials in the worst regimes. Watch that video from Tuesday night with that kangaroo court of bad attorneys and "expert" if you have any remaining delusions about the kind of "leadership" these pretend-progressives are so fanatically defending:
https://vimeo.com/138697244
Where is the outrage? Why was not a single person there for public comment to defend the students from these monsters?
Let's face it - most parents don't want to take the time, or have the time, or plain don't want to fight the system - part of it is fear of retribution against their kids - and of course we know that this goes on from parent reports on this message board.
The great idiot and buffoon of the SC, dumb-dumb, sycophant Don, says, in the last 6PM meeting that the only reason they have to tolerate the only honest member of the SC, CKK, is because so few people vote for in the SC race and she (not naming her but of course we all know he is referring to - the only honest member, CKK) has a group of citizens who always vote for her. Hey Don - we might say that about you too!
The comment above from Don the Dum-Dum and about Don the sycophant is 100% right. The problem with most on the school committee is that they think they are smarter than everyone else. Don talking for the first time in recent memory at a meeting and then spewing that garbage about CKK just goes to show what a tool he is for the Mayor and his posse. Any independent thinking ever go on in there Don?
Those "questions" to the panel cost us the taxpayers thousands of dollars I bet. It was all a farce to make veiled attacks on CKK. The criticism that CKK isn't a team player with them and just wants to make trouble is outrageous considering their team is racist, condescending, self-centered, egotistical, and has absolutely zero interest in taking care of the students and 100% interest in exchanging political favors and lining their own pockets. Thank goodness CKK is not a team player with them.
The part about how the chair should be the servant of the people instead of master was classic. That Chair Thorpe was not interested at all in serving the citizens. She reduced public comment to 5 minutes, was incredibly rude to people speaking ("FINISH UP), along with an attitude that would be inappropriate on a US Supreme Court justice much less some petty pathetic bureaucrat in Melrose. Then she moved public comment to the end of the meeting. She also had a fit when CKK allowed public questions at the Budget meeting and during the meeting after the speakers were finished. Some public servant. She has also yelled and belittled citizens who speak. Shameful.
The only good news is that Thorpe and Don are not running again for re-election. It is only MD delusional enough to think she is worthy of that seat.
Seriously? Is this for sure? Are you sure they didn't file at the last minute on Friday?
Please don't raise my hopes - but is it true that Thorp & Don are NOT running? Probably because they finally realize that it is best to leave than stay around when all these discrimination law suits "hit the fan". Nice going Thorp & Don - you have contributed greatly to the demise of a previous good school system - what a negative legacy they leave behind.
Sorry, maybe they did it at one minute before the close of business Friday. But last Friday the Melrose Weekly News had on page 1 "One SC incumbent In Race So Far."
So the superintendent (upon advice from the city's crack legal team) thinks it's legitimate to thumb her nose at the Secretary of State's Office by refusing to provide the documents they told her to provide, and then to try and charge Ms. Kourkoumelis over $7,600 for access to some of the redacted junk mail she would no doubt provide, just to add insult to injury. And there are at least 3 federal Office of Civil Rights investigations now ongoing, along with who knows how many grievances, Special Education lawsuits, and other legal actions against the district and city. Astounding.
And we as taxpayers should TRUST these officials with more of our hard-earned money exactly WHY? So that they can give themselves more "pots of money for administrative raises" (that was exactly the wording in the School Committee agenda this summer!!!!) Incredible, absolutely mind-blowingly incredible.
"Invest" in the school district indeed!!! No thank you. I'd rather write a check to Whitey! At least there was no pretense about who was strongarming and what it bought! "Investment" my arse! Put all the cute pictures of little kids out there you want, "Yes"-crazies, but there's no amount of perfume that disguises this Skunk Cabbage![:|][:|][:|][:-?][:|]