Cyndy Taymore got an award from her "Super" Colleagues. Now, I have heard everything! NUTS! Political agenda behind this action is multifaceted and questionable.

How very special. However, the United States Office of Civil Rights has bestowed their own "award" to this "leader" of our educational system in the form of the most dishonorable set of findings that have ever befallen the Melrose Public School system. The dishonor and shame this woman and her bosses on the Committee have brought to Melrose are truly unparalleled. Even the former "Red Cups," "Senior Skip Day," and other scandals of MPS yore pale by comparison with the "Kick a Ginger Day" and multiple OCR complaints that now define our school community in their unprecedented cruelty and abuse of power. Add to that the driving away of our great educators like Dr. Peterson and Mary Weeks, along with the influx and promotion of a parade of monsters (like Basile and Conway) and buffoons (like the Cyndy's choice of arts chair or biz mismanager Boy Wonder), or the failure to fire the asst super who's so botched up SPED and OCR "investigations" or the guidance head (both of whom should have been gone a long time ago as any competent super would have done), along with hiring the bottom rung of teachers throughout the district, and now it's a total package of awful, with only a small percentage remaining shining lights (who will no doubt be driven away eventually). By Cyndy's own reckoning post-evaluation, 20% of the staff are in Needs Improvement! That by itself is quite a designation, even without the huge shame of all the findings of broken laws and regulations and the pattern of discrimination now a hallmark of our "environment."

Sent from the mayor's blog. Just when you think things can't get more ridiculous, that uncouth, unpolished and deceptive woman receives an award. You can't make this stuff up.

I thought the low point had been reached this week when that unqualified phoney got sworn in FAST for the SC. McALlister Grande. Remember when her husband wrote a letter to the paper in support of her? He didn't mention that she is known for being self-serving to a degree that is high even for Melrose.

So gross.

With the amount of trouble that the administration is already in, you'd think they'd go to great lengths to make sure there wasn't even a hint of impropriety. Swearing in that charlatan (who hasn't bothered to be seen at any school committee meetings since she lost the election, and even before, was only there a couple of times ever!), at 9 a.m. Monday and not waiting for Secretary of State's appeal to be completed was a new low, even for this bottom-dwelling bunch. That woman they swore in was the one who had business ties with the Improv group that Taymore hired to do their $2,000 thing at the middle and high schools as a way of pretending to OCR that they were doing "Cultural Proficiency" (NOT), causing a bad situation to get much worse, to say nothing of the ethical conflict of the superintendent using this group tied to a SC candidate.

Now they want us to believe that all is kosher and wonderful. The stench grows stronger by the minute....

From MELROSE PATCH, 2/14/14. "Not sure what is going with Superintendent Cyndy Taymore and her unprofessional behavior and rant during last Tuesday’s school committee meeting. She displayed poor behavior in front of the cameras and before high school students present during the meeting. This all came about during the public session when Gerry Mroz discussed the signed teacher’s contract last September and his evaluation of it after obtaining a copy of it.

Gerry Mroz provided hard copies of his 4 page analysis of the contract to all school committee members in advance of the meeting and he briefly summarize his analysis during the public session indicating numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies in its content, as well as ambiguities which require additional clarity. He also noted that there were many inconsistencies between the Memorandum of Understanding, which the school committee had agreed to and the actual wording in the final written contract signed in September of 2013. For this Mr. Mroz was pilloried by Ms. Taymore using the word “****” so many times in her tirade and emphasizing how hard she and her staff had worked to move this school system forward even though under her tenure these past several years the percentage of students going onto 2 & 4 year colleges has been decreasing!"

So Gross is right! I hope the appeal isn't cancelled because of that unqualified (election) loser's swearing in.

If the city were so confident that their interpretation of the charter is correct, they would've waited.

No surprise that the schools couldn't even find a racial discussion group without cronyism.

This says it. There have been some pretty damaging and embarrassing revelations about school mismanagement for the past 12 or so years but this latest really is making many families with young children consider selling homes they love and giving up hopes they had when they plunked down way too much for mortgages here imagining that they were buying into a beautiful community with solid values and a first-rate school system (as the realtors claimed). Solid values, not so much. This is a community that looked the other way when a monster raped children right there in the center of the town at the YMCA for 14 years! The business leaders and politicians were only ever concerned about protecting the Y leadership that had allowed the atrocities to happen, not about the traumatized victims of that monster. (RD had one big Koumbaya assembly at Mem Hall and then it was all supposed to be done...."Moving Forward...." to quote his "exemplary" previous superintendent who botched things up for 7 years before Dolan finally cut him loose as the embarrassment he was right from the start.) Families with children young enough to move have every reason to be thinking about leaving because they were truly sold a bill of goods.

This is a community that didn't hit the streets in outrage demanding accountability from the middle school principal and superintendent when a dozen students were assaulted over the course of a day last fall during the Kick a Ginger Day, even though virtually every radio and tv news station was covering it. This is a community that apparently doesn't give the proverbial rat's a$$ that outrageously wrong and hateful conduct towards students and teachers (and parents!) by administration and a now retired head of the teacher's union has been condoned, along with outrageous and chronic abuses of power like those now being witnessed in the sham of a budget process. Instead of action there is silence and minimizing of the crimes and abuses by those in positions of influence and authority in the clubs, the Chamber, the temple, the PTO, and certainly in both of the political chambers. Go along to get along. This HAS to change. There is power and safety in numbers, which is how parents and citizens could tackle these problems if they decide they care enough.

This festering mess of a city government should be investigated top to bottom with a full mandatory forensic audit of the books demanded by the citizens, as in yesterday (and not the micky-mouse thing that Dolan calls an "audit")! And yeah, it will cost a big bundle that they'll have to dip into one of their hidden slush funds to pay for. So be it. This needs to happen!

Who cares if Melrose is now being investigated AGAIN and STILL by the federal government for outrageous abuses of an art teacher by administrators (arts dept chair and superintendent) and of retaliatory actions against complainants that are expressly forbidden by federal law (again, by administrators)? Answer: maybe a handful of concerned parents and citizens, but not so much as to raise a stink because they're not "ready" to go "that far." Are you kidding???? Heads should be rolling, and more to the point, heads would have long since been on a big platter in almost anyplace else for the kinds of abuses that have now been proven here! Some of the hardest work has already been done thanks to the courage of those who filed the first OCR complaint (Whoever you are, thank you!). It's going to take a large and sustained community effort before there is any chance of enough positive change to start turning things around where Melrosians can reasonably be proud of their community again. There are some small groups already mobilizing, but they all need to come together for the big statements that need to be made. A courageous trailblazer who is well known now has already paved the way with an impactful and true statement. Time for the rest of us to get our collective act together.

The only "award" this abusive hack who has so disgraced our community deserves is a letter informing her of her immediate removal from our payroll and indemnification policy.

Do a Google search on "taymore civil rights" and see the page fill up with damaging articles about the OCR coverups.

Apparently Guilfoil isn't so skillful in the PR spinning/scrubbing department!

This year Melrose Public Schools received positive results from the PARCC assessment with 5 of her 7 schools earning the highest performance classification for their scores.

Lincoln Elementary School was named a 2015 Blue Ribbon School by the Department of Education for achieving superior standards of academic excellence and closing the achievement gap. Two other elementary schools were commended for their high progress and meeting their gap-closing goals

Melrose is the only community in Massachusetts with three “commended” schools in the same district.

You can tell how bogus this award is by the fact they gave it to a school superintendent who over the past year was cited twice for civil rights violations and on top of that- 20% of her staff were determined to "Needs Improvement" in the latest round of performance evaluations. How do these facts indicate she cares about students and their educational development or that she is an outstanding mentor of her staff? Oh - wait - it says that her school committee thinks she is terrific - is this the same incompetent, no-transparency, limit public input by repressive "norms", demean public speakers at meetings, school committee? Just wondering!

And this is the woman leader that this association wants all other senior school leaders to emulate. Wow - no wonder her reaction was, "I was so surprised to receive this award"! Wow - so were we, Ms. Taymore!!!!!!

Obviously, this Association has sunk to some very low standards lately!

Rob must have bribed them from his slush fund to help prop up Taymore, the SC, and himself. The "award" is meaningless. The attempt to deflect from the truth about Taymore and her tenure as MPS Superintendent will be as successful as the Override. Cyndy will turn 68 on her next birthday. Time to retire and collect her big fat pension on the backs of the Melrose taxpayers. Get out of town Ms. Paymore.

All of you haters on this board are too wrapped up in your own delusions to realize that this is a big giant F.U. directed at you and the OCR for the nonsense that you have put the district through. I, like most taxpaying residents of Melrose, absolutely love it. The other superintendents certainly know what is going on around the state and have made themselves heard loud and clear. Good stuff

Actually it makes that superintendent organization look foolish and cheapens the award for future winners.

Like it or not she was cited for civil rights violations this year. Even with the PARCC results coming in high, this wasn't the best year for her to receive special recognition.

If the MASS organization wants to thumb their nose at the Federal government, fine but then the window dressing award of the Federal blue ribbon school should be discounted as well. If you search previous blue ribbon school winners, you'll see what I mean. That award is a joke. You wouldn't want to send your kids to most of the winners.

Sorry to burst your bubble - but there is a "click" among school superintendents and I will not be surprised to learn of the leaders of that Association getting together and agreed that Taymore is in trouble and needs help! By the way - the results of PARCC exams was only released recently - what about the previous 12 months of negative happenings? Again - its the "good old girl network" helping out their colleague! Any intelligent person can understand the real reason behind her award - except you.

Just like when former SC chair K Thorpe somehow got an award from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (that organization that helps school committees skirt OML and Public Records Laws with devious little strategies such as "Norms") when she was mired in the ugly OML violation(s) and public records law violations and was a hair's breath away from being charged by the AG for intentionally violating the Mass OML. Well, my friends: Same thing going on here with our superintendent of schools. Lots of very bad press lately with OCR charges, multiple investigations, public records law violations ......and suddenly she getting an award???? Please!

I always love it when this board spins any good news about the district or our city into some sort of horror story. It is completely unacceptable on this board to recognize anything good that comes out of this city. Unfortunately all it does is show the true colors of the posters of this board and really undermines the posters' credibility.

I'm guessing that "Me Too" and "Love It" do not have children currently in the schools.

I do have children in the schools. That is why I think it is so funny to see all of these people who don't have children in the schools (like MFD) twisting themselves into knots to criticize the schools when they actually have no direct experience with the schools. But I stopped taking this board seriously a long time ago (as do my friends who also have children in the schools) and find it entertaining - especially strings like this, where you have had to undermine not only Taymore and the administration (that is the norm), but also the federal government ("Federal blue ribbon school should be discounted as well")in the process because how could our school system possibly be commended for anything? How can our kids possibly achieve anything? No, go ahead and struggle to try explain any good news away - and remind us, for the umpteenth time on the board, all of the negatives. Thanks for reminding us on this string, because we hadn't read it on the other thousand posts on this board. But it makes for a good read.

Very odd that the Melrose superintendent would receive an award this year. Even if you are her fan, you must be surprised that this year is the year she is recognized. Test scores improved but she was found violating civil rights. That should,at best, be a wash. There must be at least one other school superintendent that's a member of that organization who finished the year with some positives and no big negatives.

My response was to the poster who said the superintendent's organization was giving a big FU to all the OCR nonsense. So the federal government is nonsense when they try to protect people's rights but it should definitely be applauded when they gave you a sign to put up at a troubled school?

Research blue ribbon school. Nationally. Then get back to me.

Take a look at today's Herald. Another parent is calling for a teacher to be fired, claiming that a racial epithet was used against their cherub. The PC world has gone wild and all of the Melrosemessages haters are on board this liberal train that is running amuk. This is a modern day version of McCarthyism. I am sure that the superintendents are sick of this nonsense (yes, nonsense) and this is their way of saying F.U. to the pc movement that is ruining our society. I say, good on them!

I have kids in the schools including the Blue Ribbon Lincoln and it has serious problems. My direct experience with the schools is why I voted No on the Override even though I could have afforded it. The Superintendent should retire. She is certainly old enough to go and if she cared about kids she would resign. She has repeatedly proved her incompetence. If ME TOO and her friends find MM entertaining (and the schools good), they are causing their children lasting harm. Parents of MPS students SHOULD take MM seriously. The information shared here helped defeat the unnecessary tax increase in the last election and will block any attempt to pass future Override initiatives.

Yes, I heard about this in the news. The teacher called to the girl: "What's up my n----r?" in front of 20+ students in a classroom full of her peers(sounds familiar?). Any parent (or superintendent or assistant superintendent or city solicitor )who thinks this is okay and is merely PC nonsense is sick in the head.[:|]

McCarthyism...believe anything you hear and pull out the "racist" label to try to end all discussions. It is a liberal agenda that is unfolding countrywide and we are seeing manifest here in Melrose and in other districts in the commonwealth. Save your histrionics and faux outrage, this is PC gone wild an all of you have signed up for it. Totally sickening.
I was dead set against supporting Trump. I voted Kasich in the primary but this whining PC nonsense that has crept into our culture is now impacting our pocketbooks. I'm voting for the orange, wig-wearing billionaire in November. If you are sick of this pc nonsense, you should too.

"Love it" apparently is preparing his/her Sig Heil for the actual fascist out there inciting hatred and violence, and thinks all this "PC nonsense" amounts to "McCarthyism," demonstrating his/her profound ignorance of all of it, starting with what defines McCarthyism. Just great. How to restore pride to Melrose in the face of the disgrace this administration has brought to it (by fake Dems who are anything but representative of true liberal American values). The local Machine calls itself Dem but in actuality also behaves in an authoritarian manner in which checks and balances have been stripped from any kind of meaningful role in local governance, fully condoned by the fake dems and spineless Repubs on the BOA and SC.

The truth is that partisanship shouldn't even enter the picture when it comes to local governance, especially school governance. Calling McCarthyism for a label of "racist" in the face of a federal finding of "a racially hostile environment" just demonstrates so much ignorance and refusal to confront the truth. This was a year and a half investigation based in fact. Even the offending teacher did not deny making racist remarks, in fact emphasizing them with new ones about "masters and slaves" when confronted. If you read the actual OCR Findings document, you would know this.

http://melroseschools.com/administration/presentations/ocr/

In no universe other than Melrose would any employee be allowed to tell a black person to "go back to the plantation" (or "come back") and not be fired on the spot. Similarly in no universe other than Melrose would an administrator who protected such an out-of-control employee be allowed to keep her job (let alone be rewarded with raises, extended contract, and labels of "exemplary" by the school committee). Further, in no universe other than Melrose would a School Committee that has looked the other way at these and many other egregious wrongs, in addition to overseeing a district where nearly 20% of the teaching staff (mostly hired by this same bad apple who drove away the good teachers simultaneously) were found to Need Improvement, would be allowed to stay in elected office. Beyond that, in no universe other than Melrose would a city solicitor who gave such obviously wrong and contemptuous advice (and over so many issues) that have been proven in higher jurisdictions (with more to come) and have cost the community so heavily would still be employed rather than brought up on charges before the Board of Bar Overseers. Same story with the "dream team" that the superintendent has used so heavily at taxpayer expense to defend indefensible conduct on her part and on behalf of a school committee totally out of control. In no universe other than Melrose would its educational foundation be made up of so many (not all of them!) willfully ignorant parents who support such unconscionable and illegal conduct by its school system, let alone be stumping for another override or debt exclusion or whatever new boondoggle the mayor is attempting to manipulate them into promoting to restore his damaged pride and to wreak vengeance on his opponents (real and perceived) after his recent hugely failed override.

Time for common sense to be restored to this once lovely and caring community.

The OCR provides the henchmen for the militant socialist agenda that defines today’s liberal democratic party. The organization is a liberal’s dream. It is completely outside the reach of the voting public yet gets to wield punitive powers against taxpayers. Both Trump and Cruz are leaning towards eliminating the Department of Education; the home of this unaccountable group. Vote republican to put an end to this nonsense.
In anticipation of the normal responses, no I do not work for city hall and I am not a Dolan supporter (another Democrat). I am just a taxpayer that is appalled to see a quasi-government entity able to wield power against the citizens and we have to sit here and take it like sheep. I am more appalled to see citizens support this nonsense. Vote for the orange umpa-loompa with the bad wig.

Being no supporter of the Dept of Education (either MA or US) generally (angered by No Child Left Behind and Common Core and the irreparable harm they have caused), I believe the US Office of Civil Rights to be a totally ethical and credible body. The recent OCR Findings regarding the Melrose Public Schools egregious conduct is an example of unbiased, totally professional work, quite carefully crafted (except for the Resolution agreement, which improperly focuses away from administration). In general it illustrates what is in fact the tip of the iceberg in terms of failure to abide by the law and cultural incompetence in the school administration (this was not the fault of the students, though they are bearing the brunt of the poorly crafted Resolution). It should be a huge wake-up call to the community. It is deeply disturbing that so many, including well-educated parents, would rather dismiss these findings than take heed and begin the long process of correcting what amounts to failures in the community, not just the schools, since the backwardness that allows such conduct to have occurred is embodied in the way the school administrators receive their power--from the elected bodies, from the Melrose Education Foundation, from the naive younger families who mean well but don't know enough to question, from the apathetic parents of older students, etc.

"Love it" is an example of the frightening types unleashed in the current political environment, someone whose views should be so far outside of anything considered reasonable (as in Weimar Germany) that they are not taken seriously. Alas these ravers must be taken seriously because the United States has descended into madness. This is due to the failure of both the Democrats and Republicans, whose machines are corrupt and imploding. The guy who wears a merkin on his head shouldn't be considered anything other than the buffoon that he is, except that he has given the ignorant angry ones (admittedly justifiably frustrated and angry in the overall sense due to the colossal failures of both political parties) a figurehead on which to hang their political needs. This figurehead is now endangering not just the United States, but in fact the world, just as was the case in Weimar Germany. It's really very frightening and disturbing, and it all should be a call to action for every one of us.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/17/fascism_can_it_happen_here
"a short history of the rise of fascism in Germany: "In the election of 1924, [Hitler] did very poorly, for a marginal party. Then you have the Depression in 1929 and 1930. ... There’s this huge economic crisis with tens of millions unemployed, and there’s also a governmental deadlock. You cannot get any legislation passed." Paxton continued, "The German Weimar Republic really ceased to function as a republic in 1930, because nothing could be passed. ... So, between 1930 and 1933, President von Hindenburg ruled by decree. And the political elites are desperate to get out of that situation. And here’s Hitler, who has more votes by this time than anybody else. He’s up to 37 percent. He never gets a majority, but he’s up to 37 percent. And they want to bring that into their tent and get a solid mass backing. And so ... they bring him in."

The partnership that the German elites forged with Hitler and his Nazi Party didn’t work out quite the way they hoped. He took power by subterfuge and by force, arrested and killed his opponents, and plunged Europe into the deadliest war in human history.

Donald Trump is fanning the flames of bigotry and racism. He is exploiting the fears of masses of white, working-class voters who have seen their economic prospects disappear. Should the Republican nominating process end in a contested convention this summer in Cleveland, Trump told CNN Wednesday morning, "I think you’d have riots. I’m representing ... many, many millions of people.""


and now to return to the issue of the thread: Taymore's award:

Not credible. A disgrace to the awarding institution, that obviously did not do its due diligence and/or doesn't care if it's rewarding someone who has been found severely wanting in everything that should matter first and foremost: ethical, responsible, legal leadership that is always about the best interests of children. 19 percent of her educational staff (by her own definition mostly hired by her, as poorly qualified rookies) Needs Improvement. So she managed to corral enough resources the last 4 years to marshal her teachers into teaching to the tests (some of them, certainly not the national tests like SAT and ACT where our district is still and increasingly miserable) well enough to garner some decent scores. That shows what the M.A.S.S. is really all about, which has little if anything to do with what is in the best interests of students. It's all about patting their cronies on each others' backs, and to heck with the kids.

This would be laughable if it weren't such an indictment of those making these preposterous claims.

from the mayor's blog
http://www.cityofmelrose.org/2016/03/16/leadership-award-presented-superintendent-taymore/

"The following was taken from the award presentation of March 15, 2016:
Cyndy exemplifies what we want and need from a school leader – She is mission driven with an unwavering commitment to that mission that is inclusive and designed to meet the needs of all children. She believes that all children can learn and to that end, she insists that all who work with her embrace that commitment as a core value. Cyndy, as Melrose Superintendent, has transformed her district with her focus on children.
Cyndy also sets and models high expectations in terms of quality of work, effort and professionalism. To that end Melrose is trying to create a self-perpetuating culture of professional learning that is independent of those who have led and implemented these changes by creating more teacher leaders. She knows she’s not perfect and continually self reflects in order to improve her own practice—she models that for all. She provides professional development to all staff that ensures staff members have the support and supervision that they need to fulfill their responsibilities.
In addition to her leadership expertise, she knows curriculum and instruction, knows how to build a budget that ensures that core curriculum is delivered and uses a wide variety of resources to accomplish her curricular and instructional goals.
Her School Committee has the deepest respect for her and her leadership and has offered these words of tribute:
When Cyndy came to Melrose she brought a relentless determination to improve academic outcomes for all students. She truly wants the best for every child. She has created an outstanding team that is devoted to her and our mission.
Being in classrooms and seeing children is her most joyful and rewarding moments. Each month she brings to our board meeting, a principal and students so she can showcase their work and culture. It sets a tone at our board meetings that we are all about children.
They concluded their remarks by saying Cyndy is authentic, true to herself and our community. She is compassionate and loving with passion and determination. She is a manager, a leader and a visionary. We are incredibly grateful and proud to call her our Superintendent, but most importantly to call her our school partner and friend.
Hearing this from her committee clearly displays her outstanding leadership abilities.
In addition to her responsibilities as Superintendent, she has been an amazing leader as Chair of the Professional Development Program for MASS. She does whatever it takes to ensure that the annual Executive Institutes, Leadership Forums and Professional Member Services are successful. She a leader within the Merimack Valley Roundtable and has been a key contributor to the MASS writing team on the paper on Social Emotional Learning.
In Melrose, she works with Rotary, The Chamber of Commerce, The Human Rights Commission and other city organizations to partner with them in support of students.
As you can see, Cyndy is an amazing leader who conducts herself with determination, passion and expertise. She is a model for all women leaders.""

Ms. Taymore should have turned down the award. She should have said although she worked very hard (that year) the issues that happened at the schools under her watch do not qualify her to win a LEADERSHIP award and she continues to work hard to fix those issues. That would be the mark of a TRUE leader.

And what a bunch of bull**** to bring up PARCC results as a way to justify the award. What Taymore has done is instruct her teachers to TEACH TO THE TEST. Elementary school students practiced relentlessly last year. A true test would be to go back today and test those same kids and see what they retained. What real learning happened?

Instead let's take a look at the colleges that are listed for our graduates compared to other towns since Ms. Taymore has been here. Let's look at the grades our teachers received on their assessments. Or better yet, if you are a fan of tests as a measurement tool look at the MHS SAT scores!

Yes, Ms. Kourkoumelis spelled out exactly how poorly Melrose students fare when they have to take national standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, tests that measure the collective education of the whole system grades K-12 and that measure critical thinking ability (clearly a huge failing in our "assessment"-crazed, teaching-to-the-local-tests dumb-down mentality). Granted there was an improvement in Advanced Placement, though only in some classes--think Dr. Peterson, who not only taught multiple AP tests but also the Saturday classes and after-school/before-school classes even for those who weren't her students! Next year's results (this fall) will be revealing following the resignation of Dr. P (after she was harassed and abused by this administration) last June. Many of the other AP classes (like Foreign Language) were as disastrous as they ever were, and some even worse. PARCC results mean nearly nothing in the overall scheme of things. Same with that bogus "blue ribbon" crap (that the middle and Lincoln schools got when there were educational atrocities well known to all). Ask this year's seniors (incl Nat Honor Society supposedly top performers) how many were rejected outright, even at the state schools? It's a huge elephant in the room that many parents and students know about but which the administration will make sure to hide.

Go back in the records (or write to CKK) and find Ms. K's full evaluation of the superintendent (that included SAT scores over many years), that parent Ms. Colleen Murphy so eloquently analyzed in a nearly full-page Free Press article.

Shame on RD for publishing such unmitigated political garbage and furthering the disgrace.

"Ms. Taymore should have turned down the award. She should have said although she worked very hard (that year) the issues that happened at the schools under her watch do not qualify her to win a LEADERSHIP award and she continues to work hard to fix those issues. That would be the mark of a TRUE leader. "

There really is no honor among thieves....

The liberal modus operandi...label someone a racist or nazi in attempt to discredit arguments. America is getting fed up. Voters, don't give into this McCarthyism. Vote Trump.

A reminder that those "issues" were of her own making. Mind you that there are still other much more serious "issues" concerning Civil Rights violations by school district staff, administrators and their counsel against families with SPED children that are simply outrageous and that have not yet been disclosed to the OCR or to the public (yet) but are on the record at local district court houses (Salem), and MPD that would simply blow your mind.

I did a little research into this organization that gave Taymore this special award, "Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Women’s Educational Leadership Network", which is part of the larger group called, "Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents" - and what I came up with is fascinating. Evidently the group that gave her the award has been around about 11 years. The link to the main group is: http://events.massupt.org/event/90. There is not much info on this women's group located at this website and they don't even mention this so called, "important award" that Taymore received from this subgroup. I find that very curious. Actually, I couldn't find any reference to previous awards on the website. It's as if a small group gets together and says, "Who needs our help for special recognition". They guessed right for 2016 since Taymore needs all the good press she can get.

I also checked out the previous 7 winners of this award listed in the city announcement and discovered some very interesting things about them: 3 out of the 7 winners (not including the negatives surrounding Taymore tenure at Melrose)had negative issues associated with them based on newspaper accounts and these I have listed below.

Now more than ever, there is reason to believe that our school committee actively pursued this award for Taymore to offset her negative press - but I am not sure it is going to work!

Former award winners with negative press accounts:

Meg May-Brown http://westport.wickedlocal.com/article/20151115/NEWS/151117273/?Start=1
Karla Brooks Baehr http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_7890155
Bobbie D’Alessandro http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/27/fired-school-leader-took-many-risks/

Thanks, MFD. Very informative and relevant! Looked at one of the links and it came up with the following, indicating that Cambridge parents are NOT apathetic, and their School Committee actually responds to the issues at hand in an appropriate manner, unlike our disgrace of a committee here in Melrose.


Fired School Leader Took Many Risks
By Claire A. Pasternack, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER November 27, 2002
Bobbie J. D’Alessandro sat in her snappy red suit and high heels awaiting the verdict on her time at the helm of Cambridge’s public schools.
But last week she faced the pent-up frustrations of the school committee—confronting nearly unanimous accusations that her processes took too long, accomplished too little and left too many people out.
She acknowledged that, if the committee kept her on, she would change her ways to be more in line with the Cambridge style of involving parents at every step of the way.
Criticism from Price and others centered on what D’Alessandro hasn’t done—communicating with parents and keeping up with the school committee’s demands.
At each point, D’Alessandro assembled a temporary coalition of supporters, but gradually her relations with the people who run the schools—not just the school committee but the vocal parents it answers to—deteriorated.
In recent weeks, hundreds of parents have turned out at committee meetings to protest the merger proposals. They used hours of the public comment periods to complain they had not been notified of changes that would affect their schools. Some had gone as far as to suggest that D’Alessandro be fired.
“I don’t think she had the ability to work with parents,” says parent Craig Kelley. “She never ever responded to our communications to her, not once.”
“I think it’s pure and simple accountability,” he says. “Back in June, it was ‘I just need a few more weeks,’ and it was five months.”


What is most interesting and relevant (there's that word again) is that "hundreds of parents have turned out at committee meetings" and "They used hours of the public comment periods to complain they had not been notified of changes that would affect their schools."

Here in Melrose we have a committee that makes sure that Public Participation (Comment) is as limited as possible, even eliminated, as in the fake "Budget" hearing last Tuesday, that Driscoll and Casatelli made sure included only the carefully screened note cards with questions from the public, not anything approaching a real Public Participation, let alone a real Dialogue. And the only time more than a couple of people even show up at meetings is when MEF sends out its Talking Points and Marching Orders to show up with prescripted messages, fake "questions" designed to manipulate the "positioning," attacks (like Grover's disgraceful attack on Mrs. K last fall). The exception was last June when there was an overflow crowd there with fired and beloved art teacher, Kristen McCarthy, the one who was sanctioned in her evaluation by the arts chair DiFruscia ($75K new hire of Taymore) to "separate the students of color" which that ethical teacher refused to do (hence the additional cases that the federal Office of Civil Rights has agreed, after preliminary investigation, were legitimate cases to open but which the administration and School Committee are continuing to try and keep hidden). That day the Aldermanic Chamber was full, with parents, community members, and students, including the most eloquent Isabella, who spoke from her wheelchair to the Committee as Thorp shamefully tried to silence the group and Ms. McCarthy from pleading their case.

Oh yes, in Cambridge they dare to use the word "accountability," and there it means something, as does the word "communication"! Apparently Cambridge doesn't feel the need to use Guilfoil or any other PR spin machine to obscure and reconfigure the facts.

Here's another of the awardees of this superintendent award just bestowed on our own.... Gawd! As a parent I became aware of a very serious date-rape incident involving our students. Instead of dealing with it appropriately, our administration made sure to have the whole thing squelched. The safety and well-being of our students is definitely compromised in a big way under this administration!

Disturbing to see some familiar themes and a familiar name in the article below.

Baehr may face questions on handling of assault case in '91
By Hillary Chabot, hchabot@lowellsun.com

BOSTON -- When state education commissioner candidate Karla Brooks Baehr is interviewed by three panels on Monday, questions may surface about how she handled three sexual-misconduct cases during her 19 years as a school superintendent.
In the most controversial case, Baehr gave a glowing recommendation in the early 1990s for a principal accused of raping a 13-year-old girl. Baehr told The Sun this week that she would handle the case differently today.
Baehr, Lowell's superintendent since 2000, is one of three finalists being interviewed by the state Board of Education to replace David Driscoll, who stepped down Aug. 31. Other finalists are Richard Laine, education director at the Wallace Foundation in New York, and Ohio Senior Associate State Superintendent Mitchell Dan Chester.
Baehr was superintendent in Wellesley in 1991 when she forced Fiske Elementary School teacher Edward Schofield to resign in light of sex-assault charges. However, under advice from town counsel, Baehr did not alert the full school board, only the chairman.
Baehr wrote Schofield a job recommendation that he then used to get a job as assistant superintendent in Glastonbury, Conn. But Baehr failed to alert Glastonbury officials about the allegations made against Schofield, also under the advice of town counsel.
Baehr notified Board of Education members about the 1991 incident after she was told the story would run in The Sun today.
Carey, now a psychiatric nurse with children of her own in the public schools, said she went to Baehr in 1991 because she didn't believe the man who raped her should be working near children.
Carey is concerned Baehr may make faulty decisions if she lands the job as education commissioner and is charged with the safety of Massachusetts students.
"I'd be very distressed to have her in a position of authority over children," Carey said. "You hope that someone in a position like that is strong enough to stand up for the right thing."
"We'll look at that in some detail, because we'll be looking at judgment and judgment concerning laws and regulations," Reville said when asked about Baehr's actions in 1991. "I see no cause for alarm in what I've reviewed so far. I think there were a different set of standards and range of options for superintendents at the time."
"I personally felt we couldn't lay that at Karla's feet. Our role is to set policy, and I felt we shared some of that responsibility," Doherty said. "This incident precipitated a whole investigation into our hiring practices and we saw several gaps. I think we really learned a lot."

Looked at another of the M.A.S.S. awardees. Wow. Here we are in "Lawnville" with the recent line-up of Rosemary, Joe, and Cyndy. Wonder why MASS didn't give Joe one of these stellar, super well vetted awards? He didn't have even one OCR complaint. Just dozens of expensive lawsuits and grievances, but then so does CT. CT only "tells" to her SC chair (who probably wants to know if CT goes #1 or #2), but then makes sure to have her crack legal team keep the rest of the stench under wraps from the rest of the committee and public. Too bad that so much of it is a matter of public record and either has to come out or seeps out despite their best efforts at camouflage and PR spin (Guilfoil seems to be doing a particularly bad job of it lately).
By Marc Munroe Dion
Opinion Columnist
November 15. 2015 11:00AM
Livin' and Dion: Where's Fall River's 'super' superintendent?
Fall River School Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown is, according to reliable sources, a finalist for the superintendent's job in Barnstable, a place unlike Fall River in nearly every way.
In Fall River, we will whoop and holler when she leaves because, like any other city official, she is widely regarded as an agent of the Devil.
Mayo-Brown will continue to be the worst superintendent in recorded history until her successor is hired, at which point the new hire will become the worst superintendent in recorded history.
And so it goes ...
Already, in the dim little corners of our vinyl siding and gray granite city, the theories are cooking.
“She’s just taking that job to get more money,” someone will say in a disapproving tone, as though getting a better job was proof of felonious intent.
You know who keeps a Fall River School Department job for 40 years?
School janitors whose uncle got ‘em the job stay for 40 years.
Clerical workers whose mothers (surprise!) also happen to have a clerical job in the School Department.
Those people stay forever.
You know why?
It’s because they know what janitors make at the Swansea Mall. It’s because they know what clerical workers with a high school diploma make at insurance companies.
If you got your School Department job by holding a sign, you’re gonna stick around forever.
There’s no guarantee that Barnstable will hire Meg May-Brown, but she’s a finalist for the job, a fact which does not square with the perception of her as “worst in recorded history.”
No matter.
If Barnstable hires Mayo-Brown, we holler, “Good riddance! She was a JOKE!”
If they don’t hire her, we snark, “She couldn’t get another job! Only in Fall River!”
It’s really a pity you can’t recall or vote out a school superintendent. If you could, there’d be another pony on Fall River’s political carousel.
As for Mayo-Brown, if she doesn’t get this job, she’ll probably get another job out there in Lawnville...
I’ll be roasted for that statement because in Fall River, any public utterance about anything from education should, at the very least, contain the phrase, “world class.” This indicates great positivity on the part of the writer and is a shield against criticism.
If Mayo-Brown leaves, we will find a new school superintendent. If I were doing the hiring, I’d look for one who was strong on accounting and fairly callous about retaining every single employee forever.
But I’m a dreamer and I lack the positive spirit we need to build a world-class school district.

"positivity" Funny that. Sadly so typical and sick.

Gee, Rob and Margaret and gang didn't try to charge $8000 for the piece about this award, now did they? Did "Vanny" (our brilliant legal eagle whose advice has netted the OCR fiascos) vet the gush piece Robbie put on his blog? Or maybe that was Brigit. In any case, it seems to be backfiring. Quick, get the Scrubbing Team on it.... oh that's right, Jorgie doesn't know how to do that (or how to protect/appropriately back up the Police Department server or get appropriate cost estimates or make sure phone systems stay on at the middle school (Can you spell Public Safety?) or really anything other than how to get himself a lot of dough and rep for strutting around like the Big Man and doing a lot of nothing, costing the taxpayers every time he sneezes).

And these "Positive" Self-appointed Protectors (not) of Melrose reputation are busy trying to smear CKK, with overheard Robbie remarks that she "must be terribly ill" or "something must be terribly wrong with her family" because surely that statement could not have been why she resigned. Nothing sacred on the 2nd floor. They will literally go to any lengths and say absolutely any thing that they perceive will fulfill their sick and illegal agendas. She got them good, though, and there's not a darn thing they can do to change her real impact. They don't understand the meaning of public trust, how it's earned, and how they have botched it irrevocably in every way.

So awards for Taymore it is. That way they can pretend they are all one happy family when Robbie has his inevitable final temper tantrum (which we can hear because he literally screams at CT) and gives her the boot, aka makes sure she "retires," with parties, etc., and goes onto being a consultant for DESE just like Joe did, continuing to pollute the educational world with the vile incompetence while soaking taxpayers at any and every opportunity. Uncle Dave will work with Margaret to make sure it all sounds "positive," after all.

Oh and watch out because Mr. Big Man MVMMS of KickaGingerDay "leadership" wants to be a super, and Angels-in-her-head wants to be a Biz Mgr. With "no time" for enough good candidates, wouldn't be surprised to read about waivers from Ethics requirements being sought, etc. Watch out. Just when you think things can't get worse....

Thank you for this important research MFD. [8-)][8-)]

I'd started looking on the organization's website but didn't see anything. Meant to get back to it so thank you. I suspected that there was going to be some glaring problem with this award. It didn't make sense that such a troubled person would receive it. It's a pretty low bar to set to find a person without negative civil rights findings in the same year that they get honored but yet they chose this person.
FYI -- Fall River sounds like Melrose.

The mayor's blog press release reads like a defense to all problems that Taymore has created. Did the PR agency craft it? Because it's deliberately explaining away how truly awful she is.

[:-|]

My guess - the award wording has all the earmarks of Brigid. No one is better at this than she! The school committee - really Margaret Driscoll, with all her educational connections probably got this done. I can think of about half dozen local supers that deserve the award more than Taymore.

Remember one thing that is a truism in state education - it's who you know that counts, not what you know!

If education was run as a business - this crap wouldn't go on because there would be accountability. That's why when someone says that government should control healthcare, education, the internet, etc. offer them medical assistance first!

It amazes me how much you all care about this award, especially since you went out of your way to discredit it and say it is so meaningless. Are you afraid that unless you attack this award, people may think that our superintendent is doing a good job? By your own accounts, anyone who has kids in the school system would automatically understand how terrible the school administration is. There should be no need for this long email string to go on about how terrible things are and how meaningless this award is. It makes it sound like you are worried that there actually think there IS some credibility to this award, the way you are discounting it so much - to quote Shakespeare - "the lady doth protest too much, methinks?"

You don't need to go back to Shakespeare to find a reason for our thoughts about this award. It is quite simple - and timing of this award is suspicious to say the least. If you took the time to go back to my references of some of the those who were presented this leadership award in the past, which you won't do because it does not fit your narrative - you would understand why many of us think that this is a setup. Also, just think of this - over the past 4 years Taymore has somehow managed to get our district involved in expensive OCR investigations with several more pending - this district had its first level 3 school, and we have had exodus of good teachers - some of our best - from this district under her tenure. So if you read the award presentation and you compared it to the above information - any sane and reasonable person might question the legitimacy of this award. One of our best Committee members recently resigned her position because of what she has personally seen going on in the school district under Ms. Taymore and this school committee and that speaks volumes by itself.

I only see people expressing surprise that this superintendent was chosen for this award at this time which is quite reasonable to question.

Although the school district overall had some successes recently such as the PARCC scores, the superintendent herself can be directly linked to some serious recent failures. The civil rights violations being the most obvious but the failed override with her good ideas for teacher coaches and other nonsense, sits at her door as well as the mayor's.

Since you know that the community is going to hear about how Melrose has an "award winning" superintendent, it is only prudent to investigate what this award is really about. If the award is on the up & up, pristine, then there shouldn't be a problem with people looking for further information.

There is a problem with being unable or unwilling to withstand scrutiny which pervades this community in many ways.

Don't ask questions. Don't inquire. Just go along with what the big guys are saying. Research? Who needs it? Facts? Tedious and might disprove someone's personal agenda. Shut up and go along is the mantra even when it flies against all reason.

Otherwise you will be ostracized and your property tax bill will go up. Water bill too.

Looking carefully into this award is a rational act. Too bad if that makes you uncomfortable.

Exactly right.