It only comes but once a year

12:30 PM Select Board to discuss/vote flags fate for 9/11

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie O'Keeffe
To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Tue, Aug 31, 2010 11:56 am
Subject: 9/11 flag policy to be addressed

Hi Larry --

You're in luck. We have to schedule another meeting this week to discuss plans for an Interim Town Manager. A Select Board member has requested that we also take up the 9/11 flag question, so we will.

The flag discussion will be our first item: 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 9/2 in the Town Room. The agenda (soon to be posted, if it isn't already) notes five minutes for the discussion, but that is just because I need to start the Interim discussion immediately after it, and I have no untimed items to fill any blank space that might result if I were to schedule longer than is needed. The flag discussion will take as long as it needs to.

Take care.

Stephanie

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie O'Keeffe
To: Larry Kelley
Sent: Tue, Aug 31, 2010 1:09 pm
Subject: room change

... make that the First Floor Meeting Room, not the Town Room.

Sorry for the confusion.

Stephanie

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9:30 PM. Hot copy (last night). Updated 2nd video posted at 10:00 PM

So I guess I will just let the videos of tonight's illustrious Amherst Select Board meeting speak for themselves.

Interesting that the Chair blows me off by saying the Open Meeting Law requires anything to come under discussion be posted 48 hours in advance on an official agenda thus they could not possibly now take a simple vote on this 9/11 flag issue, yet an hour later they go into a surprise "executive session" to talk about the Town Manager's retirement package.

These days they just throw "executive session" on every agenda and if you don't use it there is no violation. Tonight it does appear on the agenda but as an "untimed item".

After an hour in secret session they come back into public session to announce Mr. Shaffer is gone as of 9/30 with four months salary (about the same as School Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez absconded with when he suddenly flew the coop a few months back).

Consonance and Dissonance

So if I were--God forbid--the editor of the esteemed Amherst Bulletin, I would have been a tad more, errr, snarky with my Page One layout.

I loved the main above-the-fold top story placement for "ACLU backs 'official' blogs" as well as the almost equal placement (folks read left to right) of A-Rods rant about his brief tenure as highest paid Superintendent in history. Hey, at least he did not blame the blogosphere this time.

But the just below-the-fold, "Amherst Boycotts Arizona" contiguous with Amherst Regional High School baseball pitching phenom Kevin Ziomek getting drafted by the ARIZONA Diamondbacks where the Bully purposely left Arizona out of the headline "Ziomek drafted by Diamondbacks" is what I'm really talking about.

Oh well, I guess the diffident Amherst Bulletin doesn't want to piss off the Amherst powers that be.

All roads lead to Florida

The Republican Reports

The Gazette has a hilarious article Friday posted on Catherine Sanderson's blog about former Amherst School Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez resurfacing in Florida after his sudden, less-than-amicable departure from the People's Republic up here in the frigid hinterlands.

Turns out the "undisclosed medical condition" that prompted his unannounced trips to Florida last winter was just a--cue the drumroll--hernia. Lucky for him it was repaired Monday, although he may get another one carrying all his ill gotten gains to the bank.

A-Rod is still receiving full pay through the end of May courtesy of Amherst taxpayers--and already has landed another job as principal at Coral Shores High School in Key West. Hired by old pal Joseph Burke, former Springfield School Superintendent pretty much fired by the State Control Board two years ago.

The Springfield School Committee met in secret to extend Burke's contract but the Control Board axed it. For the good of the system, Burke did not file suit and flew south where he obviously landed on his feet.

No big surprise Superintendent Burke would embrace Alberto--after all, Burke was a reference for him when he applied to Amherst. They have concocted a good cover story for his brief tortured tenure in Amherst: the evil School Committee "criticized him about vacation and sick time." Hmm...I thought that was me and the evil blogosphere?!

Plus they cited the women who threatened last summer to burn her tax bill in front of Rodriguez's office to protest his lavish contract. Yeah, gotta watch those women armed with a lighter.

Burke, a white guy, also clumsily plays the race card by pointing out Regional School Committee members who originally hired A-Rod left their positions and were replaced by members who "were not comfortable with him."

I guess from now on whenever the Regional School Committee hires a Superintendent (and apparently that will be a year from now) they should hold a quiet retreat W-A-Y out in the woods of Pelham and, you know, get to like each other. Kumbaya.

The best disinfectant

Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

I wish to appeal the recent decision by Amherst Regional High School Committee Chair Farshid Hajir denying my Public Document request of March 14 for a copy of his "four notebooks" worth of "impressions" of the (former) Amherst School Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez.

Mr. Hajir boasted about those general impressions in a highly public Springfield Sunday Republican Newspaper article admitting they were garnered during meetings between Superintendent Rodriguez with staff and parents that he observed in his official capacity as Regional School Chair.

Under the recent decision of District Attorney for the Northern District v. School Committee of Wayland, 455 Mass. 561, 567--568 (12/31/2009), our Supreme Judicial Court held that evaluation of a school superintendent was not subject to an exemption under the open meeting law and must be discussed in public.

If any personal information about Mr. Hajir or his family appears in the notebooks, an independent third party can redact that sensitive information.

Since Alberto Rodriguez was the highest paid public employee in town and left suddenly after only 8 months into a 3-year contract, the taxpayers have a right to know what precipitated his demise--especially since he is receiving full compensation through 6/1/2010.

Sincerely,

Larry Kelley
460 West St.
Amherst, Ma 01002

###################################

To: amherstac@aol.com; Kathy Mazur; Debbie Westmoreland
Sent: Thu, Mar 25, 2010 4:57 pm
Subject: Re: Public Documents Request
Dear Mr. Kelley,

Thank you for your reminder (March 24th) of the request you made on March 15th
(attached) for a copy of my notebooks referenced in an article by Diane Lederman
in the Republican Newspaper. The notebooks mentioned in the article contain
some of my personal impressions and ideas from my work as a member of the
Regional School Committee. Some of these were jotted down during meetings but
most of the notes were written at home as I reflected over the day's events, in
the form of a diary. The notes written during meetings were not an official
record, transcript, or minutes of the meetings, and I did not communicate them
to anyone; they were the thoughts that occurred to me as the meetings took
place. I consider my notes my personal reflections for my personal use.
Inasmuch as they constitute a record merely of a public official in dialogue
with himself, in my judgment, they do not constitute a public record and I do
not have any obligation to reveal them. You may, of course, take a different
position, and take the appropriate steps to make a determination to the
contrary. If it is determined that my notes are a public record, it's my
understanding that it would still not be appropriate in that case for the
material to be made public because they would then constitute written documents
for the Superintendent's evaluation and therefore be exempt from public
disclosure in accordance with the Supreme Judicial Court Ruling of 2009 in the
Wayland case.


Thank you for your interest in the Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools.


Regards,
Farshid Hajir

###################################
Mass General Law Chapter 4, Section 7, Paragraph 26:

"Public records'' shall mean all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions in that they are: (e) notebooks and other materials prepared by an employee of the commonwealth which are personal to him and not maintained as part of the files of the governmental unit."
###################################
Mr Hajir is not an employee of the commonwealth in his role as Amherst Regional School Committee Chair--although he is as a Umass Math Professor @ $85-K per year.

National Sunshine Week: T.G.F.F.O.I!

Thank God for Freedom Of Information, Public Documents and Open Meeting Laws.

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: westmorelandD@arps.org; mazurk@arps.org; hajirf@arps.org
Sent: Mon, Mar 15, 2010 9:20 am
Subject: Public Documents Request

Amherst Regional School Committee

Hi,

Could I please get copies of the evaluation materials mentioned in the Sunday Springfield Republican article on the sudden departure of Dr. Alberto Rodriguez specifically from Regional School Committee Chair Farshid Hajir: four notebooks filled with "impressions" of the Superintendent's performance created during meetings with faculty and staff which Hajir attended in his role as School Committee Chair--thus making the materials a public document.

Thanks,

Larry Kelley

The Sunday Republican reports

School bullying--even in Amherst

UPDATE: 3:40 PM Okay, so here's the prequel leading up to Principal Mark Jackson's insubordinate rant.

Notice how Maria Geryk whispers to Farshid Hajir the School Committee Chair about Mark wanting to speak. And of course, Hajir was too demure to shut down the overly aggressive Jackson when he crossed the line and attacked fellow School Committee person Catherine Sanderson. And now Maria Geryk is Mark Jackson's boss for the next 16 months. Obviously he will have it pretty good.

#####################################


So forget that Principal Mark Jackson, the second highest paid "public servant" in the People's Republic @ $131,236, is better than twice Catherine Sanderson's size, and forget for a moment that as a School Committee member she is in charge of hiring the Superintendent who can then fire Jackson, this was just plain inappropriate.

And I'm trying to figure out how he's so sure what was in those "evaluations" of the Superintendent when Alberto Rodriguez was, two days ago, Jackson's direct boss.

The 15 or 20 anonymous evaluations collected from administrative staff (including Jackson's) should have gone directly to Chair Farshid Hajir and then to the entire Amherst Regional School Committee--but nobody else.

Transparency--what a concept

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: westmorelandD@arps.org; mazurk@arps.org; gawles@verizon.net; nhoffenberg@gazettenet.com
Sent: Tue, Mar 9, 2010 10:50 am
Subject: Public Documents/Open Meeting Law Reqest

Hi Debbie,

Could I please get a copy of the discussion minutes and any votes taken during the Executive Session of the Regional School Committee last night.

Thanks,

Larry Kelley

From: Debbie Westmoreland
To: amherstac@aol.com; Kathy Mazur ; nhoffenberg@gazettenet.com; gawles@verizon.net
Cc: Tracy Farnham ; Farshid Hajir
Sent: Tue, Mar 9, 2010 1:37 pm
Subject: Re: Public Documents/Open Meeting Law Reqest

Hi Mr. Kelley:

The School Committee has not yet voted to release the minutes from last night's Executive Session; therefore, they are still considered confidential. I am not sure when the School Committee will officially release the minutes, but I will be happy to forward them to you once they do.

Best Regards,

Deb

From: amherstac@aol.com
To: WestmorelandD@ARPS.ORG; MazurK@ARPS.ORG; nhoffenberg@gazettenet.com; gawles@verizon.net
Cc: FarnhamT@ARPS.ORG; HajirF@ARPS.ORG
Sent: Tue, Mar 9, 2010 1:51 pm
Subject: Re: Public Documents/Open Meeting Law Request

Thanks Deb!

Just make sure I'm in line ahead of the Crusty Gazette (a few seconds here and a few seconds there...)

Larry

A-Rod strikes out!

Catherine Sanderson reports on the Gazette report

The Springfield Republican follows up (actually using the Gazette as a source)

UPDATE Monday Morning (quarterbacking): The crusty Gazette finally caught up with this story. Must be a tad embarrassed as they threw up a brief last night on Gazettenet, but back dated it to Saturday. And intrepid forever reporter Nick Grabbe had to resort to using persons "with direct knowledge of the situation," as sources but of course unnamed.

The Regional School Committee meets tonight in Executive Session to try to put together Dr. Rodriguez's going away present. For sure he will demand the rest of this year's salary (about $40,000) but he may ask for all of next year's as well ($158,000.) Probably will not have the gall to also ask for the $15,000 in housing/transportation. If so, let's hope the School Committee pays him off in pennies so he gets a hernia dragging them back to sunny Miami, Florida.
#####################################

UPDATE: Saturday around noon:

So sorry for not responding to all the Comments that occurred after I, finally, hit the "publish" button close to midnight last night as I then retired.

And sorry for deleting the post "We interrupt this regularly scheduled program..." which had garnered a few comments because I was sitting on this "A-Rod Strikes Out" story in draft for sooooo many hours that when I finally got the corroboration I needed for some reason it published below the placeholder, throw-away post signaling something BIG was in the offing.

So I just deleted that entire post (only the 2nd time in three years I have done such a thing.)

When someone taunted me by email about being out of touch on this story with the bricks and mortar media possibly beating me to it (and at that point it was written, the photo uploaded and my right hand was hovering over the publish button) I instantly flashed back to that great scene in "Tora, Tora, Tora" where the lowly staff Sergeant had tried to get his commanding officer to do something after the rookie commander of the USS Ward reporting attacking an enemy submarine at the mouth of Pearl Harbor, early on the morning of December 7.

The Commander, not happy about working on a gorgeous Sunday. barked "Corroboration, I need corroboration!" A few hours later he bursts into the same office with his eyes wide open and jaw hitting the floor and the lowly Sargent (busily answering the phone and stamping forms at a frantic pace) looks up, points his hand at the huge picture window overlooking the Harbor now filled with burning, dying ships and shouts, "There's your corroboration!"

ORIGINAL POST: late last night

After less than a year as the highest paid Amherst "public servant", School Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez will go the way of the previous (less than) Super, Alton Sprague who took his co-Superintendent wife, two months of taxpayer funded salary, and flew the coop.

In this case, Rodriguez will be winging back to Miami, Florida where "we play hard, hard, hardball" he bragged to the Amherst Bulletin last year, declaring he would have no trouble surviving in the People's Republic of Amherst.

Once again Maria Geryk steps up to cover as she did previously after the aged co-supers disappeared with two months left on their one-year contract, and most recently for the numerous days A-Rod took as vacation/sick time.
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SUPERINTENDENT ‑ CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT

4. TERMINATION: This Agreement may be terminated or modified by mutual written agreement of the parties. In the event that the Superintendent desires to terminate this Agreement before the term of the Agreement and his employment expires, he may do so by giving at least one-hundred twenty (120) days’ notice of his intention to the Committees. This Agreement may be terminated by the Committees prior to its expiration, for good cause, but not without prior written notice to the Superintendent of the proposed reasons for termination.

The old blame the blogosphere routine

So the Emperor hates it when anyone questions his flashy new clothes--especially as to why they do not resemble a hospital johnny.

But rather than deal with the issue of going AWOL for an entire week before filling out the mandated paperwork (Family Medical Leave Act), something that would get a teacher, janitor or bus driver fired the hot-under-the-collar Superintendent unloads on the evil Internet.

But he trains his fire not on the legitimate folks who used the interconnected instantaneous Web to expose and question (rather subtly at first) his extended absence, but focuses on those damn snarky Anons. Although strangely, he says he doesn't read blogs--but he attacks Anon comments made on blogs. Hmm...

Well Dr. Rodriguez, if you don't read the blogs then how do you know what the Cowardly Anon Nitwits are saying?

And next time you pretend not to look at those time-wasting, evil blogs maybe you should read a tad more closely. The issue was not the legitimacy of taking "sick" time in advance for a medical procedure, it was scheduling a fair amount of "sick" time in advance with no explanation whatsoever.

And even the memo/spreadsheet tossed to the Regional School Committee on 2/9 did not have all of last week on it. Not much "transparency" there, eh?

At the 3/1 School Committee discussion Regional Chair Farshid Hajir told the Super to submit an "updated/revised" memo to reflect the unannounced disappearance over the past week and an explanation for the sick leave absences scheduled in April as outlined in the sparse 2/9 memo.

I have been blogging for three years now with over 175,000 unique visitors and only one of them came from Miami, Florida--just last week as a matter of fact, coincidentally when the Super was AWOL in sunny Miami, Florida about a half-hour after an Anon posted comments questioning his whereabouts.

And isn't this the same cocky guy who bragged to the crusty Amherst Bulletin one year ago, "I'm going to be tested, and you guys will see that it's not about that," he said. "I have the mettle to take that fire."

Looks like his mettle came up short.

The Bully reports one year ago

The Bully reports today

Thank God Amherst School Committee member Irv Rhodes is black, otherwise Kathleen Anderson (sitting on his left) would have been all over his case for daring to defend the rights of the taxpaying public (admittedly overwhelmingly none minority in the People's Republic) to question the habits of the highest paid "public service" employee in town, who just happens to be Cuban American.

What are town officials afraid of?

Click to enlarge/read

So when No More Overrides! gets back up and running (and I promise never to attempt tweaking ever again) you will note the salaries for town employees including the schools, as many of them are quite notable.

The town salaries are FY10 (the current year) and the School salaries are for upcoming FY11, so they do include the COLAs and step increases that may be reduced due to a teachers union giveback--although I'm betting the amount will be pretty token/negligible.

Curiously, MIA (somewhere in Miami) School Superintendent Dr. Rodriguez coughed up the requested salary information, but ignored the other part of the request for the additional cost per school employee for benefits package, which are typically about 30% more.

Stan Gawle has filed an appeal with the Supervisor of Public Records in Boston.

Where's A-Rod?

Click to enlarge/read

UPDATE: 2:00 PM (Friday) The New York Post is reporting that black/blind NY Democratic Governor Paterson is ending his reelection campaign because of the scandal involving interference with an investigation against one of his top advisers for sexual assault that he tried to cover up.

Gotta wonder what the People's Republic of Amherst School Committee member Kathleen Anderson, who is black but not blind (although sometimes I wonder about the latter) will chalk this one up to.
##########################################

10:30 AM So according to the memo/spreadsheet that stated, "In keeping with the spirit of transparency and maintaining our lines of communication open, listed below are the dates I have been, or will be out," a memo Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez tossed to the Regional School Committee on February 9th; it clearly indicated he was taking "vacation" from February 16 through February 19, and then on Monday February 22 a "sick" day, and then nothing more until April.

Today is February 25. And now I hear (from two reliable sources) Dr. Rodriguez is staying in sunny Miami until March 8th. Hmm...

Interestingly an Anon posted a Comment on this blog at 8:46 AM questioning his current whereabouts. At 8:55 AM--about ten minutes--later I get a hit from somebody in Miami, Florida doing a Google search for this blog. Hmm...

Click to enlarge/read

I had forgotten that only four out of nine Regional School Committee members voted in favor of his salary/benefits contract (one now gone and another stepping down--and both of them championed the modular classrooms costing taxpayers $215,000 at Mark's Meadow School that never hosted a class of students.)

Transparency indeed!

Even the Crusty Valley Advocate gets on board

So the crusty Daily Hampshire Gazette/Amherst Bulletin finally exposed the story of Amherst's highest by far salaried public employee taking advantage of the Schools "generous as compared to private industry" sick leave benefits.

Interestingly, reporter Nick Grabbe quotes snarky anonymous Internet comments and attributes the controversy picking up steam via Catherine Sanderson's School Committee blog, when in fact she has never posted a word about it (other than to say no comment) and refused to comment when the reporter called her for an interview.

Obviously the issue first broke on this blog--although I was smart enough to simply post the public documents without any editorial comment, knowing the racism charge would quickly follow.

When I submitted what turned out to be my final column for the venerable Amherst Bulletin in 2004 railing against the High School becoming the only one in the nation to allow teen aged girls to perform the 'Vagina Monologues' editor Nick Grabb told me I couldn't use a particularly devastating comment posted on Masslive Amherst Forum because Gazette policy did not allow use of unattributed anonymous sources.

Fortunately I knew the person, former Jr. High School principal John Burruto, and he gave me permission to attribute the quote to him. And it stayed in the column. Maybe the venerable Gazette has loosened their standards in the past six years.

But being an official reporter for a bricks and mortar newspaper has its advantages as the Superintendent took reporter Grabbe's call while in Florida at his other home: "I'm a victim of transparency," Rodriguez whined. "At what point does transparency creep up into my rights?"

Naturally School Committee member Kathleen Anderson was quick to play the race card: "In U.S. culture, there's a tendency to see the same behaviors in a person of color differently than a person of European descent."

I wonder if some school principal or lower level teacher took that many sick days in advance and casually slid a memo/spreadsheet to their boss showing they were taking those days with no further explanation; would they get away with it? Probably not, no matter their color.

If Alberto Rodriguez owned his own company he could do as he damn well pleased. But he works for the taxpayers of Amherst (and to some extent Leverett,Pelham and Shutesbury.) Since the Regional School Committee hired him and can fire him, he should have been a tad more respectful by providing them a bit of explanation for that "transparent" 2/9 memo.

Arrogance goeth before the fall.

The Bulletin Reports (finally)

The benefits of Benefits

SCHOOL COMMITTEE BENEFITS POLICY FOR PRINCIPALS

Vacation Time: The Principal is entitled to twenty-two (22) days of vacation annually to be scheduled through and subject to approval by the Superintendent. Unused vacation shall be cumulative to a maximum of forty-four (44) days. Upon completion of fifteen (15) years of administrative service in the local school systems, the Principal will be eligible for twenty-seven (27) days of vacation annually, cumulative to a maximum of 54 days. Should the Principal request 30 or more vacation days for use at one time, she/he will submit such request to the Superintendent at least 6 weeks in advance of the date on which such vacation use is proposed to begin.
Holidays: The following days shall be recognized as legal holidays:

New Year's Day Patriot's Day Columbus Day
Martin Luther King Day Memorial Day Veteran's Day
President’s Day Independence Day Thanksgiving Day
Labor Day Christmas
Sick Leave:
a. Sick leave is intended to provide insurance against loss of income due to personal illness. An Administrator shall be entitled to eighteen (18) days of sick leave with full pay per contract year. Each eighteen (18) days of sick leave shall exist as of the beginning date of contract, provided that the administrator is present to assume his/her contractual obligations. In the event of non-appearance caused by accident or illness, the administrator's pay may be withheld, with due notification to the person, pending the assumption of contractual responsibility. Sick leave shall be cumulative to 240 days.

b. Absence by reason of death or critical illness in the immediate family shall not be charged against sick leave.

c. An administrator who has completed fifteen (15) or more full years of service with the Committee, may upon retirement or the administrator's estate upon death, be compensated for that portion of his/her unused accumulated sick leave in excess of 120 days, at the rate of $20/day for each unused accumulated sick leave day in excess of 120 days.

11. Personal Leave: Up to three (3) days per year of personal leave will be allowed for each full-time administrator. Such personal leave will not be charged against sick leave. Additional personal leave, up to a combined maximum of eighteen (18) days per year may be granted by the School Committee. Such additional leave is normally charged against sick leave at the discretion of the School Committee. Personal leave will be used to take care of problems or business for which absence is not authorized under any other portion of this contract and will be granted without reference to the specific nature of the request. Personal leave shall not be used to gain extended vacation time, and personal leave shall not be cumulative.
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So the Superintendent gets the same benefits package as do the Principals and the document entitled "School Committee Benefits Policy For Principals" was attached to Alberto Rodriguez's original contract. But there's something else called Family Medical Leave Act:

This is a federal law which entitles anyone who has worked in a job for a year to twelve weeks unpaid, intermittent sick leave to support a family member or oneself if validated by a licensed physician.

There are forms (FMLA) that must be completed to be granted this. For sake of consistency, the Amherst Schools use these forms as validation of an illness even if someone, like Dr. Rodriguez, has not worked here a full year.

Furthermore, the Schools permit staff to use 10 of their own sick days in a school year to support family illness, so they suffer no loss in pay. They permit staff to accrue up to 245 total sick days. (In general, staff get 12-15 sick days annually.)

In Superintendent Rodriguez's case, he has not been here a year--but was instantly granted 20 sick days upon signing his contract last spring. All staff, regardless of their length of service, are required to complete the FMLA paperwork if they have either a planned sick leave or an unexpected sick leave which is more than 3 consecutive days.

So Dr. Rodriguez's 2/22 "sick day" does not trip the FMLA paperwork--because it's only one day--and neither does the April 15th and 16th sick days; but 4/20 to 4/23 will because it is 4 days.

UPDATE: 1:00 PM Reliable sources confirm that Nick Grabbe, forever reporter with the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette, is on the story.

And according to this puff piece in the Bully, he can take the heat.

A-Rod leads the charge

So our newest highest paid government employee must think he's a superstar baseball player or something as he is already championing a Proposition 2.5 Override.

The Gazette forgot to mention in addition to his $158,000 salary (a tad above former Golden Boy Jere Hochman's $135,000) rookie school superintendent Alberto Rodriguez also gets $15,000 in housing/transportation for two years. And he left his family behind in Miami to simply rent rather than buy a home here which of course is more directly subject to the vagaries of property taxes.

Plus he's a rookie to not only Amherst in particular--but to Superintendency (if that is a word) in general.

The 3.5% negotiated teachers union raises this year alone are costing taxpayers over a $1 million and the Teachers Union already told the Town Manager to go to hell on forgoing them. Can't really say I blame them, since the new guy came in to replace the old white guy at a 15%+ increase.

School Superintendent Rodriguez admires President Reagan as an influential role model because of his insistence on smaller more efficient government. But Super A-Rod now heads that part of local government that consumes the vast majority of tax dollars and he's already advocating an expansion of that expenditure.

Ch. 3 TV reports

The Bully reports (better late than never)