tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post5753879528263350509..comments2023-10-17T22:56:42.784-04:00Comments on Only in The Republic of Amherst: Just say NOLarry Kelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-5827602821777923582011-08-02T13:14:14.267-04:002011-08-02T13:14:14.267-04:00"Last Friday, Rodriguez met at his office wit..."Last Friday, Rodriguez met at his office with Hajir and Churchill to discuss allegations contained in a 65-page evaluation composed by school staff that was read by members of the Regional School Committee. The contents of these evaluations have not been released and a request for copies has been submitted.<br /><br />Monday night, Rodriguez went to the Regional Middle School and signed a joint statement with the chairmen of the Regional, Amherst and Union 26 School Committees.<br /><br />The statement read: "After the committees' and Dr. Rodriguez's receipt of the survey results from employees, <br /><br /><br /><br />particularly the feedback from a majority of senior administrative personnel who report to Dr. Rodriguez, <br /><br /><br /><br />the committees and Dr. Rodriguez agreed that it was in the best interests of all parties for Dr. Rodriguez to leave his position as superintendent of the districts." <br /><br /><br /><br />Never forget what roaches can do.<br /><br /><br />Never.Roach Patrolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-83123455172663134172011-08-02T11:50:54.063-04:002011-08-02T11:50:54.063-04:00"Hey Roach Patrol,
Off the meds again? Too b..."Hey Roach Patrol,<br /><br />Off the meds again? Too bad. I thought they had found a cure for your insights. Back to the drawing board."<br /><br /><br />LOL<br /><br /><br />What comes around goes around, my little parasitic friend. <br /><br />Now, come here... look at my new shoes.No more nest, no more roachesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-61925353983030054442011-08-02T10:00:07.395-04:002011-08-02T10:00:07.395-04:00Hey Roach Patrol,
Off the meds again? Too bad. I ...Hey Roach Patrol,<br /><br />Off the meds again? Too bad. I thought they had found a cure for your insights. Back to the drawing board.<br /><br />Smoke the RoachAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-81575889282568848132011-08-02T00:40:31.364-04:002011-08-02T00:40:31.364-04:00Someone paying Amherst taxes that feels compelled ...<i>Someone paying Amherst taxes that feels compelled to pay an extra $10K on educating their kid </i><br /><br />This is the issue that the Baptists raised in 1820 and which fueled the disestabilshment movement -- why should they pay taxes to support the Congregational Church when they are already paying for the Baptist one?<br /><br />And the same thing is going to happen here -- why should parents pay for the public schools when they are sending their kids somewhere else????Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-47879719367857047022011-08-01T22:11:21.281-04:002011-08-01T22:11:21.281-04:00Watch the SC meetings this fall and you will think...Watch the SC meetings this fall and you will think that everything is absolutely great. Governance by cheerleaders. <br /><br />And then while they lull you into a happy stupor, they will:<br /><br />a) do absolutely nothing about a dysfunctional trimester system;<br />b) slowly dismantle the elementary language program, which they were never in favor of in the first place;<br />c) continue to fail to provide parents of 8th graders the amount of information they need to make an INFORMED choice at a crucial fork in the road for their children's math futures.<br /><br />The troublemakers may be gone from School Committee, the dragonlady's blog may be down, but the issues and the unhappiness lingers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-81090150473728570762011-08-01T21:31:53.490-04:002011-08-01T21:31:53.490-04:00I pulled my child from the schools in Amherst and ...I pulled my child from the schools in Amherst and have never gotten an exit survey. <br /><br />I am aware of other parents who have pulled their children as well. <br /><br />Just get that if this administration believes it will get an adverse result - e.g. parents saying that they are pulling their kids because they have no confidence in the schools - they are not going to poll parents whose kids are leaving the schools. It is a simple as that.<br /><br />Someone paying Amherst taxes that feels compelled to pay an extra $10K on educating their kid is not going to be happy with the administration.<br /><br />Administrators have probably been advised by their attorney to avoid these exit interviews if possible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-56028145205076408902011-08-01T16:21:27.723-04:002011-08-01T16:21:27.723-04:00I didn't dream of sending my child anywhere el...I didn't dream of sending my child anywhere else.<br /><br />But that was before Middle School.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-6943373225331446762011-08-01T09:27:44.912-04:002011-08-01T09:27:44.912-04:00I happen to think the Amherst schools are very goo...I happen to think the Amherst schools are very good..and getting better. I would not dream of sending my child anywhere else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-89438166416824017632011-08-01T08:38:29.333-04:002011-08-01T08:38:29.333-04:00Sent both our kids to private school, and we never...<i>Sent both our kids to private school, and we never saw any "socialization down side" to it. </i><br /><br />I would instead use "community identity" and the concept of which community the children identify with.<br /><br />There are largely three communities that children identify with:<br /><br />1: Extended family & associates of their parents (includes neighbors, political/social/cultural/union/etc).<br /><br />2: Religious community (if any).<br /><br />3: Fellow students at school.<br /><br />Of these three communities, only one is (was) universal across the town -- the cadre of fellow students. Who was it who said that "America is never as segregated as it is on Sunday Mornings?"<br /><br />There are many forms of segregation -- self selection toward like persons -- and the first two groups are inherently that. I am reminded of a certain Black UMass administrator whose children played not with other children in Amherst, but with the Cosby children. And religious communities are inherently segregated on the basis of religious beliefs -- other than funerals, I don't attend Jewish or Catholic services...<br /><br />When the school community switches from the local municipality to the larger geographic community of those attending the specific private school, you have a generation of young people coming of age without any particular identity with any specific municipality. <br /><br />This is a larger version of what school consolidation did to smaller towns -- it is why Pelham is so desperately trying to hang onto its elementary school, they know what will happen to the town when (not if) they loose it.<br /><br />And one of the reasons why Amherst is such a political quagmire is the large number of people who do not share the common experience of attending the same school system as children -- wait until they also don't share the common experience of sending their kids to the same one....Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-84322492396163606712011-08-01T08:16:53.668-04:002011-08-01T08:16:53.668-04:00I got a copy of an exit survey to fill out three y...I got a copy of an exit survey to fill out three years after my kids left the system. Can you say "timely"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-65156000502832686892011-08-01T01:32:07.477-04:002011-08-01T01:32:07.477-04:00TThere IS an exit survey, supposedly sent to each ...TThere IS an exit survey, supposedly sent to each exiting family . But like so many other things, we somehow never hear any results....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-80615722047571838022011-07-31T21:39:22.937-04:002011-07-31T21:39:22.937-04:00Anon 7:19,
I thoroughly understand. Some sort of ...Anon 7:19,<br /><br />I thoroughly understand. Some sort of "exit survey" needs to be developed and distributed for those families who opt out.<br /><br />Wouldn't it be nice if we could love our town, and love our schools in the same way that we love our country, with some degree of candor about how it could better strive for its ideals?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-50810975550248706892011-07-31T19:19:23.634-04:002011-07-31T19:19:23.634-04:00To: July 31, 2011 3:53 PM
Ain't gonna happen...To: July 31, 2011 3:53 PM<br /><br />Ain't gonna happen from this family. Too much vilification from other Amherst parents on this topic. Sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-33005923088941587562011-07-31T15:53:49.245-04:002011-07-31T15:53:49.245-04:00There needs to be more public discussion about the...There needs to be more public discussion about the regrets about not getting kids out of Amherst schools sooner. These comments need to be taken seriously.<br /><br />But if you keep it to yourself on the details, no one benefits. And others will simply pass it off as perception rather than reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-26957636296717158852011-07-31T15:28:28.834-04:002011-07-31T15:28:28.834-04:00Just how great are Amherst schools?
http://www...Just how great are Amherst schools?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />http://www.ajc.com/news/investigation-into-aps-cheating-1001375.html<br /><br /><br />Eh?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-13538464929163287492011-07-31T13:45:02.590-04:002011-07-31T13:45:02.590-04:00Sent both our kids to private school, and we never...Sent both our kids to private school, and we never saw any "socialization down side" to it. It was the best decision we ever made. Our only regret is that we didn't move the kids out of Amherst schools sooner.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-29131638280063914342011-07-31T12:22:14.314-04:002011-07-31T12:22:14.314-04:00If the automatic threshold question for a young pa...<i>If the automatic threshold question for a young parent in Amherst becomes: do you have enough money to send your child to private school?, then I think our public schools are in trouble; means testing will be here.</i><br /><br />Public housing is a good example of this and what happened when it was done.<br /><br />WW-II drew a lot of people to the cities for war-related work. The country needed these people working in these factories, and it had to house them somewhere -- and that is where the housing projects came from. Veterans coming back, marrying girlfriends who rapidly became pregnant -- these young families needed housing too.<br /><br />More housing projects, this time targeted to returning veterans and their new families. And these were mixed-income communities where everyone paid the same rent, where most everyone got up in the morning and went to work, and there was a social pressure on those who didn't.<br /><br />Everyone paid the same rent, which was a very small portion of the income of an ambitious young family (particularly a childless one where the wife was also working, her entire income and a good chunk of her husband's being saved for both a downpayment on a house and childbirth expenses.<br /><br />(Remember that prior to the 1970's, health insurance did NOT pay for childbirth, and if you planned to have a child, you had to have the cash to pay for the childbirth expenses.)<br /><br />The policy was changed from a flat rent to rent as percent of income and all of the working families immediately left the projects for economic reasons -- leaving only the single mothers and those not working behind. And the projects became unmanageable ghettos as the result.<br /><br />If you means test the schools and it becomes cheaper for parents to go private, they will for that reason too....Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-35489676172105312992011-07-31T12:05:46.479-04:002011-07-31T12:05:46.479-04:00If parents of school-age children begin to send th...<i>If parents of school-age children begin to send those children elsewhere to schools other than our public ones in increasing numbers, something is lost. </i><br /><br />I look at the lessons from history -- the demise of the Steel, Railroad and Domestic Auto Industries. <br /><br />In all of these cases, unions and management agreed to things which served to wind up providing the customer a lower quality service at a higher price. All three industries really didn't care what the customer thought because they had a captive audience -- there was a time when the "Big Three" automakers decided what Americans would be driving, regardless of what they wanted to drive.<br /><br />New technologies came in. Japan started selling cheap high-quality cars (as did Volkswagen) and two generations of young people went with these cars and Detroit collapsed.<br /><br />Aluminum, plastics and cardboard laminates replaced the steel can -- remember when soda, beer & motor oil all came in steel cans? Remember the "church key" opener? "Mini-mills" and foreign producers started producing specialty steels that were both cheaper and better meeting customer's needs. And our steel industry collapsed.<br /><br />Everything once moved by rail -- even people -- and trolley tracks and the litter of overhead wires were tolerated because everyone used them. Labor and management became arrogant, new technologies (automobile, truck, airplane) gave people new options, and as less of the public used the rails, there was increasing pressure to rip them up. (Drive through parts of Cambridge/Boston and you will see why people wanted to get rid of them.)<br /><br />My point is that the Educational Industry -- from Pre-K to Higher Ed -- is at the tipping point. Thirty years ago, I could not conceive of marketing curriculum directly to parents educating their own children in their own homes -- I now can (and am).<br /><br />In addition to Mr. Moore's comments about the loss of community culture, if the public schools become nothing more than the dumping ground for the children of parents who (a) don't care and/or (b) are too dysfunctional to find different options for their kids, they will be diminished to where society will still concede that it has to have them, but will spend as little money as possible on them.<br /><br />And the only educators who will be respected will be those who are not in the public schools because that is where all the important children will be.<br /><br />What truly will be lost is the opportunity that now still exists for the child of parents who don't care (or worse, and I mean child abuse) to put a miserable childhood behind himself or herself and become successful. <br /><br />What also will be lost is our expectation of universal literacy and a shared culture. What then?Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-11820032298509485412011-07-31T11:51:55.581-04:002011-07-31T11:51:55.581-04:00The sad thing is that now very many parents WANT t...The sad thing is that now very many parents WANT to send their kids to Amherst schools for the very reasons Rich mentions, foremost to have their kids with kids of neighbors, etc. "It take a village to raise a child" idea. But despite this desire they feel the schools can't/won't be the best educational environment for their kids. So they send their kids to private schools, while wishing they didn't have to and resenting the schools for it (not to mention paying extremely high property taxes and high private tuition). Not very sure the next override will pass in that kind of environment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-58561928311141464182011-07-31T11:15:24.693-04:002011-07-31T11:15:24.693-04:00Thanks.
The national analogy to our local problem...Thanks.<br /><br />The national analogy to our local problem with schools is embedded in the recent discussion about means-testing Social Security and Medicare. This initially sounds like a great idea as a cost-saver nationally, but I have some apprehension about doing this, because I sense that it undercuts the long-term political consensus that supports these programs.<br /><br />If the automatic threshold question for a young parent in Amherst becomes: do you have enough money to send your child to private school?, then I think our public schools are in trouble; means testing will be here. <br /><br />The sneering comment that we just want "private schools at public prices" has always been off the mark for me. What I want as a voting citizen of Amherst are public schools that a majority of Amherst Region parents who could send their kids to private schools will opt for instead. (After all, there is a socialization down-side to sending one's children to Deerfield or Williston; it's not just the hole in one's pocket.) We know that that level of quality acceptable to parents of means is already gone in other public school systems in Massachusetts. And it can happen here, too.<br /><br />If it happens, when it happens, it will not be televised or written about in the local papers. <br /><br />Rich MorseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-75509000219228062672011-07-31T10:50:25.371-04:002011-07-31T10:50:25.371-04:00Waaay back in 1979, I had a single working mother ...Waaay back in 1979, I had a single working mother tell me, "Don't ever let them know you live in an apartment. They will look down on you and treat you differently." "They" were the 'regular townspeople' in Amherst.<br /><br />If more people send their children to school elsewhere, you will have only lower income students remaining in the Amherst schools. And you will be replicating the economic divisions of old. (Now it's o.k. to live in an apartment, as long as you call it a condo.)<br /><br />Do we truly want to highlight the economic classes in our classless society?<br /><br />Isn't this discussion about not getting 'enough bang for our buck'? If that is true, what is the 'bang' that we are seeking? I'm guessing it's better educated kids. And what is that? Is that higher MCAS scores? If so, wouldn't it make sense to model the teaching of those school systems that work, meaning they have higher MCAS scores?<br /><br />Has anyone seen an analysis of the demographics of the students? Do we have a higher proportion of low income students, do we had a higher proportion of special needs (as in intellectually challenged) students? Do we have more new teachers, or more veterans? What has their continuing education been?<br /><br />I do not think we do anyone a service to concentrate on 'teachers get paid more than I do and they work less.' That's a specious argument.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-63737452771457037072011-07-31T10:26:40.628-04:002011-07-31T10:26:40.628-04:00Well said Mr. Morse. Welcome back.Well said Mr. Morse. Welcome back.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-30967704294553843502011-07-31T10:17:17.737-04:002011-07-31T10:17:17.737-04:00I've extracted one noteworthy pearl of wisdom ...I've extracted one noteworthy pearl of wisdom from all of the Ed bluster, most of it unnecessary and inflammatory.<br /><br />If parents of school-age children begin to send those children elsewhere to schools other than our public ones in increasing numbers, something is lost. Something is lost culturally and educationally inside the schools.<br /><br />But, also, something is lost politically, a consensus of political and fiscal support for those schools. We've seen that consensus operate in some, but not all, of the recent override votes. And those with longer memories in town know that Amherst has been blessed over the decades with relatively elderly people who were firm supporters of increased taxation for public schools.<br /><br />Our schools, therefore, sit on top of something that is very fragile politically. And, if parents who are strongly invested in education for their children opt to go elsewhere with their young ones, the rich learning environment we have in our schools is thereby endangered, too. I think that these trend lines are starting to show.<br /><br />When push comes to shove on each override vote, I've decided to vote "yes", but I still view the schools in Amherst as having unique capacities NOW to resist public accountability, far greater than other parts of the public sector in town. Such resistance works in the short run to drive the critics and dissenters off the political playing field, but, in the long run, it may turn out to be a self-inflicted wound.<br /><br />One can love these schools, as I do, and love what they have done for my child, and still see the problems and the room for improvement.<br /><br />Rich MorseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-86914953342345892772011-07-30T17:24:46.215-04:002011-07-30T17:24:46.215-04:00Ed, go already. Please. I am sorry to tell you th...Ed, go already. Please. I am sorry to tell you that you add nothing to the discussion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-22020595572722167732011-07-30T16:59:01.436-04:002011-07-30T16:59:01.436-04:00Yea lets just shut down all the schools and fire a...<i>Yea lets just shut down all the schools and fire all the teachers. </i><br /><br />No! Shut down <b>THESE</b> schools and fire <b>THESE</b> teachers.<br /><br />We will have schools regardless -- we will educate our children, I just don't think you folk are the ones who will be doing it much longer....<br /><br />We will have teachers -- and society made it clear 20 years ago that it would be willing to pay good money for good ones -- but we aren't getting that....Ednoreply@blogger.com