Thursday, October 29, 2015

There They Go Again

Katherine Appy (4th from rt), Vira Douangmany Cage (2nd from left)

The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee has been cited yet again by the Attorney General's office for violating the Open Meeting Law.

Or maybe I should say just Amherst School Committee Chair Katherine Appy was cited since the AG used the term "individual violation".



Interestingly the violation is a result of Ms. Appy thinking that Regional School Committee Chair Trevor Baptiste overstepped his bounds when he announced to the committee he was going into "mediation" with the NAACP over a "breach of contract" from a 1993 consent agreement.

Regional School Committee attorney Regina Tate thought no such breach occurred. 

That 20+ year old divisive issue related to discipline meted out to non white students at a higher rate than white students.  An old issue that apparently never seemed to go away.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couple of comments:
1. How did you get a copy of this letter so quickly, Larry?
2. Ms. Cage better take note...I have read a number of emails that she sent to the entire committee that were much more egregious than anything Katherine Appy sent to the committee. The difference is that no one on the school committee called her out on them. I will be requesting copies of SC emails as Public Records requests on a regular basis to monitor Ms. Cage's emails. She also needs to be called out. You know, what's good for the goose...
3. I for one am glad Ms. Appy called Trevor out. He was way out of line and the subsequent SC discussion of the matter in question and vote are proof of that.

Larry Kelley said...

I'm on digital time.

Anonymous said...

What does that mean? Who gave you a copy?

Larry Kelley said...

He's just an insider trying to uncover my source (which I NEVER give up).

But he should have known the document was posted to the AG's website, which is where I downloaded it before uploading to Scribd.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. That's helpful to know.

Anonymous said...

Clearly a bigger violation than stealing a loaf of bread from a store.

So clearly, the punishment should be larger.

What will the fine or jail time be? When is their day in court?

If there is little to no consequence, this would make closed meetings legal and the rules just for the private sector.

Dr. Ed said...

Three questions for the NAACP:

1: Are male students (of all races) disciplined more frequently than female students (of all races)?

2: Is this discrepancy greater or less than the Black/White one you cite? Could it, ummm, even be statistically significant?

3: If you support "Social Justice" and the rest, why aren't you making a fuss about this? Black lives may matter, but it is Black male lives that are ending all too frequently. And for every Black man in college, there are TWO Black women -- nationwide. This is a national disgrace, and I don't hear you folks making a fuss about that.

And then there is one other little thing: If you adjust for the (considerably higher) Black out-of-wedlock birth rate, the Black/White poverty gap disappears -- Black families where father & mother live together do not live in poverty!

Sorry folks, Heritage came out with this a while back, and it is the point that Walter Williams makes about Harlem in the 1930's -- in the depths of the First Great Depression, at the height of racism, something like 98% of Black mothers were married, with most of the rest being widows. Racism exists, granted, but it isn't like we have the Sunday afternoon lynchings followed by the community picnic, which is how it used to be. Black FATHERS matter -- it's time for the NAACP to say that!

For that matter, it is time for the NAACP to tell young Black men that school matters, and instead of complaining about young Black men being disciplined, start telling the young Black men to behave themselves and try to learn something when they are in school so that they aren't handicapped for the rest of their lives afterwards.

Anonymous said...

I knew Vira would only serve to make things worse. No matter what happens, she is out to destroy. You watch.

Dr. Ed said...

Some years back, the Pioneer Institute did a study that found the average tenure of the single mother's live-in boyfriend to be something like only 17 months.

That was mean average -- median and mode would be considerably lower for the same reason that the Cosby Estate skews the mean average of property values in the Town of Shelborne, the couples raising their children together but who never got married skew the statistics.

My guess is that median & mode would be somewhere in the neighborhood of four to seven months -- every 4-7 months, the man whom children were told to love & respect is suddenly gone, out of their lives forever, with a new man whom they are now told to love & respect. This really messes children up, particularly boys.

They start needing to control the world around them, and they start thinking "short term" -- as in the immediate "here & now" as the future is not predictable. This is what leads to your school discipline problems, as well as the male learning gap.

Now there are all kinds of reasons why we have single mothers, and I'm not proposing we go back to the days of Hester Prynne, but if the NAACP actually wishes to "Advance Colored People", encouraging young people to get married first and then have children would definitely do it.

Anonymous said...

It's what happens when you go around trying to get yourself elected. Vira is The Man now.

Anonymous said...

"average tenure of the single mother's live-in boyfriend to be something like only 17 months."

And...the majority of single mothers are not African American.

Anonymous said...

I know that the Open Meeting Law in Massachusetts is treated on this blog as if it were holy writ, carried down from the summit of Mount Greylock on stone tablets by John Adams and John Hancock and then transported, oh so carefully, by oxcart to Boston. Those who violate this law, such as Ms. Appy, should spend all of eternity, at hard labor, working in steerage, perhaps rowing the ferry boats to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

In reality, it's a law like any other law, that honors certain values (like transparency and deliberation in public) at the expense of others (like efficient communication and the thorough vetting and consideration of policy). As we saw in a recent local conference, there are elected leaders in the Valley (many of them volunteers) who are critical about how the Law works in practice. There are problems that linger, that, in the minds of people actually trying to do these difficult jobs, impede effective decision-making on behalf of taxpayers. We give up something to get something. Whether that particular trade-off is worth it is for reasonable minds to continue to argue about and engage, no matter how one-sided and biased the discussion is here.

Rich Morse


Anonymous said...

Agreed with Rich. Honestly I cannot understand the mindset of one board member reporting another board member for this. This school committee seems completely dysfunctional on so many levels. They seem more absorbed with their personal squabbles than with making decisions for our schools. Quite a contrast from the other boards in town that seem very professional for the most part. What is it about School Committee that brings out the crazy in people?

Rick Hood said...

FYI one of the things we are trying to figure out policy and OML-wise is how do we deal with things that come up between meetings? What do we do if one or more members think there is an issue we need to talk about before the next meeting?

This violation was about that, as was the one back in summer of 2014, when a majority of the committee wanted to meet about an issue before fall and the chair of the committee would not call the meeting, so we met anyways, and violated OML due to meeting posting issues.

We need a mechanism to be able to see if a majority of members wants to meet about something before the next scheduled meeting date. Normally, the summer is the main problem, as it was in both of the above OML violations. I suppose one way to handle it is schedule meetings every x weeks during the summer and cancel if no issue comes up.

Our School Committee's Policy Subcommittee has been asked to look at this issue (long ago actually, after the 2014 incident).

Anonymous said...

To adapt Clausewitz, Open Meeting Law enforcement in Amherst is simply the continuation of politics by other means.

Rich Morse

Rick Hood said...

I also agree with Rich.

@October 29, 2015 at 1:52 PM
”This school committee seems completely dysfunctional on so many levels. They seem more absorbed with their personal squabbles than with making decisions for our schools.”

While there is more squabbling than there should be, it’s minor in my view, and we spend way more of our time in working on decisions that matter, like the the elementary school build/renovate, regionalization, possible move of middle school students to the high school and re-use of the middle school building, the budget, etc.

But squabbling is "news" these days right? That's what people want to hear about, whether school committee or Presidential debates.

Anonymous said...

And what is truly amazing is that Vira, the person who filed the complaint, sent several emails to the entire regional SC around the same time as Katherine's email that were more egregiously in violation of OML. Her fellow SC members did not call her out on it.

His name is "Rick" said...

Know what I like about Cap'n Hood?


Nothing.


-Squeaky Squeaks


p.s. Just the man for Amherst tho, right? Jesus, what a fking dump.

Anonymous said...

Squeaky, as usual you contribute nothing to the conversation.

Anonymous said...



Never say "NEVER" Larry, since, if you do, you're not being honest: when you've found it politically, you've revealed your source.

Larry Kelley said...

I never give up a source. Never.

Dr. Ed said...

And...the majority of single mothers are not African American.

Only because a smaller percentage of a much larger number is still a large number.

Anonymous said...

Larry, there are many situations in which you would give up a source.

A. you have not admitted that you have, or
B. you have not been forced by government to do it yet, but most certainly could be.

Even if you don't give up a source, this does not put you on any moral high ground, you stomp constantly to have the government come and procure other people's money, time and resources against their will. Once you work with others to promote theft (taking of stuff without permission), revealing sources seems like child's play.

But more importantly, when these fools violate the law and the public trust, what is the consequence? If there is not a consequence, it is not only acceptable, it is in fact encouraged. Sounds to me that private meetings by public employees are more than acceptable locally unless all of these folks has a painful fine (say $25k or more) or goes to prison for their violation.

Closed meetings seem to be about as acceptable in Mass as drunk drivers....pretty common and accepted. Little consequence. Closed meetings are actually worse. It was probably closed meetings that brought us the very lax drunk driving laws.

Anonymous said...

Can we please stop hyphenating everyone and everything. Are we Americans or not?

Anonymous said...

Yes. What % of black mothers are single vs. % of other colors. (I'm calling white a color, too.

Anonymous said...

maybe it's time for a different school committee/school council structure in Amherst.
not the large school committee proposed with the K-12 regionalization, but
a school council headed by a mayor, which is how it's done in Noho.

I hope the town charter proponents get enough signatures to put a new charter commission on the spring election ballot.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Ms. Appy on this one. I found it extremely concerning that the Chair and one other SC member met with the NAACP without the entire SC being aware of this. Especially since this meeting was followed up by the NAACP stating it was initiating a legal proceeding. Ms. Appy was right to raise this issue. I think it's outrageous that Ms. Douangmany Cage filed a complaint about this, after portraying herself as a community builder in her election campaign. Really disappointing.

Anonymous said...

"it is time for the NAACP to tell young Black men that school matters"

Huh? Ed, this is typical of your bizarre rhetoric. What the heck are you talking about. The NAACP is a forceful advocate for education. They are telling young Black men to stay in school.

Anonymous said...

My assumption is that Larry's protection of sources enhances his reporting and compromises his editorializing.

Rich Morse

Anonymous said...

She is anything but a community builder. She tears things down. She never builds up. The voters in Amherst were sold a piece of goods.

Anonymous said...

Mr Hood,
You state "possible move of the middle school to the high school". Is it truly still in the possibility stage? I understand the "superficial" input and info sharing sessions give the illusion that this decision hasn't been made. However, inside sources know that this ship has sailed and admin made that decision prior to ever extending it to the community and asking for feedback.
Now, if that move is in anyway conducive to extinguishing the highly controlled "boring repetitive format for every subject" (quote from my middle schooler) that is being imposed on students and staff for the delivery of curriculum, and the forcing of music without valuing other electives or foreign language, then let's get this bus moving!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I thought it was un-PC to call people "colored." I like the NAACP for holding their ground and standing with the anti-PC movement. Which, happily is gaining in great numbers. Incidentally, speaking of colored people, what % of the NAACP membership is red? Brown? Yellow?

Anonymous said...

Music is forced? I thought everything in school is forced. I suppose you could do worse than gain a musical education. God forbid our kids develop an appreciation of the art.

Anonymous said...

Yes. And that's what we love about him/her.

Anonymous said...

More support for the Black Lives Matter But Not To Other Blacks movement.