It’s a safe bet that Matt Hills will be the next chair of the School Committee, given his role as vice chair for the last two years. But the vice chairperson is not so obvious. Along with Hills, the most experienced member is Margie Ross Decter. If experience is the only criterion, she’s the logical choice. But who will this School Committee get behind? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Diana Fisher Gomberg wants the job. Steve Siegel? Angela Pitter Wright? The other three members haven’t even been inaugurated yet. Geoff Epstein reports a three-way battle between Decter, Siegel and Gomberg. It could be very interesting.* Imagine a 3-3-2 or 4-4 vote where the mayor has to cast the deciding vote.
* By interesting, I mean if you are wonky enough to care about elections for vice president of School Committee!
Update: The incoming School Committee last night elected Matt Hills chair and Margie Ross Decter vice chair. Congratulations and good luck to both!
Gail Spector — Does a leadership position extend their term limit? (If it does, there is some extra pressure to anoint the oldest member, right?)
@Hoss: Nah, no special favors….except maybe use of the SC helicopter on weekends when Hills isn’t using it.
I think the question is does being vice chair put you in line to be chair once Hills leaves/is term limited? And what if the vice chair’s term limits end the same year?
….oh, wait, I’m not sure Epstein knew there was a helicopter, otherwise he might have chosen to stay on for another term. No one tell him, OK?
Hey Greg,
You should have told me about the helicopter!
I know what the outcome will be this evening, but it would be fun to run a poll on who people would pick for chair and vice chair.
It’s all fun until the batteries run out on the remote control
@Geoff: Why do you think Yeo was so interested moving to Ward 2? It’s closer to the helipad.
I’m pretty sure all announcements like that need to come from the superintendent. You can’t just have School Committee members making these sorts of independent decisions to release information. If they did, some SC knuckle rapping would be in order.
But I suspect if you ask nicely Hills will give you a ride…even if Sokoloff never did.
I’ve been told that Hills is buddy-buddy with the superintendent and wants the SC to operate only at a very high level. If so, perhaps he wouldn’t be the best person to chair the SC. Anyone feels differently?
Newton Mom of 2: I don’t understand what that means.
Matt Hills has the integrity, intellect and skillset to ensure that Newton schools perform at a high level in a cost-efficient manner. While he holds an independent view of what Newton Schools need, he has the leadership skills and pragmatism to ensure that the SC operates as a coordinated and functional body. Newton is fortunate that he is willing to serve in this capacity.
What Bill said.
I feel differently @Newton Mom 2: You were hoping for someone who would operate only in the gutter?
BTW, Margie Ross Decter was reportedly elected vice chair. No official announcement from Newton Mom 2 yet on what level she will operate at.
I have to disagree with Bill Brandel’s assessment of Matt Hills.
If Matt Hills was really interested in ensuring that Newton schools perform at a high level in a cost-efficient manner, he would not have supported the 2002 override, the 2008 override and the 2013 override, which forced taxpayers to pay over $20M/year in additional taxes in order to fund lavish pay packages for unionized government employees while Newton’s infrastructure has continued to rot.
If Matt Hills was really interested in ensuring that Newton schools perform at a high level in a cost-efficient manner, he wouldn’t have claimed that 583 out-of-district students didn’t represent a material cost while pushing for an override because we expect to enroll a similar number of new Newton kids over the next five years. How much do our out-of-district student programs cost? Oh, almost $8.5 Million per year? How much was our override again? I think you can make the connection.
If Matt Hills had an independent view of what Newton Schools need, he wouldn’t have endorsed Andrea Steenstrup over Margaret Albright.
I have no problem with Matt Hills being an acolyte of the NDCC Old Guard Establishment. What I don’t find helpful is when Bill Brandel makes blatantly misleading and false statements like he just made in his previous post in trying to sell Matt Hills as some kind of independent reformer.
Matt Hills will do an excellent job as chairman.
The 2014 SC will be the best we have seen in a long time.
Matt Hills running against Sue Flicop back in 2009 reminded me of the old Iran-Iraq War. I wished that there was a way that they could have both lost.
Matt Hills was the Treasurer of Newton North Now! Last I checked it was his group that demanded that $191 Million White Elephant high school building that ended up putting Newton in the fiscal vice that it is currently in.
When it comes to fiscal stewardship, Matt Hills emphasizes rhetoric over results.
When Matt Hills first ran for SC in 2009, he was asked about METCO and he echoed the sentiments of other candidates that said that the program needs to be evaluated before they say whether it should be improved, or offer specific ideas for its improvement. During the override campaign, Bill Heck and I took the liberty of evaluating the program and we determined that Newton’s out-of-district student programs collectively cost Newton taxpayers nearly $8.5 Million annually. Unfortunately, Matt Hills supported the overrides and has done nothing to get Boston and other communities to pay us a fair reimbursement rate to supplement the meager state aid package we currently get to educate those kids.
When Matt Hills first ran for SC in 2009, he said he would ask for another override only after the budgeting process was improved. At the time, Newton Public Schools spent $164.85M and 83.8% of that went to compensation. Four years later, he supported an override and Newton Public Schools now spends $187.7M and 84.3% of that went to compensation.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x135752081/Newton-School-budget-top-concern-for-Flicop-Hills
If this is his idea of improved budgeting, its no wonder why Newton has racked up $1.07 Billion in interest bearing debt/liabilities.
@Greg. Helicopter for the Newton Highlands Area Council being delivered. There should, of course, be a kind of grandfather clause in this arrangement whereby an area council has to be operational for at least 20 years before receiving one. No Johnny Come Lately Council’s need apply.
@Bob: Waban Area Council, having a partner in the Waban Improvement Society–with assets including a library and lighting rights to a large conifer–has already identified its helipad. We are also looking at adding express D trains from Waban to Reservoir to avoid picking up your riff-raff.
@Andrea. I’m shocked, literally shocked.
Andreae, do please keep the Waban secrets, secret. (Also, no advance notice of the planned border incursion at Beethoven, please)
I wish I had a higher opinion of Matt Hills. Releasing the letter to a NNHS parent via Gail Spector to this blog to defend accusations made about him in an ad in the paper was really in poor judgement. Although a public official, he proceeded to cry out to the clergy of his synagogue after putting the safety of private citizen and her child (a NPS student at risk by releasing this letter. It’s hard or me to understand why he would feel it’s okay to put a private citizen under public scrutiny and then moan about his own lack of privacy after choosing to be in the limelight by being elected into public service. Seems somewhat cowardice…
@Gail -buddy-buddy means being good friends with someone, thus potentially not being objective (should I define that?). Operating at a high-level means not getting into any details ever.
@Greg – busy prepping for Thanksgivakah! Why are you always such a wise burro?
It doesn’t matter who leads the School Committee. I’m confident they’ll continue to suck. Thankfully we have a lot of great educators in the system to take up the slack.
It irks me to no end that successive School Committees have been unable or unwilling to change the ridiculous early morning start times at the two high schools. I believe that’s indicative of how little they actually care about the health and wellbeing of Newton students. Harsh words? Perhaps. But well deserved nonetheless. Sleep depravation is a good tool for torture. It’s not good for learning, or conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
@Newton Mom: I read it as if you were linking the two, meaning i thought you were saying that Hills’ relationship with Fleishman was why he operates at a high level. That’s why I didn’t understand.
I can’t speak definitively to the first part of what you’ve heard but I’d be surprised if “buddy buddy” was an accurate description of the relationship between Hills and Fleishman. As for operating at a high level, it’s true that Hills thinks the SC should operate like a board that oversees the work of the organization that reports to it. Personally I think that makes a lot more sense than SC members doing the work of school administrators. That’s one of the reasons i think its great that Matt is chair. But I’m sure not everyone agrees with me.
Congratulations to both Matt & Margie!
Ditto Congrats! We’re in very good hands over the next 2 (and probably 4) years.
Janet, with regards to your post about Matt Hills, can you explain Geoff, Charlie and Dan’s enthusiasm for Matt and Margie?
Gail, I have to disagree with your assessment about Matt Hills. Matt Hills believes that the SC should serve as a rubber stamp for the school system’s desires for more taxes, more spending and more borrowing and that parents and taxpayers should roll over and acquiesce to the Ed Center’s insatiable appetite for more taxes, spending and borrowing. Let’s look at Matt Hills’s record of results:
He endorsed the 2002 override
He endorsed the 2008 override
He endorsed the 2013 override and his support for the 2013 override rivaled that of Setti Warren
He was part of the 2004-2005 Blue Ribbon Commission that pushed for higher salaries for unionized bureaucrats
He was the Treasurer of Newton North Now!
He endorsed Andrea Steenstrup over Margaret Albright
He endorsed NDCC Old Guardsmen Lisle Baker, Marc Laredo, Ellen Gibson and Ruth Goldman
He was endorsed by NDCC Old Guardsmen Marc Laredo and Brooke Lipsitt
He excused the poor building project management by the schools
http://www.newtv.org/video/common-ground/Ted-Hess-Mahan-and-Matt-Hills/
I don’t see a dimes worth of difference between Matt Hills and his predecessors Claire Sokoloff, Marc Laredo and Dori Zaleznik and I have to agree with Mike Striar that the school system will continue to underperform relative to its potential.
Has anyone else seen the new web ad for Newton Schools? I saw it today on boston.com. The ad says “Inspire!” “Newton Public Schools” “Click Here for 2013-14 Openings”.
I clicked there — the link went to the standard NPS website. No info on “openings”.
Is this our marketing campaign to increase our standings in certain rankings? Or something else? What are they trying to encourage? What openings?
Here is the ad graphic> https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/simgad/7953557252515358516
It would be nice if the Inspire link went directly to job openings. If you are savvy, you get to the NPS website, and click on employment, which will then show you the current job openings.
Ok, theyre looking for teachers not students… Maybe the pic should show a teacher not a student? Oh well
There is an enormous difference between Matt Hills and prior chairs in terms of how the SC will run. It will continue its move towards acting as an effective board.
Long laundry lists of positions on this override and that other political issue are not relevant.
Focusing on priorities, investing in improvements, tracking outcomes – that’s what you’ll see change.
Believe me this is a sea change with big implications for the next 2 years and beyond.
We will continue to wring the politics out of educational system management for the huge benefit of our kids.
Geoff, I have to disagree with your evaluation of Matt Hills. I don’t see how he is different than Claire Sokoloff, Marc Laredo and Dori Z nor do I see him doing anything different as SC Chairman then he has done in the past before assuming his current post as SC Chairman. I disagree with your view of Matt Hills as being an effective board leader. When Matt Hills debated Ted Hess-Mahan on school building project costs, he ended up reinforced the Newton Taxpayers Association’s concerns about the planning process for school building project costs.
When I think of Matt Hills succeeding Claire Sokoloff, its basically “Meet The New Boss, Same as the Old Boss” as far as I’m concerned. I don’t see the leopard changing his spots here. I hope he proves me wrong, but Barack Obama showed us that we shouldn’t rely on Hope & Change in order to bring about good government reform.
By the way, while you were working hard to get Margaret Albright elected this year, Matt Hills and the rest of the Newton School Committee were pushing Andrea.
While you have expressed support of a 16th permanent elementary school to be located in Upper Falls, Matt Hills is flatly opposed to it (Skip to 55:00 if you’d like).
http://www.newtv.org/video/common-ground/Ted-Hess-Mahan-and-Matt-Hills/
Joshua,
Here is what I think will happen.
We will see the School Committee move from maintenance mode in education, where our reputation for excellence has been constantly defended, to a real improvement mode, where not only do we invest in education but we also seek to ensure that those investments pan out. The 2014 School Committee will be asking entirely new questions. What are the educational problems and how can we fix them?
The conversation will finally move from finances and buildings to education. The standard for assessing progress in education will also move from anecdote and opinion, to a sounder approach based on real evidence. The past emphasis on educational inputs will be reshaped by adding an equal interest in outputs.
Witness the School Committee fall discussion of system wide goals. Matt Hills, Steve Siegel and Margie Ross Decter argued repeatedly for an improved approach where we track how we are doing. The debate started in the context of programs, where they asked the simple question: How do we know a program is working? The old guard on the School Committee argued that we should simply focus on making sure the program is properly deployed, and that should be sufficient. The new guard wanted real evidence to prove that the program is working.
There are for sure still strong influences from the old guard which extend beyond the SC and may best be categorized as a political insider group (PIG) which is dominated by desire to have political control of all branches of government in Newton rather than a desire to improve our educational system.
As independents have come to be challengers in elections for SC, based on educational improvements such as FDK, STEM investment, …, so the PIG has had to mount campaigns which argue against such improvements. That is why FDK, STEM issues, the 16th school, even debt exclusions have been turned into political footballs. PIG has operated for some time in a manner adverse to the educational interests of our kids.
PIG has influence and is the architect of the endorsement lists on which it bases its campaigns.
But they are hollowing out and many of the endorsements in the Ward 2 SC campaign were perfunctory in actual fact.
PIG is quite small, amounting now to several dozen hard core activists. There used to be 8 members of PIG on the SC in 2008. In 2014 there will be just one and possibly two.
And Matt Hills is not one of them. Quite the contrary!
Let’s see what evolves in 2014, but I am sure it will be very different than prior years.
@Village14 readers: It’s curious (note I said “curious” not “interesting”) watching Josh and Geoff disagree given that they both thrive on demonizing the intentions of folks they don’t agree with.
@Josh and Geoff: Hey fellas, just because you favor a different approach that doesn’t necessarily mean the other side is out to destroy civilization.
Geoff wrote:
That sounds like demonizing to me.
Geoff,
I’m not as optimistic about you regarding the new SC. I am aware that Newton 20/20 now has three alumni serving in Newton’s government including two on the SC. Unfortunately, Newton 20/20 and Jeff Seideman raised numerous fiscal issues and good governance concerns 2008-2009 only to end up promoting big tax increases in 2013 when those issues have only gotten worse.
Finance & buildings don’t need to dominate the conversation but they need to be a part of it. Concerning finance, there are 24 K-12 school districts that get better academic results than Newton even though they spend less per student. The status quo thesis is that its because of our different demographic mix versus those other communities. The Newton Taxpayers Association’s thesis is that its because Newton offers more compensation than those other districts.
Concerning buildings, the Newton Taxpayers Association is aware of the 2019-2033 CIP building projects. We want budget prioritization and fiscal reforms to underwrite those projects rather than debt exclusion overrides. As for perfunctory endorsements, based on Matt Hills’s debate with Ted Hess-Mahan, it appears that the school system has made perfunctory planning with regards to its school building projects.
http://www.newtv.org/video/common-ground/Ted-Hess-Mahan-and-Matt-Hills/
The new School Committee will need to show that they are capable of moving educational excellence forward, but also in a fiscally responsible manner. Margaret Albright articulated the need for the school system to set priorities in its budget. Will the rest of the SC follow suit?
I agree that the PIG’s influence took a setback this year and that Newton’s Silent Majority of Northside Swing Voters played a major part in that. However, I haven’t forgotten that the PIG’s candidates campaigned as reformers in 2009 and 2011 only to support big tax increases once they took office.
Let’s see what evolves not only in 2014, but in later years. If Newton does not push an override anytime between now and 2023, then my concerns will fail as a prophecy but succeed as a warning. If Newton pushes an override anytime between then, my concerns will have been validated.
@V14 readers: It’s disappointing that Greg demonizes me when I try to hold our elected officials accountable for their record of governance.
@ Greg: I never said anything about the other side destroying civilization. But since you mentioned it, I think its worth noting the NDCC Political Insider Group Establishment and their fellow allies at the federal and state levels have saddled us with trillions of dollars of debt and unfunded liabilities:
Federal level: This group has directly controlled at least one house of government for 78 of the last 84 years and in that time it has saddled American taxpayers with $17.2 TRILLION worth of outstanding indebtedness obligations. G-D only knows how much in retirement benefit and entitlement obligations American taxpayers have been saddled with.
State level: This group has had a 60 year majority in the Massachusetts General Court and in that time it managed to saddle Bay State taxpayers with $82 BILLION worth of debt and retirement benefit obligations to the unions.
Municipal level: This group has had unfettered control over Newton government for 20 years this April and in that time it managed to saddle Newton taxpayers with $1.1 BILLION in debt and retirement benefit obligations.
Perhaps taxpayers could tolerate this group’s multi-level borrowing binge if they used the money to maintain and improve our public infrastructure, but they didn’t. Nor did they use this money to introduce innovative educational programs that improve outcomes and reduce costs. And this group didn’t use the money to enable us to break our dependence on the OPEC oil cartel either.
Geesh
Not much point in going further into the details of all this stuff.
The political landscape is changing and one should not fight yesterday’s battles.
The key thing going forward is that the 2014 SC is a very different one, not tightly controlled by the PIG and that is what matters. Real educational improvements are possible.
And, Greg, this is hardly demonizing. It’s describing what the PIG has accomplished over the years.
Demonizing is what the PIG did to Margaret Albright in the 2011 election, with some substantial help from the TAB editorial staff.
Greg,
You must have a pretty low tolerance threshold if you think that Geoff’s comments comprise demonizing. Geesh yourself.
Egads! I find myself in agreement with Lisap and Geoff Epstein.
Geoff, the Newton Taxpayers Association will be analyzing and evaluating the 2014-2015 SC. Hopefully, Margaret Albright’s presence on the SC will result in the SC moving educational excellence forward with fiscal responsibility. Hopefully, the SC will be able to sign contracts with the unions that limit compensation growth (excluding the impact of retirement benefit spending growth) to 1.75% instead of 2.5% for 2014-2017 and 2017-2020. That would enable Newton to underwrite the Ward, Williams, Pierce and Lincoln-Eliot building projects without resorting to a 2017-2019 tax override package or resorting to job cuts, shift cuts, program cuts, project cuts or salary cuts.
@Joshua: Has Margaret said anything that’s made you believe she’d support compensation growth of 1.75%? I’d be surprised if she did.
@Lisap: To suggest that people serve on the School Committee for any reason other than their concern for the welfare of our children is pretty low. There are different political factions like Geoff indicates but to pretend that one side is better than the other in how it operates is disingenuous. Just because there are more of the “old guard,” that doesn’t make them any less interested in progress. It sickens me how many people say that they care so much about this city but have no problem trying to make people they disagree with look like the enemy.
For the record, this is not exclusive to any political faction. Sadly, I haven’t come across very many people in Newton politics who respect each other’s opposing opinions. But I also haven’t come across very many who generalize as often and as publicly as Geoff does.
Gail, while Margaret did not go into any specifics regarding compensation, she emphasized the need for the Newton Public Schools system to prioritize its budgetary spending.
Margaret also played an important part in initial reforms to Newton’s SPED program based on her work with the co-taught classes. If the SC can implement the reforms highlighted by the 2010-11 SPED Review Report, then Newton can achieve further savings that may not require adjusting compensation growth rates.
http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/special_education_review_report_12_12_11_0.pdf
Greg, that is a description based on a pretty long record.
If you follow the link to demonizing, you’ll find that it means:
“To represent as evil or diabolic.”
The PIG is neither.
It is imply operating with certain priorities.
One of those is to assert political control.
The other is to blunt any attempts to forthrightly see how the school system is doing and make improvements where they are needed. This is their ‘maintain excellence’ priority, which asserts our excellence and blocks ‘uncomfortable’ discussions about the real ground truth.
The PIG has changed its membership over time. In my view, its membership is declining and should decline further, after this last election where all 3 of its contested race candidates failed to gain office.
Newton folks who don’t belong to PIG but have to respond to its influence to a greater or lesser degree include: Mayor Setti Warren, Board of Aldermen President Scott Lennon, SC chair Matt Hills, SC vice chair Margie Ross Decter, senator Cindy Creem, state reps Ruth Balser and Kay Khan, NDCC co-chair Shawn Fitzgibbons, …
There are many others.
There is a certain fear of PIG, as it can exert its power to at least to try to throw you out of office if you don’t align with their priorities, as was the case with Brian Yates. They did have Marcia Johnson in their cross hairs back in the spring but backed off after she marshaled support.
The PIG is not demonic but it has held the city and school system back for quite a while by injecting its political control agenda into city and school system management.
The immediate school system problems caused by the PIG are the lack of real assessment of our capacity problems, especially how Zervas will tie into a solution and what role of a 16th school might play, and its opposition to educational improvements especially important to low income students such as FDK and the overclassification of kids with regular education problems into SPED.
We have about 200 low income kids who have been told they have a disability, when they don’t. That is a critical problem which needs to be fixed with the highest priority.
The PIG need to stop trying to hide that problem!
…
@Geoff: When you disagree with a group of people who support any given issue or issues (or even the status quo), you are engaging in a debate about issues. When you suggest said group wants to “have political control of all branches of government in Newton rather than a desire to improve our educational system,” you’re demonizing.
If you go to City Hall, you can see pictures of the Board of Aldermen for each term, going back to who knows what year. I don’t recognize most of the people before 1990, and even some before 2000 are kind of fuzzy. They served the city to the best of their ability and have moved on to another phase of life. At some point, they were thought of as being the part of the city’s power structure.
Many remain involved in the city in some capacity and we’re well served by their historical perspective of Newton. But they hold no power and from what I can see, that seems fine with them. We have many former school committee members and aldermen who are happy to hold a sign on election day, make some phone calls on a candidate’s behalf, attend some meetings, or put their names on an endorsement list. But let’s keep things in perspective – these people have established new lives with new priorities and goals. Good for them and we should wish them well and give them a heartfelt thanks for their service to the city.
At some point, we all move on and one of the hardest things to do is to let go with grace and dignity (trust me!). You put your heart and soul into something for years, then one day it just ends. You leave behind people you care about, people you can’t stand, accomplishments you can be proud of and too many disappointments. In my experience, the disappointments often bubble to the surface during the period of leaving. There’s nothing to hold you back from blaming others for what did or didn’t happen, telling a colleague how you really feel about him/her – all to no good end for either the individual or the city.
If you want a model for how to leave and move on, look to Susie Heyman. She did it with grace and dignity, and continues to.
@Jane: Awesome comment.
It does seem interesting — perhaps ironic — that Geoff Epstein believes “the 2014 SC will be the best we have seen in a long time,” given that he won’t be on it.
Greg, I think Geoff said it best in describing the NDCC Old Guard Establishment PIG when he said “We don’t demonize the PIG.
We acknowledge that it is simply operating with certain priorities.
One of those is to assert & maintain political control
The other is to blunt any attempts to forthrightly see how the school system is doing and make improvements where they are needed. This is their ‘maintain excellence’ priority, which asserts our excellence and blocks ‘uncomfortable’ discussions about the real ground truth.
Geoff, the PIG wasn’t shut out this year. They backed Alison Leary and she won. The same person (Brooke Lipsitt) that served as Eve Tapper’s campaign Co-Chairwoman backed Alison and gave money to her. The same person (Diana Fisher Gomberg) that recruited Andrea to run against Margaret backed Alison and gave money to her.
I don’t know why the PIG recruited Chris Steele to run against Brian Yates. Was it because they were angry that he supported Charlie Shapiro in 2011 and they were trying to get payback? Or was it because he wanted a 16th permanent school and to have it located in Upper Falls?
I don’t know why they would go after Marcia Johnson either? I thought she was one of them based on her endorsement list?
http://www.marciajohnson.org/Endorsements.htm
In addition to the PIG’s record of holding the city and school system back for quite a while, it has racked up over $1.16 BILLION in debt and other liabilities. That’s about $38,000 per household. Think about this: The financial obligation of $1.16 billion means that the City has a virtual lien on every household in Newton in the amount of $38,000. Yes, each household “owes” $38,000 to the City because The PIG has been funding their spending with IOUs in the form of increased debt and future obligations for which the homeowners and renters are responsible.
You guys don’t think the establishment voted for the Mayor??? Really?? You guys are oversimplifying and overgeneralizing a semi complicated problem. Many people in the “establishment” have committee appointed positions which the Mayor appointed or re-appopinted. There are hundreds of committee positions and these people return in kind by giving the Mayor their support so they can keep their little positions. But, to come out and say the Mayor didn’t have the establishments support is silly. He did. But I guess once they vote on the same candidate as you, they no longer are part of the “establishment”:).
Josh, you’re making quite an assumption on what – or who – led me to run. I made the decision myself. I was never recruited.
@Chris and Bob: Josh Norman’s very existence on this blog is based on his assumption that he knows what he’s talking about. Perhaps when Margaret Albright supports our next override, he will finally realize that he doesn’t have a clue.
I think most people know that I pulled out every stop I could for Brian in this past campaign, but I’m as certain as certain can be that Chris made the decision to run on his own. He was a self starter as far as campaigning was concerned. I didn’t sense that there was any establishment or “cabal” behind the scenes when he announced, although I do know that a number of people in Waban encouraged his candidacy. In the closing days of the campaign it did seem as though the City’s political system was breaking down along the lines of the old European alliances during World War 1 with a kind of “Triple Alliance” backing Eve, Andrea and Chris and a “Triple Entendre” uniting behind Margaret, Brian and Emily. Even this turned out to be anything but monolithic and the close paralleling of the vote between candidates belies real differences. Brian simply had a lot of strong supporters that aren’t political power houses and don’t appear on the City’s political radar screen. These people never surface until the votes are being counted. I also know several people who split their votes for candidates in both of these virtual alliances. Chris, Deb and Brian ran clean, issue oriented campaigns and showed a lot of respect for one another. This will serve all of them down the road.
“Josh Norman’s very existence on this blog is based on his assumption that he knows what he’s talking about.”
@Greg, Of course he thinks that, as do you, me and everyone else who has something to say and posts it here. You know Greg, as one of the founders of this blog you really do set the tone and while this is often a great fun place to blog, at times like this it’s nothing short of filial cannibalism. Enjoy the meal.
@Lisap: Nah. Josh is the only person who continuously digs up details about how someone voted, who they endorsed or who endorsed them, to jump to totally inconclusive conclusions about them.
So I guess some folks on this list think things are just fine and that there is no organized group which has asserted control over Newton elections for many years.
Candid comment is ungracious and undignified?
The operation and priorities of this group remains the principal problem in Newton.
Believe me, they are killing real analysis of the role the 16th school could play in solving our capacity problems and they still prevailed to prevent the mention of FDK in the SC budget guidelines. They also operated to block Steve Siegel from the SC VC position.
They continue to have a real adverse effect on the financial and educational health of this city and until that is properly recognized, we’ll continue to struggle with problem solving because options the PIG don’t like are forced off the table.
And I have stuck to the issues and not brought up any of the personal attack strategies which this group have used in the past and the myths they have promulgated to achieve their goals.
Geoff, I probably am missing your intent at sarcasm, but your “candid comments” could gain the dignity you desire if you didn’t throw around the “PIG” acronym and then claim that you don’t want to demonize anyone…and with such a straight face!
Chris, northside swing voters doubted your sincerity.
The same political insider group that backed you were the same people who backed Setti Warren and Ruth Balser against Bill Heck, Margie Ross Decter against Tom Mountain, Alison Leary against Allan Ciccone Senior, Ruthanne Fuller & Sydra Schnipper against Jeff Seideman, Carlton Merrill against Janet Sterman, Vicki Danberg & Greg Schwartz against Charlie Shapiro, Jonathan Yeo against Dan Proskauer, Reenie Murphy against Margaret Albright, Claire Sokoloff against Olivia Mathews, Sue Rosenbaum against Steve Siegel, Jonathan Yeo against Margaret Albright, Eve Tapper against Emily Norton and Andrea Steenstrup against Margaret Albright.
Tom Sheff, Setti’s re-election was a foregone conclusion this year once the override passed. All he had to do was be a little bit better than David Cohen and he was going to win re-election. He will have to do better in his second term than he did in his first time.
@Josh: Thanks for supporting my response to Lisap so perfectly.
What I find funny is how one base calls out and calls another base names and then when push comes to shove they act the same. For instance, could you ever imagine Christine Samuelson publicly stating that Mayor Cohen is so good, he should never have an opponent. Can you imagine the criticism she would receive on this blog, and yet, it’s Ok for some on this blog to say that about the candidates that deared to run against the current Mayor. Faces are different, but the arrogance is the same. AND it starts at the top.
@Tom: I don’t recall anyone saying that Mayor Warren earned the right to run unopposed this year.
Greg, I don’t expect Margaret Albright to support a ~2018 override to fund Ward, Williams, Lincoln-Eliot and Pierce. I expect her to emphasize the need to prioritize our budget and to not support an override if budgetary prioritization reforms are not implemented. Newton has a structural spending problem that has resulted in it accumulating over $1 BILLION in debt and retirement benefit liabilities. You can contradict me if you’d like but I don’t recommend it.
What inconclusive conclusions do I arrive at by evaluating, researching and analyzing people’s voting and endorsement records. I abhor dishonesty and loathe hypocrisy. I don’t tolerate people backed by The Old Guard pretending to be fresh-faced reformers.
With regards to your comments about me knowing what I talk about, I think Bill Heck said it best when he said “Joshua insists upon REAL facts, REAL consequences, and REAL debate” when it comes to talking about municipal governance.
http://newton.patch.com/groups/newton-taxpayers-association/p/an-open-letter-to-newton-residents-taxpayers–voters-from-bill-heck
Hi Greg,
I stand corrected. You’re right. I went back on the thread, people were upset at the lack of issues Ted brought up, not that he ran. Ooops.
OK. Lets call the political insider group, the insider political group: IPG and be done with that issue.
The principal problem in my view is that the biggest effect of IPG operations is to adversely impact low income students and low income families.
1. FDK would help low income students educationally a great deal and provide financial relief to their families who currently have to pay for 200 hours of after care each year. That’s big effective fee imposed on low income families.
2. Improving STEM support would have the greatest impact on low income students as a STEM career is one of the best ways for them to move out of the low income group.
3. Addressing the over classification of low income students into SPED would have a huge impact. They are classified at 35% compared to 19% for the non low income population. That means in the 1200 low income student group about 180 have been told they have a disability when they don’t. That is a huge disservice to those students and that community. I cannot imagine what it is like to be told you have a disability when you don’t.
There are more issues, but let’s start with those.
I am calling out IPG for a reason. They are not sensitive to the fact that they are hurting low income students and low income families in Newton by their political focus.
If they would switch to an educational focus and show a real intent to face the facts and focus on really improving education, Newton would benefit enormously.
And that means that if they support SC candidates, it should be based on the educational improvements they would support for Newton, not their political network compatibility.
P.S. I voted for Brian Yates and Chris Steele in the Ward 5 race. I think that Chris has a lot to offer but I did not want to see Brian thrown out. I think the IPG would have been quite happy to see Brian go.
@Geoff: You’ve outlined a long list of things that you clearly feel have not been addressed by the School Committee. And yet you’ve been on the SC for six years! Please explain to me what I’m missing.
@Geoff,
A 35% classification of low income children as needing special education is quite a stunning figure. I’ve heard that children of color in Newton also have a disproportionately high classification into special education as well. Any idea how the numbers breakdown into specific disability categories? Those classifications can actually shed a lot of light on how children are being assessed.
Geoff -“3. Addressing the over classification of low income students into SPED would have a huge impact. They are classified at 35% compared to 19% for the non low income population? That means in the 1200 low income student group about 180 have been told they have a disability when they don’t.”
Not necessarily. It could mean that higher income families give up fighting for classification and just pay for outside services (something I’ve seen happening frequently across the U.S.)
“That is a huge disservice to those students and that community. I cannot imagine what it is like to be told you have a disability when you don’t.”
Imagine what it’s like to be told you don’t have a disability when you do. That’s happening to many kids.
@Geoff. The only point I was trying to make was that I believe Chris when he says that running was initially his idea and his idea alone. The fact that he knocked on 1,500 or more doors suggests this was something he really wanted to do. He knocked on doors in my neighborhood and street. I know because I saw his hand signed campaign cards sticking in many doors when I was collecting signatures for my own run for Area Council. He had been there just an hour earlier than me. Now, I will admit, that a thought went briefly through my head that maybe I should just pocket these cards and quietly dispose of them in my recycling bin. But my better angels prevailed and I left them alone.
@MGWA, in my experience in special ed cases, parents with means do not give up fighting for their kids to get special education services: they hire advocates, attorneys and take issue with the district’s evaluations, particularly if the district fails to find a disability. This is, I fear, is the tip of an ice berg and why I asked whether the classifications are available. Some of the classifications i.e. specific health impairment, traumatic brain injury, hearing impairment – can be measured by somewhat objective medical criteria. Other categories can be highly subjective and though children should not be identified as learning disabled because of cultural or economic deprivation, there are categories that permit that to happen.
mgwa,
Your comments belie the numbers.
Go here:
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/analysis/default.aspx?orgcode=02070000&orgtypecode=5&
and you’ll see that the SPED % for Newton is 19.5.
When you see our low income group classified at 35%, that indicates a real problem, not that we are generally under classifying everyone else – that would be real upside down thinking.
You have totally no data to support your position. Quite the contrary.
Further we had a full SPED review which identified over classification into SPED as a problem in Newton, as has been found to be the case state wide.
Further we classify METCO kids at at a 37% rate into SPED compared to an average of 24% for all of the other 37 METCO receiving districts. We are a real outlier!
Further for the METCO subgroup here are the SPED classifications broken out by grade – this is date provided by NPS to the SC during the FY14 budget review. You’ll notice that in the 7th grade, 70% of METCO kids are classified into SPED.
Grade METCO % classified as SPED
1 0
2 7.4
3 12.2
4 50
5 39
6 61.5
7 69.6
8 41.2
9 44.1
10 29.2
11 54.8
12 48.1
It would be helpful to see the grade break out numbers for all low income kids. They may parallel this.
The worst thing to do when there is an obvious problem is to paper it over, stick our heads in the sand and pretend it is not there.
This also has been behavior characteristic of the IPG, which fought a SPED review for years.
Bob,
We are on the same page re Chris!
In light of the info in Geoff’s post, here’s an excellent policy paper written by the Mass. Dept. of Secondary and Elementary Ed on Disproportionality: A Look at Special Education and Race in the Commonwealth. Not only is there disproportionality in classification of disability, but also placement decisions where children end up in substantially separate classrooms.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/research/reports/Edbrief_final.pdf
See also the NPS SPED Review at:
http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/special_education_review_report_12_12_11_0.pdf
This whole report is worth reading but especially pp 44-49 show the extent of the over classification problem.
@Bob – My many and eternal thanks to your better angels! :)
I remember canvassing with Chris during the 2012 election cycle. The experience happens to be a great way to get to know your fellow canvasser and the conversations tend to be about politics at some level (surprise, surprise!). After completing our stint, I asked Chris if he ever thought about running for aldermen. I don’t remember the exact words, but the sentiment was that he had. I hope I encouraged him to run, but that I don’t remember either.
Chris worked incredibly hard during his aldermanic campaign this year, but it’s a big city so name recognition remains an significant issue for a first time candidate. But I predict a bright future for him in the years ahead. I great guy, smart, committed to the community who ran a positive campaign he can be proud of.
OMG Josh…did you read THAT??? Jane was behind the effort to recruit Chris to run! That means he must be part of the group that…hmmm exactly what group would that be? Quick Google Jane’s endorsement history!!!!
(And good luck fitting her into one of your boxes!)
Geoff Epstein deserves a lot of credit for generating a PIG acronym contemporaneously with the run-away pig story. These threads need more of this creativity. Stop picking on the man!
I see no one who’s trying to hurt low income students in Newton – anyone who knows anything about the achievement gap understands that it’s a nationwide issue. To say any particular set of programs will solve the issue indicates a lack of understanding of how difficult for people at the ground level to solve the problem. Not to mention disrespectful of our efforts. I feel confident that the Newton putting innovative, substantive programs in place to improve achievement for all kids. Maybe we should to come up with some acronyms for a few of them to legitimize our efforts.
Reading educational research/policy papers is like reading the Bible. There’s something in there for everyone.
Good luck finding an endorsement! And then there was that little NNHS caper. Goodness, what shall we call this group?!
There are some parents who get attorneys and fight until they get what they need. There are some who can afford private services but can’t afford attorney’s fees, or feel their kids can’t afford to wait as long as the process will take and therefore get private services. I’m not talking out of thin air – I used to be on the Board of Directors of a national advocacy group.
OMG Greg, I did read that!!! And I read your post too! I don’t think Jane’s off-handed conversation while they were canvassing for Barack Hussein and the ObamaNation Democrats helped persuade Chris to run. I think Rob Gifford’s $500 donation at the end of last year had more to do with propelling Chris’s run.
I still can’t figure out why Chris ran for Alderman. It’s not like he differed substantially versus his opponents on the issues. And Bill Heck and I didn’t appreciate him trying to portray himself as some kind of fresh-faced “Mr. Steele runs for Alderman” while he was being backed by the Rob & Claire machine especially since Greg Schwartz did that to Charlie Shapiro in 2011.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031679/
At least Andrea represented a significant difference on the issues versus Margaret Albright. Unfortunately for Andrea, Margaret was a stronger candidate because Margaret was more knowledgeable about the issues. Furthermore, I didn’t trust Andrea. Andrea claimed that she was an independent thinker with no preconceived agenda after she was recruited by Diana Fisher Gomberg, endorsed by the Rob & Claire machine, being publicly anointed by Susie Heyman, having the political expertise of Gerry Chervinsky and being endorsed by the majority of the current SC and even State Senator Cindy Creem.
@MGWA, Yes – there certainly are some who do pay for private services. There are also parents who make unilateral placements and then seek reimbursement, but I don’t think that either of us have the numbers to say how frequently that happens in the City of Newton. I do happen to have a pretty good idea about the costs of legal representation and what is charged by local advocates, and if a parent can afford to pay for services out-of-pocket then I can almost guarantee that they could have afforded to hire an advocate instead. The point, however, is that Newton has disproportionately high numbers of low income and minority children in special education. Do those numbers on their own mean that there is something inappropriate happening in the evaluation process? No. Do they suggest that there may well be an underlying problem that requires a careful look? Absolutely.
“Reading educational research/policy papers is like reading the Bible. There’s something in there for everyone.”
@Jane, no – not the well researched, well written ones – but then I prefer to actually read articles first before I critique them.
Not sure why you would assume I hadn’t read this study. In fact, I’ve read more of them than I could count – it’s my profession, for goodness sakes. Is it an underlying sense of people in your profession that teachers aren’t all that bright? I’ve lived with that one too long to let it go without a bit of pushback. The comment was uninformed at best and disrespectful.
All these foundations/groups/studies have an agenda. I may like the agenda, but at least I’m willing to admit they have one. Over 41 years of reading these papers/studies, living through too many of the latest, greatest new educational trends, going through times when we literally tore down classroom walls only to rebuild them 15 years later, when educators were locked in the “reading wars”, and taught more “new” math programs than one could count, I feel comfortable saying that I know a bit what I’m talking about.
Why would I assume you had not read the study? Because from your too dismissive wave of the hand and failure to say anything substantive, you made it clear that you had not. Oh, and in top if that you see, this isn’t a report by a foundation or a private group – it is from the DESE – educators just like you. This isn’t big business/private foundations trying to tell you how to do your job: this is the thoughtful work of your colleagues.
Since it’s from DESE, you should have assumed I knew about it and discussed it as part of my professional development. Not that I think much of DESE. They’re not my colleagues and are not educators working in the field like me. In fact, I’ve never even seen or met anyone from DESE.
Greg,
For 6 years the SC has been dominated by the IPG. Now it is not. That is what you are missing!
Watch what happens in 2014 with Matt Hills, Margie Ross Decter, Steve Siegel, Angela Pitter Wright and Margaret Albright all on the same page. And its a very different page in a very different playbook than the IPG playbook.
Here is the IPG make up of the SC over the years.
Year/IPG SC member count (including the Mayor)
2007/9
2008/8
2009/8
2010/5
2011/5
2012/3
2013/3
2014/1 to 2
No IPG members in the SC leadership and a small minority of 1 or 2 IPG members in the entire SC.
This is the sea change the SC has finally reached, and we should see a real move to transparency, real tracking of progress, real focus on education improvements.
That’s the major achievement over the past 6 years and it’s due to the efforts of many people who care about improving Newton education, not ‘maintaining excellence’.
This is not a long list here, Greg. It’s just 3 things. The complete list is longer.
But now, finally, we are on the right track with the right team.
@Geoff: Oh my. The conspiracy runs deep! Did they waterboard the rest of you during executive sessions?
Hey wait, if there were only three of these insidious, progress-hating, anti-improving our schools
PIGIPGers on a committee of 9 in 2012-13 then why did the rest of you enlightened souls allow this to happen to our schools? Why did the rest of you elect an evil education-hatingPIGIPGer to be your chairman?Seriously, Geoff. Do you realize how pathetically paranoid you sound? You’re not just saying you were a wuss you’re saying Hills, Ross Decter, Siegel, Pitter and our mayor were too.
Jane,
Wow! What a dismissal of DESE!
They are the folks who manage education in this state and they have been doing a really great job. Reville, Chester, … great people.
DESE is tremendously important.
I am at a real loss that you seem so unaware of their role in recent years.
Hardly unaware, Geoff. Trust me,
That would end with a period and not a comma, as I have nothing more to say about the matter.
Greg,
I don’t understand why you make all these personal attacks. How does this jive with your role over at the Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce?
It’s really crazy when you cannot have a simple discussion of what actually happens on the ground without this distasteful behavior.
Everyone one the SC knows that things will change a great deal in 2014 due to the real changes in the SC , both in membership and leadership. To a careful observer, that would also be obvious.
My recommendation for Village 14 in general is to get rid of this personal attack stuff.
The irony for me is that this is exactly the behavior engaged in by the IPG. Here are some examples.
When I ran in 2005, I was labeled angry because I ‘peddled my software to NPS unsuccessfully’. That message was delivered by the Ward 4 SC member of the day a week before the election. It was rebutted by Gail Glick’s campaign manager, Andris Vizulis, a week after the election. But too late!
In 2007, I was labeled a ‘one trick pony’. The one trick was math & science, so that strategy back fired.
In 2009, Steve Siegel was labeled ‘obstinate’ because he would not move his position when he had a sound argument. That worked, but over 2 years he managed to counter that and win in 2011.
In 2011, Margaret Albright was vilified for ‘causing’ Jonathan Yeo’s residency problem. That was a total fabrication but a brilliant, nasty shifting of the blame which worked.
In 2013, the initial labeling campaign IPG tried on Margaret was that ‘she was difficult to work with’. We countered successfully by pointing out she worked quite fine with many principals and superintendents around the state in her job as a consultant. IPG then tried to label her as ‘fiscally irresponsible’, simply because she was suggesting educational improvements for NPS. That did not resonate with the community.
Labeling me as ‘pathetically paranoid’ or as a ‘wuss’ does a huge disservice to the Village 14 blog and conforms to the IPG playbook.
Such commentary would be blocked by even the most basic level of moderation.
I have a long list of IPG behavior running over at least the last decade which is a pretty convincing case for moving on from their political domination of Newton.
Anticipating IPG tactics and countering that was a key part of the strategy in the campaign to elect Margaret Albright. I know these folks well and we managed to contain them sufficiently that the electorate got the real facts and voted accordingly.
Elected officials who would have come out and supported Margaret were afraid to do so because of their fear of IPG retribution. We are fortunate that Amy Sangiolo, Jay Harney, Marcia Johnson and Jay Ciccone had the nerve to join us.
IPG influence is real but diminishing. They are not an illusion.
@Geoff: This has nothing to do with my day job. It does, need I remind you, come from someone who enthusiastically supported your election (both times) when you challenged an entrenched incumbent. I also enthusiastically supported Steve Siegel (also twice) and voted for Margaret Albright (twice).
I’ve never disputed that Newton has an organized group of politically connected insiders who work their buns off electing their preferred candidates and who employ whispering campaigns such as you’ve outlined above to do so. Yes, it’s unfair. But it’s also been effective. That’s politics.
But you’re missing my point: You’ve been on the SC for six years! Six years! You admit that the “insiders” have been in the minority for two years. So what do you have to show for it? You came into office vowing to change the culture, vowing to make significant changes. You leave reinforcing the perception that, hey, the insiders were right all along: GEOFF EPSTEIN IS ANGRY. And in the process you toss Hills, Ross Decter, Siegel, Pitter and Warren under the bus, suggesting that they’ve been under the spell of these bad guys too, but ta-da they won’t be bad guys anymore! Happy days are here.
Geoff, I’m angry too. When you joined the School Committee, I expected great things. Change from inside. A bully pulpit for opposing views. An opportunity to demonstrate how silly demonizing your political opponents is by working collaboratively and earnestly on behalf of parents and children.
Instead you leave office the same way you came in: Pointing fingers at others. Boo hoo hoo.
In my opinion, I believed that Matt Hills, Margie Ross Decter, Angela Pitter-Wright and Setti Warren were part of the IPG since they were backed by either Brooke Lipsitt or Rob and Claire and they backed Andrea instead of Margaret.
I also thought that Steve Siegel was co-opted by the IPG, just like his fellow co-chairman of Newton 20/20 myself.
Greg,
Countering this.
I think you are misreading the nature of the political evolution in Newton.
I think there has been a continuous change in culture since 2008 when the override went down in flames.
But all of us have been subject to the influence of the IPG. Elected officials have a constant calculus operating to see how far they can go with new approaches without upsetting the IPG.
That has been the calculus over the last year or two in the SC, since Matt got to VC.
We have all been running out the clock on the IPG folks.
I tried to get Matt into SC chair a year ago and although there was a majority of SC members who would have liked to make that change, they decided that the political damage re IPG was not worth the change. It was better to run out the clock. I ended up being the lone vote against Claire.
I am not tossing anyone under the bus, simply saying that the calculus all along has been not to fracture relations with the IPG as they are still an important factor in Newton’s scenery.
We all have to live with this, while trying to change it.
Both Matt and Setti have done a masterful job of shifting IPG opinion on key matters such as how we negotiate contracts. They moved IPG from its past position of us having to match employee compensation in other towns and cities to one of conforming with our 2.5% revenue increase cap. That was a remarkable achievement. But it was an obvious best practice achieved by arguing successfully against the past IPG worst practice.
Debt exclusions were another case where IPG initially prevailed in blocking that best practice for capital projects by rolling everything into one giant operating override for 2013. Fortunately, the MSBA countered that by insisting on debt exclusions for Angier and Carr.
So we arrived at a much better override package through state intervention which countered the IPG approach.
To return to the SC, I am extremely happy that Matt, Margie, Angela, Steve and Margaret are on board. They are on the same page as me on most issues, only now they can hit the reset button and proceed without IPG blocking best practices.
It has taken 6 years to arrive at this point, with Matt as a key influence all along, from the time he worked hard off the radar to get me elected.
The only group I am pointing a finger at is the IPG.
I expect flack for that. But I did not expect it from you.
Jane – I was on a DESE advisory board for 4 years (for math). I was the only parent representative, everyone else was either a curriculum coordinator (including Newton’s Mary Eich, who was on the board at the same time), professor, teacher or former teacher. Most of the members were teachers.
I think Massachusetts consistently performing so well on international assessments (Mass. students excel on global examinations: 15-year-olds top most other systems, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/03/mass-scores-high-marks-international-test/kK0GesOEWGhseEwrnay09L/story.html) has a heck of a lot to do with DESE. Our teachers come from all over and, until recently, their training was no different than training in Texas or California or New York.
I’m also in a teacher ed program right now and see the changing requirements going through for teacher’s education – including the requirements to pass the MTEL. I’ve met people who want to be teachers, nice, white middle class people with college degrees, who can’t pass the elementary math MTEL. This is a test a high school graduate should be able to pass. I am thankful DESE has put in this MTEL requirement and hopeful that MA students of the future will never have an elementary teacher as weak in math as a couple of my kid’s Newton teachers were.
Also, on topic – very glad to see Margie Ross Decter and Matt Hill are the new chairs.
Hi Greg,
Forgive me, but I lost you’re email address and I would like to make this announcement for those who are interested:
On Tuesday December 10th there will be an affordable housing forum. It will be held at Newtv from 7pm-9pm. The format is that people will be able to come to a microphone and speak their mind on the subject of affordable housing. It will be unedited and people may speak for or against affordable housing in Newton. It will be taped and aired on Newtv. People can talk about Engine 6, Austin st. or any other project they want to. The forum will be narrated by Tom Sheff.
Sincerely, Tom Sheff
Greg: I lost your email, too. Can anyone recommend a good (and not ridiculously expensive) veterinarian in the area?
@Bill, does this mean you’re looking to propose a veterinarian to head the school committee?
Dan: I do think that a veterinarian would bring an exciting skill set to the SC. However, they will need to tend to my dog, first. So, if anyone can recommend one…
@Bill:
This thread might help you. I took my dog to Kate Wissel at Commonwealth Vet. She’s Shawn FitzGibbon’s wife but I didn’t hold that against her. :-) Stella and I like her a lot.
Thanks, Gail. That was indeed helpful. If Kate took in Shawn, then she must be very compassionate!
(not to keep the o/t part of the thread going, but) I take my cat to Commonwealth as well. Like them a lot.
Hi Greg, I lost your email too.
Could you ask Bill (who’s email I lost) for the recipe for his spatchcocked Turkey?
Hey Terry,
I lost you’re email, too. What was it again? smarta##@hotmail.com :).
Doug: Thanks. Do you really have a 23 lb. cat?
Terry: This Greg’s e-mail thing is really an inconvenience. But either way, first you need a turkey.
Hey Bill: I don’t have Terry’s email but can you please tell him that Claire wants him to return Rob’s pitch fork.
And with that….this thread is closed!
Got any more stories of someone finding a bowling bowl in the river or missing tree bark or a bear knocked out of a tree? This thread was only slightly more entertaining than the one about muslim mentions in Newton school books (ok, sorry, I didn’t follow that one, I have no idea if it was muslims… it all went over my head and I’m not ashamed.)