WE HAVE BEEN FOUR WARNED BY LATHAM - PLAYING THE RACE CAR=D

"Good meeting this morning of the Gateway cities - Mayors and Superintendents of Gateway cities attended and spoke. John Ford and Dr. Latham had good point on how Lynn is unfairly treated in school building formula - it is 80% reimbursement for a poorer city but because of the size of the school needed it means we pay a higher cost and number of schools needed in Lynn, we only get 64% reimbursement. Dr. Latham also said that while 124 refugees sent to Boston last year and Chelsea some 60, Lynn received 300 refugees - and 200 unescorted minors who had no prior education; therefore, meaning that they cannot finish high school in 4 years which means that more of our schools will be Level 4 rating."

I think this prediction while may be TRUE, I am not so sure it is completely TRUTHFUL. I don't believe there is some magic formula that automatically MORPHS 80% into 60% just because we have more than our share of refugees. It is true that we do have to build bigger schools to handle more students and the reimbursement schedule is skewed but not to single out LYNN but to allow the STATE to appear to give more with less

Blaming our problems with the reimbursement schedule solely on refugees doesn't accurately address the picture. All it does is incite hostility and further push people away from real solutions.

YES, WE HAVE A NUMBERS PROBLEM.

But it has less to do with where those numbers came from and more to do with how many. Trying to pin future resposibility for future problems on those that have the least ability to fight back is a CLASSIC bullying technique. It provides a makeshift insurance policy for future failure. A better approach would have been to tout CLASSICAL'S rise from a LEVEL 3 to a LEVEL1 school DESPITE facing the ADVERSE challenges unique to LYNN.

We should be FOCUSING more of our energy on changing the building reimbursement formula show it actually reflects reality, closing loopholes in political perceptions. The term ALLOWABLE EXPENSES begs to be blown by the winds of deception from powers that be at that moment in time. Stuff costs what it costs and they should just say what they are gonna pay right up front.