The Bus Does Not Stop Here Anymore

My son is now walking to school at Pickering. That should save the city between 2 and 20 thousand a year depending on who you ask. I tend to put more faith in the lower figure since it came from the transportation dept. and not some councilman looking for political gain. Either way I'm not getting a check.

Rat Reversal

I have heard that the rats have lost an ally. I have been told that Councilman Trahant has seen the light (or counted the votes) and no longer believes the garden at Ingalls is causing the rat problem. I really don't know, he didn't call me up to tell me. All I know is that the Food Project people are gearing up for Wed. night;s meeting and every time I mention rats I get mad hits on my blog.

So maybe if I say them three times fast the traffic will blow up the server. RATS,RATS,RATS.

An Age Old Problem

Last month at the LSC meeting there was talk of raising the maximum age for School Admission. At issue is the fact that we are getting more and more new students high school age who don't know English, There is just not enough time for them to become fluent enough in English before they graduate.

It is easy to take a conservative hard line. This is America, it's not our problem if they can't speak English. It's not our problem if they can't meet our standards. Love it or Leave It.

I don't know about you but I live in the real world. We have to live with the consequences of our decisions. Education does not have age limits. We need solutions not rhetoric. After all, there are only so many fast food jobs. Being uneducated makes one ripe for exploitation.

Working Vacations In The Middle Of The Year

The LSC was happy at the last meeting to get a chance to approve school field trips before they actually happened. This has been the exception and not the rule. The LSC turned into a travel agency for a night.

First on the itinerary was a Drill Competition for the English High MCJROTC in Union, NJ. This is coming up on Nov. 19-20. They should get a medal for going to Jersey. I just hope they don't come back fist pumping.

English High Drill Team invades a different place in Jersey Feb. 18-19. Their willingness to go to these places explains why they have been national qualifiers for eight years. We should have our own reality TV show.

The las field trip approved brought groans of envy from the LSC. It was a senior class field trip by the LVTI seniors at the Honors Haven Resort in Ellenville, NY on Feb. 21-23,2011. There are some seminars, focus groups and the like on the agenda but socialization is up there on the priority list. Do you remember your senior year? Hey, at least it's not in Jersey.

Comedy Night At The LSC

The next meeting of the LSC will showcase a ironic battle of the rats. In one corner we have tomato tossing, lettuce eating rodents of the Ingalls School garden trying to remain undefeated by having their lease renewed versus the Lynn City Council and the Seacrest boys at Bennett Street looking to sneak in a new place to park.

It should be quite the night. Really I can't make this stuff up!

http://itemlive.com/articles/2010/11/12/updates/doc4cdda6de466df871354813.txt

My Future So Bright, I Think I Need Shades, Not Books

You can start by throwing he book at them, the textbook. I hear there are  some classes without ELA texts. How do we expect teachers to do their jobs without all the necessary tools. More than that, what can you hope for the unfortunate students?

I know, the plan must be to intentionally lower the MCAS score so we can get more money from the state and the feds. That way we can justify more specialists and consultants. I mean the  kids will have to suffer a little bit but they have their whole lives to get over it. Look at the bright side,oh yeah, there is no bright side.

Before You Sign On The Dotted Line

Someone please educate me. I have made it clear I am not in favor of charter schools. I have a lot of reasons that I'll go into later  if anyone cares. But, I could be wrong. After ll, I'm in my fourth marriage so I have a track record of being wrong.

If charter schools are so great and they have the best interest of the students in mind, why doesn't KIPP jump at the chance to locate at the Bennett St. location? I mean they could be up and running in no time. Why didn't the city make a more attractive offer, any offer? Our elected officials are supposed to be looking out for us, right?

Are they looking out to profit our students or themselves? Like they say on TV - "You Be The Judge."

The Rats Are The First Ones To Flee The Ship!

With all the talk of rats and parking spaces, you can hardly see the state of education in Lynn through all the smoky haze of the back rooms. Not only is the vision of where we are going educationally, you have a hard time seeing the kids.

Currently there are 5 audits by the Dept. of Education going on at the schools around town. At the last LSC meeting it was assured these are just standard information collecting audits but with about as many civil lawsuits going on, can we be sure?

Are There Rats In City Hall?

Whenever a person is sick, they take medicine. That is what the doctor orders, so we do it. Education is the medicine for all our economy's ills. No one pays you for being dumb.


Consequently it boggles my mind why our local politicians can't see the forest for the trees. As evidence of their continuing vision problem I offer up this latest story:

http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2010/11/10/news/news03.txt

I personally have sat in on a meeting last spring where Mayor Kennedy shared her vision for he school department's  administration's offices to be under one roof. The Bennett St. location was to be that roof. Currently the special education department is across town, out from the direct supervision of Dr. Latham. I am not saying she is unaware of what the special ed, people are up to but they are not across the hall
either.

I have heard rumors that Dr. Latham is resistant to the relocation. Now they taught me in school not to put much store in rumors. The fact remains though, I've seen no U-haul trucks yet and Dr. Latham still gets her mail at the same place. Who is boss here?

This vision was the reason given why the Bennett St. location why the city was not a viable place for the placement of the KIPP School. Instead KIPP is allowed to build on possibly the most prime piece of real estate in the city. Maybe they wouldn't have wanted the Bennett St. site but an attractive package could have been put together.

Enter Lynn City Councilman Phelan and Seacrest, Foods. Now the rats in Lynn may have the opportunity to feast on gourmet foods. I guess that will solve the problems at the Ingalls garden. Why would rats want to eat vegetables when they can eat fancy food?

Aiming For The Wrong Target

Some of Lynn's  middle school students were fortunate enough to hear Louis Gossett, Jr.'s inspiring and educational lecture yesterday. It seems like there is nothing bad to say about this.

Mr. Gossett's sincerity is beyond reproach. The problem that I have is that we didn't get the maximum benefit out of this event. The target audience of middle school kids makes for good copy and better photo ops but unfortunately according to most research the majority of a kids personality and values are set by age 12.

Does that mean yesterday's program was a waste of time? Of course not. I am just saying that it should have been set up to have the kids it could have helped the most in the audience.

Elementary kids probably wouldn't have been much more ignorant about Mr. Gossett's incredible achievements than middle school children. I still remember his line from "An Officer And A Gentlemen", "Texas, The Only thing they raise in Texas is steers and ...".

I am sure he would remind us all that is an example of how not to act.

Can I Have Your Autograph?

My son is joining some TV news program at Pickering. I don't know much about it YET but I promise you I will, Anyway he is excited about it.

This sounds like a great thing. It will give the kids a chance to be a mini-celebrity. It Something should be in every middle school.

Drewiez Students Learn To Build A Better Mouse Trap

Volunteer engineers from GE help to make science more interesting by helping
 the kids gain some hands on experience. It's always better when you can see with your hands.

http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2010/11/05/news/news03.txt

The Last Rat Story - For A While

At the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee meeting that took place before the regular LSC meeting, there was so much testimony bout the rats that time constraints forced the normal open-mike period scheduled before the beginning of the meeting had to be cancelled.

Each side was given opportunity to have representatives appear before the committee to try and convince the committee to follow their line of reasoning. The magic of the Internet gives everyone the confidence to advocate as a self-proclaimed expert.

The anti-garden crowd trotted out heavy hitters, Councilmen Trahant and Cyr who expressed deep regret at now having reached the conclusion that even though they had initially supported the garden now they felt it had to go. I wonder since they were now so convinced it was the main source of the rat problem why did they ever support it in the first place. Didn't they do any research on rats and gardens before? I am sure their change of heart had more to do with phone calls than science.

Another neighbor gave a long winded soliloquy about the destructive activity of the local rat population. While it was short on actual scientific substance it did have a disturbing visual, a description of little pink rat babies - nasty.

The Food Project had their people testify too, but in the interest of wrapping the meeting up, one of the alumni who had actually worked in the garden didn't get to testify. Of course this led to claims from some of The Food Project crowd that they weren't given equal time. I don't know of any official count but I would say that they had the largest crowd.

Once the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee meeting was over most of the crowd went out in the hall to wait for the regular meeting. Being the politician that she is, Mayor Kennedy plunged into the crowd and came out with a compromise. The alumnus would be allowed to have his say before
the regular meeting

So, he did

Keeping A Head Of The Game

A big discussion on concussions as it relates to sports last Thur. night in the Athletic subcommittee held before the regular LSC meeting. The MIAA regs were read as they pertain to concussions. Basically if you lose consciousness you are banned from any activity until you have a doctor's clearance to play.

Every year the football helmets are sent back to the manufacturer for reconditioning. Usually about ten helmets are not returned because they are not able to meet the specs.

Speaking from personal experience, you can never be too cautious with a head injury. Small injuries can have big consequences. Your life can be altered in so many ways.

Rental Fees - Need To RegulateThe Irregularities

The rats in Lynn get to use the school facilities for free but everybody else has to rent the facilities. LSC member Donna Coppola was concerned because she had reports of some out of town groups getting a cheaper rate than our own local groups.

As it turned out this was only a one time mistake blamed on the overwhelming task of managing the administration of the rental schedule. In the past the job had a regular full time position to handle the job. Because of budget cuts the task has been shifted to a part time position to a person already with other duties.

To make matters worse there is no set standards to help insure that everything always remains the same. According to LSC Secretary Tom Iaribbino, in the past groups had just been charged enough to cover the janitors salary. Lately, a charge to cover the gas and electricity have been added.

Because we live in a litigious society, LSC member John Ford asked if there was some assurance that groups had adequate liability coverage. He was assured that the present online scheduling system prompts the user to provide proof of liability coverage.

Rick Starbard echoed the rest of the LSC's call for a set standard for all rental fees. It was agreed that one would be produced. We await further developments.

If Rats Could Read

The rats have been very, very good to me. LSW has been getting a lot of hits lately and the traffic can't all be from my mother.

One commenter to my blog has even given me undeserved credit for having contributed for Highlights magazine. I just wish he wouldn't lavish so much praise on me and instead put forth some of his accomplishments.

If the rats could read some of the garbage he and some of the misinformed readers of the Item spew out they would do a little rat dance and celebrate. Closing down the garden would guarantee  a new open place to serve as a depository for all kinds of new trash, providing an excellent dining atmosphere. The rats will have to wait in line to get a seat.

Maybe Councilmen Trahant and Cyr can get new jobs as waiters.

A Garden of Verses Or Was That Curses

Now a story about Lynn Public Schools' other garden, the rat-free one at Ford. David Gass, co-chair of The Highlands Coalition, Inc., was asked to appear before the LSC.

Gass was about to testify about the plan for the construction of a greenhouse at the garden. It seemed to me Gass was about to describe a major project with plastic everywhere. After hearing this LSC member Donna Coppola motioned that the matter be tabled until Dr. Crane was present.

I am sure David was disappointed about the delay in the decision but to be honest he overcomplicated the production. In fact the greenhouse appears to me that this proposed greenhouse is not much more than a series of umbrellas.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors Or They Want Us To Believe

One of the proposals put forth by Mayor Kennedy to help alleviate the rat problem is the construction of a fence. After all, they don't have a rat problem at Ford and they have a fence. The fence they have at Ford is a wrought iron fence with spaces in between bars that would prevent only the fattest, most overweight rats.

Besides wasting the taxpayer's money, the fence not only would provide Mayor Kennedy some political cover it would allow Councilmen Cyr and Trahant to play both sides of  it, appeasing a wider range of their constituents.

Both councilmen are on record as having supported it in the past but now reluctantly, coming to the conclusion that it must be closed down. People should be allowed to change their opinions, even elected officials.

However are we to believe that these councilmen who portrayed themselves as champions of these poor homeowners who are victims of this vermin onslaught did not know that even if they could have forced a vote to end the lease that night he garden would have continued to exist for 90 more days. In 90 days there will probably be two feet of snow on the ground and the rat problem solved.

By then, a "new fence to nowhere" might have been constructed and Councilmen Trahant and Cyr could stand on both sides of it.

Athletics To Adopt Six Day Schedule

Well it's time to take a break from the rat story. It's not from lack of bait, it's just there was so much other important info that was covered at the LSC meeting.

One of those items was that there will no longer be any athletic activities scheduled on Sunday. It was the unanimous belief that we adhere to a six day schedule. LSC member Rick Starbard pointed out the body needs a day of rest to recover. John Ford agreed but pointed out the need to grandfather in previously scheduled events.

The final policy also allowed for the exception of when weather makes it necessary to add the day to schedule he event. This seems to be a rare exception and not the rule.

It was good to write about something other than rats. I admit, it was creeping me out.

Rats Can Be Model Citizens

We all could learn something from the supposed rats at Ingalls. According to self-proclaimed "gang-expert" and neighbor, Marguerite Pueleo these rats are willing to share their turf with "Bloods", "Crips", and other rival gangs.

I don't profess to have Ms. Pueleo's expertise on identifying patterns of gang behavior, after all I am just a poor old country boy from WV but I didn't know such rivals could peacefully co-exist with such harmony in one place. These rats sure are giving us an education. Thanks to Ms. Pueleo for pointing this out for us.