Monday, December 8, 2014

Top Cop Chastises OML Violation

Trevor Baptise, then Vice Chair reads opening statement at 7/14 RSC meeting

Once again the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee has been found guilty of an Open Meeting Law violation by the Attorney General, this time for the renegade 7/14 meeting brashly called by then Vice Chair Trevor Baptiste and attended by 5-of-9 members, which is a legitimate quorum.

The AG found, however, the meeting had not been properly posted in Amherst.  Although the AG does admit that for a brief time it was legally posted, but not for a long enough period.



The meeting with only one item on the agenda was called by Trevor Baptiste (then Vice Chair, now Chair) to countermand a memo sent out by Chairs of School Committees who make up the Region decrying a statement made by Amilcar Shabazz at a public meeting talking about a covered up in-school racial incident where black youth beat up a white student.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to get off topic but Gentlemen remove their hats when indoors and especially while eating!
(okay, okay he's not eating...)

Anonymous said...

It's okay, the parties involved are black so we will let it go and forget that they failed to follow rules. Seems to be a theme amongst the black community lately.

Anonymous said...

I noticed on the aprs.org web site that the Regional School Committee has a posted a meeting for this Thursday with no other agenda items than executive session "for the Purpose of discussing strategy with respect to litigation."

I wonder which lawsuit it's about.

Anonymous said...

Trevor Baptiste did his due diligence and attempted to post the meeting in all the ARPS towns. He was following the rules.

Anonymous said...

I am not making it about race. This is a matter of hat etiquette! Lol. For example, I always remove my hat or hoodie when the American flag passes or when in church. Not a rule. Just a nicety. A convention. A custom.

Anonymous said...

Trevor Baptiste had NO authority to call a meeting in the first place so actually be was NOT following the rules. He was making up the rules.

Anonymous said...

Larry,

So what does this really mean. Open meeting law seems hollow at best. Haven't several members of various bodies in town been in violation at some point. Nothing comes of it. What am I missing?

Larry Kelley said...

Just means "Don't do it again."

And the AG clearly suggests if that does happen there will be more severe consequences. I believe that could include a $1,000 fine.

Although it would probably be paid for by the taxpayers.

For now the AG assumes the public shaming will keep them in line.

Anonymous said...

Nothing will keep Trevor in line. He thinks he can do whatever he wants to do. The rules don't apply to him.

Dr. Ed said...

Drip, drip, drip -- sooner or later, either the state or feds are going to step in and take over.

What about the underlying hate crime? Shouldn't that be at least of a little bit of concern?

Anonymous said...

Does this mean that the original memo from the chairs decrying Shabazz's statement that the white kid who got beat up was "the greatest student racist" has not been disavowed or countermanded? What happens to the minutes of the illegal meeting?

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Mr. Tom Flittie for bringing this complaint. It's clear that the complaint would not have been brought without his initiative.

There are good practical reasons for being careful about the notice requirements contained in the law.

Open meeting law is not "hollow at best", but it has to be enforced by citizens bringing a complaint. Mr. Kelley serves that function frequently, and gets the ensuing slings and arrows.

The system worked, and it's good to know that people are watching. Good citizenship takes many forms.

Rich Morse

Anonymous said...

Shabazz, the Bill Cosby of our area (south of Shelbourne Falls that is). He's lived a lie all his life and presented himself as something he's not and now everyone is calling him on it.

Anonymous said...

the school committee's own policies clearly state that the chair calls special meetings. when chair o'brien declined to call the meeting in question, Mr. Baptiste abrogated such authority to himself, and a milquetoast quorum of school committee members all said baaaaaa. (that was meant to be sheep)

Anonymous said...

Beaten up for one's beliefs no matter how reprehensible. That's worse than the belef is to begin with. Racism is not against the law, as much as we'd like to make it so. It's tought. You cannot make thought illegal. I don't know if it was true that the kid was racist or not.

Anonymous said...

With regard to Mr. Shabazz...can I just reiterate what a polarizing person he is? I do not believe for a second that diversity is truly his agenda, and I do believe he is a person who should not be on the school board.

The attached document has an intro written by Mr. Shabazz where he refers to the "enemy forces of the U.S. military state", referring to a man involved in a shootout and an armored car heist as a "brave warrior". While it is true, this document is old, it is also true that he still incorporates it on his CV and his faculty webpage. Clear indication that he still holds such positions. This is distressing.

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=shabazz_a

Anonymous said...

I think we can evaluate Mr. Shabazz based on the public record of his time in office on the School Committee, without going back to writings from 1983. And that evaluation would probably not be favorable.

Hey, one way to dazzle your Amherst friends: ask them how many school employees are making over $100K per year.

When you tell them "ten", watch their jaws hit the floor.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 3:57

As has been posted on Larry's blog before, when you take a number like 100K out of context especially for administrators, you are not presenting the full picture mathematically. The staff making 100K are administrators who work 12 months per year, which is comprable to what many of the seasoned teachers make. There are teachers at 70 to 80K for 10 months; take the average, multiple it by two, and add that to the base and you are looking at teachers who are in the 84K to 96K range. Then, your 10 goes up quite a bit. Depends what point you are trying to make and who your "Amherst friends" are looking at.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that Mr. Shabazz is responsible for the number of highly paid administrators in the Amherst schools.

I believe that our district has many more people in the $100K+ club than most, if not all other school districts in Western Mass.

Anonymous said...

School Committee members do not control the salaries of most district personnel. The only employee that that School Committee has a direct say about is the superintendent (though the SC does vote the overall budget up or down).

Anonymous said...

You' ve convicted Cosby without trial. Interesting. Look at all the bimbos Bill Inton had. Do you feel the same way? I bet you voted for a pig. Twice.

Anonymous said...

Do you have to drag Cosby into this? Cosby AND Clinton. Lol. Come to think of it...birds of a feather.

Anonymous said...

Godalmighty. Awful. Tell me this is a joke. "Brave warrior" indeed. So ass-backwards has the world become that This is a guy that wields any modicum of influence? Cancel my subscription to liberalism.

Anonymous said...

When you are a U.S. citizen and call the country's military the "enemy" doesn't that make you a traitor? Or is that only in time of war?

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:57

Leave the teachers out of it. The point I'm trying to make is Northampton has 2 school employees making more than $100K. I assume those employees, too, work 12 month per year, with vacation, of course.

Can you justify the difference between Amherst and Northampton on this point?

Can you find another school system in Massachusetts with 10 employees making more than $100K? Maybe you can, but you're going to have to look hard.

What are we getting for these outsized salaries?

Anonymous said...

"With regard to Mr. Shabazz...can I just reiterate what a polarizing person he is? I do not believe for a second that diversity is truly his agenda, and I do believe he is a person who should not be on the school board."


_______________________


You'll notice a distinct group of blacks in this country who very simply hate whites and the culture they live in. Like Shabazz you'll notice they tend to hang on to something that makes everyone know they are hanging on to some notion of their sub-culture in this country (a dew rag, a hat with African colors, Braided hair, afros, pants without belts that hang down around their thighs, lace-less shoes, etc).

On it's own, there is absolutely nothing wrong with afros, or colored hats, or corn weaves. It's not any of these symbols of black subculture that are wrong, rather it's the attitude of many of these people. If you are white they look at you with underlying disdain. If you are white they hate that you have worked hard and have succeeded at life. If something happens in any regard where there is a white person involved and a black person feels they have not received some form of entitlement or simply what they consider and equal shake, then it MUST be racial even if it was a kid who tried to kill a cop and got what was coming to him for such blatant disregard for the police and another human being.

The problem is whites are still very much punished for the crimes of our forefathers. No one will say it but these blacks for the most part disdain whites. Only whites can be racist many will tell you and because the blacks suffered so much, they aren't being heard.

Unless you are a black person who has risen up and accepted the white, European culture that is this country in so many ways and thrived, then you are simply a victim of anything that happens to you, even if you do nothing to make something of yourself. You are simply a victim because you do not have white skin.

And for that matter many whites disdain the black subculture so it;s not just blacks. Even a successful black man such as Obama has a clearly large pool of whites who disdain his role. That has more to do with who he is, how he carries himself, and how he suckered a country to make him President.

We may have spent the last forty years painting over the issues of cultural differences in blacks and whites trying so hard to wear glasses that block color and cultural differences but all we have done is add paint to wall that still has huge cracks and fissures underneath. You will slowly start to see more of a race war in this country. We already are seeing that.

Anonymous said...

Shabazz stated at the last SETF meeting that the superintendent rules teachers through intimidation. I'd love to see some anecdotal evidence of that.

Besides, is that really what they talk about at the SETF meetings? I wish these people would drop their personal agendas and focus on our children.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:48 pm

He did not say that.

As in: please, somebody who was there, tell me that he did NOT say that.

Anonymous said...

He did say that.

Anonymous said...

When my father began teaching in 1937, the salary was $3700/yr. I started at $11.8 in 1980. We've come a ways since then.

Anonymous said...

Is it true?

Anonymous said...

Is he correct? Not?

Anonymous said...

No it's not true.

Anonymous said...

Gasp! You mean the amount of money needed to live on has somehow gone up over time? But how?
It's almost like you can't get a gallon of milk for 10 cents anymore...

Anonymous said...

Just a reminder, when someone does not take off their hat it may be that their personal belief system or spiritual practice is WHY. Get a grip people. Not everyone has to be like YOU, think like YOU, act like YOU. I commend Dr. Shabazz and Dr. Baptiste for making decisions and speaking about those decisions based on the best interest of ALL of our youth in this community. It's 2014 people, get used to it!

Anonymous said...

We're so modern we can throw decorum out with the bathwater. 2014 wow. Rastas ( the hats ) don't have religious significance.
Again, it's just a nicety. Like chivalry, which in 2014 is still mostly alive.

Anonymous said...

Chivalry is not dead. Just yesterday someone offered me their seat on the bus. I didn't think it was sexist. Or agist...well , I'm only 24. But I was tired and it sure felt good to sit. If you're reading this, thank you sir.

Anonymous said...

Baptiste is a doctor?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Drs. Shabazz and Baptiste.