This is the second time I've had to shut a string down in this forum. The person who continually posts other peoples posts was at it again and I had to shut the string "What Kind of School System Does Melrose Want" down because that same poster (trying to be cleaver) was posting previous posts under random names.
I'm sorry if some of the legitimate posters are disappointed, but what this person doesn't seem to understand is that multiple posts can shut down the site. This is a very selfish act that usurps the resources of this board for those who would like to post legitimate opinions. Whoever you are...if you do it again I'll ban you. This is your last chance!
And another thing...I'm barely tolerating the sophomoric poetry that someone else is posting. I'm gritting my teeth not to remove them because I'm committed to everyone's ability to express themselves.
Please scroll down to the cesspool of the "General Interest" forum and post there if you must.
Thank you, Patricia! That poster was no doubt well-intentioned, but very foolish. The posts were cobbled together rehashes that didn't do anything to get the messages across except take up valuable space on the server you are now paying for. Maybe this poster will get the message that this is not the way to make a point.
The nefarious poster is aligned with the chuckleheads in the school administration. They intended to put nonsense posts up hoping the topic would be taken down and/or the site would run out of posting space. They apparently successful. There were 17,000 plus views to that topic. The administration was desperate to make this go away because there was a serious amount of factual information about the administration's serious violations of state and federal education laws.
These are the same stories the Melrose Weakly News and Melrose Faux Press won't print because they are aligned with the current administration and care nothing about real reporting.
Too bad. There must be a better way to weed these people out without them successfully being able to shut down free speech.
The other day I started reading through that whole post. Can you put it back up without allowing new comments so it can be read by those who didn't see it completely?
Wasn't there also a string the other day about starting school later? Did that need to be removed also?
I was going to respond about Fredi Hurwitz. My four kids had her for first grade. She was a great teacher. She quit teaching because the curriculum director was making teachers do things against the best interest of young students. When she left she wrote a letter to the paper. She had the courage to tell the people of Melrose how bad things were heading. No one listened to her call. It was sad.
No one should believe the speaker's claim that the administration forced her out in the best interests of students. It seems as if the speaker was trying to butter up the administrators so they would vote for late start. Mrs. Hurwitz was the best teacher and even taught classes in education college. I think she didn't want to leave, but definitely didn't want to be a party to destroying elementary education here.
It's ironic that new, young parents who know little about early childhood education rally behind the administration and school committee when people like Mrs. Hurwitz and Dr. Peterson (who my kids also had) are the ones they should be listening to instead. Great teachers don't leave after decades of teaching and before retirement age for small reasons.
Elementary parents: WAKE UP! Administrators make decisions for many things other than what's in the best interest of students. For your children's sake, don't ignore the truths older parents learned. Despite the great teachers like Mrs. Hurwitz and Dr. Peterson, my kids suffered for years because of the administrators - especially in middle school. You're better off sending your kids to St. Mary's 6th through 8th grade than to the middle school. Middle school was worse than the high school and I hear it hasn't really changed much.
To Late to the Party and Strategy: Unfortunately I cannot restore strings once I delete them. They are unfortunately gone forever. Which is why I rarely do it. But it doesn’t prevent anyone from starting it again! I thought it was a really interesting string with many thought provoking comments and it was a shame that one bad apple had to ruin the party.
That being said…I can confirm that it was only one person because of the IP address. I can’t see whether the post is from a service provider like Comcast or ATT. All I see are the IP numbers. When they are the same I know it’s the same poster but I don’t know where they come from. It could be anyone in the world for all I know.
And to Strategy, I like you’re thinking and without being an apologist for the administration….you give them waaay to much credit! LOL! I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anyone from the Mayor’s Office or the School Committee because the repeated posts were all positive. It was someone (although well intentioned) thinks that if they repost positive posts and ratchet up the numbers that this will lead to some sort of credibility. If it was someone from the City, I would think they would be reposting all the negative comments and that was not the case.
Thank you Late to the Party for making me think about how to deal with this in the future. If it happens again I will delete the repeated posts and not the string and ban the repeat offender from posting.
The district has lost a number of its very best educators directly because of the inexcusably incompetent and contemptuous administrators, starting at the top, working through department chairs (now pretentiously calling themselves "directors"), through virtually all of the principals. There really isn't a good one amongst them. There are many more (of the best teachers) looking for a way out, in some cases, any way out, even if no other job is available. Anyone who tries to attribute this to money is clearly one of the override/administration spinmeisters because there are even plenty of elementary parents who have been made aware of the truth. Those who are so ignorant that they believe the crap being put out there by the pro-O wind-up toys, really don't deserve anything better. These district apologists are the same idiots (yes, you, Martha G!) who tried to shove it down everyone's throat how great Joe C was, too! Clearly these types don't even care what's happening for their own children, let alone for all of ours. They have zero right to any credibility, let alone to one extra tax dollar from the citizens!