Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Do as I say...


Kid is thinking: What about Police and Fire?

Baer "The Turk" Tierkel is asking fellow Amherst liberals to post this town meeting recruiting poster on Facebook to drum up support for the aging institution. Now yes, Mr. Tierkel is an Amherst resident and a town meeting member, so no hypocrisy there...but, umm, he also does not send either of his children to the Amherst public schools. I guess it all depends on how you define "support."

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

For years you have supported the schools, even when you child was at a charter school. Same thing.

Larry Kelley said...

True enough.

I just don't ever remember creating a dorky graphic and sending it to others to demonstrate it.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, he does have kids in the public schools (his daughter is at ARHS).

Anonymous said...

and you're wrong about where Baer's kids go to school

Larry Kelley said...

Wow, next thing you will be telling me is Principal Mark Jackson returned his child back to the Amherst public schools?

Anonymous said...

And if his daughter went to ARHS, you'd be blogging about his conflict-of-interest.

Please spare us.

Anonymous said...

You are looking more and more like a buffoon every day, Larry.

Larry Kelley said...

Sure keeps you coming back.

Anonymous said...

Yea it's great comic relief about mid-way through each work day.

Larry Kelley said...

Don't let your boss catch you reading me on company time, certainly grounds for dismissal.

Anonymous said...

I'm not looking for a Town Meeting member who will "support our schools".

I'm looking for a Town Meeting member who will balance ALL of the government's priorities, including schools.

The problem with Mr. Tierkel is that he thinks everything can be reduced to an advertising slogan. His recruitment efforts extend until he has brought someone into the discussion who disagrees with HIM and then he turns both barrels on that person.

The last time Mr. Tierkel used the slogan "support our schools", he was using it to flog selected School Committee members who many of us thought were asking important questions about how effectively we educate our kids.

He has discredited himself. The pitch falls on deaf ears.

Anonymous said...

The poster ties together two public institutions in Amherst that bring out the conformist in people who would otherwise claim to be free thinkers.

Speak ill of either Town Meeting or our School Department and face the endless slings and arrows of constant criticism of one's tone and civility.

The only recruitment tool for Town Meeting members that has worked has been to threaten to eliminate it. Then the pledges of allegiance to Town Meeting abound, but only for awhile.

Anonymous said...

If you have your kid(s) in private school, are an active town meeting member, and publicly support public schools--that raises some interesting questions that are fair game to ask. Doubt there will be any answers though.

Anonymous said...

Where was Baer when we went through the hiring of the Superintendent? He wants to support funding to the schools without looking at better delivery of services. When Wildwood wasn't working for him, he pulled his kid out. The rest of us were left to deal with the poor hiring decisions of our previous superintendent. Think of what Baer could do if he were really interested in reform...if he really were committed to public schools and made sure that the education they received their was top quality...

Anonymous said...

Let's consider ourselves lucky: he is no longer instructing us how to think from his self-appointed "centrist" position in a regular column in the Bulletin.

Larry Kelley said...

For good cause (and it must be hard to fire somebody who works for free).

Ed said...

I find the image chilling. I am not quite sure why, but find it chilling.

And I really think the term "fascist" (small "f") is the adjective that describes much of this allegedly liberal but quite leftist gulag.

Baer Tierkel said...

Someone told me that Larry posted some untrue stuff about me on "The Republic" but had to search and scroll back to find it...

I actually created 4 posters to help recruit for Town Meeting. One for schools, one for libraries, one for our local economy, and one generic one. They are based upon the WPA Artist Project from 1933-40, so yes, they look a bit out of time. You can see them all here: http://www.sustainableamherst.org

It's not true that there is no way other than threatening to eliminate Town Meeting to recruit for it. A bunch of us have recruited over 80 members over the past 5 years. The key is to let folks know what it's all about and what the commitment is. If you haven't tried it, you should! Make the decision for yourself.

One poster is right, we don't only want Town Meeting members who 'only' support our schools. We want Town Meeting who will balance ALL of the priorities - which is each person's unique perspective (which is why I made 4 posters). I know, I know - I left your priority out. There's only so much time. You can make your own poster though! That's what's great about America.

I would love to ask the folks who post on this blog anonymously and otherwise, to come in from anonymity and join Town Meeting and make your voice count! It's one of the few places in the United States where a citizen can vote on your local budget and all local laws and zoning. The commitment is only about 10 nights/year for a 2.5 hours.

In terms of my kids? (Larry you could've asked rather than guessed) I support public schools and that's why I moved here. I sent one kid all the way through Wildwood - it worked great for her - who is about to graduate from ARHS. One kid not so much, who is now at private but headed to ARHS. I am a fan in differentiated learning, and that kids learn differently - so some schools work for some and not for others. That's something I supported on the Wildwood School Council and is being implemented now across our schools.

I think it's OK to want great public schools, work for them, and while one of your kids is out of the system to continue to work to support the schools so you can bring them back.

To the person saying I want more funding for schools without looking at the delivery? That's not true - as I served for many years on the Wildwood School Council and in school helping - which is pretty much the lowest level. I've also helped get folks elected to the School Committee - including working for and endorsing: Rick Hood, Andy Churchill, Catherine Sanderson (yes, it's true for good or bad), and Irv Rhodes.

To the person who says I let someone have it with both barrels. Sometimes, true alas. This usually happens when someone calls me names and attacks me personally in a discussion about our town. Happened back in December when Dave Keenan called me a "Carpet Bagger". As someone from Georgia, them's fightin' words.

And I love the person who wants "answers" but posts anonymously, doubting there will be any answers! Well, here they are. And I doubt that person will come out from behind their cloak of mystery.

Oh well, enough of an afternoon diversion, back to work on a Saturday... if you're a dog lover and want to take your dogs on vacation this summer, check out all the dog-friendly vacation rentals we found:
http://www.otalo.com/dog-friendly-vacation-rentals

Larry Kelley said...

Geeze, I can tell you miss co-writing those wordy Bulletin columns.

You should start a blog. Oh yeah, you do have (a less wordy) one.

So did your daughter ever attend the Middle School--or was she at a Charter School that entire time?