Two high profile candidates for reelection, in races where a second place finish would have been good enough, came in third, and thus out of the money. Irv Rhodes, chair of the Amherst School Committee, fell to newcomers Lawrence O'Brien and Amilcar Shabazz--both of whom wished to be appointed two months ago to finish out the term of Steve Rivkin.
Presciently, Rhodes was at first reluctant to even fill the school committee position, worried it would give that person an advantage in this April 3 election; but then he strongly supported Shabazz. The combined Select Board and School Committee, however, chose a high school student instead.
This stunning loss for Rhodes mirrors the school committee election of 2004 when incumbent chair Barbara Love came in third behind newcomers Andy Churchill and Thomas Flitte. Pundits at the time lay the blame on a mediocre campaign that reeked of overconfidence and taking the voters for granted.
While Michael Aronson came in a distant fourth with 433 votes his base in all liklihood bullet voted (did not use their second vote). If even half of Aronson's supporters had thrown their second vote to Rhodes, it would have put him in second place.
Incumbent Carol Gray also was odd person out in the three way race for two seats on the Jones Library Trustees. She joins former chair Pat Holland who lost her seat last year as a result of leading an inquisition against 30 year Director Bonnie Isman.
Birds of a feather crash together.
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By The Numbers:
School Committee
Lawrence O'Brien 1526
Amilcar Shabazz 1160
Irv Rhodes 1004
Michael Aronson 433
Jones Library Trustee
Austin Sarat 1380
Tamson Ely 1245
Carol Gray 907
Voter Turnout: 15.2% (2,429 voters out of 15,991)
Statement of Michael Aronson - Candidate for the Amherst School Committee
210 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 210 of 210The reports that were presented at last week's SC meeting are now posted on the ARPS website. They are mostly power point slides and so do not have as much substance as one might like but you can get more substance by watching the video of the meeting on Amherst Media.
anon@116:
I check the ARPS website almost daily and the SC mtg agendas and I don't know how I would know that there was to be a discussion (whose/where/when) about the math program...I'd like to know, really. We get robo calls about the most trivial of events, and yet something I'd love to hear about (and I suspect a lot of others) gets no announcement...
Did the curriculum director talk about the math action plan and it's $450K worth of math coaches? How is that working out for the students and teachers? Will the plan and coaching continue?
I am some what stunned by the number of anonymous comments. Every day in this world people are standing up to be counted and sometimes dying for doing so. It is cowardly not to sign your name. Well, I guess cowards have to go some place to be born. Irv Rhodes
Anon 1:16
Rhonda Cohen has already been discussed on this thread, as she presented at Wildwood last week, but no one can say what are her specific initiatives to improve math. Can you? I'd like to hear them. They are not anywhere on any Amherst public school website. Way to get the information out Amherst!
I could not agree with you more Irv.
Unfortunately you have to pan an awful lot of shale before finding any gold.
Hi Larry,
It says there are 206 comments but we can only read up to the 200th one. Does the blog stop recording comments after 200? Sort of in new territory here!
Anyone watch this evening's School Committee meeting?
Anon 1:16 PM,
Here we go again. Carrie has been rather polite on this blog, asking real questions, hoping for some answers. Maybe this is not the best forum, but still a forum with lots of people who have opinions. Instead of answering her questions in a small meaningful way or directing her toward the presentation given at the last SC meeting you decide to chastise her. That is the type of response that many of us expect. It is an attitude that we are not good enough if we question the value of our curriculum to our teachers or to people within our schools. No, it is our responsibility as the parents to become super involved and go to endless meetings at the administrative level. Oh and when we do if we don’t use the tone and words you approve of we are bad people. You need a part job to keep up with all of the meetings and committees in this town. Oh and by the way it was a presentation not a public forum. So I am sure since someone pointed it out she can watch it on ACTV and get as much out of it. Maybe in the future (and maybe you have already) start posting upcoming meetings to school related articles on Larry’s blog. Your tone is as bad the tone others accuse Sanderson of on this blog. Try constructive not destructive.
I think the numbers would show that the more affluent the community, the more people opting out for private education. And so then, the more affluent the community, the more dissatisfaction with the public schools there is? Am I following the line of logic correctly here?
Anyone care to discuss this? oris it too deeply buried at this point?
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