As predicted, money and override solved nothing. The Superintendent is up to her old tricks. Now they have the money, they will use it for whatever without any oversight. Here is an overview by Liz DeSelm:


I need your help.

The School Committee is set to vote on an incomplete budget document. I need a concurrent push and vocal support from the public, to counter it.

At the last School Committee meeting, I asked for a complete Melrose Public Schools FY20 budget document, similar to what we have seen in previous years:

Watch as I ask the Chair of Finance and Facilities and the Superintendent for a complete budget document.
My reasoning was simple: Melrose just passed an override with a primary focus on school spending. The School Committee and the public usually has 2-3 months to review a near complete budget document, but the Finance and Facilities Chair and the Superintendent gave us an incomplete document, and only a week to review it before we are expected to vote on it.

Yes, the School Committee has discussed and debated Budget A (with the override) and Budget B (without the override) for months. Yes, we now know the broad spending categories of the FY20 budget.

However, we do not specifically know where the override funds will be spent. We do not which schools will receive what amount of new funds. We do not have a single cohesive document with a narrative, a written reference of the needs of the district or the vaguest of plans to address them.

Do not take my word for it. Here is the budget document we are asked to vote on. See for yourself.

Compare that to last year’s budget documents.

This is what I need- I need you to email the School Committee.

I need you to request that we do not vote to approve an incomplete budget document.

I need you to request the MPS administration produce a more complete budget document by April 30th and that we hold a special budget only meeting on the 30th to vote on it.

I need you to recognize when you email the School Committee that there are uncertainties, like teacher salaries due to perspective contract negotiations, whether to re-open the Beebe, or what curriculum and technology needs but that there are options to be considered, and that it is okay to acknowledge this uncertainty in the budget document.

I need you to email the whole of the School Committee asking these things, and then I need you to ask your friends to email the whole of the School Committee.

My voice alone here will not move the needle. Our collective voices will.

My ask, simply, is that you share in my call for a complete budget document- one reflective of past year's budgets with an eye towards future budgets. One that shows we are good stewards of the Override funds. A budget that recognizes we do not have all the solutions, but we are working for the greater good of our student populations.

Thank you for your support! I cannot do what I do without it!

Sincerely,

Liz

No surprise here😱

No surprise but I appreciate her reaching out. Where is she asking this?

This may give her new perspective on CKK. It's only been 3 weeks and already the money is set to disappear. We haven't even started paying it yet.

Yeah, no kidding. CKK raised a ruckus each time the SC tried to take a vote (they did it anyway, arrogant, contemptuous fools that they are/were) on the teachers' contracts when there was zero documentation. She pointed out that it was not due diligence to be voting on something that they didn't even have a chance to see, that they were expected to vote on because Dolan and Driscoll said it was "99% the same as the last one"! She said that most people took more time and care selecting which breakfast cereal to buy than this school committee was taking in approving something that was 45-50 million dollars and a huge portion of the city spending. Not one of the other fools on that committee would join in and do the right thing, demanding the idiotic attorney produce a document that could be reviewed carefully and then discussed with an informed perspective.

Nothing has changed, and in fact it's much, much worse. LdS only squawks once in a blue moon, and then she wants all of us to notice. She has always been eager to join in the nauseating self-congratulation chorus, and she never once supported Ms. K when it counted. Nonetheless, glad to see that Liz's asking for a real budget document instead of allowing the super to make it up as she goes (which she will do anyway behind the scenes, as does the city's CFO).

These officials are really a disgrace.

Post on FB Melrose Community Group. I knew this would happen! Not surprised

Nor am I the least bit surprised. The smirk on Taymore's face says it all. And McAndrew is McAndrew. What else would you expect from her? Between the two of them, I wanted to throw a brick through the screen.

Don't forget the condescension of Driscoll. She drips sarcasm. The others looked liked they couldn't be bothered with the details. They don't care.

Lesson to be learned: Change the school superintendent and the school committee - short of this - nothing changes.

We have a rogue school committee and an indifferent BOA - who only rubber stamp what the Mayor wants.

Don't you worry. Margaret won't be on school committee too much longer. Once Farrell retires from the now 134k per year business manager position, earning her "highest three year's average salary to max out her retirement computation, it will be Margaret's turn to slip into the position. After all, Margaret has been a good foot soldier for the mayor and the superintendent, covering up all the sordid scandals, denying access to critical public documents from committee members and the general public, not that this is a violation of the Commonwealth's public records laws.

So where is One Melrose? Aren't they the group that is supposed to care about the children? The MTA are supposed to be the anti education child haters but 3 weeks after the override, the One Melrose is MIA and it's up to the NO voters to stand up for a real school budget. No voters and a few others who actually care.

Do the One Melrose people know what they voted for? Or they don't care about accountability? Most of them were USED to enrich those who do not deserve further enrichment. They were led by some pied pipers.

Do you think it's a coincidence that McAndrew was appointed chair of Finance and Facilities? All you have to do is look at her to see what a sneaky manipulative untrustworthy witch she is.

I don't care a whole lot for DeSelm, either, but in this instance she's displaying some character, especially after the way CKK was treated. We need to have her back on this one.

We do need to have her back. Citizens need to speak out more often, otherwise those with access to funds can do what they please. I appreciate DeSelm calling this out and I would like to see more proactive involvement.

I wrote to the full school committee and the mayor too under my real name. One Melrose ought to be ashamed of themselves. Complete lack of integrity.

Saw the video. The subs will not get more money. Taymore doesn't respect them. It's obvious. Nice of her to point out they don't have to make minimum wage. The subs watch and hopefully teach our community's children but they don't have to be paid minimum wage? Again, where is One Melrose?

"What are the actual legal costs taxpayers fund in the MPS budget?"

Mrs. CKK has fought for that information for the six years she was on the SC and years before that. Haven't you read the many front-page stories about this bunch of contemptuous fools on the SC and trying to charge even our former elected representative something like $8,000-plus just for one of her many requests for information about this topic? Instead, everyone sat silent and allowed this bunch of thugs to deny her the information, keep her and the public in the dark, wrack up more legal costs (like enormous sums!) to hide the information (like the OCR facts), to fight the Attorney General's Office, to bring in more legal consultants to stage McCarthyesque monkey tribunals to prop up their illegal "norms", to figure out ways to bury more legal costs in SPED Settlement accounts (all lumped under SPED and not broken down for any kind of transparency), for starters. And they just march on with their disgusting pretend-meetings, with that angels-in-her-head nutjob creep chairman running things and controlling all access to information, even from the rest of our elected representatives! Instead of anyone showing up to voice legitimate concern and protest, the chamber is now empty most of the time. Meanwhile the MEF creeps keep packing in the mobs of ignorant and gullible young parents to their "Parent University," and other silly BS that is supposed to substitute for actual public engagement, while the MEF is even less transparent (though it takes taxpayer funds directly out of the city coffers--illegally, because the BOA allows the mayor to do so) than the SC. Melrose is idiotic. But then looking at what happened at the polls, the entire country is insane. The local bureaucratic creeps are just a microcosm of the federally empowered ones. Either it's time for a revolution in the public thought process, or civilization will be doomed. Either way, little stupid Melrose is going to have to clean up its disgusting swamp of corrupt politicians if it ever hopes to survive long-term.

A good place to start would be for the public to demand a full forensic audit (not the fake mickey-mouse things that RD and PDR claim are "audits"), especially now that a highly placed city employee with obvious links all the way to the top has been indicted for heinous corruption felonies. A full forensic audit would show where they've been hiding the legal expenses, the "settlement" costs, and where the slush funds are sitting, for starters.

It has gotten very interesting here in Melrose. our superintendent, our Mayor, and of course the school committee always looking for new fees to charge us parents. If the budget is that tight, why would you give the superintendent a raise, when the summer begins and everybody is away? I can tell you why, none of you have the you know whats to say no to a raise. It's almost like you warship the ground she walks on. Here's the big question for all of us in the community. How much is the superintendent costing us in legal fees, because of her misjudgement? But better yet, she doesn't even know, because she has hired the best of the best, but the sad part about all of this, us tax payers are on the line for this. Because she doesn't even know what she's being billed for. Because the way she negotiated her contract with these people. Then of course we have the public relations firm that she hired. That's $10,000 or more. And especially if they have to work overtime. So what does this tell us about our superintendent? I find it almost impossible with her education and being a superintendent and licensed, that she needs to use a public relations firm. To speak for herself, the city of Melrose, and the school system. It's pretty sad that Margaret Driscoll thought it was a great idea (for some of you she's the chair of the Melrose School Committee.)Just shows you that the superintendent is in charge and she's not accountable to the school committee like she should be. Lets add to that a little bit. She was asked a question not too long ago, about the rules and regulations in regards to students and parents, about giving proper notice about suspensions, or anything else to go along with that and you know how she answered it? She didn't answer it. She felt the school committee members didn't deserve an answer. She had been put on notice for the past two years now, that she is not in compliance with the law. With the students rights, and the parents right, we all have to understand, these children are under 18 years old and even under 21 years old and they are protected under the law. So when in the hell, is the Melrose School Committee and our mayor, are going to do the right thing and address this issue? Yes, you Mr. Mayor Dolan. We are going to wait until it effects your own children, then you will do something about this. Some of you might think that I am stepping over the line, I am sure not doing that. Mayor; have you forgotten about the folks in this community, the children in this community? Maybe our city solicitor and the school attorney need to be educated on the law. Oh yes, I'm calling them both out. Why not? Nobody else has. The interesting question here, Mayor, maybe our city solicitor is doing what you want him too do because you hired him, and he is an elected official in Everett. Maybe you think that this is not going anywhere, think twice. You never know. Once again, this goes back to money being tight. The message that was delivered to the city of Melrose back in December 2015, the citizens voted no on the override because they don't trust any of you. You think that we're a bunch of fools out here, yeah you can say that you don't read the board, we all read the board. The big question becomes, our superintendent has been found guilty, or the city whatever way you want to put it of civil rights violations. I always thought a student would come first, but apparently that's not the case here. The big question for all of us in the community is; 'how do we make Melrose a better public schools system, going up against the Charter schools?' First thing that I can think of is offering something better that the Charter school doesn't offer, but maybe you folks forgot that you are in competition. You do a lot of crying about how much money goes to the Charter schools and vocational schools because the product that they have is no good. Why do I say that? It's very simple. Just look at the board, look at all that's been said. People are talking about real things, but the Melrose Schooll committee and our Mayor and our superintendent don't realize that we do have the pulse of what's going on here. Protect the administration, and tell the parents, you're not going to do anything. People speak at public participation, at the school committee meetings and if you don't like what they're saying, you cut them off after five minutes. But if you have somebody who works for the city, or a person that you really like, they can talk well beyond the five minutes. I think we call that discrimination. That's just an opinion. But the board seems to echo that. So my message to the Melrose School Committee, our superintendent, our Mayor (because the mayor sits on the school committee), why don't you just be honest with all of us in the community.APRIL 2 2019 you win on the citizens voted yes on the override .The interesting question here is how about this incomplete Budget 2020.Not good for the city of Melrose.

When will the substitute Teachers get paid a living wage comparable to other districts and when will all the teacher absences stop being covered by warehousing the students of absent teachers in the Learning commons or sub room. Pay and hire adequate subs to cover.

April 30, 2019. There is currently $1.46million in reserves in the water & sewer enterprise funds.

Is the person posting and reposting old and or irrelevant garbage everywhere being intentionally clueless or just clueless? Anyone know what happened at the meeting last night?

Agreed. Shift/enter allows you to properly paragraph, and makes for a more digestible presentation. I didn't read it either, for exactly the same reason, and quoting it multiple times doesn't help a whole lot.

Apparently the message board is doing the job it's supposed to be doing. That's the freedom of speech

This superintendent needs to be fire or This superintendent needs to resignation .Super tries to get incomplete Budget 2020 approved.

Real question for the board. Are these bots or just very lightly trollish posters?

This happens all the time where basically non sequitur or copy/pasted comments are splashed across multiple threads at the same time using subpar English.

Is there anything that can be done to curtail this? It is starting to get a bit annoying. I imagine that others feel similar about these posts.

Proper usage of the English language would be an excellent baseline expectation. Unfortunately it is not realistic, especially in social media posting. Many melrosemessages posters do not have basic understanding of good online etiquette, and a few are actual trolls who just seek to disrupt the conversations. This is a mostly unmonitored board where only those posting that cross lines of legality, decency, space, obvious spamming will be removed.

Note to posters: Please try to limit your re-posting, especially of long posts. Otherwise we may be forced to remove this feature.

Maybe pin this to the top of the board. Make a forum called important posting rules or something. I appreciate this board and like that for the most part, posters are left alone but the reposting of a single post 📪 on every thread is annoying and not helpful.

Forget the "details", just vote the bottom line, we'll decide where to spend it, including our new $5 million present, as the year goes on and people aren't watching. What a system!