Unfortunately you seem to suffer from reading comprehension. Ignoring, by your own account you have never been involved at any level with administration, SC or principals. You were thrilled with your experience and that of your children.

Yet, now you take the time to read a very specific message thread. A thread that begins with a posting of how excellent and amazing the letter authored by Colleen Murphy is. A letter that calls out, with actual facts, what the issues are in the Melrose school system.

The question put to you, Ignoring (which is ironic), is WHY are you involved now? Instead of answering that question, you deflected - maybe just so you could get in that word HATERS again?

This is not about anyone else on the site, or their opinions. I asked you why you personally are involved now, reading a thread written by a woman who is clearly unhappy with the school system. So there it is again. Will you answer?

My god you Melrose Haters are ignorant. From your ignorant point of view anyone who doesn't hate Melrose shouldn't be here, and if you don't go to SC Meetings or talk to principals you aren't invested...so clearly it is beyond your grasp that anyone can comment on a blog, as that is the purpose, and many non-haters comment on this site. You people just don't like it. I am on this site to offer a dissenting point of view. Pretty simple and obvious to anyone who understands the purpose of a blog. I know it is difficult for you to comprehend, so read it a few times. Sometimes its easy to forget that ignorant people don't see the obvious and you probably shouldn't be faulted for that, but its also the same reason why you can't figure out why there are many parents happy with the Melrose Public School system. I think the title of my post may have been over your head, and you are too dumb to infer the meaning on your own so I hope that this clearly spells it out for you. If you want I can go back and underline the answer and put it in caps.

You have resorted to stealing my lines. You have become a bore. I'll finish with this...I sent my kids to Melrose High School for free. They loved their time there. We loved having them there. They played sports, participated in after school stuff and made great friends. They both got into excellent colleges, my next is well on the way to doing the same. They took honors and AP classes right through high school and did great in them, got 4's and 5's on the AP exams, and were well prepared for their college classes. We wouldn't change a thing if we could do it all over again. I cringe every time I see or hear of one of their former elementary school classmates whose parents broke the bank at MC, AP or SJP sending their kids to UMASS, UNH, Merrimack, Assumption or Stonehill...schools MHS grads get into every year...or brining them back to MHS their junior or senior year...or worse, the kids who complain about the lack of connection to high school after they graduate from the Charter School or a Private School. Many of you haters are way to smart for your own good. MHS is a great place to send your kids to school and it has nothing to do with the Mayor or the SC or anyone else you fools spit your venom at. MHS is filled with parents who brought their kids back because they foolishly bought into the ignorance that permeates through this site, only to find out that the grass wasn't greener anywhere else. Eat your heart out. I know it kills you.

"Many of you haters are way to smart for your own good."

Considering how poorly "Ignoring" (Vuvu) writes, it's no surprise that she thinks MHS is great. The recurring obsession with parochial/private/charter schools combines in a circular mode with the failed grammar, punctuation and minimal vocabulary of this poster to form the total clusterf&&k of ignorance paired with a touch of mental illness and lot of provincialism that are the hallmark of this poor soul. Go Raid Raiders!

Don't give Ignoring the Obvious any more attention. This person is blind as to what is actually taking place at MHS at the moment. This person is happy with the education his or her children got 10+ years ago from Melrose High. I am glad it worked out for your family. The fact is, you are happy with the quality of the education provided IN THE PAST.

The numerous present day issues are significant, complex and varied. As a parent of students at MHS, I have attended many parent teacher conferences throughout the years. In fact, I sat across from the smug bigot herself when one of my kids was in 8th grade only two short years ago. My child and then classmates heard what was said and understood the context. Sad state of affairs. We and other families reported it promptly, even though the principal and administration tried to sweep it under the rug and deny that it happened. Unacceptable. What was said and how it was mishandled, by everyone involved. A simple -- we handled it wrong and regret that it was handled poorly would go a long way...but no, we don't hear healing words. People are human and mistakes will be made along the way. It is how you handle them that defines character. And leadership. Yet this administration continues to bungle the required "conversations on race" that are part of the OCR punishment. Stay tuned on that front.

Puts the word hater in a new light, doesn't it? Actually, I just had an "a ha" moment...the smug bigot has kids that have been out of MHS for 10+ years...coincidence?

And it is not just the Baline debacle...there are many other real problems. The substitute situation throughout the district is a disgrace. Teacher absenteeism in the district is the highest in the Middlesex League. And yes, teacher pay is too low in my opinion. Not to mention the recruitment of students to sit for the AP exams in 8th grade. None of these can have a positive impact on student outcomes. Add in the very real crisis we face because of contractual obligations we are already must honor and cannot afford, and we have a recipe for disaster. We need to pull together. Leadership is needed, from both the city and school side of operations. I am sad to say it does not look like we have the right folks at the helm to manage any of these challenges.

Nice job Marm. You gotta love it when you get the spell check police dumping on a post and they make a typo...priceless. The Raid Raiders are awesumm.

Hey, move on. Enlighten yourself and go to the MHS Graduation in June. Pick up the program guide and look at the colleges the kids got into, the students recognized for academic achievement during the ceremony and then take a look at the smiles on their faces. Not 10+ years ago...its happening now.

HA HA HA - I said my kids attend the school. I know there will always be kids that thrive despite the issues that exist. However, there are also some real problems and I would like to see honest conversations take place in an effort to address some of the challenges. What is wrong with that?

Obvious admitted it! She's on the site "to offer a dissenting point of view". It's fascinating that after years of complete satisfaction with the Melrose school system and "no" involvement with the administration or SC she is here pounding the pavement to extoll the virtues of Melrose Schools!

Thank you so much for your insight! Your kids thrived in Melrose schools and they went to amazing colleges and are now in amazing jobs. Amazing! One is still left = hit repeat! Amazing!

Obvious - all of us would take you a little more seriously if you were honest about your experience and talked about the good and the bad. All those talks with the teachers? Not one thing you would change? Why not talk about all of it?

There are plenty of people, including myself, on this site looking for insight from others. Unfortunately your completely one-sided account of your experience with 3-4 children over a decade doesn't hold water. Then your rant about Haters - well that sinks you completely. But thanks for playing!

No matter what kinds of "messages" the schools send out, you have to know that the real story will be heavily filtered and cost us all in legal fees, PR fees, and more damage to the school system reputation. Hard to think things can get much worse, but unfortunately they can.

And let's take it back up to the top. This thread, this specific thread, is about Colleen Murphy's letter. A letter that uses factual evidence to detail the issues in the Melrose Public School System. She asks members of the community not to pretend - or ignore the evidence - as that behavior stands in the way of progress.

"Perfectly satisfied" is hard to believe. Perhaps it is true for your children's individual school experiences. But are you perfectly satisfied that your tax dollars are now footing a 100K (and growing) legal bill instead of education? Are you perfectly satisfied that less MHS students are going to four year colleges and their SAT scores are dropping? Are you perfectly satisfied that the district suddenly realized they have a population boom and have to create kindergarten classrooms out of closets?

"And please remember authors, as you attempt to diminish and marginalize those who hold views that differ from your own, that it is much, much easier for you to speak out in favor of the administration than it is for people to speak out against it."

Colleen Murphy's letter was thoughtful and accurate in my opinion. My wife and I are not satisfied with the High School. There are problems that need immediate attention. Why is it so threatening that people have views different from yours? Stop the spin. This is the only place people can post concerns without fear of retribution.

This is a full blown Bozo Brigade alert. A large gathering of angry clowns is now congregating on this string, honking their noses in protest because they have read that people are satisfied with their kids education in Melrose. Many of these posters must have suffered a brain injury when they started hyperventilating and accidentally sucked in their rubber nose or tripped on their rubber feet and banged their head on the key board in a mad dash to respond to these outrageous statements. The Bozo's have declared MM off limits to anyone satisfied with their kids education. A new low point for the ignorant morons of the Bozo Brigade. This quote is priceless."And please remember authors, as you attempt to diminish and marginalize those who hold views that differ from your own, that it is much, much easier for you to speak out in favor of the administration than it is for people to speak out against it. Are you serious? Its an anonymous blog. Do you think your marching in Selma. You losers are pathetic. When's the big coalition meeting. Is the clown outfit mandatory or optional. You should kick it off with a big parade right down main street. I'd suggest you have your political allies as the parade marshals but you have none...they all quit or got their @asses kicked in the last election. This is your island and no one else is invited. What a bunch of losers.

Just want to clarify-the facts aren't as clear cut as they seem. 4 year college attendance is down nationwide, not just in Melrose. This is a trend that could be attributed to several factors-higher college costs, student loan policies, etc. It's not necessarily related to the quality of the education. Also, the rate attending 2 year colleges is misleading-it seems to change routinely and could also be linked to the factors above.

Ms. Murphy's letter highlights a lot of issues that are legitimate problems for MPS, but the data part isn't really a useful indicator.

There was just a thread on this on the community page. Students going to four year colleges is perhaps down nationwide but is not down in Massachusetts. Our neighbor Wakefield is not down. Turns out Bedford now has more students attending four year colleges than three years ago. And Melrose has seen the exact opposite trend. Food for thought.

The leading bullet of Colleen Murphy’s letter reads as follows:

“The decline in college matriculation rates. As Ms. Kourkoumelis pointed out in her evaluation, in 2005-6, 95.9% of Melrose High School graduates attended either 4-year or 2-year colleges. By 2013-14 that number had plummeted to 88.3%. And while the number of students attending college overall is declining, the number attending 2-year schools has increased dramatically. In 2005 just 11.4% of students attending college were attending 2-year schools; by 2009 that number almost doubled to 21%.”

However, the following allows you to search these data points by year:

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/plansofhsgrads.aspx?mode&orderBy&year=2015&filterBy

The first comment is fairly accurate in that the state reports the graduates attending 4-year or 2-year colleges went from 95.1% in 2005-6 down to 88.4% in 2013-14. Close enough.

However, the second point compares the number attending 2-year schools in 2005 to 2009. The state says the number was 13.8% in 2005 and it actually DECREASED slightly to 13.5% in 2009. While nothing to brag about, according to the state it is incorrect to suggest that the rate of students attending 2 year schools nearly doubled. This is one of the few concrete data points in Murphy’s letter as well as her leading bullet point yet it does not appear to be accurate.

Doesn’t the Free Press have an obligation to check facts before publishing a letter?

With all that was written by Ms. Murphy, that is the best you can offer? Perhaps Ms. Murphy's letter inspired questions, leading you to do your own due diligence. Are you capable of independent thought?

If so, you must have something to say about Ms. Murphy's accurate indictment of the school committee (except C. Kourkoumelis) for failing to consider the mishandling of the first OCR investigation in the superintendent's evaluation. Many other very valid concerns remain. It is time for a real conversation so we can get to the hard work of fixing some of them.

yes, I did see that and those are good points, and worth investigating, but these types of data points aren't very useful in rating a school system overall.
There are a lot of factors which can cause college placement rates to change and without much in the way of direct causation, they don't tell us much. Same for test scores. They only really tell us how well kids score on tests, not what they are actually learning. The percentage of students that go on to a 4 year college could be an indicator of a successful school, but isn't necessarily so. Also, one has to decide-is THIS the indicator that makes a good school? What if the guidance department is realizing that a lot of kids they pushed to apply to 4 year schools might do better starting at a 2 year school? Wouldn't that make this a better school if it's meeting the needs of its students? Or not. We don't know because it hasn't been discussed in any meaningful way (which speaks to larger issues at play in the MPS). It opens the door for a lot of questions-Has the guidance department changed its strategy over the years? Is it intentional? Is this decrease a surprise to the administration? All good questions, but any piece of data needs to be included as part of an overall discussion, and not as a final arbiter of determination.

Copied this response from the other string this Statman started.

“Fail’s” - I would urge you to take another look at the Murphy letter and separate facts from opinion. You are correct in that Ms. Murphy expresses her opinions about how the SC responded to the Department of Education’s OCR investigation. Again, I take no issue with her opinions. I do take issue with her leading her arguments with an incorrect fact.
You are correct in that Ms. Murphy’s letter did inspire questions. I found her statement that the number of students attending 2 years schools nearly doubled in a 5 year period to be alarming and this is what caused me to check for myself. As it turns out, she was wrong and the statistics from the state of MA do not support her statement.
I am not sure I follow your comment about independent though. I reacted to a position that found alarming and it turns out it was not correct. It really isn’t that complicated.
To “Simple math” as much as I would like to trust your twisted math, it really is not that complicated. First, for some reason you selected different years than Ms. Murphy. More importantly, there is no need for your misleading math. The state provides the data directly. In the 2005-06 year 13.8% of MHS grads planned to attend 2 year schools. In the 2009-10 year that decreased to 13.5%. Feel free to spin, but those are the state’s facts.

This is a full blown Bozo Brigade alert. A large gathering of angry clowns is now congregating on this string, honking their noses in protest because they have read that people are satisfied with their kids education in Melrose. Many of these posters must have suffered a brain injury when they started hyperventilating and accidentally sucked in their rubber nose or tripped on their rubber feet and banged their head on the key board in a mad dash to respond to these outrageous statements. The Bozo's have declared MM off limits to anyone satisfied with their kids education. A new low point for the ignorant morons of the Bozo Brigade. This quote is priceless."And please remember authors, as you attempt to diminish and marginalize those who hold views that differ from your own, that it is much, much easier for you to speak out in favor of the administration than it is for people to speak out against it. Are you serious? Its an anonymous blog. Do you think your marching in Selma. You losers are pathetic. When's the big coalition meeting. Is the clown outfit mandatory or optional. You should kick it off with a big parade right down main street. I'd suggest you have your political allies as the parade marshals but you have none...they all quit or got their @asses kicked in the last election. This is your island and no one else is invited. What a bunch of losers.

This quote is priceless: "And please remember authors, as you attempt to diminish and marginalize those who hold views that differ from your own, that it is much, much easier for you to speak out in favor of the administration than it is for people to speak out against it." Are you serious? Its an anonymous blog.

Sad Clown, the quote is from Ms. Murphy's letter to the paper where she directly spoke out against the administration. And it was not anonymous. I know it's hard because you are an MHS graduate, but at least try to keep up with the rest of us.

The "Clown" is a joke - and he/she doesn't even know it!

Why do you think she calls herself clown patrol??

You losers need to annotate your quotes. Apparently The Bozo Brigade is now plagiarizing themselves. Only a MM loser would have gotten through the 1000 words of drivel from a fellow clown. Love the shot at MHS...proving again you clowns are a bunch of Melrose hating private school losers. 2 Browns, a Harvard, Bowdoin, Tufts, full rides at Northeastern, BU and Bentley, and its only April 7th. I am starting to think your kids are just dumb f*cks, genetic misfits inheriting the poor genes from their parents. When is the big coalition meeting? Where is the political uprising? Enjoy your anonymity on the losers blog. Go Red Raiders! Melrose has an election in 2 years. Lets see where the clowns will be.

You truly are a vicious ignoramus. Were you born a complete jerk or do you have to practice?

The prior post clearly demonstrates that most on this board have no connection to MHS. While I am not a fan of the tone on both sides here; I know mutiple MHS grads that are still in or have recently graduated from college. These kids are absolutely thriving. To somehow claim that they are at a disadvantage from coming out of MHS is nonsense. MHS grads are excelling in the business and academic world. Suggesting otherwise is just pure Melroesmessages drivel.

p.s.: Don't you just love how any student that does well is a "personal accomplishment" and when a student does not do well it is an indictment of the district. So predictable.

Of course everyone knows a handful of students that did well at MHS, went to good colleges and are thriving. Bright students with supportive families will do well at MHS. Why will they do well? Because they will do well wherever they are. This is who they are. The top 10% of the class. We may argue these students could have been challenged a bit more and there is probably truth there. These parents write and say they are pleased with their experience in Melrose and they are telling the truth. But many follow the posts on this site because they are bothered that more citizens don't feel the same way.

The students that MHS fails are the middle, the bottom and any student with the slightest issue. Students who are not self-directed and need help. These students are directed into AP classes instead of grade appropriate classes. SAT scores for these students are dropping. Now they receive guidance to go for a two-year college instead of reaching and working toward a four-year.

The reason there are so many more people posting on MM about the problems in Melrose schools and advocating for change is because there are so many more of these types of students.

Clown Patrol boasts about 8-10 students that got into top schools. That's fantastic for those students. But what about students 1-200? This is where the work needs to be done.

What a wonderful and thoughtful letter from Ms. Darwin. It is nice to see public acknowledgement of the wonderful teaching at Melrose High School and the great experiences students are having there...Hope someone takes the time to cut and paste it on this thread.

Oh, you mean the Yes/MEF shill that has now worked her way into being PTO prez next year? Maybe she posted here and then deleted it (good move) before too many could offer some reality/attitude adjustment. Or maybe she posted on that so-called by-preapproval only Facebook page. Either way, not likely to be impressed based on what she has written previously.

Yes, I just read that letter of support for the superintendent and school committee. My takeaways:

She advocates that residents get involved, speak up, ask questions of the school administration, but she seems to be completely oblivious to the current administration's rampant retaliation and intimidation of children and parents who alert them of teacher or administrator misconduct or other serious issues.

She has little interest in the decreasing college matriculation rate or SAT scores; unarguably, standard measures of a school system's overall performance.

She believes if you have money or are willing to borrow it, you'll find a college that will accept you (aside from grades apparently). After all, colleges are in the business of making money.

She applauds the lower rates of matriculation by our current high school students and considers college to be four more years of childhood.

She does not judge our top school administrators by their repeated violations of federal civil rights laws, and considers those who are disgusted with the superintendent's and SC chair's attempts to not disclose the violations to other school committee members and the citizens of Melrose the school committee's as "finger pointing".

To the person with the secret name "Insider": Hey, I am laughing about working my way into PTO President position. The vote is next month at the PTO meeting. Will you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come and take the position instead of me? I am only doing it because no one else will. But you sound interested, so fingers crossed, maybe you will???? Let me know who you are and I'll email you directly. It doesn't appear that there is a lot of work associated with the role and the meetings are great....mostly just informational about what is going on in the school. Zero fundraising. What do you think? Let me know!

I applauded Colleen Murphy last week and you may call me a hypocrite but I applaud MB Darwin for her letter to the editor in the Weekly News as well. While I believe she understates the significance of the OCR case, she was right to call out Brow who was responsible for allowing Baline to act horribly to students for years. Darwin is correct in her complaints of the AP program, lack of communication, summer homework and internship programs at MHS and I thank her for putting them in print. Whether you agree or disagree with her support for the superintendent, she makes some solid points for ways we can all work towards improving our school system.

The Bozo Brigade's delusional belief that they defeated the override reminds me of the story of the Beaver back stroking down the river with a boner screaming "raise the drawbridge". Put on your clown outfits with your red noses and big rubber feet and start honking your way to the first coalition meeting.

You're a disgrace, and the poster child for everything wrong with Melrose. With the prior post you have sunk to a new low, even for you.

Hey Clowner, believe what you want at your own risk, but the only source that disclosed where the money was really going (only 14% to teachers on the ground) was right here. This topic alone has over 60,000 views. Why do you think the Mayor, and MEF crowd was caught so flat footed? They thought they had the override in the bag and instead got smoked 2 to 1. Now jump in to your little clown car and drive down to city hall and cry on Robbie's shoulder. [:)s]

You losers need to come up with your own material. Plagiarizing each other is pathetic enough, appropriating Clown Patrol material is right up there with white people wearing dread locks.Try turning 60,000 views into 1000 votes and maybe you can get one of your loser candidates elected. Has it dawned on you morons that your blaming the school system for the fact that your kids just might be stupid. You just married wrong and lost the genetic lottery...some marriages produce Einstein, some get Homer Simpson...its ok, Melrose needs kids to work the car wash.

Ahh...Waka, Waka, Waka

Clown Patrol can't figure out a way to attack the message (because it is true) so he attacks the messengers-and their kids!! I can actually visualize bi-polar Clown Patrol losing his cool as his blood pressure rises and his nose gets redder as he writes his raging missives. Time to go to the clown hospital for meds.[:))]

Your pretend wide eyed please-explain to me act is reprehensible because I know you're not that stupid. It's dishonest.

Maybe you didn't go to college because if you did, you would realize that college is not 4 additional years of childhood. Ask some college grads.

It's nice that you want your children to be high school grads only but it's tough to get jobs today without additional training past high school. You were too narrow minded to mention vocational education but that is the one place where a significant career can be started directly after high school. I know that it's not your beloved mediocre MHS but vocational schools train students for work.

You could have said that the 2 year college students were attempting to get job specific training but you know as well as I do that many of these students are just trying to catch up after 4 years of Melrose high school.

Beyond reprehensible is your support of the handling of that racist teacher. People should just get over it? Really? Have you been a victim of discrimination? Do you have any idea how that feels?

It may be 2 years later but it's 2 years later because the superintendent that you support tried to hide the situation and it took a federal investigation for the facts to surface incontrovertibly so apologists such as yourself cannot dispute them.

Perhaps you are having difficulty realizing that cover-ups such as this and the misinformation put forth daily by your superintendent, have seriously diminished the public trust. At least for thinking people.

Do you understand now, fake Pollyanna? You just got dragged for filth.

Maribeth Darwin was part of the push for Dolan's 26% raise debacle, part of the Yes Override group and wrote letters supporting it last fall. If she is happy living on Meadowview Road and with the education her sons get in the MPS, good for her. But some of us question her motivation, spin and the timing of her pro CT essay.