The Little School That Could

 Old School indeed

Forty years ago when I was at St Michael's High School suffering discipline at the wrinkled hands of scary nuns you could learn a lot about another school from their basketball team.  Back then Hopkins Acadamy was a winner.

So it comes as no surprise that they hold up well when compared academically to the paragon of education in the Happy Valley, Amherst Regional High School.  According to SchoolDigger.com, using the new MCAS scores just announced, ARHS has a rating of 123 out of 325 or top 38% in the state.  Hopkins Academy on the other hand has a ranking of 94/325 or top 29%

But the astounding difference is in the financial component of each operation.  According the Mass Dept of Education website, Amherst is in the top 11% statewide for costs per student at $17,916 while our neighbors in Hadley manage to run their schools coming  in at the bottom 1% for costs, or $9,770  per student.

Thus Hadley educates its 301 middle and high schools students for a cost savings of $2,508,233 had they been enrolled in the ARHS and ARMS.  Of course one telling difference is Hadley only has one administrator making over $85K and the Amherst Region has over 20.

Yes, Hadley has less of a minority population and a much higher percentage of home ownership (three quarters vs Amherst's one half).  But they still have farms, like they did 40 years ago, so kids can learn the value of hard work.  And that is priceless.

Tale of the Tape according to US News:

Hopkins Academy

Amherst Regional High School

Cat On A Cool Stone Wall

Party House of the Weekend

 1107 North Pleasant Street, Amherst

In addition to being assaulted with cans, bottles and pepper spray this past weekend, responding Amherst police officers also had to dodge beer poured from the second story of this humble abode just north of campus.

Yes, 1107 North Pleasant street is a repeat offender although the cars in the driveway are different from last year, so probably the perps are also different. Maybe the house is haunted and makes denizens act that way, or perhaps the landlord is lousy at screenting tenants.

Arrested late Friday night for Resisting Arrest and Underage Drinking:

Kyle Edward Darosa, 106 Edgement, Braintree, MA, age 19 (UMass student)

Arrested for Noise and Nuisance House:

Bryan Gudewich, 31 Meadow St, Lowell, MA,  age 21, (UMass student)
Adam Harrington, 21 Michael Ave,  Nashua, NH, age 21, (UMass student)
John Bulman, 7 Laurel Lane, Tyngsborough, MA, age 22, (UMass student)
William Collins, 9 Winter St, Tyngsborough, MA, age 21, (UMass student)

 #####

Another busy weekend for AFD with alcohol or drug overdoses (ETOH) and false alarms from UMass Frats 

AFD Weekend Run Summary 9-28-2012

Let's get Physical

 45 Phillips Street

Student rowdyism escalated yet another notch late last night as Amherst Police officers had to physically defend themselves against combative college aged youth jet-fueled by alcohol, a danger to innocent bystanders, first responders and themselves.

Last week two drunk students unabashedly fighting in a downtown restaurant got physical with a female Amherst police officer who was attempting to break it up, and early this morning the violent response to APD officers continued unabated.

Around 12:30 AM an officer noticed a disturbance at 45 Phillips Street with about 20-30 males on the front porch yelling and throwing punches at each other.  In trying to break up the melee one of the perps "attempted to free his friend" from the cops hold and had to be pinned against a fence and placed under arrest.:


Officers later cited the house, owned by Stephan Gharabegian, with a $300 ticket for violation of the town's Nuisance House Bylaw.

Arrested for Disorderly Conduct and possession of liquor under age 21:

Kevin John Defusco, 5 Depot Road, Westford, MA, age 19  (UMass student)

Gilreath Manor, Hobart Lane 

 Around 2:00 AM police were called to Hobart Lane apartment #26 Gilreath Manor for reports of a fight involving ten individuals.  In breaking up the disturbance an officer was hit with pepper spray and required a response from AFD to rinse his eyes.

Arrested for Assault & Battery on a police officer, A&B with a dangerous weapon (pepper spray), Resisting Arrest, and Disorderly Conduct:

James M Robinson, 10 Truman Circle, Springfield, MA, age 19   (UMass student)

Around 2:45 AM police responded to 15/17 Fearing Street for reports of a "highly ETOH" (drunk) individual "throwing bottles at people."

 15 Fearing Street    (managed by Kendrick Management)

The responding officer was greeted by a dozen young men on the front porch who stated Jonathan Jacobs was "going crazy," throwing bottles and other items at them.  Due to his violent behavior they had evacuated the house.  Jacobs was located in his upstairs room but immediately became combative, assaulting one officer with his shoulder and knocking over another.  At APD headquarters he refused to identify himself and was held on $2,500 bail.

Arrested for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (bottles), Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, A & B on a police officer:

Jonathan Daniel Jacobs, 225 Maryann Way, North Attleborough, MA, age 22  (UMass student)

#####

Meanwhile around 1:15 AM police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash on Mattoon Street near Amherst Regional High School.  The driver reported swerving to avoid a pedestrian and lost control because of the "wet roads", but an eyewitness had another different version not involving a pedestrian.  The driver was given a field sobriety test and failed. 

Arrested for OUI Liquor and Marked Lanes Violation:

Daniel T. Kearney, 21 Wing Rd, Lynnfield, MA, age 21  (UMass student)

#####

Sadly, at 1:43 AM, UMass police, APD and AFD responded to a male who fell and hit his head near the Newman Center, UMass.  The first officer on the scene reported the male was on the ground surrounded by friends who confirmed he "had been drinking" and suddenly collapsed, hitting his head.  

AFD transported the unconscious young man to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he is reported to be on a breathing machine in the Critical Care Unit.

UPDATE (Monday afternoon): The young man was released from the hospital Sunday at 2:30 PM.  Let's hope he learned a lesson.

License To Fail

 No, the UMass license plate was not issued in June

After today's fail at Gillette Stadium in front of a sparse crowd -- making it five losses in a row -- it's unlikely the UMass Alumni Association will suddenly see an urgently needed surge in orders for the UMass license plate, now seriously stalled two-thirds of the way to the goal line.

After all, a license plate is the kind of thing serious sports minded fan boys savor more so than your average academic high achiever, who was probably too busy studying to attend tailgate parties and all the other fun things built around sports.

 Fourth loss in a row equals "strong showing."  Gotta love PR flaks

On August 3rd I received an email from the Alumni Association with the headline "UMass license plate is a go!" that certainly gave the impression 1,500 orders required by the Registry of Motor Vehicles had been attained.

Of course what they meant was the "overwhelming interest" had generated 1,500 pledges to buy the plate, but when it came time for the $40 down payment, over a third of those pledges went MIA.  And even though the original pitch set an order deadline of September 7 their Facebook page (with only 139 likes) is still passively soliciting buyers.

Interestingly the Alumni email uses the term "UMass Amherst License Plate" but the actual plate does not contain the name of our beloved town, Amherst.  Hmm ...

With a potential client base of over 110,000 UMass graduates living in Massachusetts you have to wonder why the organizers of this drive can't seem to motivate 1.4% of them to "Ride with UMass pride."

First off, the plate really costs $110, not $40.

A vanity plate requires a  $50 "special fee" on top of the  $40 "regular fee", plus an initial $20 swap fee or $110 total.  Then, every two years renewal is $90 -- more than twice the amount as a "regular" plate.

Then there's the matter of where the "profits" actually go.  The Alumni Association pitch  originally pulled at the heartstrings by suggesting all the money raised would fund scholarships for deserving in state students.

But the Alumni Association website leaves a lot of wiggle room:  "Proceeds from the special plate fee will support scholarships and programs provided by the Alumni Association that advance UMass Amherst." 

When the Alumni Association suddenly dropped annual dues in 2010 and automatically made every UMass graduate a member.  At the time the Vice Chancellor of alumni relations was claiming about 5,000 dues paying members at $40 each.

Although an alumni program still exists for "investors" at $50 each annually, the number of takers comprises less than half the former dues paying membership.

So it must be awful tempting to dip into a new source of funds (if they ever materialize).

Even if the Alumni Association does get 1,500 fans to pony up all associated costs, there's still a catch:  The RMV requires the sponsoring body post a $100,000 performance bond to guarantee an additional 1,500 plates will be sold in the second year or else forfeit some of the insurance bond money.

And if the Alumni Association is having this much trouble with the initial 1,500 sales, the second batch will be an even steeper hill to climb.  

Perhaps it's time for the Alumni Association to punt.  

When the People Lead ...

 Amherst Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe needs a better script

Sick of town officials lip service over the serious problem of rowdy student party houses springing up all over Amherst -- no longer just the areas contiguous with our #1 employer, UMass -- neighbors in and around the traditionally impacted areas (Lincoln Avenue and Fearing Street) have taken matters into their own hands by collecting the 150 signatures necessary to get tougher warrant articles before Amherst Town Meeting next month. 

If enacted the bylaw tweaks would force town officials to address the real culprits in this sad affair: slumlords and high volume management companies who specialize in enabling slumlords. 

UMass seems to specialize in token, feel good strategies to address this serious problem, like a child trying to befriend a swarm of angry bees swirling around their downed nest.

Last year Umass, town officials and DA Dave Sullivan handed out oatmeal cookies in the southern campus while the northern sector burned.  I'm surprised none of them played a violin.

Two weeks ago on "Umass Umake a Difference Day" day 200 mature, helpful students donated their time to cleaning up the town, while 2,000 students congregated on the quad area of Townhouse apartments making a mess.  When police responded they were greeted with a barrage of cans and bottles.

Last March APD Chief Scott Livingstone appeared before the Amherst Select Board to update them, starting with this brief history, on arrests and the number of party house tickets police had handed out so far that year.  Since then the problem has only worsened.



Six months ago I asked the University for the number of sanctions handed out to fraternities and sororities the previous year.  They stonewalled my request.  Recently the town asked for information on the number of students disciplined for bad behavior.  UMass is hemming and hawing.

Simply put, only a small minority of students get rowdy -- but  a very tiny minority of them are serial partiers, who need to be shown the door.  Now!

Best Column to appear in Amherst Bulletin since I resigned

Loud and Clear

The first of 22 new WiFi emitters is (way) up and running on top of the Bangs Community Center, installed and tested by our daring DPW and IT departments earlier this week.

The new Cisco units, costing $75,000 total,  have three antennas instead of the two on 14 older units they are replacing, so users should notice a stronger more consistent signal throughout the downtown.

The entire installation is expected to be completed by Halloween, the one year anniversary of the mother of all storms than knocked out the WiFi system and emergency 911 phone lines when the power went out due to catastrophic failure in our urban tree canopy.

Amazingly in this digital day and age, Amherst is one of the very few communities to provide free WiFi throughout town center.