Let's skip all the charts and fancy words for once. Let's get down to the basics. Information and evidence has been provided to the community and the board that spending more money per student does not mean better outcomes, examples Wakefield and Watertown. Comparing Melrose to Concord and Lexington for per pupil spending and anything and everything is silly. They have household incomes that far exceed Melrose. Also what is so wrong with just wanting to be Melrose. One Melrose wants to be Lexington or Concord,that's fine but we are not, WE ARE MELROSE. Let's compare apples and apples.
We lack a commercial tax base but yet we continue to produce condos which give back what? Tax money. You can look at it from whatever way you want but if you add more residents there is more residential taxes, more money.
Information has been provided about class sizes but let's say there is a problem despite numerous posts showing that Melrose is well within the sizes deemed fine by the state. If there is, why did we spend millions on PODS with promises that it would help our “size” issue for the next 5-10 years but within ONE YEAR we are back where we started. Lets throw it against a wall and let it stick mentality is not working? There is no plan. Dolan had said the Beebe would be to expensive to reopen now we will? WHAT IS THE COST? Where is the plan and projections for operating costs and staffing costs. You can’t just snap fingers and open it up.
A community investment? Last I knew a community meant more than one entity. We need a new police station, fire department, money for the library, roads, ect. NO PLAN? Or is there one and we will find out about the increase after April 2nd, let's be real the town is already showing its true colors with a proposed increase in water and sewage 28 DAYS LATER. Whats next?
Overpaid and underworked? Sorry but I just don’t see it. A guaranteed increase every year which is inline with the national average for yearly increases, actually it's more but 6% is so far out there. So a teacher left to Concord, WE ARE NEVER GOING TO BE CONCORD. We are a blue collar town. We gave the teachers a million dollars and then said you can work less. Is that a negotiation? NO. We have steps and lanes for the teachers with their negotiated increase, now put that amount over a regular work year of more than 182 days and POOF. It all makes sense. If you make 10,000 in half a year you will make 20,000 in a full year. Almost every other job is working 260 DAYS. A Melrose teacher making say 68,000 at 182 days...you can do the rest.
Can we look at the entire picture. It is not just yearly income. We pay 84% of insurance costs. The average in the area is about 72% We can get into fancy equations but I think the point is made. NOT UNDERPAID. NOR OVERWORKED. Say what you want but the truth is the truth and the math is the math.
The last override failed and Melrose has the MOST IMPROVED MCAS SCORES in the region. Of course the YES side says that does not judge the “health” of a school. It is an indicator. Is the MCAS not but forth as a measurement by the State or Federal government? so if its is not a way to measure then every stat from the state is false? So any and all data compiled is false? SO when Monica asked for more time to collected proper data she was the only one who was right? Our students did better and improved after the failed override, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
WHOLE picture for investing. Fixed income households will be hit extremely hard. Senior citizens, people on disability and people who are scraping by in the once affordable Melroe. How many people will be forgotten or forced out by a YES vote? TO MANY.
All the Alderman are behind it except for the one person who asked for more time to gather proper data and information. Ask yourself WHY? Do we continue to follow the same people over and over again. Or do we search for new people with new and better ideas so we do not keep landing in the same position Poor representation for the HOMEOWNERS, mismanaged funds like the PODS, skewed data, using CONCORD instead of a more comparable towns, misleading information, PER PUPIL SPENDING MEANS BETTER RESULTS….WRONG! They can fall in line as usual but thank you Monica for asking the hard questions and demanding accountability for proper information.
YOU CAN SAY NO.
BE FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE.
DON’T FALL INTO ONE MELROSE TRAP..FOR THE FUTURE! FOR THE KIDS! FOR THE COMMUNITY ! because its NOT, do they plan to leave behind the POLICE, the FIRE?. They neglect so much and will leave behind so many.
IS A BLUE COLLAR TOWN STILL GOOD ENOUGH...YES!
VOTE NO!
I'd like better than mediocre too. At least good, and preferably excellent. They were that when I went there.
Unfortunately, throwing more money at isn't going to accomplish anything but actually perpetuating or even exacerbating the problem. The same people will be controlling that money, fostering the same sort of environment and making the same sort of decisions that have caused the problem in the first place. Nothing will change. I'd be happy to give them the money if I felt it as going to be used properly, and most have finally begun to realize that's never going to happen with these people in charge.
These people have to go. The only chance the schools have is to force these people out, and denying them any more money is only the first step in a process that simply has to happen if we have even a glimmer of hope of doing that. Sometimes you just have to concede that you need to start over from scratch. We need to take our system back, not allow them to become even further entrenched. I know you understand that, even if you're not willing to admit it.
What's the definition of stupid? Isn't it doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?
I have been a teacher for almost 30 years- not in Melrose. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. I know and have known some teachers who go above and beyond every day. They come in early. They work late. They really differentiate curriculum for a wide range of learners. They do professional development at their own expense during the summer, start preparing for the school year at least a month ahead of time, etc. I also know and have known teachers who look at the job as a job. They come in and leave when the kids do, and don't think much about the job after school gets out. They work more than 182 days, but not much more. By the way, the former are not always better teachers, and the latter are not always worse. Different people have different levels of efficiency and skill.
Regardless, I make a great salary for the work I do. It fulfills me, because it is what I have always wanted to do, and I do it well. I have never felt underpaid or underappreciated, and that is not just because I work in a town that is not Melrose. The town where I work has never passed an override, or even tried to pass an override, to the best of my knowledge. Some contract negotiations have given us fairly large increases to salary (not recently, but in the past). At other times, the budget has been tight, and we have gotten nothing close to what was asked for. Neither outcome determines the quality of education we provide. It is simply crazy to think that teachers are purposely working below their capabilities, because they want to be paid more. Giving them more money doesn't improve their teaching. Teachers want to be good teachers, because it makes the job more enjoyable to know that kids are learning, and that you have created an environment that allows kids to take risks and improve. Or they don't want to put in the effort to do a good job, and more money is not going to change that.
By extension, more money is not going to make the school system run more efficiently. There is no indication that the administration has any idea how to manage money. Why would you want to give them more to mismanage? I know a lot of teachers in town, and of course, they want the override to pass, but when I have asked any of them how they think this override will actually improve the schools, they often reluctantly admit that the administration will probably mismanage whatever money they get their hands on. Melrose is not alone in that regard. The district where I work has great student outcomes, and a high teacher retention rate. Faculty and staff are generally happy, but most teachers would still tell you that the administration often wastes money, creates administrative positions that are unneeded, and introduces initiatives that add little to the quality of education. Parents are generally happy, but there are always going to be those who want more for their tax dollars, and I doubt that an override would ever be on the table.
wow, well written and said. Something for us all to think about. I for one have had several years without raises and I'm putting two kids through college and another coming up. I worry that the water and sewer rate is going up again next month. and feel a second override is coming to fund renovations of library , memorial hall, the police and fire buildings, all needed but not being planned for, When does it stop. this should have been put off until we had an elected mayor with a long term plan. My family will be voting no in this election.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't we told two years ago that those pods would solve the space problem for the next 5 to 10 years? Weren't we told at the same time that it would be too expensive to reopen the Beebe, yet supposedly that's exactly what's being planned right now? (Although I don't believe it.) Why aren't we considering closing the ECC and using the Franklin, a perfectly serviceable building? Stop catering to kids who aren't even in the system yet, or are we just catering to those parents to the point of creating an artificial space issue? Too many special interest groups making too many demands. Why on earth would we give them even more money to mismanage? Dumb. A prior poster has it right - giving them more money only invites more mismanagement. It's time they put on the big people pants and actually did the job we hired them to do. Enough already. Voting no.
Weren't we told enrollment was going to explode this year? I think i read enrollment went up by 9 kids across the entire district. Don't believe any of the information being put out there about the city being broke, and enrollment exploding. Voting NO.
Educated and informed voter.We do have.Just to get even basic information in order to make informed decisions on important votes. The voters will do April 2 2019. NO OR YES
Special Election
It’s interesting the water and sewer rates increases will be recommended on April 30, 2019. Four weeks after the special election. Apparently the city doesn’t want residents to be thinking about the increase water& sewer rates as they head into the special election on April 2. Wonder why??
Like our taxpayers, our leaders need a panoramic view before they make decisions that affect individuals so significantly.
Are we the only young family that worries about where will the extra money come from? Yes vote means more taxes. Sound like a likely increase in water and sewer bills. ECC tuition rising and will education station rates rise?
No you’re not and it makes me sick the way the yes crowd thinks everyone can just hand over more money monthly. There is a thread right now on uncensored bashing the no crowd asking why help everyone else when you can help yourselves. Yes why spend money on your family when you can spend it on everyone elses’’? Not every middle class homeowner in melrose can afford a tax increase! Listen the schools haven’t changed in umpteen years and even if cuts are made kids will learn, kids will graduate and kids will go to college. It’s up to families to make sure of that. No matter how good or bad the schools are if you want your child to have an education and go to college then it’s up to you to make sure it happens.
Is there anyone else who is afraid of the ethical standards of the so-called leaders? Who does the ballot counting and who is there to witness it?
Not gonna lie! Was worried about the absentee ballots myself. There is definitely no one who can stop the person opening them from chucking it. Plus they can see who votes no on them.
To the No voters. Don’t be discouraged by all the yes signs around town especially in front of the million dollar homes where I’m sure a couple thousand extra a year is chump change. All we saw last override vote was yes signs and it was defeated. So get out and make your vote matter.
There is no hate. But these city officials need to go. They just want to line their own pockets with our money. How about the water bills?? How do you think those ridiculous fees came to be, that surely was not on the up & up?? If there is a surplus of money in that account why not lower the fees?!! But be rest assured they are waiting for this override to fail so they can once again raise our water bills probably would have been raised even if it passed. That’s how much I trust them.. Can’t wait to vote NO!! I agree with above posters I wouldn’t trust hem with an absentee ballot if my life depended on it...
Skippy, there is one NO sign on Larchmont, I believe at the same house as before the last attempted override!
My distrust and disgust traces exactly back to a ballot. One ballot. I was there on the night of Dolan's first election, when the margin was a single ballot. There was one additional ballot that came back not properly locked in the boxes used to transport them to City Hall. The Dolan camp, especially Peter Dolan, went absolutely berserk, to the point where he had to be threatened with arrest by the MPD Sergeant on duty at the election office to shut him up. The abuse that they heaped on the then election commissioner was a disgrace. The Police Chief then quite properly called in the State Police to guard the ballots, rightly removing the Melrose PD from being caught in the middle. The irony was that the ballot improperly returned was a blank.
That was the beginning of Dolan's hatred of the then Chief, and by extension the entire PD, and ultimately led to the Chief's being let go. I knew right then and there that Melrose had just fundamentally changed, and as it turned out, I was right. The rest is documented history, with a list of outrageous behavior and actions that just goes on and on and on, and continues to this day. Everett politics came to Melrose that day, with all it's vicious nastiness. The man is a punk, plain and simple, and he set the standard and the stage for the bad behavior you see today, especially from a great many members of the yes group. He not only engaged in it, he encouraged it. Melrose, for all it's faults, was not like that before then, and seeing what's transpired since then really pi$$es me off.
Once trust is gone, it has to be re-earned. So far, nothing I have seen gives me reason to trust. Do I think someone might go so far as to conspire to throw out votes or falsify the results? Not really, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. We've seen it happen recently in NC and Fla, haven't we? If you do believe that tampering with absentee ballots might be a possibility, show up on April 2d and vote in person.
Come On, Man has quite a bit of free time on his hands.
I'll try one more time, and then call it quits. I cited the ballot story as a way to point out what I think of as the day Melrose began to change to what it has become. It isn't that one individual had a hissy fit over a ballot. It's the day that the Dolan administration set the tone for all the backbiting, denigration, insults, nastiness, viciousness and dishonesty that has seemed to rule to this day. It manifests itself in it's latest iteration in the behavior of some, not all, yes supporters, who paint you as an enemy if you disagree, call you a hater, call you stupid, saying you're hurting the kids, and on and on and on. That's right out of the Dolan playbook. It's basically the same bunch, albeit less up front and more behind the scenes driving this one. McAndrew, for instance - she told so many outright lies the last time she made Pinnochio look like he was on truth serum, and she's neck deep in this one too. She's a weasel. McLaughlin - the guy who steamrolled Dolan's raise, threatening retribution against anyone who disagreed - I wouldn't trust that guy as far as I could throw him, which isn't far. It's not that I don't want to support the schools. It's that I just don't believe that we're being told the truth - again - and I don't trust the administration, from Taymore on down, to wisely manage anything, let alone another 5.18 million. You don't strike me as dumb, and I don't believe you don't know exactly what I'm talking about.
Poster Seriously? gets it. All of it.
Back to the absentee ballots, you are asking someone who stands to gain if the override passes, to watch over the ballots and people are human. I wouldn't want my ballot to get thrown away or peeked at in the office before election day.
Better to vote in person. Vote NO on APRIL 2nd.
Here's some food for thought. The links are available in two posts in the Alderman & City Politics category.
According to the website ClearGov:
Melrose spends 62% more on General Government Spending than similar communities.
Melrose spends 38% more on Benefits and Withholding than similar communities.
Melrose spends 65% more on Sewer than similar communities.
Melrose spends 213% more on School Debt NOT Related to Buildings than similar communities.
That's not just mismanagement. That's malfeasance.
Are you listening, Come On, Man?
Knock it off, troll. Idiot.
Who cares? Trolling is the bottom of the barell.