As a long time Melrose resident, I'd like to understand the issues being discussed in these threads, but it seems I've come late enough to the conversations here that it's hard to figure out what the underlying issues and facts actually are.
So I'd like to ask if someone could please do something that I think would benefit many in the community: namely, in this new thread, could someone spell out in a simple, specific, factual, respectful and civil way, the issues causing such concern regarding the schools and school committee? Please refrain from value judgments, political commentary, editorializing, making derogatory comments, personal insults etc. Just a simple, factual list of the issues. This might allow more people to understand and evaluate what is going on and participate in finding solutions. Thank you.
Try reading the newpaper(s).
Just google "Melrose Civil Rights" or Melrose OCR" or "Melrose OML violations" or read the Mass Secretary of State's public records enforcement letters to Taymore regarding repeated failure to abide by MA public records laws. If you want to dig deeper, watch previous school committee meetings on line and see how certain school committee members, the mayor and the mayor's employees publicly harass school committee members and members of the public who ask important questions about the corruption going on within our school committee, school administration and city hall. This should keep you busy. But if you want the summary, just read Melrose Messages.
Who do you think that you're fooling? It shows the power of this message board that you would even come here. [:))]
"If you truly can't figure out what people are talking about then maybe you need a learning coach. Or maybe some of your MEF friends can help you understand since you sound so puzzled. Heinous troll."
FYI, Paymore's PR/propaganda coinage would be "academic interventionist" or "instructional coach".
Heinous troll is correct! Not worth a response! Just one of the cabal trying to demonstrate that they are on the moral "high road". Epic fail!
Yup. These tools couldn't find the moral high road if it was marked with a ten foot illuminated sign.
This Dolan at his most devious and deceitful. The answer is still no.
You people sound just plain mean. No wonder everyone hates this message board.
To those promoting themselves as The 18 Standing up for Cyndy and Rob in your pompous "Letter to the Community", shame on you!
News Flash: You lost. And you continue to lose. And NO, we will not vote for another override or debt initiative or whatever scam you try to put forward about your trumped-up million-dollar-plus "deficit" that isn't a "crisis" (remembering that $3.5 million-dollar surplus revealed just a few months ago!).
Your characterization of the overwhelming majority of us as "a vocal handful of residents has been calling for the superintendent to resign" demonstrates that you continue to be as out of touch with this community as you were when you and your disgraceful "leaders" were certain you would have a decisive victory for the override last November. That reference to "a vocal handful" is as pathetic as Don L's "little band of malcontents" sour grapes reference during the multiple times he lost in the voting booths. Even most of the confirmed skeptics are now more convinced than ever that the dark truths put forward by our real community heroes and heroines are entirely credible. Most of us believe that CT isn't the only one who should be forced to resign, furthermore.
Characterization (glorification) of yourselves as "as people who have chosen to work in informed and productive ways to make our system of public education better" would be laughable if you weren't such a divisive and in fact destructive force in the community.
Going back to the "a highly visible selection process" for the superintendent is scraping pretty low for your story line, especially considering how many violations of the law occurred during that process, despite the "expert" guidance of the mayor's own city solicitor and the Search Queen Driscoll herself. It was a total disgrace of a process (and it included several now either on the SC or in the Ed Foundation and authors of this silly letter), and the damaging results have spoken for themselves, over and over again. Your reference to the "now ex-committee member ...at the forefront of calls for Ms. Taymore to resign" was meant to discredit her, but in fact you only discredit yourselves. Most of us know exactly how tirelessly that former member worked on behalf of the real best interests of students and the community, not the phony baloney mentioned with every breath of the charlatans in charge.
Your "coverage of bad news tends to trump that of quiet, steady, day-to-day good news" is just another trite stupidity thrown in there to try in infer that those of us who are justifiably dissatisfied and/or worried for the well-being of our students because of the bad conduct and incompetent management of the district are somehow only interested in the "bad news," while you are about promoting the "good news." This backwards thinking is at the core of so much that is wrong with the current toxic Melrose.
"The debate is not “if” but where and how potential budget cuts and fee increases will affect our students, our schools and our city." That's if and only if you buy the crap that any intelligent person (not looking for a patronage job in the city or favors/appointments from Rob) can see right through when it comes to the contrived "budget deficit" that this group wants us to believe is a real thing.
"our community continues to process the aftermath of a racial discrimination incident" Oh really? Like all those posting the disgusting bigotry on the Facebook pages? Exactly what do you mean by "continues to process the aftermath"? That is ridiculous. Where is the real outrage for crimes committed against the most basic and sacred laws of this country? How exactly are the Phony 18 processing this "negativity," as it were? Note: They just want it all to Go Away, right along with the talk about changing the racist Red Raiders logo that should have happened a long time ago.
"We call for less grandstanding, less verbal bomb-throwing, less vitriol and the elimination of unsubstantiated claims..." Well then, why don't you ask Rob and Cyndy to cut the crap and stop grandstanding, stop swearing at and mocking the public, stop putting forward unsubstantiated spin instead of facts? Your attempt to smear the one person who was unfailingly polite and always grounded in the facts is as revolting and without merit as every other crap-laden claim in the article. (Note: for those who can't comprehend, that isn't a vitriolic statement. It's just fact. It's your own fault that it smells bad.) While you're at it, you can tell Margaret that her teary-eyed letter/proclamation about Cyndy last Tuesday was a total embarrassment and a perfect example of shameless grandstanding, as were the downright ridiculous comments of Rob, Chris, Jess at the last SC meeting.
Wow, wow, wow. Guilfoil really won't be able to find a rug big enough to sweep this disgusting garbage under.
@The Real Community, thank you for taking the time to post.
Your well reasoned analysis is appreciated.
Those MEFers do not want to quit. Gagliano, Grover, Christopher, the lot of them. They are guilty of all they accuse "the community" of. And more because most folks on here don't benefit directly with jobs, favoritism given and other forms of patronage that those MEF signatories do.
Maybe a full disclosure of their not so hidden interests and agendas should have been required by The Weekly News?
Thank you, "Guessing Here"! Means a lot!
I'm not sure the MEFers understand just how serious the civil rights violations perpetrated by the upper rungs of the school administration (with some help of the city's legal counsel) are. There are many valid complaints that were filed by parents with the administration over the last three years that were simply never investigated nor processed and resolved with the required outcome letter to complainants, the reason being that the school administrators retaliated and intimidated parents into going away. However, those formal complaints remain open according to OCR guidance until the school department completes the investigation, shares it with the complainants and issues an outcome and resolution letter. Formal complaints can be filed with The Office of Civil Rights within 60 days after completion of the school's institutional grievance process (investigation/outcome letter being issued). Given that the current administrators and city solicitor have been using the illegal "attack the complainant" strategy for several years now against those filing formal complaints through the school's grievance process, and never issuing outcome letters, there are potentially dozens of possible OCR complaints in the offing within the next several months. The current administrators would be wise to revisit these formal complaints, do the required investigations and come to an equitable agreement with these victims before they end up filing with OCR, given that the OCR complaint process is as easy as signing your child up for youth sports these days.
(http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html
Cause: Teacher tells a student to go back to the plantation, and not only gets away with it, but is moved to the HS and then allowed to retire.
Effect: The Twitter and Instagram posts disclosed today.
Is that what they mean by a "teachable moment"?