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Saturday, February 25, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
ENGAGEMENT IS A GOOD THING
The
Lynn Public Schools is hosting a free Family Engagement Fair!! The
event is designed to support and encourage parents of elementary age
students in their…
www.eventbrite.com
LORI LOOKS AT THE LOOMING TAXES AND TROUBLES AHEAD
Lori D'Amico There
is no doubt the city of Lynn desperately needs new schools. However,
the city hasn't been able to meet its NSS obligation for YEARS and owes
the schools the city already has standing MILLIONS!! It appears as
though every audit that is conducted on the city turns up errors, misuse
of funds and mismanagement of funds, which typically results in more
debt for the city. There are concerns and issues with how the city will
pay for contracts without any layoffs. The city continues to lose
significant tax revenues from businesses selling and non-profits/non-tax
paying organizations buying. So can the city actually afford to take
on $80 plus million or whatever the cost will be for the 2 new schools?
I will let people decide and vote for themselves
GETTING IN FRONT OF THE MIDDLE
Lynn seeks middle ground on school project
Clearly there is a deep concern about the likelihood of the passage of this measure. Plans appear in the works to peel off opposition with at least the appearance of some concession. While some people may have a valid arguments about the proposal's location, my concerns don't take into consideration the whereabouts.
It's all about the "money". While it's true that the building of a new school would have a positive effect on home values, that increase must be weighed against the stifling effect of higher taxes. But you know what, I don't even want to weigh in on that argument.
My fears are two fold: 1). I am concerned that in light of the chaos surrounding the national chaos surrounding both the direction of the US Dept of Education and the emergence of a greater proclivity for the emergence of more charter schools shared by our governor that the money coming into our district will be reduced and 2). the city's continued fiscal malfeasance in regards to their own responsibilities when it comes to solving our Net School Spending Crisis we have been spinning our wheels. This crisis has been playing out for a few years now and it doesn't seem to be getting much better. The excuses are getting old. Can we trust them to correctly spend the fruits of a $200 a month property tax increase?
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
PICKERING PROBLEMS
Interesting point, sorta. I have heard talk of maybe using the old Pickering for an expansion of Sisson. One of the arguments against the old Pickering is that it is in such deplorable condition that it is not cost effective to rehab it. Well it definitely is in bad shape, I've seen pictures.
But eventually putting elementary kids who are more sensitive to the lead and other contaminants that have to exist in any old building doesn't make the best of sense. When are they going to start tearing down the old Marshall by the way. We put extra money on the bond to pay for it, like around $4million. Disposing of certain things like asbestos is so expensive. And you know PICKERING is older than MARSHALL don't you know?
Another
twist in the Pickering saga.... superintendent said Pickering will used
for elementary school but they keep posting pictures of how bad it is.
Why can't they rehab and add new wings for a middle school then? They
say we are spreading false rumors
HOSTAGE HANGOVER
For Mayor Kennedy's attention regarding the Home Rule petition for the movement of the custodians
Dear Mayor Kennedy,
I
do hope this letter doesn't reach you after you have made your decision
on whether or not to sign the Home Rule petition. Nevertheless I felt
it important enough to take a chance and at least get my opinion on the
record.
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3:03 PM (0 minutes ago)
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Jamie Cerulli
jcerulli
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CANCELLATION CHAOS
Tomorrow night would have been a REGULARLY scheduled meeting of the LSC but thanks to the blessings bestowed by school vacation that meeting was cancelled. For some reason the scheduled meeting for m
March 9th had previously been cancelled. I don't know the "EXACT" reason it had been cancelled since I have been away but of I had to HAZARD a guess it probably have been they were acknowledging my 55th birthday and the celebrations set to ensue. I know I am loved.
Given the BIG VOTE coming up for the new school and maybe just a sense of civic responsibility LSC member DONNA COPPOLA successfully lobbied for at least a meeting on March 2.
March 9th had previously been cancelled. I don't know the "EXACT" reason it had been cancelled since I have been away but of I had to HAZARD a guess it probably have been they were acknowledging my 55th birthday and the celebrations set to ensue. I know I am loved.
Given the BIG VOTE coming up for the new school and maybe just a sense of civic responsibility LSC member DONNA COPPOLA successfully lobbied for at least a meeting on March 2.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO CITY HALL
Mayor weighs custodian transfer
Details, details, details. Funny the image the ITEM used could have a double meaning/ Yes on the surface the story is about custodians, the sweepers of the halls but it's also about a brazen attempt to sweep a pay raise under the rug.
My understanding of the current situation that the cost of the current custodians, public employees and private mop mercenaries are mostly counted in NET SCHOOL SPENDING already due to a little nefarious accounting trick called, "IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS". It's just that their paychecks have the City of Lynn on them instead of the Lynn School Department. Because of that fact, LPS can't count the cost of those employees' health insurance toward NSS. Really that's because these maintenance men are not dedicated workers only on school business. Has the MAYOR even asked the DESE if the city could at least pro-rate the workers' health insurance contributions to count toward NSS? Of course that would expose just how much the custodians are actually jerked around on city business.
Now I am not one to start trouble or make wild claims that may or may not be true, after all I've got a reputation to think of. Well maybe that's not the best argument. Bottom line is I believe this petition is crafted in such a way to reward certain individuals with a pay raise through a stipend that have the double benefit of being sneaky and counting toward NSS.
How it would blowup the LPS budget, now that's a different conversation for another day. On this day I would urge everyone to call the MAYOR and urge her to veto this petition to uphold her pledge to keep the move (which I do agree with) revenue neutral.
Monday, February 20, 2017
A TAXING PROBLEM
Lynn ponders tax hike for two new schools
There is no doubt we have a BIG problem with decaying schools! Some people are up inarms about the location of the proposed new schools. Honestly whereever they were to put it there would be some opposition.
I really don't want any part of that argument. My major beef is with the precarious position the city is in, the timing is bad. What's worse is there seems no real attempt to fix the problem but rather to ignore it.
AS I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS, "WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BUILD OUR WAY OUT OF OUR EDUCATION PROBLEMS!".
NOD TO THE NEW NURSE
Once again the LSC has "elected" a new nurse. Congratulations to NENSI CIRKIC RN,BSN for her new appointment to the position.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
PREMONITIONS AND PATCHWORK PROBLEMS
There can be no debate about the sad physical state of our schools. Just look at the LSC's submission of a SOI to the MSBA for the ACCELERATED REPAIR PROGRAM for SHOEMAKER and HOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. I am not qualified to discount the need but if accepted into the program, I think its pretty safe to say this will not be at 100%.
Where is all this money coming from? What I'm hearing from all this deficit talk, it's not. Now that's what's my major concern about all this two schools talk. We obviously can't afford what we got so why would we want to take on new debt and lots of it.
Where is all this money coming from? What I'm hearing from all this deficit talk, it's not. Now that's what's my major concern about all this two schools talk. We obviously can't afford what we got so why would we want to take on new debt and lots of it.
ALL ABOUT LOCATION
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