The Super of the MPS is quoted in the Boston Globe article (OCR Resolution Response) that the remarks at the center of the Justice Department investigation were not "Overtly Derogatory". The Boston Globe article is an embarrassment to Melrose. Taymore's statement also has a blame the victim quality involving the interviews conducted during this investigation. I should not be surprised but I am actually astonished! Fire this incompetent, racist WITCH !!!!!!!
No one is going to fire her - after all - she is the Mayor's choice as well as the next chair of the school committee - Margaret Driscoll. That's how corrupt our current leadership is - can't admit any mistakes-but keep on voting for these people!
Hold all who are responsible accountable: super, city solicitor, SC, teacher's union....
As for the so-called "harassment officer," this has been a mandated position for years, nothing new. Just CT's outrageously contemptuous answer to gravely serious charges because she thinks we're all stupid and asleep at the wheel.
Hopefully, Melrose's reputation regarding civility, respect for difference and the maturity to admit mistakes will change this year..Change is needed.....in order for this to happen CT needs to go and the SC needs to show that kids truly come first..convince CT to resign/retire...collect her big fat pension...afterall an excessive/available FREE CASH pot of $ is available.....
I don't understand how C Taymore could consider the designation of a Harassment Officer (aptly named)some kind of novel idea. P White-Lambright has been in this capacity for years.From the MPS website, 2014 Student Handbook:
MPS has identified Assistant Superintendent Patricia White-Lambright as the Civil Rights Officer for the following:
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972;
Age Act.
Harassment
A. Non-Discrimination Policy:
State and Federal laws prohibit discrimination in education (see MA G.L. c. 622 and c. 282). In the Melrose Public Schools, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, gender identity, homelessness, religion, national origin, disability or sexual orientation ....
In addition: The MPS website designates the following personnel as contacts for complaints of Harassment, Retaliation or bullying:
Early Childhood Center – Donna Rosso, drosso@melrose.mec.edu
Horace Mann – Dr. Mary Ellen Carideo, mecarideo@melrose.mec.edu
Hoover – Jenny Corduck, jcorduck@melrose.mec.edu
Lincoln – Brent Conway, bconway@melrose.mec.edu
Roosevelt – Grace Basaile, gbasile@melrose.mec.edu
Winthrop – John Maynard, jmaynard@melrose.mec.edu
MVMMS – Jamie Parsons, jparsons@melrose.mec.edu
Melrose High – John Buxton, jbuxton@melrose.mec.edu
There are many years of documented failures by PW-L in obeying even the basic SPED laws which she was obligated to know and abide by. Look at SPED settlements over her many years here, because many are directly due to this woman's failure to ensure that IEPs were followed, among many other basic duties.
Look at the district's Coordinated Program Review, which should be online somewhere. Back when Joe C was super, the district was found to have been grossly in violation on many counts of this CPR, including civil rights, and yet this woman kept her job.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/pqa/review/cpr/reports/2011/0178.pdf
Look at the number of "Partially Implemented" "District Response required" entries, including quite a number of civil rights entries (like Hazing).
This whole "response" of CT and her legal hacks to the OCR finding of violation is really a bad joke.
PW-L is a finalist for superintendent in Tewksbury.
Hopefully, Tewksbury won't find out about PW-L's history/reputation in Melrose and she will get the job...Bye-Bye...
It is well known throughout the state in education circles how bad things are here and that the problem is with the out-of-control school committee chair (current/former), superintendent's office and city legal representatives. People see how this cabal treats their citizens, parents,children and laws with disrespect by just watching MMTV, reading the Globe Metro section, the local news papers (or just googling "Melrose Schools Civil Rights" or "city of Melrose OML violation or Melrose public records law violations") Lets face it, our city hall and educational "leaders" are the laughing stock of the education community.
Latest on the superintendent and city solicitor's public records anti-transparency dance:
http://melrose.wickedlocal.com/article/20151223/NEWS/151228124
Seems to me a log of incoming/outgoing phone calls is readily available from the phone carrier, how simpler could it be?
And is it too much to ask for a tally of billable hours to-date for legal representation for dealing with OCR related issues before you ask school committee members (almost on almost a monthly basis) for more money for legal defense?
"Under state law, the district is allowed to charge “a pro-rated fee based on the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee who is capable of performing the task.
The estimate" according to Taymore "includes $6,000 in attorney fees at a rate of $150 per hour, as well as about $800 apiece in labor performed by Information Technology staff and administrative staff."
Wait just one minute - according to the law, they aren't allowed to charge attorney fees for that.
And another $1600 for IT and Admin staff? That's 80 hours of work for a $20 an hour worker. 80 hours? 8 hours is more like it.
They REALLY don't want this information disclosed, do they? And they appear perfectly willing to violate the law to accomplish that.
Good resolution by CT. This was a losing battle from the outset. Many who are close to the situation and really know what is going on with these allegations compare it to what is taking place on college campuses with the black lives matter movement. Racism is the modern day McCarthyism. Allegations can be levied with impunity and the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” has been thrown out the window. If you are accused of racism, you are a racist. It is that simple in our this highly divided country of ours, thanks in large part to our President (but I’ll save that for a different string). I would just encourage you all to get a firm understanding of how the alleged wrongdoing this matter came about. Please be aware; if you are one that is using this to take aim against the city you should consider yourself a card carrying member of the black lives matters movement. There is not middle ground here.
I am one that sincerely hopes that civil lawsuits seeking damages are filed. If that is the case, I encourage the city’s defense lawyers to take a very aggressive posture against what many widely believe to be baseless allegations. Once out from under the grip of the hyper-liberal OCR and into the court system; the allegations will be subject to proper scrutiny and the city will be able to assert proper defenses. Until that time the city is required to deal with the OCR. With that being the case, they brought this to a proper conclusion. Again, dig deeper folks and you can quickly determine for yourselves what is legitimate and what is pure nonsense.
Spoken by a true city hall sycophant! You can now go back to your city hall or school bosses and tell them you did your thing to help him!
Maybe one event - maybe 2 events, but 3 events sent to OCR? Come on - you are stretching credibility by implying false racism! Nice try p now go back to work at city hall!
Spoken like a true RINO.
Quite the contrary - spoken by someone with the FACTs - you know - those things that you ignore or dismiss!
Find a high school student and ask them about the allegations or what really happened at the workshops. Get their perspective. You may be surprised that your "facts" are built on a bed of misinformation. You signed up for these BLM-inspired allegations without looking into facts, just like all of the liberal w*nkers on college campuses that sign up for the various protests and "hands up don't shoot" rallies. A true conservative would stand up to this nonsense. However, as a RINO you will gladly get behind this as it suits your hobby of taking shots at the district.
Dig Deeper in BS: As to you being in the know and close to the situation and saying that CT had a good resolution, who do you think you are kidding? There was a finding of RACISM by the feds. That is not a good resolution. CT and her administrators discriminated against a child. Your version of facts, being in the know and all, was found to be BS.
Reading these comments by defenders of CT and the Mayor D, seeing the embarrassing result for Melrose of the OCR finding, and reading the derogatory statements made against the complainant, suggests that the mayor, CT and the other so called democrats participating in this ugly spin are Democrats In Name Only. I guess that must be why Charlie Baker, a republican, is showing up for the Dolan inaugural. Maybe the other democratic big whigs in the state see D going down and are staying as far away from him as possible. Maybe next time Trump will come to support Dolan. CT and Dolan seem to act more like Trump than Obama.
LOL, check out the statistics before you go into hyper drive. Police kill twice as many unarmed white people each year than they kill unarmed black people...its a statistical fact that has been true for 20 years. Bottom line is that there are cops that are criminals that need to be prosecuted when they kill people they shouldn't. As far as Taymore is concerned...she tried to sweep a situation under the rug because she was friends with the teacher. She should have suspended Baline with pay pending an investigation, and then forced her into retirement. She owns the OCR finding all by herself. Baline turned the tables, went out on a disability for the rest of the year and then transferred to the H.S...then retired anyway. The whole thing was a disgrace...that Taymore didn't learn from...and now has the art teacher fiasco...and instead of putting the adults in racial sensitivity training, they are subjecting the kids who had nothing to do with either issue going through it. A complete joke and evidence that Taymore is in over her head with this job. These are the decisions that are supposed to be easy to get right. If you can't get this straight you can't do the job.
Where does your stat come from Truth Hurts?
If you had any question about whether the underlying allegations in this incident truly had merit or if they were more based on the culture of political correctness that is overtaking this city, please re-read the posts by "LOL" above. Those posts will tell you all you really need to know.
The PC culture has gone wild and it is now costing taxpayers of Melrose money. This has nothing to do with the Mayor or the SC and everything to do with the PC culture. If I had my way; I'd throw out all incumbents every election cycle. That won't change the fact the PC crybullies are running college campuses around the country and now, apparently run MHS as well.
From the article in the Free Press two years ago: "The matter was isolated," Van Campen said. "It was something that the district immediately addressed. There was really no need to notify parents en masse."
Those were the 2014 talking points: "We conducted a thorough investigation. Nothing happening here, folks. Pay no attention. Administration has it all handled. Don't look carefully. Move right along..."
New PR firm. New 2016 talking points: "The problem is all these students and teachers. They're the racist ones. They need to be trained. Feel sorry for us administrators that we have to deal with this. Don't blame us for anything bad that happened. It wasn't our fault. We're the victims here."
All that's changed in two years are the talking points. Same administrators. Same attitudes. Same ostriches throughout Melrose.
2 years ago the landslide defeat of the Override would probably not have happened...The SC antics, MPS dysfunction and BOA herd behavior has slowly but surely moved more Melrosians to question...the PR spin led by former Free Press reporter, Jessica Sacco shows that officials are worried (as they should be).....too little....too late.....
Jessica Sacco wrote the April, 2014 article in the Free Press. She didn’t do her homework back then and just reported the lines fed to her by Taymore and Van Campen after they couldn’t ignore the message board publicizing the racial incident.
Sacco quoted Van Campen as saying, "The teacher involved has a relatively unblemished record with the school district, is a very good teacher, and that based on what I’m hearing in the community, whatever may have transpired, is being completely misconstrued."
She must have known Van Campen didn't know whether she was a "very good teacher." She knew things weren't just misconstrued. It was all just the Melrose Spin.
Sacco went further to the dark side when she implied the student was a problem student. She reported, “He also declined to comment on whether the youth had a history of problematic behavior in the classroom…” Don't be surprised if she's named as a defendant in the victim's inevitable lawsuit. She disparaged him in the press through bringing up "problematic behavior" at all. If Van Campen or someone in the district fed her that line, they violated FERPA - another federal offense for Melrose.
Interesting that the PR firm Sacco works for now is being paid to spin this story. Sacco is still reporting the same crap fed to her by the city, but being paid directly for it this time. Another Free Press reporter’s “success” story, just like Brigid Alverson. Maybe the new guy will keep his journalistic integrity.
Jessica is a "friend" of Rob's.....