FOCUS ON FISCAL FOCUS

I am all excited! I get to participate in a FOCUS group for LPS. Yippee! My understanding is (Okay so I've been wrong a few times but not as many as some would have you believe.) that this consulting firm, SCHOOL WORKS out of BEVERLY has been hired to assess and take stock of all our LEVEL 3 schools then make suggestions and give ideas on ways to avoid them going to LEVEL 4,.

Smart move --- on paper. And well since books are made of paper, it must be a really smart move. Right?

UNTIL.....

you remember that MONEY is printed on paper too. I don't have the figures right in front of me but I expect it's going to cost a pretty penny. At least it's not being paid for with dirty money. At least I don't think, it's probably coming out of that RACE TO THE TOP MONEY, right.

Yeah let the FEDS pay for it and they will pay for the suggestions but I have a sneaking suspiscion we are going to be stuck paying for the solutions.

Looks like I'll be a part of some group at FORD. I mean I am on the SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL there. Both of my kids went through there. My son was in the old ANNEX when he was three or four and then again for fifth grade. My daughter went there from kindergarten through the fifth grade. When my kids moved on to middle school I volunteered for a year there in the library, keeping the seat warm until a REAL librarian came back.

I had planned to be a part of the MARSHALL group to but before I got back in touch too late. No I am not making ANY conspiracy allegations. It was my BAD. Too bad though, it would have been interesting.

MARSHALL comes with some interesting dynamics. Here we have a school that there have been whispers for a while that it was going into LEVEL 4 status but there has never been any official declaration. We are about to come before the taxpaying voters on bended knee and like out of a scene from OLIVER TWIST say, "More please". I'm afraid the results will be similar.

WHY? We surely need the new school. And come on now people, there AIN'T NO FREE LUNCH. (Well maybe I should have used a different analogy) The point is that when we see examples of a lot of money spent on trying to make complicated what seems pretty simple, well people get reluctant on parting with what's in their pockets,

Where is the MAYOR on this data double-take? Hasn't she complained before LPS'S spending patterns? Why don't she stick her LONG neck out? There could be trouble BREWING.

I guess she could have thrown the book at her but it would have been an outdated one. You see if it would have been one of my son's SOCIAL STUDIES books, it might leave an imprint of the SOVIET UNION as a major remaining SUPER POWER. I guess we should be glad HISTORY is not on the MCAS.

I know I'm not too smart on the ways of the world but at least I know who 's still in my world.