Watched last night's BOA meeting. PM behaved terribly, right down there with the routine bad conduct of KT, MD, RD, CC, etc. He tried to refuse Public Participation to GMroz even though the item was clearly on the agenda and they even had a posted letter from the MEF clones "advocating" for the fake "innovation grants" that aren't real grants and are just $10,000 in city tax dollars repurposed so that RD can give goodies to a select few teachers for some superficial stuff and keep his lobbying group, MEF, happy. Mortimer was ignorant apparently of what was right in his BOA packet posted online. Either that or he purposely was willing to let MEF have their say but not members of the public about that posted agenda item. Disgusting! He was way, way out of line. Good for Don Conn, Monica Medeiros, John T, Scott Forbes and eventually the rest for making sure they opened the floor and put an end to the embarrassing show of bad behavior by PM (after his 10-minute show of "power" and "authority"). Just gross!
I feel sorry for PM. He has issues! But he needs to be defeated. He has been known to bully people in past elections. But word going around his Ward is that he will have at least one and possibly two opponents this time around. Defeating him would be good news for the entire city. He has already secured his RETIREMENT pension and HEALTH INSURANCE for LIFE! So, Peter go away!
Wow. Couldn't believe Pete beating up a member of the public who correctly informed Pete that he was way off base when he tried to claim only certain "secret" budget items of his choosing were up for public discussion even though the agenda proved otherwise. I think it is pretty clear that $18,000 in free healthcare has worked its magic on Pete and he has now aligned with the evil powers over at the School Committee. Thanks to Conn, Tromantozzi and Medeiros for sticking up for the citizens of Melrose.
We have all been wondering how $10,000 of taxpayer's money gets funneled over to RD's lemmings over at the non-profit MEF for redistribution to favored schools and teachers.
What a nice arrangement RD made for himself. He gets do donate $10,000 in taxpayer's money to the non-profit MEF who doles it out to MEF's favored schools, administrators and teachers (you know, the ones that do favors for the grants committee members and their kids). Meanwhile, RD, a registered Democrat, sits as an ex-officio member of the board, influencing where the money goes and using the MEF's gala events as an opportunity to grow his political base. Not a bad arrangement, if it wasn't illegal.
And this arrangement will continue until the residents of Melrose put a stop to it. Just send an email to the Aldermen requesting that they not allocate $10,000 to the MEF. Let MEF get its money from donors who want to contribute their own money for this purpose.
Here is their email address: aldermen@cityofmelrose.org
Sadly, you are in the wrong side of public opinion here. Everybody appreciates the MEF grants except the members of this board. It helps to motivate creative teaching - and it is a tiny drop in a 70million budget. So seriously going after grants for teachers is not going be a winning platform for any alderman. You people really are living in an alternative reality.
Get real! If these grants are so needed and they play such an important part of the education process in Melrose then please explain: (1) why are they not included as part of the existing budget? (2) If they are so important to a certain group of people with kids in certain grades, then why can't they get donors to donate the money? Why should the tax payers in the city with no kids in the system (which is a majority of people in Melrose) give the schools 65% of the city budget and then have to kick in another $10,000 to non-educational people to give money away to certain teachers in certain grades?
This does not pass the smell test. Just go out and get donors like any non-profit group - why ask the government to always support you - people without kids in the system are already supporting you to the tune of 65% of the city budget - if people really care about the education of their kids, then go out and get donors! A simple solution for simple problem. Please don't try to make it more complex than it is.
Keep the Mayor happy and don't miss those photo-ops.
The majority of voters in Melrose don't have children in the system and are tired of 65% of the budget (and counting) going to underperforming schools filled with unhappy children, teachers and parents. The MPS are run by incompetent/rude administrators and a SC who practice Bullying as a standard part of their MO. The Override will be defeated by the "Majority Voters" who have had enough and say ENOUGH ! Especially, when the Override Vote will be put on the ballot by some BOA people who take 18K each to pay for the health insurance of their families ! Use our tax dollars for their GIC? And ask the rest of us to pay for it with our taxes? ENOUGH ! Voting NO on The Override.
There are many, many cities and towns that have these "education foundations" in one form or another. Some are at about the level of giving as the MEF, and some of those "W" towns have "enrichment" foundations that give grants that total hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. All of them (except Melrose) have one thing in common: they only give out what they are able to fund raise. If they have a bad year of fundraising, they give out fewer grants. I am aware of no non-profit education foundations who count on funding from their town budgets. These groups have to keep their work separate from the school budget, the town budget, etc. There is a huge conflict of interest problem if they don't function separately. This is just absurd.
Welcome to Melrose - where absurdity is the norm! Again, it starts at the top - and the Mayor can't run from this!
Stop picking on da special needs alderman![Dunce]
GOOD NIGHT JOHN DUNN WHERE EVER YOU ARE! WHO'S SORRY NOW![DrillSergeant]