Public Comment?

Trevor Baptiste, the only minority member of Regional Agreement Working Group at 6/12 meeting

UPDATE 3:00 PM  School Superintendent Maria Geryk has kindly negotiated a live session between Mr. Terrell and concerned parents.  Next year.   And only now is he "developing an outline of his presentations"?!

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Tonight's 6:00 PM Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meeting -- so soon after the Calvin Terrell disaster at the Regional Middle School -- should be nothing if not interesting.

In his first act as the new RSC Chair Trevor Baptiste proposed changing the restrictive "Public Comment" period to allow for more extemporaneous input after the disastrous June 24 meeting cost Lawrence O'Brien the chairmanship. 

The public comment period had become a hot bed of activity around racial issues -- and deservedly so.  The predominantly white committee (7 of 9) was having trouble concentrating on their routine agenda items.

At a June 18th meeting of the Equity Task Force, Chair Amilcar Shabazz purportedly talked about an unreported -- more like covered up -- violent racial incident where three black youths "aggressively and seriously assaulted" a white youth because he was the "greatest student racist they could find."

Unnamed members of the Equity Task Force seemed to think Shabazz violated the (FERPA) rights of all the youth involved, since insiders were well aware of the incident and the names of all concerned.  But us lowly outsiders -- who represent the vast majority -- had no idea the incident had even taken place.

Individual Chairs of the school committees that make up the Region, circumventing the Open Meeting Law, signed a sharply critical memo chastising Shabazz and apologized to the parents of the white child involved.

Lawrence O'Brien Chair (for a day) 6/24 RSC meeting

In response, RSC Vice-Chair Trevor Baptiste called a renegade Regional School Committee meeting without approval of then Chair Lawrence O'Brien to countermand the 7/15 memo pillorying Shabazz.  That single motion passed by unanimous vote of the five members (out of nine) who dared to show up. 

And at the next meeting of the full Committee (8/14) Baptiste was elected chair, trouncing O'Brien (5 votes to 3).

So how is Mr. Baptiste -- one of only two black members of the RSC -- going to handle this sad, sadistic episode where a well-paid black motivational speaker terrorized all too many 7th and 8th graders with violent images of loved ones being gunned down before their innocent eyes?

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No controversy is complete without an internet poll (not mine)

Poll Of The People

Calvin Terrell demonstrating the power-of-the-universe-in-a-phone routine to upset parents  at packed 10/3 Middle School Principal's Coffee Hour

Mass email to parents 10/3 (click to enlarge/read)

Amazing Maze (Mike's Of Course)

Maze is designed to be visible in proper orientation from nearby Mt. Sugarloaf

Today is a beautiful day to take in the scenic New England beauty provided by Mother Nature.  Or in the case of Mike's Maze in Sunderland, an all natural work of agrarian art crafted with a little help from a local farmer. 

"The School Messed Up"

Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris (far left) Calvin Terrell (multi-colored cap), none too happy parents (right) 10/3 meeting which Terrell thought was an "emergency meeting"

A friend and l-o-n-g time reader likens my school posts to, "distant underwater tremors that turn into 30 foot waves breaking on the beach."

Amherst Public Schools "Media Climate & Communications Specialist" Carol Ross

My boots on the ground coverage of last week's (10/3) "Coffee hour with the Principal" took a few days to catch fire, but as of now the Comments are fast approaching the limit allowed by Blogger, a barrier previously broken only once (school related of course) out of over 3,368 posts published.

 Today's Gazette editorial:  (go to Google News and search using the headline)

While it took the Gazette almost a week to catch up to the shocking story of race/anti-bullying "motivational" guru Calvin Terrell terrorizing our children, they now seem to be making up for lost time. 

Today for instance, in the highest circulating edition of the week, the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette presents a very thorough editorial decrying the sorry affair.

Although in their typically diffident manner they fall short of demanding the schools exterminate their relationship with Terrell.

A glaring oversight. 

 Last year Terrell was paid $2,700 for one day gig

Springfield Sunday Republican Reports 

Opposes But With An Open Mind

Mainstream media this fine morning

Okay, which is it? Is UMass President Robert Caret going to keep an "open mind" even though he doesn't "like the feel" of the UMass Police Department informant program, or does he just flat out oppose the program as indicated by today's Gazette above-the-fold headline?

Of course keep in mind this is the same bureaucrat who just days after the Little Bighorn, err, Blarney Blowout, told the same media in regards to the response of overwhelmed police: "There looked to be some unprovoked overreaction." (emphasis mine)

Caret also went on to show how well he does his research (this from a higher-education leader) by questioning why town officials allowed bars to open early on the infamous day of the Blarney Blowout, which is just flat out not true.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy has named a "working group" of 11 -- as opposed to a "committee" which would be subject to Open Meeting Law -- to come back by the end of the semester with a recommendation concerning the use of informants by UMPD. 

Considering only one of the 11 is in law enforcement (and his paycheck is dependent on keeping President Caret happy), safe bet the program will be scuttled.

Public Relations taking priority over Public Safety.

In the particular case of Eric Sinacori the one question that really needs answering is did he go from an "informant", where his ID is protected, to a "witness", where his ID is not protected, and then go back to being an "informant".

Because under those conditions, even in the bucolic backwater of Amherst, his safety would have been compromised.

Don't Do The Crime ...

 

Looking southwest Amherst town center

As if being a small business in Amherst isn't already hard enough.  Apparently somebody is targeting them for the quick and dirty way to raise money:  by Breaking & Entering in the dead of night.

Captain Gundersen (note correct spelling) confirmed there have been four business break ins over the past two months, but three of those were just in the past 30 days.  And of course she would not divulge the names of the businesses, but did confirm two were dead in the center of town, one center/east and the other center/west.

Middle School Lockdown

APD & AFD on scene ARMS 10:45 AM

Okay parents set your stopwatches to see how long it takes school officials to let us know the Amherst Regional Middle School went into lockdown this morning for just about an hour.

Amherst police first responded to the school and then called for Amherst Fire Department to do a "psychological evaluation" on a young male student.

After about a half-hour on scene he was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Yes, having both police and fire personnel come through your front door to deal with a troubled student is certainly worth going into lockdown.

But it would be nice if all parents were notified, so rumors don't get started.

 AFD Engine 2 and NFD A1 on scene UMass Totman Gym 11:25 AM

Not long after that Northampton Fire Department had to send an ambulance our way -- the 2nd one of the morning to come to us via mutual aid -- because AFD was so swamped.

 AFD Engine 4 on scene Fort River School 1:40 PM

And then around 1:30 PM, AFD Engine 4 and Chief Nelson responded to a (false) fire alarm at Fort River School.

Three different school responses all within hours of each other.  No wonder we're known as an "educated community."

Too bad we don't show it by adequately staffing our beleaguered first responders.  

UPDATE:  4:30 PM email sent to parents