Citizens to School Committee: Et tu, Brute?

Nero fiddles while Rome burns

Closing Marks Meadow Elementary School, thus saving $600,000 annually combined with teachers pay raise giveback this coming Fiscal Year, thus saving $1.2 million, are simple solution to the current School budget crisis.

Yes, closing an entire school is not easy.

And after teachers discover that the proposed new Superintendent is being offered almost 20% more than the previous superstar Jere Hochman, the chances of a pay raise giveback are almost impossible.

And of course that also has a ripple effect swamping the chances of a townside (police, fire, DPW) giveback as well, which the Town Manager has already requested in writing.

Outgoing School Committee member Elaine Brighty said that Mr. Hochman was a “rare event” and the town was “spoiled” by his divine presence. He came in at controversial $135,000 to replace Gus Sayer who was making $104,000 before his sudden “retirement.”

But to his credit Hochman never accepted a raise over his five-year tenure, although he did leave rather suddenly for twice the pay to Bedford N.Y.

And Town Manager Larry Shaffer has already stated he will not be accepting a raise this coming year --although he will not be happy that the new Super will be making W-A-Y more money.

When Hochman came in with his pay boost for the position the first thing previous Town Manager Barry Del Castilho did was whine for a pay raise, which the Select Board granted mid-year, because his ego was bruised.

Considering this is the same School Committee who hired acting co-superintendents Alton Sprague and Helen Vivian for the same $135,000 we were paying Hochman and did not even bother to put in the one-year contract that if you resign your pay ends that day. So as a result taxpayers had to give them $22,500 after their sudden resignation.

One parent has already threatened that if Alberto Rodriguez’s contract is greater than $135,000 she will organize a Boston Tea Party and burn tax bills in a hibachi in front of the Superintendents office.

I’ll be there with my camera and some hot dogs—tofu dogs of course.

The Bully Reports (faster than ever)

Signs, signs--everywhere sign.

The Amherst Cinema added time and temperature to their marquee. So even if you don't care about the avante-garde film offerings, still worth looking up.

Paved paradise...

UPDATE: 11:55 AM Now I'm told by my reliable source that the current structure was only about $1,000 in labor and material costs for the concrete slab. The town has tons of bike racks in storage and the plastic shelter was donated by PVTA. Mr. Shaffer is trying to get BIG bucks from the PVTA, who already received a large sum from the Feds. Of course, if the money does come through we tear up the new structure and put in the newer and BIGGER one. At some point you have to wonder what Mr. Kendrick thinks of all this as his Trust decree states:

“…to convert the land so acquired into a landscaped park to be known as ‘Kendrick Park’, for the use and the benefit of the general public, and to maintain said park for enhancement and beautification of that area of Amherst, and to erect thereon a suitable marker commemorating its benefactors.”

This is the new "Comfort Station" at Groff Park built for $140,000. About two-thirds of the structure is taken up by Handicapped Accessible bathrooms, with the remainder some storage space and a Snack Bar nobody uses.

It took over 70 years to slowly clear the three acre site of 11 structures (first house was acquired in 1937 and the last one moved last year); and one of the first things the town does is erect a structure. Hmmm...
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UPDATE: 10:45AM
So I'm now told be a reliable source the the brand new bus stop shelter that went up almost overnight is not the same one Mr. Shaffer was talking about in that Gazette article six weeks ago (posted in Comments). Mr. Shaffer is talking about a much larger shelter/building that would have public restrooms and OF COURSE a LARGER bike area.
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ORIGINAL POST: last night Well at least this new bus stop on Kendrick Park will will get a lot more use than did the "skating" rink. Although at $100-K, also a lot more expensive...

Football anyone?

Amherst DPW 4:30 PM

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

So my fellow blogger, the perky Amherst School Committee member Catherine Sanderson (shown here working part-time for my competition), has kind of publicly painted herself into a corner.

She most definitely telegraphed her support for Steve Rivkin as a candidate for School Committee, and there are 2 open seats with 3 people running. But she very publicly stated on her blog that she would not endorse any of the candidates because she will have to work with them in the very near future.

Or maybe not.

My reliable sources tell me if Mr. Rivkin is the odd man out on 3/31 Ms. Sanderson (to her husband’s great delight) will resign her School Committee seat the very next day, April 1’st—no foolin!

So come on folks, let’s get working. Steve Rivkin for School Committee!

Yeah I know. he’s an Amherst College professor—of economics no less. But then, who would have thought that Catherine Sanderson, an Amherst College Professor of Psychology, could demonstrate such astonishing backbone?

Miss Emily's facelift

Duh!

Princess Stephanie: try to keep up.

The time to put a Proposition 2.5 Override on the current local ballot election (3/31) has long since passed. So if you want to do an Override it will have to be a stand-alone election costing the taxpayers an additional $12,000 to $14, 000. And, like the last time, you will get your ass kicked.

Since it takes the Town Clerk about 35 days to do all the legal stuff she needs to do in order to make an election happen (and you don’t meet again until March23’rd) you would be pushing the unwritten law (that Comrade Gerry Weiss seems to take so seriously) about not having an election when the students are away, courtesy of Eric the Rat --a dead Hippie who would have been happier at Hampshire College rather than Umass.

So just tell the folks the reality: President Obama may come to the rescue via Federal money, but forget about local money via a Proposition 2.5 Override.