Saturday, March 29, 2014
N-word, C-word, F-word, Oh My!
So I guess if a staff member overhears a black student using the N-word to a white student, that's okay.
Or if ARHS teenagers decide to do "The Vagina Monologues" again next year, then the C-word will be okay.
Or if student calls another friend, who is not gay, a "fag" in an endearing sort of way, then that's okay.
Let the witch hunt begin.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Urinetown?
The final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place in the school lock down scare with confirmation the perp who infiltrated Amherst Regional Middle School and asked a young student for his urine was simply trying to obtain a clean sample for his probation officer.
I guess drugs will do that.
Not to sound like a Gazette editorial, but on the one hand I applaud how quickly the school officials hit the panic button when the perp seemed to get lost wandering around the Middle School for a half hour. But on the other hand, his easy access to an innocent school child mid-morning of a school day gives rise to security concerns.
I would also, for the first time in memory, give the schools high marks for transparency for sending out a series of alerts concerning the concerning situation. Right up until Wednesday night 6:30 p.m. when they went silent.
While this final piece of information is troubling, it's still a bit better than some of the scenarios that sprang to mind when rumors first leaked out about the "concerning comment" made in a boys lavatory.
One of the reasons the schools are now in such hot water with the NAACP over how they handled the racist attack on a teacher of color (branded as "anemic") probably stems from the cover up that took place over the incidents that first occurred way back in October.
One of the refreshing things that came out of the "public accountability" session yesterday between UMass officials and students over handling of the Blarney Blowout was the insistence by Chancellor Subbaswamy that the process would be "transparent."
So if an educational bureaucracy the size of UMass can subscribe to the notion of sunlight providing the "best of disinfectants", why not our public schools?
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Thursday, March 27, 2014
Blarney Blowout: Standing Firm
Enku Gelaye, Chancellor Subbaswamy, VC John Kennedy
The day of the Blarney Blowout 4,000+ students took to the streets of Amherst with alcohol as motivation to do no good. Enough of them indulged their demons to where the vastly outnumbered Amherst Police Department had no choice but to intervene. And intervene they did.
On March 11, about 100 students held a protest march from the Student Union to Whitmore to underscore their demand that APD apologize for using sterner methods than saying "pretty please" to disperse the unruly crowds.
Today Enku Gelaye on her first day as permanent VC for Student Affairs, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and VC for University Relations John Kennedy sat before a crowd of about 60 students for a "public accountability" forum.
Thousands were invited, few showed up
One student noted the lack of turnout for the event and then proceeded to talk about a prior incident of police brutality when he was arrested for Driving Under the Influence. Not a great way to gain sympathy.
Another student clearly and succinctly stated, "Students like to get drunk." He too was not a paragon of potential solutions.
The Amherst Police apology demand never even came up, and a good portion of the talk about rough police treatment centered on UMPD response during the Red Sox Riot last October and the failed attempt of having a University sanctioned event at Southwest that night. Which of course went very well right up until the moment the game ended and then quickly degraded into a riot.
UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy did not back down, or even so much as blink, from his stern condemnation issued the day after the Blarney Blowout.
The Chancellor reminded the group that UMPD is under his direct control but Amherst Police are not. And they had to make instant decisions, on the ground, without the luxury of time to call him or his staff for consultation.
But he reaffirmed how Amherst town officials are in favor of the extensive study (led by Edward Davis) commissioned by the University which should be completed in two months. With an action plan that both the University and the town are now sorely motivated to make happen.
Before the next Blarney Blowout, or whatever new juvenile name they come up with.
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Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Middle School Scare
APD at Amherst Regional High School this morning
UPDATE 6:30 PM
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The first emailed bulletin from the Amherst Public Schools this morning was a heart stopper: Three schools had gone into "lockdown" because an unauthorized male was inside the Middle School. An announcement over the PA system said he had ducked into a bathroom where he made a strange remark to a student using the bathroom.
The next bulletin an hour or so later gave the all clear, but little else.
Then at 3:08 p.m. the final bulletin gave more of the backstory and the exceedingly good news that APD had made an arrest, even though it was on an unrelated charge:
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Election Aftermath: Turmoil in the Making?
Amherst March 25 election 2014: Do over?
If Helen Berg -- 3rd place finisher in a 4-way race where the top two win a Select Board seat -- gets her way, Amherst taxpayers will spend another $12,000 for a "do over" of yesterday's election.
Ms. Berg finished 3rd garnering only 379 votes compared to the two winners, Andy Steinberg with 1,843 and second place finisher Connie Kruger with 1,700.
Or what most political insiders would consider not even close. In fact, you don't even have to be a political insider to consider that not even close.
Helen Berg speaks at 3/17 Select Board meeting
The technicality stems from placing the order of candidates names on the ballot. Traditionally the town has always drawn names from a hat for order of placement, thus giving our Polish friends with surnames ending in W a chance to be first on the ballot.
At the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars, that took about 45 minutes, all the contested town wide races and Town Meeting races were done this way. Ms. Berg complained about her 3rd place drawing stating the town should go alphabetically, thus placing her first on the ballot.
The town currently operates under the Amherst Town Government Act which was enacted in December, 2001. And the that document is silent on how to place names on the local election ballot.
Therefore the safest course of action would be to abide by state statute.
Her complaint did raise a red flag, and it was then the Town Clerk noticed the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars had not been properly posted according to Open Meeting Law.
At that point -- with a do over already in the works, meaning a reprinting of all the ballots, both the town attorney and Town Manager looked at whether the town should go by state statute and simply list all candidates alphabetically (as requested by Ms. Berg), or do it the way it has always been done.
They decided to properly repost the Board of Registrars do over meeting for March 5th, redo the random drawing, and then reprint the ballots. The only change in Select Board order was Ms. Berg moved up a notch to #2 on the ballot and Mr. Boothroyd moved down to #3 from his former #2 spot.
And it certainly seems like being #4 on the ballot did not hurt Connie Kruger any.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Status Quo Election
Steinberg, Kruger and Appy it is
No big surprises as the 255th annual Amherst town election is now history ... but hardly historic.
Select Board winners -- the insiders -- Andy Steinberg (1,843) and Connie Kruger (1,700) far outdistanced outsider candidate John Boothroyd (259) and particularly far out candidate Helen Berg (379).
The School Committee contest was the only race that seemed to generate any enthusiasm where incumbent Katherine Appy was given a scare by the populist nature of newcomer Vira Douangmany's campaign but still won a resounding victory 1,532 to the challenger's 1,012.
As consolation prize Vira was the top vote getter for Town Meeting in Precinct 7 for a three year seat with 239. Her vote total in that Precinct for School Committee was only 158.
With the Amherst schools embroiled in yet another racism/bullying scandal the racial difference between the two candidates could have played a major role, but Douangmany did not overplay the race card.
The same can be said for the other low-key contest for a seat on the Amherst Housing Authority, where insider incumbent Peter Jessup easily bested newcomer Tracylee Boutilier 1,371 to 905. Although Ms. Boutilier did win a three year seat in Town Meeting representing Precinct 6.
Although the Amherst Redevelopment Authority has not met in over a year the open seat vacated by former chair John Coull had to be filled. Pam Rooney won the tightest race of the evening against Paige Wilder 999 to 905 respectively.
But Wilder was #1 vote getter in her home Precinct 10 for a three year Town Meeting seat with 95 votes. She also trounced Rooney in that particular Precinct 89-26.
Voter turnout was a lousy 13.4% (which I called almost exactly), sad to say, about usual for a local election -- although not nearly as bad as last year's pathetic 6.6%.
Two years ago the Presidential election had a 69% turnout. Historic all time high for Amherst was in 1992 when 89% of the voters turned out -- mostly for Bill Clinton.
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