I had a very nice meeting this morning with Superintendent Geryk. The Trespass Notice is vacated. And I made the same deal with her that I made with BIG Al the former Super (who is still getting paid): That anytime I visit a school I will announce myself at the main office.
Of course BIG Al enacted the Trespass Notice anyway, even though I honored my end of the deal.
Wow...now I can attend Town Meeting. Kind of like the Governor giving a death row inmate a stay of execution but sentencing them to hard labor breaking rocks in the desert sun.
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I keep asking this: Why isn't she the Superintendent Superintendent?
Everyone seems to like her, everyone seems to think she is doing a good job, and it would appear that she is doing it for far less than the new hire.
So, like, why isn't she the Supt?
Good point. Would certainly have saved us enough money annually to cover a teaching position.
She gets my vote.
So long BIG Al...
I dunno, Larry, I think I'd rather break rocks in the desert sun than be a Town Meeting member in Amherst. Bless you and all the quiet others who carry on that thankless but necessary work.
I have also been impressed with how smoothly and professionally things have been run under Maria Geryk's watch. Maybe she didn't WANT the job permanently!
I should have asked.
But since our meeting was "off the record" I couldn't report it anyway.
Either way, lets hope we learned a lesson any apply it to the Police and Fire Chief replacements coming up very soon.
Hire from within!
Maria Geryk meets with Larry Kelley: Beauty and the Beast.
Breaking rocks in the desert sun: lots of fresh air, plenty of physical exercise, some endorphin flow, plenty of Vitamin D.
Town Meeting service? None of the above. Instead, aggravation leading to potential alcohol abuse.
God bless the unfortunate chosen ones who serve in Town Meeting WITHOUT using the forum as their personal soapbox.
Hmmm...subtle slaps. I like that (my nitwits are getting creative)
Um, announcing yourself at the office doesn't mean "and then barging in to do whatever you want." It means respecting their wishes too.
How's the fish, Al?
I believe she does not want the job just yet because she has 2 very young children at home. Maybe in the future though!!
Yeah, apparently the Superintendent profession--like college basketball coaches--is not high on loyalty and altruistic self-sacrifice, so most move on for more pay after only 4 or 5 years.
And she's young (I hope she sticks around)
The "good government" people - of which I was one - saw the town manager position to be one of policy *implementation* with the elected folks making the policy itself.
And I wonder if she is doing the same thing here -- she is willing to implement the policy, she just doesn't want to have to make it.
And in the past, the latter was the job of the elected officials...
"so most move on for more pay after only 4 or 5 years."
So you are saying we don't pay enough to retain them? But, you want to pay the less than they currently get.
Gus Sayer left at $103,000 and Jere Hochman replaced him at $135,000 and now Dr. Rodriguez is replacing him at $173,000. That's about a 70% jump in only six years.
One of the main reasons the state is encouraging school districts to regionalize is to reduce the number of highly paid Supers
To use a variation on a popular Amherst-type word, the increases in the Amherst Superintendent's salary are "unsustainable".
And I'll bet you dollars to donuts that we'll be doing it all over again, oh, sometime between 2012 and 2014.
The ban is lifted!
Now you can sit in a crowded auditorium hoping not to contract Swine Flu.
Any way to get it reinstated?
Hey Larhy,
Just another nitwit posting here with a few questions for you that I hope to show to a new york city fire fighter and get his blessing.
What do you dream about?
Are we still paying Big Al? How come you never mention that?
Are you from around here? You don't seem like a towny. You come off very much as an outsider, like one of those rich bastards who just moves in to amherst woods and starts to go off like they own the place.
Do you believe in freedom of speech or is that just for people with black belts and big guns?
Did you inhale? Tell the truth dammit.
Did you start hating everything associated with the schools before or after your mom stopped teaching?
Have you told your therapist about any of this?
Are you still secretly sending love email to Dick Cheney? What's he like? Do you guys talk about what it was like not to actually go and defend our country but to push for others do it?
What is it like to respond to nitwits like me all of the time? I mean, come on Lars, I visit once in a while but you do this shit every day.
How much time do you spend looking in the mirror?
Is Ed your kissing cousin?
Do you hate gay men as much as you hate gay women?
Rate your fear of the Vagina on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being "really afraid, like having to look under the bed or go down in the basement with the lights off?
When did you have your first gay experience? Have you told you spouse yet?
As I already said nitwit, I open bright and early Monday morning 5:30 AM, come on down and we can talk eyeball to eyeball.
Freakin coward
Packed parking lot at Planet Fitness last night. I counted 237 cars.
Yeah, I go by there 3 or 4 times daily (Chinese Charter school my older daughter attends is located at a FORMER competitor around the corner KidsSports).
And what I look at is not the number of cars in the parking lot, but the folks coming in and going out (and yeah, I'm anal enough to pull over and wait a moment or two to get a significant sample)
And about 80% of them are Umass students (you can tell by the sweatshirts and pants that read "Umass")
Soooooooo, when that Deathstar Umass Recreation facility opens in the next year or so (where Umass students can work out for free)....
So when are you going to take up the "unfair competition" banner re: these public facilities (Umass Rec Center, YMCA, et al) that do NOT pay their fair share of taxes??? (esp. property taxes)It's a battle that's been raging across the country for many years (esp. in the west) in various state legislatures & it's about time that you, and other health club owners in Mass., stand up and FIGHT for what's right...health club memberships should NOT be something that is subsidized by the taxpayers!!!
I'm a UMass grad student and I go to PF becasue I live off campus. Most of the friends I have that go there also live off campus and we don't want to pay to park on campus so the rec center won't be for us. $10 a month with free parking is still better.
Yeah, and I'm sure you and all your friends are going to continue working out indoors during June, July and August.
Maybe we will see you working there when you go out of business.
Except they will be gone before I go out of business.
Kind of one those (guy thing) "pissing contests" or that useless hill in North Korea...
A failing business predicts the demise of a successful one. It will be interesting.
Yeah, sometimes failure is a better teacher than success.
I've failing for many years now. And over that time predicted the demise of The Gym at Mt. Farms Mall, Flex Gym on University Drive, Ultimate Fitness at Stop and Shop Mall, KidsSports in Hadley (now a Chinese Charter School) Curves that opened just across the street, and the Amherst Racquet and Fitness located just over the Amherst/Sunderland border (that changed names 7 or 8 times.)
And of course Gold’s Gym--and since they have changed their name (can’t afford the franchise fee) I guess that one counts as well.
Two things...
One, Kidsports didn't "fail" - the owner just decided to get out of the biz and couldn't find a buyer who wanted to keep it going as a rec center/health club (too bad Hadley didn't snatch it up as a Town Rec Center!)
Secondly, you are absolutely right about Planet Fitness eventually going under - their business model (lots of bodies paying low fees) is unsustainable and they will eventually do what ALL of their franchises do: stay around a for a year or two, let the equipment/facility fall into disrepair, make their $$, and then close the doors & move on to the NEXT town.
I predict LK will be the last man standing in this particular competition...
And Amherst's Hampshire Athletic Club (formerly Hampshire Fitness Center) in business a few years over my 27, will also be around forever.
Especially now that they are owned by Perry Messer, owner of Northampton Athletic Club.
Are you sure the UMass facility will be free to students? At Bridgewater State they have to pay an additional fee to use the better gym.
Well, since it is constructed entirely with "student fees" I would assume it will--like the current one it is replacing--be free.
Although they did go from $100 million construction budget down to only $50 million, so maybe they will institute a user fee.
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