Regional School Committee: the hits just keep on coming
Michael Hootstein, a watchdog with sharp teeth and a sharper legal mind, filed yet another Open Meeting Law complaint against our beleaguered and dwindling Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee that at the very least should get the attention of bureaucrats at the Attorney General's office.
Attorney Tom Colomb
Perhaps it's time for the state simply to come in an take over administrative oversight of our discombobulated Regional Schools -- aka receivership.
OML complaint in Google Documents (click this link)
55 comments:
I think you don't understand when the state takes over a school district and why. It's for low academic performance, not a disfunctional school board. We don't exactly have level 4 schools like Holyoke or Lowell. The state is not a babysitter. People need to elect a board that can work together. It's as simple as that.
Actually, a state can take over a district not only for academics but for financial bankruptcy which Amherst isn't suffering from. Maybe, bankruptcy in terms of leadership but that doesn't count. Either way, history shows a state takeover of any school never changes anything.
The teachers union booster clique cabal served chiefly to milk the taxpayer for " Mommies friends in the know " what purpose all this does " For the kids " remains highly circumspect - after Gardner and Geryk - any questions ? Sick - sad world !!!$$$$$&@
How did Mr. Hootstein miss that 5 members of the SC felt bullied, threatened, and upset enough by the actions of two members - clearly Vira and Trevor - that they felt they had to seek help from governmental officials and the highest echelon at DESE? Why is none of Vira's and Trevor's unprofessional behavior called into question?
How many open meeting complaints does it take to legalize closed meetings?
No, the state can take over on corruption grounds. This most often happens with police departments where they assign MSP to perform all LEO duties in the town until the mess can be sorted out.
At the very least, it raises lots of questions about the MegaSkool.
And if Question 2 passes, plan for 2-3-4 MORE charter Schools competing with Geryk's Gulag. Maybe LSSE could use empty space in the MegaSkool as well...
So Larry, how is school going for your kids? Is everything discombobulated? Chaotic? Or are the students just going to classes, participating in extra-curricular activities, and doing their homework -- like a normal school year?
Why don't you do a story after you go to Open House night for parent/guardians? Tell us if you feel that the presentations from teachers and administrators indicate a need for state takeover of the schools.
Actually my kids are doing great this year (Kira is class president).
But they are not in the Amherst school system.
A very smart parent. You know through your own schooling, one can do better outside the Amherst school system. Your parents taught you well, grasshopper.
& what was up with the letter from former ARPS administrator Marta Guevara to the Gazette criticizing Trevor Baptiste? wow. The Gazette is now saying that the letter was written by a Victor E. Guevara. What an error to make.
There are now THREE resignations from the SC -- when's the last time there was even one? This often is the first indication of a US Grand Jury, people who really aren't guilty of anything seeking to distance themselves once they start realizing what is really going on.
This is starting to get interesting.
Someone please explain to me how a secret letter written by 5 out of 9 members of the regional school committee to a government body was not a violation of the OML.
Vira and Trevor are vocal against things that do not make sense. Sullivan seems quiet but logical. Emily seems to have a voice but sometimes her vocal opposition doesnt natch her actual votes. This confused me last meeting I attended. Whatb upsets me is this letter comes out after the SC has made a commitment to support and work with each other . Even confirmation from Vira that it was a new day for moving on and forward in a positive direcrion. The others held a quarm basically deciding to.write this letter and leaving out 4 members of the sc and not notifying the public. It is in black and white. This isnt good.I want them to pull it together so they do they work they are assigned and take care of the things that effect our children. Anon 945 I think you are right... And it will be interesting to see who comes down on what side of that line you also of. Healthy debate isnt bullying. I do admit Trevor can be passive aggressive with his innocent comments. Others seem to get drawn in to the stories & twists that Appy puts forward using her strengths to convince and diagnosis and breakdown situations. This group has so many positive strengths if they could put the needs of the children in front if egos.
No Nina Larry's kids go to the Chinese Immersion school. This great American patriot decided to adopt two Chinese children instead of Americans. Larry you see is just a joke hahahahaha
Actually CAN, they do not attend PVCIC.
It was not a violation because only 4 regional members signed it. Sarah Dolven had already resigned when she signed it.
Larry, how does citizenship work for your girls? Are they Americans now because they are minor children adopted by Americans, or do they have to apply for it when they are 18?
They became American citizens via the American Consulate in China before landing in US and have not looked back since.
Ms Dolvan claims 'deception'. Hardly is that 'evidence' in favor of Mr. H's claim. Unless she describes the deception is could be just about anything, including the claim that Mr. Baptiste said one thing in Pelham Ex Session and the opposite publicly (as claimed in Ms Geryk's demand letter). Mr. H weakens his position and credibility by including such questionable 'evidence'.
are there GCC classes in ARMS this year? I've seen no announcements. Another in a long line of failed (and quietly disappeared) initiatives from Ms Geryk?
12:08 what's the chance that the FBI are in town, investigating either Chestnut Street itself or (more likely) something at the UMass School of Education that Chestnut Street is somehow involved in.
Or maybe it involves drugs, anything from Heroin to Hemp, and (deservedly or not) Bicycle Shops have a bad reputation for being involved in the latter -- particularly the money-laundering aspects.
I ask because there can't be a cohesive group in such a situation.
Hmmm 7:53 -- the GCC classes may be what the FBI is looking at.
7:37: Then it was a violation of Amherst school committee OML...
Larry, your kids are a great and welcome addition to our country. That nasty commentator trying to goad you--not so much.
To 5:53 am--
Adopting kids from overseas has nothing to do with someone's patriotism.
anon 3:22: to the contrary, mr. hootstein effectively made the claim that ms. appy and the 4 other sc members (a quorum of 5) are the open meeting violators who "deceptively" wrote the "racially divisive" letter to the dese commissioner. instead of implicating trevor and vira as the bullies, ms. appy implicated herself as the mean girl bully.
anon 7:51: mss dolvan's and ms. kent's resignation/deception claims are plainly directed at ms. appy, not trevor or vira.
a ruling by the attorney general's office will set things right in the people's republic!
5:53 a.m.: Larry's children are welcome here; your racism is not.
Wow are you, Anon 1119, ever mis-informed! Wow just wow. What alternate reality do you live in? ROFL!
It is so very interesting to see the whole school committee weighing in here!
This has got to be one of the top-ten degenerate threads in the history of this blog.
You need to understand the Appy - Kippy Fonsh, etc wing of these affairs is highly invested only in raising property taxes for fellow clique teachers special interest salary teachers union cheerleader lobby. This is just NOT " Abot the kids/ education" for them- they naturally act to oppose/ provide obstructionism to other committee members or public with quality provision issues- thus these chats expected to get bailed by state Union patronage junkies - what total buska !!!
There were rules in place for the SC to follow, they did not do that, and now here we are.
Good work Amherst!
I would hazard a guess that Anon 1119 has never spoken to Ms Dolven or Ms Kent. I have and I can guarantee the reason they resigned is due to bullying and harassment of the SC by Trevor and Vira.
anon 11:19 - we'll see what the attorney general says about ms. dolven's and ms. kent's open meeting law violations. mr. h said he spoke to ms. kent and she wanted to fire the school attorneys.
Larry you are not obliged to post any comment involving your children and I wish you wouldn't out of oncern for Them! But obviously your call. Peace brother.
Well it started with Nina and I kinda wanted to correct her.
But yes, the majority of comments that I do not publish relate to family.
Viva school choice.
Quite legal.
Well then the first group should enjoy their majority.. And continue to out vote or skirt situations they either can't admit are happening or can't see and stop doing things to bring attention to themselves. The other choice the AGO could remove them all and we could start over with selectboad appointed people.
@751 & company .. Ms Kent has alot on her plate. Please remember they may not have resigned for the same exact reasons or people. Ms,kent just finished her training on SC. Maybe she learned something that made her uncomfortable. Ms Dolven is a lawyer. She may also have felt uncomfortable but she was clear about not having the time to commit
with it being dysfunctional or whatever she said. Modestow is a principal he probably saw this situation as too time consuming or controversial for him right now. Remember he was acting chair In Pelham due to Tara Luce not being able to be involved in the Pelham situation and possibly the evals but she filled one out anyway since the Super was her boss she was advised to recuse by Dese or some governing body. Also the lawauit is coming I don't know, how that effects the SC but it could be a long year of long hours between that and the super search.
Michael Hootstein has a sharp legal mind, just like Larry Kelly is a real journalist. Two small town busy bodies with too much time on their hands and no motivation to spend it productively.
Well CAN, if you knew anything about journalism you would not have misspelled my name.
You're right; I should not have brought up your kids. I was trying to counter your statement about discombobulation by referring to the experience of students inside the building. But I shouldn't be talking about particular students.
Anon 10:01:
At least Michael and Larry are speaking up in defense of our threatened liberties to prevent Geryk, Appy and other protectors of a failed angrily dysfunctional status quo from bankrupting our public schools and tearing apart the moral fabric of our community!
What are you doing to help make things better? Keeping your head in the sand and blindly following those who lead the failed angrily dysfunctional status quo isn't making things any better.
our Keeping your head in the sand threatened liberties
tup in defense of our
earing a part
tearing apart
tearing ap art
the moral fabric of our commmmmunity!
failed angrily, angrily are you [?]
tearing apart
tearing apart
quo quo quo
tearing apart
tearing apart
quo quo quo
For those who are interested, Arnie Duncan will be at Smith tomorrow...
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/09/charter_school_advocate_arne_d.html
Larry, you gotta go!
"Well CAN, if you knew anything about journalism you would not have misspelled my name."
So bad spelling (not to mention punctuation and grammar) correlates with knowing nothing about journalism? Given what you've been posting here for years, you've just reinforced the CAN's point.
Said the CAN who obviously has been reading me years.
Yes, I'm happy to say I've been reading your blog for years, mainly for the comments. It's good entertainment, the way gossip or a car crash is entertaining, and you should take pride of creating that entertainment.
But this blog is definitely not journalism, and your insistence on calling yourself a journalist makes me wonder if you even understand what journalism is, which in turn casts doubt on all of your reporting. Why don't you just call yourself a columnist? There's no shame in embracing your opinions and advocacy, rather than pretending your blog is unopinionated and hoping no one will notice, which is frankly impossible.
Columnists are journalists.
As evidenced by this blog, Larry Kelley and certainly not the Gazette, is our only dependably trusted news source about school matters. With that said, Scott Merzbach of the Gazette is also a dependably trusted news source about school matters when he's not being censored by his boss Gazette muck-a-mucks.
Please read Scott's excellent Gazette article "Complaint filed with state over Maria Geryk meetings" at http://www.gazettenet.com/Shutesbury-resident-files-Open-Meeting-Law-complaint-against-Amherst-Pelham-Regional-School-Committee-4841187 about Hootstein's Open Meeting Law complaint to the Office of the Attorney General...talk about illegal!!!
I still say there is an underlying criminal indictment.
You do a nice job throwing around the term "cowardly". Are you familiar with the term "hypocrite"? You should be. Have some guts and print all the comments. You might not always get the last word, but that's nothing to be afraid of.
Amherst guy all the way. Dishes it out but can't take it.
Anyway, I'm not checking back here, and I know you'll read this, so that's the last word (mine).
Apology accepted in advance, Mr. Kelly.
Don't let the cyber door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Those really are the last words.
Mine.
Re: Anon 4:47 and Anon 1:56.
It truly is surprising that people think they are entitled to comment on someone else's forum. What a very odd concept of free speech: That you have to let anybody say anything to you or about you on your own turf.
Mr. Kelley's blog; Mr. Kelley's rules for commenting.
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