If you attended or watched the last school committee meeting on cable, you would have discovered that our school superintendent works 24 hours, 7 days a week! This is one courageous feat given that you seldom find her in Melrose after 4PM each day, except when having to show up at school committee meetings where she often seen dozing off and taking "cat naps"!

This information was provided to the public during last Tuesday's meeting by member Margaret Driscoll when discussing Taymore's professional evaluation results by the committee members. She told us how hard she works putting in 24/7 work weeks! Of course such statements from Ms. Driscoll is typical of her "over-the-top" statements. Ms. Driscoll has been known to live in an alternative universe from the rest of us in Melrose. This supposedly was justification for voting to give her another annual raise of $5,000 which raises her annual salary to nearly $170,000. This was the second raise she has received since coming to Melrose a little over two years ago after Joe Casey, our former Superintendent left after 6 years earning only $149,000 when he left! This is quite disturbing given that she signed a 3 year contract with the city at a stated salary! Of course we have to remember what Chairperson Thorp always tells us, "It's never about the money, but only about education improvement in the district!" I guess Ms. Thorp thinks that we all "got off the boat" - last week!

Wow - I guess the citizens need to pay her a much higher salary for mediocre MCAS results,continuous exodus of qualified admin and teachers, poor school morale, revolving musical chairs among our school principals, and the habit of blaming others for her poor management. But in the end, we should be grateful because - as one school committee member once told us -"she is a snappy dresser and tells it like it is!"

Ignore the nonsense on this board. There was ample notice that your raise was going to be discussed and only one person showed up for public participation and he didn't even mention it. All of the complaints on here come from people outside the district or parents of kids in private schools. Ignore the nonsense and keep up the good work!

"Congratulation CT" must work in the Mayor's office since he/she is way out of touch with the community at large.

I personally spoke at the meeting before this current one about this same matter and didn't feel the need to repeat myself at Tuesday's meeting. Also, based on the current make-up of this committee and experience with dealing with them, many of us feel frustrated because our concerns and recommendations always fall on "deaf ears" and many people feel - why take the time to show up and see blank stares and no feedback from any of them - especially when dealing with the acknowledged "dictator", Ms. Thorp who counts the minutes when the public speaks before them.

Oh...by the way....all my children went through the Melrose public schools - I guess I should be receiving an apology from "Congratulations CT" soon - correct? I am waiting!

Glad you had time for one more "Ghost Writing" message before you left for the day, Brigid
No matter how you try and spin it for city hall, voting NO on any override for the schools or any other department.
I need every penny to pay our family's water bill.