What's the big secret?

So the reporter in me wonders what's the the big deal? Why did two Regional School Committee Chairs refuse to release current Interim Superintendent of Schools Maria Geryk's resume to elected members of the Amherst School Committee?

I'm told an interested party--who also happens to be an attorney--requested the resume in writing and was rebuffed. They however, did not use the magic words: "Public Documents Request."

Ms. Geryk recently updated her resume, but that one only becomes a public document if she applies and becomes a finalist for the current position she occupies, Superintendent of Schools--the highest paid public employee in Amherst.

She could easily, however, have it released now.

Thus, I would have thought she would desire the newer-and-presumably-improved resume released; but hey, that's just me--an unemployed blogger with a lowly Umass Bachelor's degree.

And so it ends (badly)

UPDATE: Sunday night 8:15 PM (What more can I say?????)

Dear Chris Hoffmann, Bonnie Vigeland, and Will Bridegam,

Your letter below, Chris, I received from a Friend of the Library. Usually, when a writer mentions someone in a letter, the writer sends a copy to that person. When writing on behalf of the Jones Library Board of Trustees you should send a copy to all trustees. But clearly from the tone of this letter, you were not writing on behalf of the Board but instead attacking the action of one member and insulting three members.
You failed to copy all of these fellow trustees.

Measured criticism of the action of a fellow trustee is perfectly legitimate, indeed an obligation, but in my view should be done face-to-face or within the Board itself, not to a presumably broad number of “undisclosed recipients.” Insulting language is completely inappropriate. And, as your elder, I will add that insulting one’s elders is also inappropriate.

You apologized once at a Board meeting for losing your temper at meetings, and said that you'd "meant no disrespect" for other trustees. I hoped you would not do it again.

But you have.

Your latest example of the trustees’ “harassment”, the queries Sarah McKee has been making into how other library trustees are informed of a library’s finances, is not harassment in any sense. Instead it is an example of a trustee working on behalf of the Board and the financial stability of the library. Sarah’s research rises directly from the request made to Bonnie back in March, described in the minutes of the March 19th meeting, that she provide monthly cash statements and information on all library accounts. Bonnie has been providing cash statements, as you know, but we still do not have complete information on monies from gifts and bequests. Trustees at other libraries say they are amazed that the Jones Library trustees do not have this information. Such information is absolutely necessary to meet our fiduciary obligations. The Massachusetts Public Library Trustees' Handbook, a publication of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, lays down clearly that trustees' responsibilities include "[k]nowledge of the library's financial base and ... [k]nowledge of supplementary sources of revenue." Page 7.1.

You say: “Would you apply for a job knowing you'll be starting out with the level of harassment and muzzling that Carol, Pat, and Sarah are certain to be dumping on you? Would someone who agrees to come to the Jones with the expectation of playing second fiddle to the Carol faction even be someone you'd want running our library?” I take great personal offense at your language of “harassment” and “muzzling” and “dumping”, and your snide term the “Carol faction.” Your asking people “to put Carol and Sarah in their place as an annoying but impotent minority” is a rallying cry of the most undignified sort. I respect Carol and Sarah as I do all the trustees, present and past, who have contributed to the Board’s work for the library.

I also have great respect for the many good works done by the Friends of the Library. To Bonnie Vigeland, president of the Friends, and Will Bridegam, our former trustee and emeritus librarian of Amherst College, and to those who signed the August 3rd petition for a review committee, I hope you will do independent research into Chris’s accusations of harassment.

Chris, I am pleased that both you and Bonnie are willing to go forward with the facilitation, and I am also pleased that you are urging others to run for trustee of the library. May the best people win.

Sincerely,
Patricia Holland
President, Jones Library Board of Trustees


From: Chris and Anne Hoffmann
Date: October 8, 2010 8:50:38 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [Friends] Bonnie's resignation announced, and a plea for candidates.

As most of you already know by now, today Bonnie Isman announced her retirement, effective December 10th.

I was at the Jones this afternoon to talk with her. Unsurprisingly, she's in a very good mood thinking about her upcoming life of leisure. Her decision to retire now is largely personal -- it is a good time in her life to retire. But I'm sure the harassment from board has taken its toll on her and influenced the timing.

As just the latest example of harassment, yesterday I learned that Sarah had been talking with the director of the Forbes library and has wants to get a meeting between Pat, me, and their treasurer. Sarah continues to believe our accounting practices are negligent (or worse) and won't even listen to the accountants we hire to go over the books who are continually telling her everything is OK and our current methods are quite good. Sarah was actually upset with me because I cc'ed Bonnie and Tina in my reply to a message she'd sent to Pat, nme and the Forbes' director: Quoting: 'I find it disturbing that you included Bonnie and Tina on an email that I'd sent to Pat and you only. It is up to Trustees to specify the financial reports to be made. This is not to exclude the staff. It is to bring them in further down the line. It would waste their time to bring them in now.' This is how bad things are, folks.

Bonnie and I both want the planned meeting with the facilitator to go forth. So does everyone in the staff I talked with while there. I hope there will be no resistance from the rest of the board. If there is, I'll be sure to let you know.
________________________________________

And now my plea from me to you:

It's clear that next year's Jones Trustee election will be one of the most critical ever

A search for a director will take at least six months. The two people elected next spring will almost certainly be a third of the votes cast for our next director. Since we were founded in 1921, The Jones has had only five directors! They tend to stay for a long time. We have got to make a wise choice.

Beyond the problem of choice, also think about the work environment potential applicants are going to have to consider. Would you apply for a job knowing you'll be starting out with the level of harassment and muzzling that Carol, Pat, and Sarah are certain to be dumping on you? Would someone who agrees to come to the Jones with the expectation of playing second fiddle to the Carol faction even be someone you'd want running our library?

Folks, I've asked for help before. But I really mean it this time. Someone needs to step up and agree to run. Even if you can only commit to a single term, that should make all the difference. If we can create a solid core of rational people who are able to put Carol and Sarah in their place as an annoying but impotent minority, in three years' time the trustee culture should be so improved that finding replacements won't be the nearly impossible task it is now.

Next year, I am up for reelection. Pat's second term is up. I don't think she wants to run again, but you know Carol is going to be putting a lot of pressure on her to stay. So we need one REALLY GOOD new candidate in case this becomes a contested race.

A Select Board member recently told me "we ignore the Library Trustee [races] at our peril". Indeed we do. Please. Help. Step up.

Chris

##########################################
Original Post Saturday morning

Forever Jones Library Director Bonnie Isman announced her retirement, effective December 10, 2010. Yes, this is roughly the time frame cold bloodedly calculated by Trustee Carol Gray--currently ensconced in Cairo, Egypt--but I'm sure Ms. Isman figured out that her pernicious presence would be felt over the next year since she refused to resign as Trustee and would haunt future meetings via Skype.

Score one for the bad guys.

Freedom's just another word...

So a Mississippi Judge who obviously--like a few too many judges--thinks of himself as God, threw an attorney in jail for failure to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Although the attorney did respectfully stand while the courtroom came to attention.

In the 1995 Hurley decision the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the First Amendment also prevents an individual or group from saying something they do not wish to say. In this case a private parade committee; thus, as a private organization, the judges upheld the notion that they can select which messages are expressed to onlookers and which messages are not.

The town of Amherst already ran afoul of this clear-as-day decision when they tried to deny the privately run Amherst July 4 Parade Committee a permit due to restrictions on the signs that marching groups could carry. You know, the very same rules the town used when it organized a 350th Anniversary Parade.

The ACLU instantly set the People's Republic strait, and the Parade continues in the traditional old fashioned way.

The greatest freedom our flag represents is the right to burn it.

But I do indeed cringe when unbalanced individuals or groups push the envelope, such as a pastor threatening to burn the Koran on 9/11, or the KKK wanting to publicly dress up in their sheets or neo-nazis to march through Skokie, a heavily Jewish suburb of Chicago.

The Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments about whether a whacko religious group that should be ignored has the right to hold homophobic signs while picketing outside the funerals of American soldiers who died for their country in far off Iraq or Afghanistan. Icky. Icky. Icky!

But, that is the price we pay for our freedom. I remember once seeing my wife and another dear old friend wearing burkas, and it was not a pretty sight.

Fuck the ACLU

What do I love most about the American Civil Liberties Union?

If local, state or federal authorities squelched my blog now over that provocative headline, and I called Bill Newman, Western Mass ACLU Director, he would instantly do everything in his considerable power to fend off the government intrusion on my First Amendment rights, all without sending me a bill.

Just as the national chapter did in the 1971 Supreme Court case of Cohan V California.

I first met Mr. Newman back in November, 1999 when I invited him to speak at a public rally on the Town Common I organized to protest the cancellation of 'West Side Story'. To date, the People's Republic of Amherst is the only entity in history to nix the award winning play.

And in his brief presentation he said, "The way to deal with bad speech is with good speech and more of it--not censorship." Although I'm sure he did not for a moment believe 'West Side Story' actually constituted "bad speech."

So yes, I despise Cowardly Anonymous Nitwits who march under white sheets, or an organization that advocates for sex between men and boys, or protesters who picket the funeral of American military personnel with homophobic signage--but that is the price we pay for our most cherished American ideal, the Freedom of Speech. A small price indeed.

So thank God (yes, another freedom I have) for the ACLU these past 90 years!


The Springfield Republican reports

Just say No

So my friends over at Localocracy have an interesting discussion/poll happening now at the request of my ultra-transparent blogger cohort Catherine Sanderson asking, "Should Amherst elementary schools continue to be part of Union 26?"

A century old alliance where Amherst now provides 90% of the students and 95% of the funding, but only gets an equal vote when it comes to hiring a Superintendent. And since the Region is considering hiring one soon (or keeping the current one) it is certainly an issue worth pursuing.

The yes votes are the usual suspects who were associated with the schools back in the glory blank-check days when the schools could spend money like the rains falling from leaden skies. Perhaps the 'high water' mark represented by the $215,000 purchase of portable classrooms three years ago for Marks Meadow Elementary School that were never used as classrooms, and now sit idle as the town wisely downsized this past fall by closing the facility.

Town Meeting was warned about buying the portable classrooms

After the rains

A reflection of absence

How do you demonstrate to future generations the enormity of the devastation incurred that awful day? How do you balance the heartfelt wishes of the multitudes who lost loves ones and create something that is respectful--but not so exceedingly stark that only the bereaved would visit?

A once in a lifetime oppertunity, that over 5,000 designers desired and only one, Michael Arad, was chosen. And he new going in that he would have to "get it right," both in the design phase-- and even more importantly--the execution.

While he may look young for such an awesome responsibility remember, Maya Lin (who served as a judge on this "contest") was only 21 when her design for the Viet Nam War Memorial was chosen over 1,400 others.

And both designs share the same haunting concept of actually seeing the names--all the names-- of the dead.

"Reflecting absence" vividly drives home the point by illustrating the Twin Towers with two large reflecting pools, standing in their former footprint, framed by low walls containing all the names of the victims etched in bronze.

Tonight at Umass, Mr. Arad spoke to a packed crowd of about 120--probably pushing the envelope of what the room is certified to hold. And at first glance, his design doesn't look as though it pushed any envelopes at all. The New York Post headlined their initial reaction with, "It Stinks!"

He opened with a photo of a bakery near Ground Zero he would pass in those early dark days, displaying a cake with a graphic of the Twin Towers and etched in confectionery the motto "We will never forget."

At first he thought it tacky, but then realized the owners were humbly using their own particular skills to commemorate this astonishing event. And as an architect he started to think how he could use his skills to make sure nobody would ever forget.

After a thorough 45 minute presentation, the first question from the audience concerned "the conspiracy" and whether he considered how to incorporate the concept of a "controlled demolition" bringing down those magnificent towers.

Arad cut the Nitwit off with a curt, "This is my presentation, not your. I'm not going to answer that!"

Like the Viet Nam Memorial, "Reflecting Absence" will become a mecca for future generations of Americans--and citizens from the around the world.

Michael Arad. A little background

NY TImes showing a lot more respect than the NY Post