Didn't see any evidence of "outrageous lies," but rather some quite credible concerns. The polemic practice here of calling concerns and criticisms "lies" and labeling those who express concerns as "clowns" or "liars" only points out just how toxic the air has become in what was once a much nicer community. From what my family has observed, this poor climate has been propagated by the current city administration, and we would like to see a return to a more civilized code of conduct. No political agenda is worth destroying the sense of community.

The taxpayers who are paying for the maintenance of our buildings have every right to call into question how those buildings are being run and built (in the case of the newer ones). It is dismaying to think that in this day and age children and teachers are suffering from conditions that other communities would have addressed. No reasonable person would blame the administration for the weather. It is, however, fair to blame those in charge of buildings if conditions are poor, or at a minimum to ask questions. Resorting to character assassination only indicates that there is more interest in hiding things than dealing with problems.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the windows in the middle school a one piece solid window that can't be opened? Yes there is ventilation, but that is only circulating clean air, not cooling it. In the old schools we could at least open the bottom and top windows and create some relief.

Community Member...you are the example of a victim of disinformation and distortion of the facts.

1) MHS is not a newer building. It was built in 1978.
2) The City is addressing the problem with a $5,000,000 investment in HVAC system that is on time and on budget.
3) The Whiners have made outrageous claims of toxic air, lack of ventilation and OSHA violations that are categorically false and you call them "credible concerns. The kids were hot in school, along with the teachers, during a two day heat wave. That is all. Since 1978 every class at Melrose High faced the same conditions in a heat wave. However, next years kids won't because this administration fixed it.

Character assassination...your crowd specializes in it. Quote:

"From what my family has observed, this poor climate has been propagated by the current city administration, and we would like to see a return to a more civilized code of conduct. No political agenda is worth destroying the sense of community."


This string is a classic example of how the MM Whiners operate. The Whiners created a fictitious issue in a situation that was clearly a positive for Melrose High School students and staff (air conditioning for the first time ever in the building) with the intent of smearing the school department. When the whiners were called out and proven to be liars you jump in and claim the administration has made the environment in Melrose toxic and a sense of community is being destroyed...all because you don't like Mayor Dolan. Boo hoo for you. The only thing toxic in Melrose right now is the Whiners on Melrose Messages. A pack of ignorant liars.

Let me correct an error above....the school was built in 1975 not 1978. Also, when the open spaces were made into rooms back in 2005 it was acknowledged that the ventilation system was deficient but that this would be dealt with in later renovations which never happened until recently. However, when the school season begins as early as August, heat issues and ventilation issues should have been expected and should have been planned for by the administration.

Such environmental conditions could negatively impact susceptible students who suffer from asthma, allergies or other heath issues.

Thank you, MFD. Also, just because a 5 million-dollar HVAC project has been underway, this is not some sort of benevolent gift from administration (as they will try to portray it). This MHS HVAC project is a taxpayer-funded project that should have been done with enough foresight to plan for hot days, not just with temporary measures in the administrative offices, but for all affected classrooms as well. Furthermore, the MVMMS building has had many issues surface, all of which should have been addressed back when the building was being planned, had there been effective and intelligent oversight (which clearly there was not). Instead, the community saw the big Whitewash PR of how Wonderful Wonderful it all was and is, just as we're about to hear about the HVAC project, no doubt.

Always great to hear how politicians take credit for funding projects as if they are writing the checks from their personal accounts.

Myron the liar in lock step with the MM whiners pattern.

Myron, who acknowledged the ventilation was a problem, and what did it have to do with the open space conversion? You are making that sh*t up, and you have no idea. It's a lie.

What later renovations are you talking about? Another lie.

Then in typical fashion the lairs throw in the "health concern" for children at risk...

It's all BS. Myron made up a story about acknowledged ventialtion problems durng the open space conversion. Made up statements about the deficiency being addressed during a later renovation and then criticized the adminstration for not dealing it with it correctly.

The truth is the HVAC system was a project in and of itself. The city decided to address it, came up with the $5,000,000 to fix it without and override or debt exclusion, is in the process of fixing it, and the whiners and liars like Myron are trying to make it look like a bad thing...and then the next whiner, "exactly" shows up to pat Myron the Liar on the back for setting things straight. Like I said earlier, a pack of pathetic liars.

Name-calling and invective is all the previous poster has. Now THAT is what is pathetic.

Sorry old timer. You want to give a pass to a person who tells lies and spreads disinformation and then call some out for calling them names. A man of real principal would call out the liar as well...but then again, there is no honor among thieves....

Sorry, but it is the opinion of many that it is the likes of you, calling people all manner of vile things, who is lacking in honor.

Exactly what lies and disinformation are you referring to? At worst, all I saw was perhaps a slight overreaction about the consequences of a couple of hot days. At the old HS, at least you could open the windows and get some air.

The more you post, the more tedious your invective becomes.

I'm with you "Come on". The Melrose bashers on this site hate it when you expose them. Keep at it.

The more you post, the more tedious your invective becomes.

Okay folks, this is over. The Administration goofed again. Maybe they will get it right next year. Perhaps starting school after Labor Day like we did for hundreds of years may help.

The only case thats closed is the one where Myron and the rest of the whiners are a pack of liars with zero credibility

The more you post, the more tedious your invective becomes.

Your senility must be setting in, you keep repeating yourself. Invective is a nice word though, I'll take it. You keep up with the lies and distortion.

The more you post, the more tedious your invective becomes.

Your senility must be setting in, you keep repeating yourself. Invective is a nice word though, I'll take it. You keep up with the lies and distortion.

Truly tedious.

This whole stupid string is tedious. First of all, let the little darlings sweat a little. It's probably the only sweat 75% of them will work up all year. Second, the naysayers who respond to every single issue raised about this dysfunctional disgrace for a school system with cries of "Melrose haters", and Lies - it's all lies!" really are getting tedious. The only people who actually post that bull$hit are the ones who: 1. are too stupid to see the forest for the trees, or, 2. have been told how to respond.

I heard it was only 88 degrees.

This string is intentionally tedious. We have a situation where the City of Melrose invested $5,000,000 in improving the conditions at Melrose High School and the whiners fabricated a scenario with lies and distortions in an effort to make a good thing look bad. Its an easy example evidencing the approach of this crowd day in and day out. Its the usual suspects with bad information, lies and deceit...and an easy issue to hang them on. The building had a problematic heating system and no AC. Now the heating system has been replaced, the circulators are better than ever and starting in October it will have AC. Period.

No rational person is under the illusion that things in the school system are in great shape. Some things are, something's are not, and some things are pretty poor. However, many people feel the school system is doing right by their kids, and many kids are doing well in the schools. Many other people think that the administration is on the right track after years of garbage. You're position is anyone who believes that are either stupid or cow towing to the administration. Simply not true.

The majority of critics on this site will bury the school system at any opportunity, with issues that are real or simply fabricated to suit their agenda...always concluded with a personality shot at the Super, Mayor or SC. Its personal with this crowd.

YAWN

Really, really tedious.

Right. A teacher tells a student to go back to the plantation, and gets a promotion. If that's the right track, I'd hate to see the wrong track.

what has happen to the plantation owner at MVMMS?

The plantation owner has been assigned to teach junior and senior students at MHS the flagship school.

AND she has a 9th grade "Advisory".....[:-|]

or you don't have all of the facts so you just make stuff up to support your hatred of MHS. We get it now. Nice job.

Unfortunately for you, and those who continue to spout the "party" line, those are the facts, and they are undisputed. You should follow the lead of those who have finally realized there is no defense for her actions or the "response" of the administration, and just be quiet. Better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to speak and confirm it.

FYI it doesn't have to be 90 outside for it to be 90 in the building. A 75 degree day with the sun beating through the MS windows can cause the inside temp to reach that high. My child has complained about the heat and just wishes they at least wear a tank top to help deal with it. My high schooler has also complained this past winter that there are rooms in the school that will be excessively hot while others are downright freezing. It is not healthy to be subject to variations in temp in a building with no ventilation.

I have to respond to this one. There have always been people like you who feel the school system is doing right by their kids and that many kids are doing well in the schools, as you claim. The problem is that no parent can know how poorly or well the schools really are doing or how much better the schools could be doing for the students.

I fell for the notion that my kids were doing great in the schools until they got accepted only at their "safest" schools for college. We were led to believe one would get into many good schools having A's in AP classes, lots of community service, sports, band and activities. He applied to some reach schools and some other good schools. Only one of seven was an acceptance - the one he never really considered attending. The next year our daughter got into two schools but not one of the other colleges she was led by guidance to believe she would get into and which she really wanted to attend.

You'd have us believe that you have a balanced perspective because you admit things were "garbage" in the past. Just as you now admit the schools were bad in the past, people like you made your same claims of a great school system four and five years ago. Parents always want to believe everything is fine and you trade on that emotion. Everyone now seems to agree the schools were abysmal just a couple short years ago. Since there were people like you claiming then all was fine in that time, your claims today ring just as hollow. How do we know they are any better today?

That's the harm of the ever-present and over-enthusiastic apologists for the school system and the city. They want to bolster the reputation of the schools and city even when it isn't warranted. They fight against the pressure brought by those who recognize the problems and who would make the system get better. You cause students real harm because you delay the good progress that could be made - even now. It matters that things are on the right track now (how would we ever really know?), but if the train isn't moving quickly enough, it's not getting the students where they need to be before they graduate.

If you look back on this board several years, you'll find that there were people just like you (maybe it was you) who defended Mr. Casey and the School Committee saying they were doing great things and how much it was improving. People just like you criticized the people trying to make the schools improve. You label them whiners and haters just as those like you did then. It's now generally accepted by you, the new superintendent, the mayor and the same school committee members that things were horribly in disarray. The people working to make the schools better - those you label "whiners and haters" were correct then. It's likely they still are. Why don't you work with them to improve the schools instead of insulting them?

There were always those who claimed things were fine and on the right track -just as you do now. You want parents to trust the schools today. Time and again, the schools, school committee and the mayor proved unworthy of that trust.

I'll believe things are good when MCAS scores and SAT scores aren't just barely above the state averages. I know Melrose has great families and smart children and they will score much higher if they're taught competently.

I agree things are getting better in some ways. I truly hope the test scores released next month will show SIGNIFICANT improvement for Melrose students. I'll trust the actual data. I won't trust another claim from a Melrose apologist and name-caller. Therefore, I don't trust the likes of you, the mayor, or the superintendent that the schools are good now. The mayor, for one, has always claimed the schools were great, and he's been proved wrong time and again. I want to believe things are better now, perhaps even good, but won't know until a few years pass and we have higher standardized test scores. By that time, though, this superintendent will be gone and the new one will say that they're on the right track because they've gotten rid of all the garbage from before....

You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken ----

"Hey been around for a while" I know exactly who you are, your kids went to a bottom tier local catholic school and they landed right where they should have - they were classic under achievers. I will not out you specifically on this board but cut the crap. You should have saved the $15k per year and used it to pay for college. Or better yet coughed up another $10k a year and send the kid to a real prep school. You got buyers remorse, now stop makin sh$t up.

So typical - point fingers at a poster you say you know but won't identify, toss in references to privates and buyer's remorse, and say it's all lies. How about this? Identify the poster (you won't because you know it will prove you are full of crap), or even better, refute any of the points he/she made (you won't because you can't).

Hey "Been around for a while":

I feel the way I feel because my kids did great on MCAS from elementary school through high school, did great on their SAT's, took good classes at the high school and went and are going on to great colleges. It worked for my family. It works for many families in the system. It clearly doesn't work for the whiners, and on this board the reaction is to blame the system...and tell the families its working for they are stupid. The reality is the kids who do well at MHS, and their families, are more on the ball than the clowns on this site bashing the system, and their underperforming kids.

Personally, I think the averages are bad in Melrose because the bottom 25% of each class are filled with morons and kids from families that haven't put the personal time and effort in. You would find a bigger pool of morons at the local parochial schools if the schools did MCAS testing or released their SAT averages...but they won't...because they know they can hide, and parents of underperformers know their kids can hide there as well.

It's clear you just don't get it. In any group, a certain percentage will excel all by themselves. In this case, a far greater percentage are not doing well, and it isn't because their parents are whiners or morons. It's because they are being poorly served by a dysfunctional system. You earlier claimed that the system "was on the right track", and one response was to ask if a teacher telling a student to go back to the plantation, and then being given a promotion from the MS to the HS is the right track, what's the wrong track? I notice you didn't respond.

Hey, I'm glad your kids did well. Good for them, but too many that could be doing well are not. We'll see what comes out of the test results when they are finally released.

And for the last time, hopefully - it has noting to do with privates. I care about our system and could care less about privates.

You may not realize you demonstrate how shallow and selfish you are. Are you proud of yourself for calling 25% of Melrose students "morons?" Because you believe your kids did fine in Melrose and are doing fine now (compared to what alternative?), you're proud not to care in the least whether the system works for the 25% for whom you readily admit it doesn't (and that's your own rosy estimate - from someone with a clear bias to making the system look good).

You don't apparently care that other parents hope to make it work better for their kids than it does (and try to make it happen) as long as you think yours are fine. You even call them morons and say they don't put in personal effort. Have you talked to the families of that 25%? It's "Melrose: One Community, Open to All" to live here, but for you there's no need to attempt to educate the children different from yours.

Public schools are supposed to serve all the children, not just yours and the other random ones who may succeed (even by your apparently low standards) within a poor system. If otherwise-capable students aren't performing well for whatever reason, it's the mission of the schools to help them do so whether those children's parents have a clue, speak English, have a disability, or have to work two jobs to live here so they can't be home doing homework with their kids.

I would think you'd be ashamed for people to know that you only care about your kids and not others. I would think you'd be ashamed for labeling people whiners and morons. If not, put your name to your post and show everyone your true thoughts and instead of what you say to us at the club.

Or, different parent, you don't get it. While I wouldn't use the term moron to describe any child it is very clear that through the years my children have been in school with many kids who come to school unprepared, don't work hard, get poor grades and their parents don't care. They have also gone to school with many, many kids who do great work. The answer is somewhere in the middle in Melrose. You do not see the large percentage of kids doing poorly without parental involvement in Winchester, Belmont or Andover. Its all too common in Melrose, and many of these parents are the first to criticize.

You may very well know who I am, but it doesn't matter. Do you relive daily the nuns rapping your knuckles with the ruler when you acted up back in elementary school? I remember it well. I felt sorry for you then but you deliberately acted up and knew the consequences. Is that why you have the chip on your shoulder about catholic and other private schools?

"Bottom tier," "under achievers," and "buyers[sic] remorse." Where could all the hate come from?

Is it possible you have "public school remorse" because, contrary to your assertions here, your kids aren't really succeeding to your unrealistic fantasies for them? Is that why you need to malign other parents who make choices for private schools? Is it because you need to believe you did the best for your kids although you now realize that had you spent some money for their schooling maybe things would be better for them now? Just asking.

Why the hate? From where does it originate? Please speak with your therapist about it. Perhaps you can come to some closure. You're welcome to say who I am if you're so sure. Although I'm not putting my name here, I'm not ashamed of who my kids are and what they've accomplished. They do the best they can with the cards dealt to them. I'm not ashamed of the effort I put in for them with the schools but I recognize I shouldn't have trusted the schools to do the right thing for them when they were there.

So why don't you see kids in those towns doing poorly without parental involvement when you see it here? Perhaps the schools there do a better job for kids whose parents aren't able to push them to excellence. Melrose schools could do the same, but people like you want to place the blame on 'bad' parenting instead of helping children who deserve a good public education regardless of whom they have for parents.

By the way, the parents who criticize the schools here the most, and who also have the most credibility are ones whose kids did really well here. We all know two in particular that have been the most vocal for many years. They aren't saying, "My kid got got all A's or got into Harvard so the Melrose schools are great and nothing needs changing." They don't blame the other parents when those kids aren't thriving. Instead, they know that many other kids should be able to succeed with a good school system and they work to make it better here.

You're the first to call them "haters" and "whiners" but they're the ones who really seem to care about public education working for the children.

This is gettin good!

And therein lies the issue. There are those on this site who attack Melrose parents when they expose problems or wrongdoing by staff. What a coincidence! This is the exact same tactic used by the school administration...attack teachers and families who expose problems or wrongdoing by staff.
Hmmm...could it be that the administration and their mouthpieces are the ones posting attacks on this website? I would say this is likely. Think for a second...the Melrose haters are the ones that actually don't care to make this town and our schools a better place for students parents and teachers and just want to sweep all their malfeasance under the rug...at any cost.

This site is fraud central. Private school parents hide behind anonymity and pretend to be public school parents. They do this because they regret paying big bucks for a crappy education
We've seen it before. When an issue is important to citizens of Melrose; they show up in droves. It happened with Physics, it happened with Athletics,it happened with the Mayor's raise and it will happen again if necessary. If 1/2 of the posters out here cared about issues as they said they do; the SC chamber would be full. Instead, we get weekly complaints out here and then crickets during the public comment session every two weeks. The complainers are a bunch of frauds. Prove me wrong by showing up a the next meeting.

To Imagine, You've got something there. The people working hard to make the schools better for the children aren't the ones spreading the hate. They're trying to help the schools get better so more students can do better and they're attacked for doing so. They have courage.

The hateful ones here are those who won't even admit there are any problems and constantly malign those working to make things better. They appear to want things not to improve and blame everyone but the schools when the schools don't help produce good results for the students.

I've long heard that some Melrose parents don't want good schools developing better results for all the other students because they want their own children to have a leg up on the children whose parents can't afford tutoring, whose parents don't constantly suck up to teachers and principals, whose parents can't help them with homework at night, etc. If true, how hateful! They're willing to exploit the unfortunate plights of others just so their own kids can look brighter and better to the outside world. They have so little confidence in their offspring that they want the schools to hold others down just so their kid appear to rise up higher. I used to think it wasn't true but it certainly would explain quite a bit about why the Melrose schools don't get better over so many years.

Perhaps the slogan One community open for all is really just an empty slogan intended to put a progressive face on an unseemly and hateful community. How sad for Melrose.

Interesting that you're so quick to denounce the critics with the same tired rants: "private school parents" with buyer's remorse, haters, etc., and in the same breath you mention the Physics Debacle, which was led by none other than the prime object of hateful attack, Mrs. CKK, who fought hard on behalf of everyone else's kids, even when her own were excelling (as always, regardless of where they are). It was her efforts who pulled us all together (about 45 families) and managed to get a very bad apple fired, a remedial physics summer program in place run by the great Dr. P, and the continuation of Dr. P as the Physics AP teacher (instead of the run of incompetent teachers who continue to flood that department, especially now under that charlatan dept head). You're quick to call everyone "frauds," but we experienced first-hand the noble efforts of that one woman and her family who managed to right a very bad wrong in spite of a conspiracy of incompetence and malfeasance of administrators and school committee members, most of whom are still on that board. And in spite of the evil treatment she has received, she continues to fight for everyone else's kids even though she has a family of scholars and doesn't need the continuous grief. She's nailed it correctly and in a dignified way, while you hateful posters just keep trying to justify an indefensible situation of incompetence and cover-ups. Keep it up with all your crazy rants. Plenty of real people in Melrose know the actual truth, no matter how hard the administration tries to hide it.

There's no point going to the school committee because too much is wrong and they refuse to admit that even when it's in their face. I've watched the ones who try and they should just give it up. It's impossible to fix so many things when the people responsible care to do nothing.

Even if they start fixing the middle school now with the new principal, it won't be fixed for my son in fifth grade. Math scores aren't much better than they were years ago and they supposedly admitted it wasn't good.

I'm going to check out Austin Prep and St. Johns new middle school for my son for next fall. St. Johns may not have experience with middle school until now, but I trust they'll try to get it right more than the Melrose school committee.

Good bye and thank you for your contribution (of tax dollars).

God, you people are whiny. Enough already. And just FYI complaining on a website doesn't fix things.