BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY-TUESDAY, OCT. 26-27, 2015) — It’s finally happened. The citizens of Pittsfield have seen the true face of its $200,000-a-year superintendent of schools. That’s the silver lining of Gungate, wherein a 13-year-old boy brought a loaded handgun to South Junior High School, an asylum masquerading as a place of learning some call Herberg.

If District Attorney David Capeless had not rebuked and corrected Supt. Jason “JIV” McCandless on the cover-up, would JIV have admitted that the gun was loaded? Our educated guess is that sans the D.A.’s correction, McProfiles-in-Candless would have stuck by the story that the gun found in the kid’s knapsack was not loaded.

Worthy of Suspension or Firing?

JIV’s reactions to Gungate have been deplorable, worthy of a suspension if not outright firing. Of course, this being Pittsfield, the gonad-free Pittsfield School Committee might see JIV’s actions as cause for another six-year extension and a huge pay raise. The PSC’s slimy “hero” tried to bury the real news and fell on his sword to get the mayor off the hook.

Consider the facts:

* JIV couldn’t wait until all the facts were known before he issued an erroneous press release telling the community the gun wasn’t loaded. In doing so, he implied there was no actual danger. He admitted he was in such a rush to get information out that it led to what he chin-lessly termed “a misunderstanding.” Misunderstanding? Why not man up and tell us the reason you were in a rush? Was it to downplay a potentially tragic incident so you could maintain a fiction that “Everything’s great” and “There’s nothing to see here?”

* JIV admitted that he, not the mayor or the mayor’s administrative assistant, wrote the press release issued by the mayor’s office. He did so only after Capeless spoke out. It became clear to THE PLANET that JIV and the mayor’s office were in cahoots. If not, why would the mayor’s office allow the superintendent to dictate the contents of a memo on the corner office’s letterhead, especially regarding a deadly serious subject such as a teenager bringing a loaded gun to school? Unacceptable.

* Even after the truth came out to reveal the kid was in the building brandishing a loaded gun, JIV continued to downplay the gravity of the incident. He blew what remained of his credibility with a preposterous statement essentially telling us he has the power to look into souls and read thoughts and intentions. That is what JIV would have you believe when made public comments that led to this headline in The Boring Broadsheet: “No evidence armed Herberg student planned ‘mass harm,’ school chief says.” Notice the careful parsing: How could he know that at this early phase of the investigation? What’s JIV not telling us?

* Then there were this troubling paragraph tucked safely in the middle of Phil Demers‘ story:

“However, McCandless did say several other students were suspended after being found to have been ‘involved’ in the incident.”

Other students were “involved?” How so? In light of that shocking admission, how can JIV make any judgments at this stage that no “mass harm” was intended? Look, you don’t just issue a statement like that then walk away. What does “involved” mean? Sorry, folks, but this doesn’t pass the smell test. The community deserves answers.

Comforting Words Mean Nothing When They’re Fraudulent

Who’s to say subsequent probing will bear out The BB headline or shoot it down (pun intended)? Does the superintendent think that little of citizens that he would, twice now in Gungate, publicly issue a CYA rush to judgment?

Speaking for public consumption, JIV told Kameron Spaulding of The Berkshire Courier, ” … our first aim, as always, was to ensure that students were safe and that parents … were communicated with as quickly as possible.” Nice words. Comforting words. The only problem is, based on the actions taken and the manner in which they were taken, they’re fraudulent. JIV’s “first aim” was to try to disguise the true nature of the threat. Such irresponsibility should have consequences —

— Ah, but this is Pittsfield.

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“When we met I was sure out to lunch. / Now my empty cup is as sweet as the punch.” — The Association, “Along Comes Mary,” (1966).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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