The town can submit both schools for MSBA funding
Kevin Collins, probably the most hated man in Town Meeting for his overzealous style, wants to collect 200 voter signatures to call yet another Special Town Meeting for yet another attempt at garnering a two-thirds vote needed for the new $67 million Mega School bond authorization.
While there's still time for that desperate Hail Mary to occur before the April 1st deadline the MSBA gave town officials for getting the needed Town Meeting approval another, however, more important deadline would be missed:
In order to get back in the MSBA pipeline immediately for funding on a new improved school plan, acting Superintendent Mike Morris must withdraw the original failed Mega School project by Monday otherwise we lose an entire year.
Click to enlarge/read
If the acting Superintendent wastes an entire year on this impossible dream gamble, an irresponsible lack of judgement, he should be fired.
45 comments:
Collins is increasingly deranged, it's worrisome.
Shouldn't he be fired for not doing cheaper educational estates?
This is gonna piss off a lot of people in town. Give up the ghost already, folks. There just isn't enough support and it's wasting our time. Let's move along.
Wow. Larty strong stance here.. I am sure Mike will take care of this. I believe.... like Dorothy..
I Like Mike Morris and if he is the best candidate that is great. If we are set on him then we shouldn't waste on money on a search. At the same time I think he needs to show the community he is his own person and seprate himself from the former situation as much as possible .. including findING a different answer his answer AsAP for the Elementary Schools in Amherst. I have heard he encourages parent input and takes parents wishes seriously. I would like to see that happen. Reality is you can't make all the people happy all the time.
Its obvious what is going to happen. The former Super's assistant won't have the stones or the desire to pull the former plan and we're delayed 1 year min. Then all the mega school supporters will blame the non-supporters for the additional delay (ala fake news facts).
As a former Fort River student, I'm trying to rationalize the description of the hell the classrooms described as VS my actual experience. LOVE the "quiet" class room comments. Our classrooms weren't any louder than my sons current class room. And again, elementary school aged kids, are they really that quiet?
Move on to a plan that will satisfy the needs of the students and garner the support needed to pass.
Kevin uses his business address to represent precinct 5 at Town Meeting instead of his required residential address.
Then he lectures other members on ethics.
"Reality is you can't make all the people happy all the time."
Reality is that collectivism doesn't work. No one is happy, everyone is poorer. Rights are constantly sacrificed for little gain.
Yeah, Collins is losing it. Time to give it a rest and restart the meds.
When does no mean no????
...and restart the process with a plan that everyone wants and doesn;t have to be force fed to the voters.
Larry if the brats keep voting and finally get their way may the NO voters petition and bring it up to town meeting for a no vote again?
What a bunch of losers...I guess no one ever taught them what no means when they were youngsters..
Get over it, the vote is NO!!!!!
This particular plan will never get a two thirds vote of Town Meeting, no matter how many times they try.
Responding to 9:49 AM
What? How can that be? What is Kevin Collins’ legal home address then? Is he even a resident of Amherst? Is the Red Barn legal for residency?
The Interim Superintendent takes the time to send an update on the results of a homework survey but still has not said a peep about the vote on Monday and about withdrawing the project from the MSBA's list, something that has to happen immediately if we are to be able to submit new SOIs in 2017.
He didn't survey teachers and parents on reconfiguration but he was happy to survey their thoughts on homework, and publicize the results.
Is this the type of behavior that we should accept from a Superintendent? He has lost my support.
Mr. Morris and Mr. Nakajima have been emailed requesting them to ask MSBA to withdraw the project by Feb. 6th. Hopefully that will happen so we can move on.
Let's hope Morris isn't "playing Trump" by making decisions on his own without informed feedback from those concerned. If he doesn't withdraw the project and there's another town meeting that ultimately nixes the project, well, there you have it.
Follow The Money -- someone was going to get a lot of money out of building this monstrosity.
Is this the same guy that caused the big kerfluffle at WMUA?
Yep.
He's like Dennis the Menace.
Ed - can you explain this please? Where does the money trail lead?
some people are trying to petition to get a vote of the Town. no way that passes! they barely got 50% on a ballot with umass students voting for pot. these people are going to screw amherst so bad.
What do you mean WUMA? Kevin had nothing to do with that.
3:00 kerfuffle.
I have children in Amherst schools and they don't mind the pods at all - I have asked them and it does not disturb their learning what so ever. Are they ever so cold they can't learn? NO. They put a sweater on if they're cold. Take it off if they're hot. It's that easy. Do they mind the bathrooms being in another classroom? They don't love it, but it hasn't ruined them yet. People are completely blowing this out of proportion, claiming tears and trauma because it's so horrible, acting is if the kids are being schooled in an underground bomb shelter. You guys have not experienced real horrible conditions, trust me. It's not THAT bad and there ARE other solutions. MOVE ON from this and let's hope M.Morris takes this off the table so we don't have to wait another year to resubmit. Get over it, Amherst. No is No. Kevin Collins seems completely off his rocker, too.
Who is BOLD?
Oh yes, he most certainly did.
Kevin Collins, resident rabble rouser, was the one who hand delivered a "cease and desist" letter to the station telling them to shut down a radio show featuring other town meeting members discussing zoning issue. Uncertain staff shut it down, causing The Kerfuffle, and only later was it determined that Kevin Collins did not have any standing in the situation, and that radio staff were certainly not the people to be making judgments about violating state ethics laws.
So, yes, a history of aggressively sticking his oar in...
a) thank you for clarifying WMUA question
b) "sticking his oar in" is a great expression.
The architect.. who is friend with Ms Appy for one
The architect is NOT a personal friend of Ms Appy. She did NOT choose the architect.
If we could all just get along and share what we want and have an inclusive process where we hear from everyone. We will leave meetings singing "We shall Overcome" and begin to listen to each other and even burp rainbows. And then after that is done and there is still disagreement, then Ms. Quilter and Ms. Kopecki decide what they want, the perfect plan will be born and there will be no disagreement because SASS knows best, especially regarding renovation (what do engineers and architects know, they only do this for a living and we heard about someone who did this for cheaper somewhere) for our community and we will live happily ever after. Russ can send more self-masturbatory e-mails around and it will be great.
Sarcasm requires its own special font.
Anon February 2 at 11:42 AM wrote about Mike Morris:
"He didn't survey teachers and parents on reconfiguration but he was happy to survey their thoughts on homework, and publicize the results.
Is this the type of behavior that we should accept from a Superintendent? He has lost my support."
Dear Anon,
This survey was already done, and we already know what parents and teachers think about school configurations. This survey was done before everyone got caught up in the politics and "winning". See:
https://wildwoodpgo.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/2015jan-schoolsurvey-results.pdf
Parents and teachers DO NOT LIKE THE K-1 and 2-6 split. It's that simple.
There must be something about being on a "committee" or a "board" that makes people turn their minds off and ignore the data that speak so eloquently.
When you serve on a committee and the consensus builds that "up" is "down" and "down" is "up", don't be a sheep! Speak up!
What about Clare Bertrand trying to get 1300 signatures to put this on the March ballot for a 2/3rds vote? Why can't we use all this energy to come up with a K-5 or k-6 plan?!
These " School nuts @ sure represent the Valley continuum of dis-enchanted dis-contents -this just does not bode well " For the kids " education-they tried-at life and failed-do not allow these die hard losers to destroy regional education-yet once more- Maria Geryk was just a taste of what they really got to offer -sick-sad world -just Say'n !?@&$$$
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant a repeat or new survey was not done, despite many calls to undertake one, to accurately and anonymously assess teacher support after the summer. I agree the data from January is still valid as it was gathered, like you say, before this became so politicized and when there were still other options, in theory.
This town is so divided around the combined schools. It is unfair to put any of that at Dr. Morris's feet and what he should or should not do. He has been a remarkable, stabilizing leader since Ms. Geryk left.
As an educator and having worked in or spent a lot of time in all three Amherst elementary schools for a very long time, there are so many issues that it does impact learning. I wish the community would stop arguing that the problems are not significant or real. The real issue is the money and that is very, very understandable, so please stop playing "dodge ball"!
Kevin has to few strings left on his banjo.
This town is so divided around the combined schools. It is unfair to put any of that at Dr. Morris's feet and what he should or should not do.
The Captain is responsible for his ship.
Capt. Hazelwood was off-duty, in bed & asleep when the Exxon Valdez hit a ledge -- it wasn't even the 3rd Mate's fault, it was a computer glitch that denied him the ability to steer the ship away from the ledge. Yet who got blamed....
He has been a remarkable, stabilizing leader since Ms. Geryk left.
IS the system stable?
As an educator and having worked in or spent a lot of time in all three Amherst elementary schools for a very long time, there are so many issues that it does impact learning. I wish the community would stop arguing that the problems are not significant or real. The real issue is the money and that is very, very understandable, so please stop playing "dodge ball"!
So, in other words, let's piss away a whole lot of money AND give up the ONLY chance of fixing things for the next fifty years, until 2067 because you want to do something....
This reminds me of the well-intended effort of dragging an accident victim out of the wrecked vehicle, tossing him/her/it into the back seat of yours, and driving to the hospital. If you really are an educator, you understand why (outside some very specific circumstances) YOU DON'T MOVE THE VICTIM!
More likely than not, you will do more harm than good. Same thing here....
Ed doesn't live in Amherst or even Massachusetts. Please ignore his meddling.
Ed may live elsewhere but he speaks sense and reason and appears to understand Amherst quite well.
This plan will be a disaster for this town. Many families with means will pull their kids in search of K-6 education with curriculum and challenge that Amherst schools do not have. Many families without means will be forced to move elsewhere to somewhere more affordable after the property taxes and rents soar.
This is an irreversible mistake. This building design is not flexible. Reverting to K-6 will be near impossible. Adapting to increased enrollment (if that were to happen) will be near impossible.
Even some of the teachers that are advocating loudly for this plan have said they prefer K-6 model to this K-1/2-6.
Let's just see what 23 buses lined up at Wildwood looks like. And 750 kids trying to find their bus or their parent's car. And that's just the beginning.
Yes it will fix the physical buildings, but it will create far more problems than it will resolve.
If Mike does not follow through and does not put in the withdrawal letter for this project, may be we should try moving everyone around for this coming school year and see how everyone feels.....put PreK, K, 1 at CF, half of 2-6 at Wildwood and half at Fort River. That's what people want, right? See if it works....and don't forget, CF will give two K classrooms to PreK. See if there is really space for everything. If you are really serious about serving the low=income families, start providing what they need now! And don't just stop at PreK...K, 1st, and 2nd need the early intervention they so deserve to be successful.
Plan B -- other alternatives to the current Wildwood project with its elementary school grade reconfiguration
In early April of this year, Amherst can submit another SOI (Statement of Interest) to the MSBA (Mass School Building Authority) for Wildwood and Fort River elementary schools. Based on the rating the MSBA gave Wildwood, chances are strong that it will be picked again this year or next. In 2015, 9 of 12 schools with the same MSBA ranking as Wildwood got accepted.
Then, start looking at different options now--or after one school is picked by MSBA. Nothing stops our community, either through the town or schools, from examine different options now.
Some options suggested that keep our K-6 grade configuration include:
a) Renovate/ rebuilding both Wildwood and Fort River (K-6 or preK-6) at their original sites (with MSBA $). This would mean Amherst would have to go one school by one school into MSBA process. All three Amherst elementary schools remain K-6 or slightly change to PreK-6.
Could this happen? See also today's Daily Republican on Easthampton which finished their high school, funded with a 63% MSBA reimbursement in 2013. Then in 2015 their elementary school was accepted by MSBA.
b) Change to 2 elementary schools by rebuild/renovating Wildwood (MSBA $) and expanding Crocker Farm (solely with town money). Crocker Farm remains PreK-6, Wildwood remains K-6 or goes to PreK-6. Fort River would be closed with its students going to either Wildwood or Crocker Farm.
c) Rebuild/renovate Fort River school building (MSBA $) and look at whether the middle school can be expanded with an addition to build a lower elementary school and create a PreK-8 school (town money for middle school changes).
So there are some Plan B options. I am interested in hearing others.
Importantly steps can be taken now to: 1) look at air quality issues at Wildwood and Fort River, 2) change our current busing plan, 3) make the quad classrooms quieter, 4) fund 30 halfday preschool seats next year, 5) fixing the boiler, and 6) make sure the therapeutic rooms in our special education classrooms meet the needs of current students. All of these problems need and can be addressed today.
Plan A, B or C must include an assessment of the healthiness (or lack of it) of the Wildwood and Fort River school buildings. I am not sure why this situation has gone unaddressed for so long and am glad that the Amherst School Committee has finally agreed to look into it. The State has resources for assessing and remedying sick buildings--but there is not data showing that either of these buildings have health problems. (Please, please let's all stop making this claim without hard evidence.)
Plan A,B or C will include the Amherst School Committee looking now into rebalancing the three elementary schools for economic balance, and whether or not to continue busing kids living at the East Hadley Road apartment buildings to 3 different elementary schools. I am glad the school committee has taken up this question and urge them to talk to the parents and hear and respond to their concerns.
Plan A, B or C should include looking at ways to make things more quiet at Wildwood and Fort River schools, fixing the air blowers that did not work in 2003 and continue not to work now, replacing the boiler at Wildwood, etc. If the therapeutic rooms at Fort River are failing to meet the educational needs of students with special needs, that has to by law and morally, be fixed now. Better equipment or moving the program to either the middle school or high school which have extra space seem possible options.
We need to resolve the problems in our schools now for the kids who go there now.
Janet McGowan
to me plan B seems more sensible. It is a plan that would never have passed the 'equity' test of Ms Geryk's. Students going to different schools, not fair (or so it seemed to her). Mr Morris did say in TM that they were thinking the proposed twin g2-6 school might be split into north and south Amherst wings, so maybe there are not obstacles to having a north school at the WW site and CR for south Amherst.
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