tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post4457128773438900805..comments2023-10-17T22:56:42.784-04:00Comments on Only in The Republic of Amherst: Soothe The Savage BeastLarry Kelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-11573801764837916932015-06-12T12:01:12.898-04:002015-06-12T12:01:12.898-04:00Does one pronounce the G as in Gary or as in Gerit...Does one pronounce the G as in Gary or as in Geritol? Jackie M'Vembahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14673599329088699670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-22981778562394829152015-06-09T20:32:54.050-04:002015-06-09T20:32:54.050-04:00"Maria---i've just met a girl named Maria..."Maria---i've just met a girl named Maria. And suddenly that name will never be the same to me...." Oh, wait. Sry. Banned. I forgot. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-47436868204959563432015-06-09T16:41:14.379-04:002015-06-09T16:41:14.379-04:00I wonder why there was a desire to hire someone lo...I wonder why there was a desire to hire someone local rather than best qualified? Did race enter in?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-77327828084637947012015-06-05T16:21:37.022-04:002015-06-05T16:21:37.022-04:00Or yours.Or yours.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-49022972912311458462015-06-05T15:02:29.371-04:002015-06-05T15:02:29.371-04:00I have heard liberalism defined as a mental diseas...I have heard liberalism defined as a mental disease, but never as being "open to considering the views of others." I was as liberal as they came in the 60's and 70's, but am stiil in the process of smartening up. Still think the liberal agenda is being foisted on our kids by the schools. But I guess that's a "conversation" for another day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-75061345261007649452015-06-04T18:09:38.212-04:002015-06-04T18:09:38.212-04:00Anon 11:39
I consider myself quite liberal. I don...Anon 11:39<br /><br />I consider myself quite liberal. I don't think it is the "liberal view" that causes the problem. "Liberal" in my lexicon means "open to considering the view of others." In Amherst, there a many doctirinaire pseudo liberals who would shout you down because your views differ from theirs or the majority's. <br /><br />I think the point of this discussion is that the Superintendent is a self serving bureaucrat that will continue to do everything she can to serve herself ever larger shares of the Amherst pie. Clearly she has been successful in her strategy having achieved the highest salary in town despite obvious incompetence. <br /><br />Why is she there? In my view it was the "doctrinaire liberal" view that we needed to hire someone local even if they had a mediocre record, an irrelevant educational background, and no worldclass experience. By the way, all anyone had to do was to look into her job performance as head of Special Education before she came to her current role to get a sense of what was to come: cronyism, excessive hiring instead of innovation, under-performance, and the propensity to blame others.<br /><br />The big question is why she is still Superintendent.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-89001505208415355842015-06-04T11:39:09.017-04:002015-06-04T11:39:09.017-04:00Very simple. The "go along to get along"...Very simple. The "go along to get along" principle. If you voice views which don't agree with the liberal view, you will be the last one anyone will consider for any promotion, and could well find yourself ostracized. Much easier to be a pod-person. Just like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-8628862697680439112015-06-04T09:45:44.254-04:002015-06-04T09:45:44.254-04:00Anon 6:49 pm
Have you lived in this town long? Th...Anon 6:49 pm<br />Have you lived in this town long? There are definitely repercussions for people who try to question those in authority, including the superintendent. Ask any of a number of former School Committee members or former district employees. Or take a look at the latest post on this blog. <br /><br />There is a reason that so many people want to stay anonymous when making any criticisms of the powers that be, even when those criticisms are entirely valid. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-65075410832738766792015-06-04T07:34:19.558-04:002015-06-04T07:34:19.558-04:00Anon 11:32 pm is obviously Kurt Geryk
He sent Alli...Anon 11:32 pm is obviously Kurt Geryk<br />He sent Allison a nasty Facebook message moments later<br />---SherlockAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-4063504655680743382015-06-03T18:49:01.366-04:002015-06-03T18:49:01.366-04:00Again, what is there to be afraid of if you give h...Again, what is there to be afraid of if you give her a bad review? <br /><br />What possible consequence could there be to your or anyone?<br /><br />Everyone's talking like if she knows who you are that you could end up in jail or something. Please help me understand the "sky is falling" reaction to this process. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-71048898063917840392015-06-03T14:00:05.693-04:002015-06-03T14:00:05.693-04:00I always loved those 'tell me how I did as a t...I always loved those 'tell me how I did as a teacher' surveys . As though they for meant to do anything but puff up the teacher's sense of importance. Whatever was done with any of those things? Also those employee self reviews. The boss didn't usually go by mine...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-78085029222485148812015-06-03T09:51:34.168-04:002015-06-03T09:51:34.168-04:00"Stalk" is kinda strong..."Stalk" is kinda strong...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-29381824948485582702015-06-03T09:33:52.432-04:002015-06-03T09:33:52.432-04:00"maybe we could all just write in someone els...<i>"maybe we could all just write in someone else's name instead of our own. What if everyone who answered the survey wrote the superintendent's name in the box? sure our responses might not get counted, but it might be fun anyway."</i><br /><br />Two words: "IP Address"<br /><br />While it doesn't care who you are, her web server must be able to identify you as the person filling out your copy of the survey -- otherwise it has this data coming in and has absolutely no idea what to do with it.<br /><br />And if it doesn't both track I addresses and block second surveys, there is nothing (other than personal integrity) to preventing someone from skewing the results by sending in 500 responses. (Or is that the intent here????)<br /><br />An IP Address is like a phone number, it usually isn't that difficult to figure out who it belongs to, and it is often possible to do this with certainty. (Remember the electrician's son?) And while you can either mask your IP address or make it appear to be one other than what it really is, most folks don't know how...<br /><br />Hence -- if you are going to tell the truth, don't do it from your own computer or any computer or venue which can be linked to you.<br /><br />This is just like those totally bogus UMass surveys which claim that students love that purgatorial cesspool and wish to have stricter enforcement of the ETOH regulations. Some of the latter are actually rather humorous -- "you honestly found that UMass students feel that underaged drinking should be punished more harshly than hate crimes?" "Really????"<br /><br />After trying to intimidate me (didn't work), Sally Linowski really didn't have an answer to that one -- I think that Maria G has taken a page from Linowski's "Community Standards" Charade and the survey results will say that Maria G is the Golden Girl who Walks on Water....Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-10021814757364833772015-06-03T09:30:57.902-04:002015-06-03T09:30:57.902-04:00I'm pretty sure I would not be allowed to mow ...I'm pretty sure I would not be allowed to mow my lawn at 6AM- <br /><br />Street cleaning can definitely be done later in the morning!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-28542337140922518882015-06-03T07:43:05.720-04:002015-06-03T07:43:05.720-04:00When do we get to evaluate the Chief of Police'...When do we get to evaluate the Chief of Police's performance?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-51246081176780889732015-06-03T07:25:51.025-04:002015-06-03T07:25:51.025-04:00Not everyone works first shift...Not everyone works first shift...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-60700716194447085952015-06-03T07:24:13.823-04:002015-06-03T07:24:13.823-04:00But enough about Me. How about You? What do You ...But enough about Me. How about You? What do You think about Me??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-71658243245605262882015-06-03T06:38:36.366-04:002015-06-03T06:38:36.366-04:00Do we have a DPW worker suffering with Insomnia? S...Do we have a DPW worker suffering with Insomnia? Street cleaning in the 6AM hour isn't the best use of their time as It is not a quiet task! I'm sure the whole neighborhood is awake and wondering WTF is that noise!<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-51546212054944462162015-06-03T06:27:33.626-04:002015-06-03T06:27:33.626-04:00Alli McD:
While I would like to believe that this ...Alli McD:<br />While I would like to believe that this detail was pure ineptitude, I cannot. History suggests a deliberate attempt to force certain results is the norm when it comes to the Superintendent. Her modus operandus is so brashly self serving that this survey seems natural.<br />I agree that it is unprofessional. I would say that that is one signature of a senior administrator that has little experience (other than in Amherst), and limited capability. <br />Time to request she find a job elsewhere!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-74932791041895842092015-06-02T23:35:27.685-04:002015-06-02T23:35:27.685-04:00Alli McD are you Allison Bleyler McDonald?Alli McD are you Allison Bleyler McDonald?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-58165060158154646342015-06-02T23:33:22.415-04:002015-06-02T23:33:22.415-04:00How does Graff know know what people write on face...How does Graff know know what people write on facebook, he doesn't have a facebook account? Ohhhh, he must stalk people on facebook...<br /><br />If they allow anonymous surveys to be accepted, how will they know whether the few excessively negative people, like Graff, won't spend two days filling out crappy evaluations? Wouldn't allowing anonymous survey evaluations be "totally bogus from a statistical point of view and a blatant political hack job designed to make the chief look" hated?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-29890345433636855462015-06-02T23:29:28.671-04:002015-06-02T23:29:28.671-04:00Why would there be any consequence to leaving your...Why would there be any consequence to leaving your name with a negative review and even more important, what could the consequence even be, what kind of power does the superintendent of schools have over adults in the community?... Is she sleeping with the assessor or something, afraid of higher taxes...<br /><br />Also, do people actually believe that a survey or its results will change anything? <br /><br />The survey is like voting for government officials...."here little one, have your say, feel important and then move on so we can do our real important jobs...and remember, when you don't get your way, you had a say, you agreed to not get your way in advance, oh and next year we are going to $21,000 per student, anything for the 'kids' right."<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-44993713147462628812015-06-02T22:44:08.045-04:002015-06-02T22:44:08.045-04:00Maybe someone should just ask the superintendent t...Maybe someone should just ask the superintendent then: will surveys be accepted without names or not? It is hard for me to imagine that with all the highly-paid people working in the central office the requirement that people give their names on the survey was not a deliberate choice, but maybe it was. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-38013134869059771022015-06-02T22:17:55.224-04:002015-06-02T22:17:55.224-04:00Funny, I just assumed survey coding ineptitude on ...Funny, I just assumed survey coding ineptitude on their part. The survey itself was basic plug-n-play questionnaire writing, so I find it hard to imagine any ulterior motive for asking for names... The entire thing, including Ms. Geryk's email invitation was so painfully unprofessional, that troubles me more than being required to provide a name.Alli McDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08457418813980693872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-79731860253224673072015-06-02T17:27:14.580-04:002015-06-02T17:27:14.580-04:00Nina, I made no reference to my feelings about Ms ...Nina, I made no reference to my feelings about Ms Geryk. I made a reference to parents who do little involving the schools. You are great at making assumptions and belive the assumptioms you create in your head. I am one of the parents who is at one Amherst school most days and I find it sad how little most parents get involved. To see the PTO have to beg for folks to even get invoiced with something towards teachers at the end if the year for their hard work is sad. There are some wonderful individuals in the Amherst schools. I hope people take time to send in their thoughts in the survey no matter what the rhink.. I know getting a parent to even fill out a three question survey for the PTO yeilds few returns. You can cheerlead all you want, there are dreams and then there is reality. As an involved parent I see the reality. Most parents are not very involved in the schools beyond making lunch. Walter Graffnoreply@blogger.com