On Apr 9, 2009, at 10:23:18 AM, amherstac
Memo To: Amherst School Committee
Re: Vacate Trespass Order
4/9/09
Town Meeting starts next month and as a Town Meeting member since 1991 with a 99.5% attendance record and another year left on my elected three-year-term by the voters of Precinct 5, I will NOT allow an ill-advised, hastily enacted ‘Trespass Order’ from an employee no longer with the Schools (but still getting paid thru June 1’st) to keep me from my duly elected duties.
I have been advised that if you do not lift the legally enforceable 1/9/09 order hand delivered by a Sheriff (an East Longmeadow man was recently arrested for violating a “Trespass Order” while watching his child play sports on school grounds on a Sunday) I should seek an injunction against the town of Amherst for holding Town Meeting at the Amherst Regional Middle School, thus denying me my right to attend as an elected official.
Larry Kelley
Amherst Town Meeting Precinct 5
Amherst Redevelopment Authority
Fifth Generation resident
Cc: Amherst School Committee, Maria Geryk Interim Superintendent of Schools,Stan Gawle Amherst Citizens for Responsible Change, Attorney Mike Serduck, Attorney Bill Newman, Mary Carey Daily Hampshire Gazette, Diane Lederman Springfield Republican
#################################################################
One of the many good things about a Charter School is that they are immune from oversight of the local volunteer School Committee (almost always elected with a tiny voter turnout) and highly paid Superindendent (just wait to details of the new guy are revealed).
The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School started in Amherst and moved to Hadley after one year. And of course if Amherst had their way it would never have gotten a Charter in the first place (Golden boy Jere Hochman got his butt kicked on that one).
Fortunately the Amherst School System’s “Trespass Notice” does not bind me at PVCIC, so I can roam the building and take pictures till the cows come home (with Principal Kathy Wang’s permission of course as long as there are no children in the shots and even then it’s fine with parents permission and since my daughter attends…and yes, they have freakin hot water in the lavatories)
Another difference is the respect for all things Americans (this from a CHINESE charter school)
A tragic comedy in two parts:
Part one
Part two
The Springfield Republican recently reported
63 comments:
you sign as a fifth generation resident. so you have more right because of that, say, over a second generation immigrant?
You should have done this last winter. And have mentioned civil rights laws and the rest.
Yeah, and I should have lost ten pounds last winter. BUT, I'm on it now!
Anon 5:48 (typical Nitwit). No, I do not have "more right" than somebody who just moved here but when I'm right I have more gravitas.
And I ALSO signed (well above the fifth generation part) as a L-O-N-G time Town Meeting member and long time ARA member.
And you freakin Nitwit, I also SIGNED MY NAME!
They have been working on the boiler at wildwood recently...
Yeah, as well they should.
And if they paid the new Super coming in the same $135-K the outgoing superstar received rather than $158-K plus $15-K housing/transportation, that extra $38-K would pay for a new boiler.
"When I'm right I have more gravitas"
Say what?
Must be a misprint.
"Gravitas" must be Latin for "I don't know how to use apostrophes."
Actually Nitwit, it's a fancy word for Balls
Actually, it doesn't mean balls. Gravitas means seriousness and dignity.
Yeah, and Anonymous still means Anonymous.
And if this is the best you can find in yesterday's upload that is of course a very good thing.
"And you freakin Nitwit"
I think the No Trespass should stand. You are clearly highly volatile.
I don't understand why you allow people to post anonymously and then criticize people for doing so. Why don't you just not allow anyone to post anonymously? Then you wouldn't have to put up with so many nitwits. At least not on your blog.
You tell 'em, Larry!
It's not only your right to attend Town Meeting. It's your duty.
Terry Franklin
And as Mr. Franklin would be happy to verify, the reason I changed my settings to allow Anons is because he was having trouble posting Comments; and I believe Mr. Morse also mentioned that he too was having trouble (and they both ALWAYS leave their names)
can we work on different adjectives then "nitwits"?
It's not the insulting i mind, just the choice of word. what's wrong with "idiot" or "dumbass"?
I just feel like we need to spice things up here.
Because "Pinheads" is taken.
Hard to believe that as an elected official, even if it is a town meeting member, that you think that calling people names is appropriate. Did you miss that day in kindergarten when they covered that?
"Calling people names". Ummm...Excuse me, but you're not a person--you are an Anon.
And for all I know you are not even from this planet (much less an Amherst voter).
My sitemeter did record a hit at 2:54 PM from Ur-an-anus
You are just another thin-skinned bully that thinks that name calling substitutes for having an argument worth listening to.
Actually, the Ur-an-anus crack gave me a good chuckle...thanks for the laugh & for reviving a true classic. (which you'd better make good use of before the same fate befalls him that ended up wiping his little brother, Pluto, off the planetary map)
Banned from the Town Meeting listserve.
Banned from the schools.
You sure showed them.
Actually it is not the Town Meeting listserve. It is the personal property of Mother Mary Streeter.
So getting banned from that is like me deleting your Nitwit Anonymous (Gee, I'm shocked--shocked I say) Comment from my personal blog.
Besides, I have a much greater readership than her antiquated outdated listserve. Even though I do have to put up with the likes of you
And the school ban will be overturned.
Where's the guy who signed the original complaint? Still getting paid but no longer in authority.
So, he had the last laugh because you're still banned!
he had the last laugh because you're still banned!
Nope. Larry's readers have the last laugh
Anonymous said...
Hard to believe that as an elected official, even if it is a town meeting member, that you think that calling people names is appropriate. Did you miss that day in kindergarten when they covered that?
Good one, "kindergarten."
You're engaged in a war of wits with Larry/ That's funny/ And the best you can do is "kindergarten". That's funny too.
"with Principal Kathy Wang’s permission of course"
It all goes quite differently when you have a child that in this case goes to the school, you get permission and actually respect the principal, and you don't start using "make my day" language and going all Dirty Harry on everybody.
Investigative journalists don't ask permission.
When I first tested the water three months ago at the Chinese Charter School I did not ask permission.
My daughter did attend Crocker Farm for three years before moving to the Chinese Charter School.
And I live and pay taxes in Amherst where the vast majority of tax money is consumed by the Schools.
A pair of parents asked me to look into the lack of hot water at Wildwood were Kira's former classmates ended up.
I also noticed a few comments on Masslive Amherst forum talking about it as well, so that is what journalists call corroboration.
And I still thought the first time went in to check that it HAD to be a mistake.
And I went in a second time two weeks later because I figured the exposure would lead to a remedy.
And I went in a third time a couple weeks later while abiding by ALL the conditions set forth after the second visit laid down by the not so Super Superintendent, no longer working for the Schools but still collecting his salary.
You are not an investigative journalist, you are a blogger.
Being a taxpayer in Amherst also doesn't give you rights to anything except to enroll your children in public schools if you so desire. Being a taxpayer gives you the right to own real estate in Amherst and the right to use town services that are provided to residents. It's not an unlimited license to do whatever you want.
How comfortable would you feel if a middle-aged Hadley man said he had the right to enter the charter school (if he had no children attending) whenever he wanted for his self-appointed reasons?
Probably not very.
Richard
Wow a first name. Real progress.
Actually I was (one of the very few) paid columnist for the Amherst Bulletin for 14 years between 1990 and 2004 and sold my first magazine article back in 1982 and minored in Journalism at Umass in the mid 1970's (although my degree is in Exercise Science), therefor, by some standards a professional journalist.
And yes while this blog is my own personal property and I currently do not get paid anything, I am of course writing the book "Only in Amherst".
And who knows, the Comments section alone will probably get an entire Chapter.
You sound like the not-so-Super Superintendent when he first called ranting and raving literally ten minutes after my second upload.
He first yelled "Do you want me to have you arrested!". And that is when I responded with "Make my day".
Then he yelled "how would you like it if a middle aged man walked around your locker room with a camera."
And I said "I run a public health club and people often bring their cell phones most of which have cameras so there's often a camera in my locker room"
He then yelled "I don't mean your Health Club I mean your Charter School". And I responded "It's not my Charter School."
Actually, the Charter School welcomes guests although they do, unlike Wildwood, keeps the doors locked all of the time (except drop off and pick up); so you have to ring a buzzer to get in and then would be escorted by either the Principal or another employee.
"Actually, the Charter School welcomes guests although they do, unlike Wildwood, keeps the doors locked all of the time (except drop off and pick up); so you have to ring a buzzer to get in and then would be escorted by either the Principal or another employee."
As I think all schools should. Locked, escorted. These are the critical elements. The schools have a public safety need to control who enters and for what purpose.
Richard
No disagreement about securing the safety of our kids by securing access to the school buildings when the kids are there.
So tell, me are our elementary schools secure? Middle school? High School? If not we are acting negligently.
No Neil they are not, as far as security goes.
And of course my theory is that they should also provide (which they do not) freakin hot water in the bathrooms!
A book? Hire a good attorney before it's published!
It will sell about 5 copies, including those sold to relatives and like-minded blog posters. Nobody else cares. You seem to think Amherst is somehow different than every other town. It may be liberal but so what? The school put on VMand banned West Side Story. Yawn. It's got small town politics that's the same in any town. No hot water? That's the makings of a best seller.
I currently have children at Fort River and at the middle school. The doors there--at least some of them--are not locked during the day and parents (or anyone) are able to enter the building without being buzzed in. In both buildings, the office is not in a direct line of sight to the door. Visitors are supposed to check in, but I don't know how many do. I remember a few years ago there was a discussion about the unlocked doors at Fort River but cannot remember the ultimate rationale for leaving them unlocked.
Why is the bus driver who killed that child still being allowed to fix vehicles at the middle school "garage"?
Has anyone asked about his qualifications? 40 years of stripping lawn mowers of scrap metal makes one qualified to repair the vans and buses that carry our children?
Isn't he the one who made mistakes in the past (other than running over a child) that might have also lead to the deaths of even MORE children?
Well? Amherst?
God I hope this driver hasn't been doing any sort of training within the department over the last couple of DECADES... wonder if the state should be looking into that... trainings that Peter Crouse would know A LOT about...
Eh Crouse? Know what I'm talking about? How many hours are they SUPPOSED to be...?
Talk about cowardly. PRETENDING to care about the children of Amherst when all you're really after is some revenge - all the while hiding behind the Anonymous curtain - is pretty darned spineless. If you REALLY cared about the children of Amherst why did you wait until NOW to start speaking up? It sounds like you've been aware of this situation for over ten years...why now??? (and even now you just speak in circles and riddles - spit it out!) Maybe you're bringing this up now because only now do you have any SELFISH reasons for bringing this up, that is getting your little bit of revenge for ???? (still a mystery)
"Talk about cowardly. PRETENDING to care about the children of Amherst when all you're really after is some revenge - all the while hiding behind the Anonymous curtain - is pretty darned spineless. If you REALLY cared about the children of Amherst why did you wait until NOW to start speaking up?"
Still right up in there eh, friend?
Better be careful because what a proper investigation starts, wont be possible to put out... not even by you, my little spin master...
Hmmm...seeing as I am now sitting in my comfy chair in the Deep South I'm not feeling too worried about a "proper investigation" being conducted. YOU on the other hand should be VERY worried about any types of inquiries that turn up malfeasance or neglect because although you are now sitting comfortably on the sidelines - through no choice of your own - you were obviously "involved" in some direct way w/ whatever it is that is/was going on behind the scenes w/in the Amherst Schools. So I say...bring on the investigation!!! (just as soon as you tell us what it is that needs investigating, if anything)
And one last request: please stop bringing up that poor dead child to serve your own selfish interests - that's about as low as it gets.
You keep bringing up the bus driver. Do you have any idea what really happened that morning? It was a @ year old who got free from his mother's hand and ran in front of the moving bus!! How many of us have had 2 year old do that? Almost every child does something like that. This just happened to be a time when something tragic happened because if it. This is why they make harnesses for toddlers. This was not the bus drivers fault, and this really shouldn't be discussed any more in public. The family is still here and may read this.
"YOU on the other hand should be VERY worried about any types of inquiries that turn up malfeasance or neglect..."
LOL.
It's over (ask Bohonowicz).
All that's "over" is your license to use that terrible accident (notice the word...ACCIDENT) to fulfill your own agenda. Do us all a favor and go climb back under that rock that you've been hiding under. Hey Larry - do you know who this guy is & WHAT HE DID to get fired by the Schools? Just curious...
Look, if you've really got info (which you clearly don't) then quite being such a coward and send it to the proper authorities. All you ever do is make veiled references to wrongdoing which show that you are just another disgruntled former employee that was probably fired for good cause. Who would need a bitter loser like you working for them?
Anons 5:48 & 6:49: Poster children for our fair city...
"Look, if you've really got info (which you clearly don't) then quite being such a coward and send it to the proper authorities."
And who would these "proper authorities" be? Hmm? You think the town wants it known just how bad the situation is/has been down there in maint/trans? Especially now?!
Why don't YOU call Bohonowicz or better yet Crouse and ask THEM who's been "fixing" school vehicles... and ask THEM for "hard copy" proof of the qualifications of each and every person putting their hands on the vans and buses... and ask THEM for proof of ANY (up to date or otherwise) training for these individuals... ask THEM the kinds of "issues" the department has had with maintaining/repairing vehicles, the seriousness of "incidents", frequency, and who has been held responsible (as if that would ever happen)...
But nah, you just wanna keep doing that moronic "Amherst thing"... keep complaining about a nasty nasty "former employee"...
Yeah, and then crawl back into the wood work when the sh*t hits the fan again...
Nice approach, shmuck.
maybe you need a new therapist
"maybe you need a new therapist"
Thanks.
I assume that YOU were one of those uncertified mechanics working on School vehicles at one time and so my question for YOU is: did you knowingly allow any unsafe vehicles to drive away from the parking lot? If so, you should just keep your mouth shut and thank the good lord that YOUR actions - or lack thereof - didn't lead to any catastrophes. Or did they?
Larry,
I see you use quotation marks as ungrammatically as you use apostrophes. Congratulations.
"I assume that YOU were one of those uncertified mechanics working on School vehicles..."
Assume nothing. Investigate everything.
I'm not sure why I didn't notice this before:
Child Fatally Struck by Amherst School Bus
Posted: Sep 30, 2008 12:23 PM EDT
Updated: Oct 10, 2008 07:57 AM EDT
By abc40 Staff
Amherst, Mass. (abc40) -- A young child has been struck and killed by a school bus in Amherst after the child ran out in front of it while waiting with its sibling at a bus stop around 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to a school official
"the child ran out in front of it while waiting"
VERY different situations with a child running out IN FRONT and one being under or falling from the side under the back tires. If the child crosses the street in front of a bus and the driver hits them, I think we have to ask what was the driver doing not being aware of the situation on the road right in front of them?
Could be why the investigation is taking so long...
Maybe also why the Spragues left like they did?
Link: http://www.abc40tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9098425&nav=menu1460_10_5
get out the tin foil hat while you're at it
And then there's this from masslive.com:
Posted by navymom06 on 09/30/08 at 2:37PM
The mother was right there... how do I know? Because she is right there every morning putting her one child on the bus. They were getting ready to cross the street, when the bus started and she tried to stop it! Before you start saying anything, why not just think for one damn minute about what you are saying.
Repeat:
"They were getting ready to cross the street, when the bus started and she tried to stop it!"
Now...
Masslive link:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/child_killed_by_school_bus_in.html
"Could be why the investigation is taking so long...
Maybe also why the Spragues left like they did?"
That makes no sense at all. They weren't driving the bus. They were merely interim administrators so they didn't make any policies that affected the bus safety.
They left because they are over 70 with serious health issues. Plain and simple.
At the time of that accident every single news story that came out had at least one error in it. They contradicted each other and printed peoples opinions as fact. Unless you personally knew someone there at the time, or an emergency responder, you couldn't trust anything you heard. It was an accident. Stop the witch hunt.
If you really have specifics regarding the transportation dept. do us all a favor and report them to a state official. Please.
Good luck convincing him to do THAT (report what he knows to the proper authorities). He won't, because he can't - to file an official "report" anywhere would require him to climb out of the shadows that he's been hiding in and THAT would mean revealing his identity and THAT would mean revealing what it is that he did in order to get fired from the School district (which, judging from his reluctance to raise his hand, may have been even more egregious than what he's accusing the Transportation Dept. of) He'll just stay in the shadows and continue to lob his "it's over" hand grenades into the fray for as long as Larry allows it. Anything more would require a level of courage and resolve that I don't think he possesses. Too bad.
Larry,
What is it diaper rash scars that keep you in a lifelong foul mood? Seriously, my patriotic friend who doesn't have the balls to fight fires or the taliban himself, how can you spend your entire life being so bitter?
Still talking cherry hill. The little golf course that ate the karate kid.
Cailey Lawrence
Actually I did fight a fire. The one that took out my apartment (and four others) in 1987.
Fought it until a high-ranking member of AFD yelled in my face "Get the fuck out, now!"
I don't know "realist", I thought of "its over" as a woman all this time. And I figured she got fired because she drove everyone nuts at work by talking to herself about conspiracy theorys. I think her crazy relatives are posting on Catherine Sandersons blog now. Its more fun to come up with these little personas for them. Imagine them at family dinners....
"They were merely interim administrators so they didn't make any policies that affected the bus safety."
Precisely.
But oh, OH they responded to complaints about the department...
by BLOCKING incoming emails... Un-friggan-believable!
So long, SHMUCKS(S).
BTW, it wouldn't be beyond them, one thinks, to BAIL (as they have) knowing (ahead of time) the outcome of the investigation...
Gibber
"He'll just stay in the shadows and continue to lob his "it's over" hand grenades into the fray for as long as Larry allows it."
Repeat: "as long as Larry allows it"
You'd love nothing more for Larry to step in and stop us... for this to just "evaporate"... like all the other times... eh, friend?
Time is not on your side.
It's over.
p.s.
Why was Bohonowicz hired in the first place? Anyone? A man with ZERO professional experience dealing with the care and protection of children (transporting them or otherwise)?!!?
A corporate hatchet man more interested in looking good than doing good? And willing to do ANYTHING to protect the image?
Anyone have Kathy Mazur's number? She'll tell you what the town needs a guy like him for... ohh yeahhh.
We do.
Well, I agree, "its over" certainly isn't a MAN.
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