Attention Families!
As I mentioned in last week's newletter, you may have heard about the concern regarding the amount for the school's 2012-2013 operating budget. There have been many conversations and many suggestions offered. The budget committee has voted on a budget of $9,197,777.27. However, the school board feels $11,510,850 is necessary to address the needs of our town's specific student population. A couple citizens have asked to use the school to talk about the ramifications of both amounts. This informational session will be held tonight Wednesday, February 1st at 6:30 pm in the Ford Building, located right behind the school. You are strongly encouraged to attend.
.. and while you're there let them know you're not happy with the latest test results
As you can see folks, the School Board will stop at nothing, including using your children to get what they want. Why didn't they make this information available to every taxpayer in town? Once again, they are pitting tax users ( parents ) against the tax payers (all of the citizens of Winchester) in a quest to undue all of the hard work of our Budget Committee . We'd strongly suggest that people opposed to their higher budget attend and give them all an earful.
17 comments:
Hmmm-How's this Mr. Dassau! The people in this town are not stupid. You may think we are however, we know how the game is played.
Makes me wonder if the selectmen are going to use our money to tell us how to vote again this year.
It has been on the school website for weeks. It is just as easy to find as this site.
Ya right, there's no notice on the front page or under agendas or calendar. Guess you have to be rocket scientist to figure out where it's hidden. And if as you say this notice was available for weeks, why send a notice home now with the kids? Take your pom-poms and go rah rah someplace else, we don't need to be reminded just how many people in this town walk around with brown lips.
Did anyone go? Sounds like a great place to voice your opinion to the teachers and the administration.... I hope the budget committee members that votes for a 9.1m budget showed up to support it.
Morning Blog! The information that I am hearing gets even better. We have a seasoned teacher (one with at least 20 years experience) telling our students that if they don't get the money they want then all of the sped teachers will be fired, the teachers will have to calculate their grades by hand-no more Power School, and finally all of the smart boards will be used as coat racks. It is my understanding that teachers are not to be biased. I could understand a first year teacher running off at the mouth but not a seasoned one. The kids at school have enough to contend with wondering about what will happen without their sanctuary being threatened.
So, teachers be very careful about what you say. You need to make the profession proud. Right now, I am ashamed to admit that I am a teacher as it only takes one to ruin it for the rest of us.
There were 2 budget committee members that were there that did not support the budget cut.
Oh let me guess, hmmm, Kevan Whippie and Ken Gardner would be my first choice as they voted to give the School Board everything but cake and ice cream; but it could have been either of them and Dale Greys main squeeze Kathy Hebert.
Isn't their sanctuary being threatened?
The School Board has erred again in it's attempt to bully us into giving them what they want. As we are an SB-2 Town the following is in effect;
January 31;
Last day for selectmen to post warrant and budget at all polling places and at clerk’s
office or town hall. Warrant shall state place, day and hour for each of the two separate
sessions. For the Second Session, the warrant shall also state the hour of the election,
hours polls open and close, and which items are to be voted on by ballot. [40:13, II and
II-a (d)].
The School Board voted last night to put their budget in a Warrant and attach to the ballot. They can NOT do this. They have missed the deadline .. They law is clear. So now it's time for our selectmen to get off of their collective butts and act in the best interest of the citizens they govern and set the school board straight.
SB2 Regulations and Deadlines
http://www.nhlgc.org/attachments/services/legal/SB2_March_2011.pdf
You people ( the 3 of you ) who continue to personally attack Brian Moser and Bob Davis and Ted Ryll for the decisions made by an eleven member board are just wasting your time and ours by posting crass comments that will never be published. The real culprits here are the School Board members who stalled getting pertinent information to the Budget Committee on time, who continued to miss re-scheduled hearings and told the Budget Committee they'd show up when it suited them and who have attempted to hold the Town hostage with their bullying tactics to get what they want. If anyone missed deadlines it was them in their attempts to hold up the process. It was deliberate and done with malice. Stop and use your brains for a moment, suppose the Selectmen attempted to pull the same stunt and raised their proposed Town budget another 4-5 million, where would that leave us? Without people like Bob Davis, Brian Moser, Ted Ryll and a few others, none of us could afford to live in this town. Put the blame where it belongs and stick your personal feeling in your diddy bag. The School Board has declared war on every tax payer in Winchester, not the Budget Committee, not Brain Moser or Bob Davis or Ted Ryll .. put the blame for this whole mess where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of the greedy members of the School Board and those that support them in their actions.
If the Selectmen allow this illegal warrant to be put on the ballot be sure to vote NO, otherwise you can expect your taxes to go even higher next year with another 2-3 dollar increase and these same tactics will continue any time they want more money. Without a Budget Committee made up of elected citizens,to hold them in check, the town is doomed. Think people, think.
Pay attention to the top three scoring towns, Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Marlborough. They are all sending towns to Keene High. They all have K-8 elementary schools no "middle school." Perhaps we should send our teachers there on a field trip to see what they are doing right. The pay scale is similar so obviously it has nothing to do with the amount of money that we pay our teachers. Perhaps we should consider this alternative for educating our students. Novel thought that the kids come first. As I have said before it's the quality of the educators not the quantity.
The school admin failed to notify the BC that there were monied warrant articles that needed to have a hearing. There is a narrow window of opportunity since the hearings need 7 days notice and there is crunch time between when petitioned articles can be submitted and the deadline to post the budget. The school dropped the ball (perhaps intentionally) and the Secretary of State should decide in favor of the BC's budget going on the ballot. Selectmen have no jurisdiction over that, nor does the town clerk.
If the school's budget goes on the ballot, the only chance is getting a huge crowd at deliberative to lower it to the BC's amount, because the default is sure to be set higher than the proposed budget.
Even if there is success with that, the school can have one special town meeting to request a higher budget and everyone will have to turn out again to defeat them
The legislature writes all the laws to favor local governments and schools. Big surprise. Anyone expect Mr. Pickle to introduce legislation to protect the rights of the people?
Of course the school will do everything they can to get their money. Wonder who did show up last night? Anyone know? Probably not Gardner, or Dale's other one, Fraser, they were at the BOS meeting. Deliberative should be fun. Who do you think will run their mouths most? Tedford? Sepe?
Kudos to chesterfield..however their demographics are not even close to Winchester's. It is a pretty well off community with half the students. Kindergarten only has like 15 students total.
Read today's sentinel. It's about damn time that the board fired Dassau and listened to the budget committee. Enough- Dassau does not live in Winchester and does not give a damn about any of us only his $81.00 an hour salary that is part time. Yep-fire his butt. he's going to cost us money with another law suit. Oh at $81.00 an hour he can pay for the attorney and Colleen can help him.
In today's Sentinel Mr. Dassau stated that the only budget that would be considered at deliberative, would be the school board recommended budget. Lets all show up and surprise him. Cant help but think if Mr. Dassau and the people on the school board made around $30,000 a year like most of the Winchester taxpayers, they might have a little different view on how to make this work.
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