PFD QUELLS WYANDOTTE MILL FIRE … GUEST COLUMN! SIR CHAZ DEALS RE: SOCHOL ADMIN BUDGET FARCE … ‘NO BUSINESS IS HAPPENING HERE; THE PIGS NOW OWN THE FARM
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
ADD 1 6/2/23 a.m. — THE PLANET received the following from the Pittsfield Fire Department:
On Thursday June 1st at 8:28 pm the Pittsfield Fire Department was dispatched to 20 Keeler Street for a reported structure fire. We were already on scene of a fire alarm activation on Benedict Road when called for the Keeler address. Engine 5, Engine 3, Engine 1, Truck 2, and Car 2 responded. Truck 2 was first on scene and reported heavy fire showing from multiple first floor windows. Car 2 initiated a double alarm assignment, bringing the remaining two engines (Engine 6 and Engine 2) to the scene.
20 Keeler is a business located in the Wyandotte Mill complex. This complex is a large 1800’s era wool mill which has since been converted into numerous businesses. These include a pool chemical supply company, auto body shop, metal fabrication business among others. The origin area of the fire was concentrated in an auto body shop/motor vehicle storage space. This space had an estimated 15 motor vehicles and possibly some boats inside the space. On PFD arrival many of these vehicles were fully involved with fire inside the building and fire was extending throughout the building. The strategy at this fire was to contain the fire to the auto body area and avoid extension into the adjacent pool supply business, which holds a high quantity of chemicals and oxidizers (many of which area water reactive).
Wyandotte Mill being a turn of the century mill was a benefit for our department. The mill construction is classified as ‘heavy timber’. The building elements are incredibly strong with excellent fire resistive properties, even though the supporting members are exposed.
A third alarm was struck, bringing Lenox Fire Department’s Engine 3 directly to the scene. Pittsfield’s reserve aerial ladder was away for yearly maintenance, so an additional nine firefighters responded in pickup trucks.
This was a coordinated, herculean effort on the part of all firefighters working this fire. It was eventually confined, contained, and extinguished within 3 hours. All fire damage was limited to the first floor. Damage estimate is not available at this time. Members of the Pittsfield Fire Investigation Unit, Pittsfield Police, and MA State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating.
There were no reported firefighter or civilian injuries. Pittsfield Police helped remove occupants from adjacent apartments at the onset of operations.
We thank our brother and sisters from neighboring departments who helped respond and cover the City during this event. Lenox, Adams, Cheshire, Dalton, Lanesboro, and Hinsdale Fire to name a few.
———- ooo ———-
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 2-4, 2023) — Corrupt., adjective., willing to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.
By that definition, THE PLANET suggests that the school committee, with its votes, and the Pittsfield Sochol Department administration, with its policies, is corrupt. The slcooh fish rots from the head down, that is, from Jumping’ Joe Curtiss to the associate superintendents, the deputy superintendents, the assistant supers, the deputy associate supers, the associate assistant deputy supers, the DIE supers, the principals, the vice principals, the associate vice principles, and on down. Not that the overpaid admin is bloated, mind you.
What other business except public schools can each year show more disastrous performance and get rewarded with fat raises?
This crooked administrative bunch have once again demanded and received huge pay increases from a compliant slooch committee, a missing-in-action mayor, and eight co-conspirators on the city council. Let the record show that only Sir Chaz, Tony Maffuccio, and Karen Kalinowski fought for The Kapanskis.
With that meek introduction, THE PLANET presents this guest column, written by Ward 2 councilor Charles Kronick, who, now 17 months into a 24-month term, has fathomed the depth of corruption that has strangled the poor citizens of the city of Pittsfield. In this piece, Sir Chaz offers his thoughts after he sat through the solohc department’s budget presentation.
———- ooo ———-
1) Who can say what a paraprofessional ought to earn? Once upon a time, paras were housewives who did the job just to make a little extra spending money. Now they want a living wage? (Make up your minds, gals). [NOTE: Taxpayers should know that paraprofessionals are contracted out and hired from a hiring firm based in Georgia. Pittsfield taxpayers pay the firm approximately $50/hour. Paras are paid under $20 ($17/hr? maybe??). That means we send approximately $1,000,000 taxpayer dollars to a company in GA, money that does not go into the para’s pockets. We all get that much poorer. We should increase the compensation for paraprofessionals, obviously, and at least keep some or all that $1,000,000 in Pittsfield. The superintendent didn’t mention any of this.]2) If we give a raise to the paraprofessionals, then the cafeteria workers, and the custodians for that matter, will become greedy and want one too. We simply can’t sustain that! We can give them raises, but then we will have to slaughter some of them.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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“This crooked administrative bunch have once again demanded and received huge pay increases from a compliant school committee” — Sir Donald Turpentine.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Thanks for your vote, Karen’s vote and Tony’s vote. At least you three understand the reality of the situation.
Pittsfield politics rewarding failure with taxpayer money? Shocked! Shocked!
It’s very sad Jon.
Failure is the gear that drives success.
Hopefully that does not mean Marchetti will be mayor. OMG!
If we get big enough, Beacon Hill may just decide to relocate the State Capitol building and its 100,000 employees to Pittsfield.
There’s a lot of room by the sewage plant. Perfect location.
Trumps on Hannity. Looks good.
I think they ALL know the reality of the situation. The difference is that THESE THREE actually care.
Who signed off on the substantial GA contract for paraprofessionals? Surely Curtis had a hand in it. The School Committee? Mayor Tyer? How many lawsuits are in the works over this unethical decision? Where did the money come from for this contract? Heads should roll. The schools are a disaster. Forensic audit is needed!
Thank you Councilors Kronick, Maffucio and Kalinowski for swimming against the tide!
Every time someone mentions forensic audit the mayor and several of her buddies fall off the couch in hysterics. They know nobody’s gonna be looking at anything anytime soon.
We don’t need no paraprofessionals subcontracted in from Georgia.
http://www.iberkshires.com Pittsfield Gets Grants to Help Recruit Teachers of Color – iBerkshires.com
So, if it’s not an inappropriate question, may I ask if these paraprofessionals are people of a darker shade of colour.
Anyway, I found these FUN FACTS.
GA borders NC, where coincidentally, Pittsfield went Head Hunting for Colored Teachers for the Pittsfield SCOHOL System, where, 3-rd graders still can’t read at 3-rd grade lever, despite promising to improve these dismal failures more than 12-years-ago.
Georgia has the second highest number of Black teachers in the country, second only to Texas.
The low quality of education is a major challenge for children of Georgia. Georgian students underperform in International Student Assessments. About two thirds of 15-year-old students in Georgia do not meet baseline standards in reading, science and mathematics.
On the list of safety and quality Georgia came in at No. 36 on quality and No. 38 on safety. Louisiana ranked dead last in safety and came in at No. 44 in quality, despite high funding.
And in May, an AJC and Channel 2 Action News Investigation found that roughly 12 percents of the 656 officers working in Georgia’s 31 school police departments have been terminated or resigned under investigations relating to poor performance, sexual misconduct, inappropriate use of force among other issues.
More race-based nonsense.
And Ga doesn’t border NC? Or is the sexual misconduct of SRO that offends your delicate sensibilities.
For the 2023 school year, there are 14 public schools serving 5,012 students in Pittsfield School District. The district’s average testing ranking is 2/10, which is in the bottom 50% of public schools in Massachusetts.
Overall District Rank: Bottom 50%
Math Proficiency: 19% (Btm 50%)
Reading Proficiency: 34% (Btm 50%)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, MA Dept. of Education
Silvio O Conte Community School 322 Students
Math: 6-9% / Reading: 25-29%
Morningside Community School 347 Students
Math: 6-9% / Reading: 20-24%
Crosby Students 300
Math: <5% / Reading: 15-19%
John T Reid Middle School 525 Students
Math: 7% / Reading: 17%
Theodore Herberg Middle School 554 Students
Math: 17% / Reading 34%
Taconic High School 869 Students
Math: 25-29% / Reading: 35-39%
Pittsfield High School 730 Students
Math: 30-34% / Reading 55-59%
Thanks for the stats.
Correction: my reference to DEI director is incorrect. The speaker is the deputy superintendent and her words stop short from calling caucasians racist but takes a more subtle slant. Everyone present in the schools are to pay close attention to their biases.
In my studies, I found out that the path to wealth has nothing to do with hard work, achievement in one’s career or small business, or being a financial genius like Matt Kerwood (sarcasm). Going back centuries, the path to wealth is elite education and marriage into a wealthy family whereby the husband and wife marry their wealthy estates together, which goes on generation after generation – the top 1 percent of wealthy households in the U.S.A.
To illustrate, Bill Weld was born with an $80 million trust fund, his family’s legacy at Harvard goes back over 20 generations, and he is a member of Boston Brahmin’s exclusive clubs. To illustrate, John Forbes Kerry was born with a trust fund that doubles Bill Weld’s trust fund, he attended Yale University, and when he ran against George W. Bush in 2004, they were both members of Yales’ Skull and Bones exclusive club, as was the late George H.W. Bush.
When I explain to people that billionaires such as Warren Buffett made most of his money after he turned 60 years old, the reply I receive is that the newer billionaires made most of their money as young adults in places such as China. I understand that times have changed when it comes to attaining great wealth.
What the deputy Superintendent’s words mean is that most of us common families will never attain equal economic benefits from public education, but that has been the case for a very long time. For a long time, women and minorities have not attained the equitable income benefits as their white counterparts.
Pittsfield has families living in impoverished neighborhoods that send their children to Pittsfield’s Level 5 public schools. This is a prime illustration of systemic inequality by race, gender and class. The last time I checked, over 650 students per academic year opted out of Pittsfield’s Level 5 public schools to neighboring public school districts. There is a lot that is wrong with the Pittsfield Public School District. There is a lot that is wrong with our classist system.
Jon Melle
the path to wealth is hard work and education
I think the Donald might disagree with ya. Dad handed him about 10 billion bucks and he has yet to work a day in his life. And if he got an education it is not apparent.
That is a nice tagline, but most wealthy people do/did not work hard, and their education was paid for because their parents were rich.
When is the first day that a career politician retires? The day they are first elected.
It is human nature to want money and power. The rest of us don’t really matter to the wealthy and the politicians they pay to their bidding in government.
It all boils down to GREED! LIES! and the Almighty Dollar!
What do school administrators do all day?. They seem to have plenty of time to put together useless recommendations then pat themselves on the shoulder for doing a wonderful job. These nests of incompetence must be broken up before they completely destroy this city. We need to take a very close look at the school administration. In the private sector they would be fired outright as being incompetent buffoons.we need drastic change here in pittsfield. We don’t need level 5 students. Administrators need to be held responsible for their lack of ability to put out a level 1 student into society. First step:: reduce their very lucrative salaries. Things couldn’t be worse
These miscreants are on Mr. Gaetanis list of things to do. The buck stops with a mayor who shows some fortitude. Something we don’t have at present
School committe used to be voluntary, done by citizens who did it because they truly cared about kids and their education. Now they get paid, get perks and play pretend
It’s still filled by teacher’s family members, parents or former teacher’s who don’t give a thought to the cost to the senior on social security trying to maintain a house. They also do not know the current thoughts on education so just agree with whatever the Sup says
I’m a School Committee member. If you want to do more than complain, let’s talk. My next office hours at the library is June 20 at 5:00. Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children. Sitting Bull
Sounds like CRT which is an offshoot of cultural Marxism.
CCP ‘speaking bitterness’. Look it up, that’s the current strategy.
CCP?
Chinese Communist Party. Early days of the Maoist revolution was the public shamings of landlords, known as ‘speaking bitterness.’ It was one of many tools to build a cultural consensus based on public shaming, admitting of faults, and airing of grievance against a group, then landlords, selected by the ruling class.
The CRT verbiage about Social Justice, which is a hostile idea predicated upon revenge and resentment, and the demand for public admission of guilts and public shaming of others, is at least analogous to speaking bitterness, and likely its appearances in our institutions stems from CCP foreign policy.
As it happened in the People’s Republic of China, poor farmers were awarded the land of their landlords. Then, subsequently to the decapitation of the landowners, the CCP evict the farmers and seized their land.
Well, thanks for explaining.
Is that one of our city council members kneeling?
Must be Chaz.
It is a real picture of a real event.
It is a picture of a man being humiliated. The prior moments to his being publicly shot, likely right there.
It is a portrait of the enemy.
Charles Ivar Kronick, I know that you strongly oppose my views on U.S. history, especially the historical record of most of the Founding Fathers and original U.S. Presidents owning Slaves. During the mid-20th Century, Chairman Mao killed an estimated 81 million innocent people, which maybe more than Hitler’s tragic Holocaust (17 million) and Stalin’s tragic mass murdering Purges (23 million to over 60 million) combined. None of it is right. When Karl Marx wrote about the brutalities of capitalism in the mid-19th Century, Slavery was legal in the U.S.A. You demonize the CCP and Marxist-based views of public education in capitalist nations, but you omit the ugly side of U.S. history. Public education is a byproduct of the wealthy elites’ power in government and socioeconomic control of society. There are many good outcomes from public education, but the systemic socioeconomic and cultural issues are also real. I believe in the Iron Rule of Oligarchy, which applies to every form of government, institution and bureaucracy in human history. Simply put, there a few dominate wolves and many subservient sheep in every human group, organization and elitist institution in society. I do NOT believe that capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, feminism, egalitarianism, communitarianism, et al, work because the inherit flaw in each and every one of them is always that the Oligarchs will dominate the commoners. To illustrate, over 20 years ago, the U.S. Government invaded Iraq, which has the second largest oil reserves in the world. Last year, Russia invaded Ukraine. It is predicted that in 2 years from now, China will invade Taiwan. Herein, we have three different forms of governments from three different countries, but the Iron Rule of Oligarchy shows that the outcomes are the same with the bigger and powerful countries invading the smaller and powerless countries. The faces and times change, but the Iron Rule of Oligarchy will never change. Public education is a tool in the Oligarchy’s war chest against the commoners for the elites to retain their power over the commoners. Jon Melle
Relativism and anachronisms.
诉苦 su4ku3
Way off…”That’s a cock fight.
Mao’s Cultural Revolution – where the ‘suku’ took place – can’t be compared even analogously to something like CRT. They are universes apart. Comparing them is a paradigmatic error.
PARADIGMATIC? Cliche.
Huh
Right. What is that?
Duh
Just curious what would happen if the taxpayers stopped funding ineptness? Let’s stop funding the school system and send all students out to the other schools in Berkshire County and surrounding areas. It would probably be cheaper and the children would get a better education…and isn’t that all that matters??
If we stop funded ineptness they will take our house. And be happy to do it.
Very true. And not just take it, take your equity too. And then they will sell it cheap to something like Restore and you will never own a house again.
Already happening in South Dakota and they have paid their taxes. The government is trying to steal farmers land for a Federal carbon collection pipe!!!!!! Can’t get oil in a pipe from Canada but let’s destroy farms for a space aged thought that won’t do any good!! Way to go Brandon!! Worse President ever
It happens here too in Pittsfield. Massachusetts allows towns to seize your property for any tax debt – even debts that you are actually paying off – and they are not required to compensate the owner for the difference in equity.
They take you to court, you rack up court expenses. Then, they agree to drop the case in exchange for your property. You are completely shot and you lose everything. You may watch a lucky buyer come in and get a bargain.
Unfortunately Charles in SD the people are not in debt and have always paid their debt/taxes. The current Federal Government just wants the land and they just want to take it even though the farmers don’t want to sell
Just forgetting to pay a bill and not knowing it ‘puts’ you in debt. I agree that the Federal Government is capable of much larger thefts than your local city hall.
which is why I speak of self-governance in the context of 1775.
I know you have difficulty with comprehension but I did not say stop paying taxes, I said it would be cheaper to outsource education so we aren’t paying for 100 superintendents.
I don’t want to pay 100 supers but not sure outsourcing’s the answer.
Why not?
I think it’s better to stay local, to keep local control.
We’re you a good student and what school did you go to?
Why are such questions relevant, TSC. Please explain.
Four legs good, two legs baaad.
Pittsfield schools are as bad as Chicago schools and other far left school systems across the country, but the entire school system in this country is corrupted, some worse than others. Pittsfield went down the far left path very early so this is why the schools control elections in this area. Activist teachers are spreading to the innocent children what they learned in far left colleges and the school salaries are boosted constantly as reward for turning the children into far leftists with the activist teachers constant indoctrination and gender confusion fed to the kids on a constant basis. It’s a mess.
I don’t think it’s the teachers.. 1) they have little say, 2) they are quitting.
If a teacher were to deviate and teach students calculus without analytic calculators, for example, she’d be hauled out of the classroom and commited to a re-education camp at Area 51.
The CRT is admin and School Comottee. It’s big money. The positions are highly paid, and contract with expensive contractors such as leadership academy who perform ‘studies’ and surveys. Everyone is getting rich “everyone gets a share.”
The guaranteed failure resulting from this policy also guarantees more money from the State – success. It is a “controlled delusion.” Failure = Success.
Does the big guy get 10%?
“The CRT is admin and School Comottee” –
The administration and School Committee owns the CRT spending which benefits admin and their vendors.
12 G: Everyone gets a share. Those on top get the choice steaks, the students and the parents get to eat dust.
Can you people please use a label other than CRT or explain what you mean so we can figure out what the f*** you are talking about? Your use of code is not helpful.
Pittsfield TV PPS hearing 5/30. Start at 45 minutes.
Fair question. I literally speak of Critical Race Theory.
I’ll give you a basic, kindergarten-like, understanding, of the “victim mentality,” being pushed down our throats and why we are DANM SICK of it K.
I’ll start with the Cultural Competency Coach position and work towards CRT.
How does that position (cultural competency coach) help a child’s learning process? What exactly is it and what are the “end-goals” of her lessons?
It has not slowed down the violence in classrooms. In fact according to the para’s, PPS is a dangerous place to work. Plus, the PPS scohol system is FAILING K.
“The kids” K. Do you care about the kids? Or pushing your racial grift?
That’s a start for you K.
No word salad or trying to twist my words like you’ve been taught/trained to do.
I must say that there is a lack of coherent focus here. I get that the Pitt has problems and that PPS is rife with issues that affect admin and outcomes, but the fire hose presented here doesn’t help us understand the suggested reasons for the problems.
You are making me work! The main thing is that none of it applies to fixing a failing school district.
The language of the presentation is barebones Critical Race Theory. CRT for Dummies.
Pittsfield TV: minute 45. I’ll post the transcript, bold the relevant remarks, and leave it for the board to consider.
The words are pretty. I like them and yes, there is a certain warmth and tingle they impart. “Culture, affirming, recognition, diverse, safety.” But what do they actually mean? ‘White culture’ is also recognized in the most hostile terms. When she speaks of identifying ‘our identities’, she means administration and teachers, including herself, must look critically upon their personal identities and figure how their identities are a detriment to cultural diversity.
‘Furthering the fight’ is a repudiation of Brown V. Board. ‘White Identity’ scuttles the objectives that the late Justice Marshall sought to accomplish in 1954. No, it wasn’t that the unfairness of the distribution of resources and access to education was a disadvantage to a large group of people on account of skin color (back in pre Brown V Board), it really was the educational curricula everywhere.
The message, the Superintendent’s point, is that the history of education shall culminate next year or two with the help of the Leadership Academy which has dutifully studied 2,000 years of civilization and education. My opinion, but I believe that Thurgood Marshall would disagree.
TEXT:
“Building a Culturally Repsonsive School District
As we think about the future of Pittsfield’s public schools, I go back to 1954. So Brown V Board which ended segregation in schools wanted to bring students from diverse backgrounds together.
We need to push forward, 70 years later, and think about the curriculum and the teaching that occurred in our diverse school setting. And so as a district we are committed to working with The Leadership Academy, formally known as the NY Leadership Academy, who directly partners with the Department of Education in our State to train both our administrators and teachers around culturally responsive and culturally affirming practices for the Pittsfield Public Schools.
As a graduate of the Pittsfield Public Schools, next month thirty years ago, I can remember being a queer student at Pittsfield High and not feeling supported, welcomed, or affirmed in my identity, and therefore I did not come out in my identity.
Today’s different. The Pittsfield Public School is committed to affirming the identity of all of our students. And, through that we must first identify white white dominant culture exists. We must refer to our own biases, and learn where they exist so that leaders as sitting in this room today can appropriately work with our students and embracing and supporting the diverse students that they bring to us and eventually sit in our seats and sitting in your seats and moving this city forward.
So, for the next almost two years we will partner with the Leadership Academy who will first begin working with our school based leaders and District Leader where we can check our biases, reflect on our own personal identities, and what we are binging to the work that we are doing, and then we will consider how culturally responsive and affirming practices can occur in our spaces.
We can learn about our observations. We can learn about our professional development and how to support our teachers, so students and families feel safe, they feel as though their culture is embraced, seen and represented in our curriculum across all grade levels from Pre-K to twelve.
[D. Superintendent concludes stating that this service purchased from Leadership Academy shall continue several years and extend to all teaching staff with a focus on identifying ‘biases’ with the goal of providing a culturally affirming institution.
Thanks for sharing this important info, CHAZ. Who is the speaker of these words? Identify by name, please.
Rather not direct this discussion towards a specific person. The highlighted sections are the points that relate to CRT, which I present as an answer to K’s question.
Note also, “furthering the fight” which kicks off the speech. It is aggressive and hostile.
The simplest fix for the schools is a Stalinist approach – the problem is that the population doesn’t accept the loss of freedom it entails.
(scratch)
Par.
Charles you are right on the money.the big wigs are laughing at all of us kapanskis.It a total disgrace this school admin.and school committee.
You may be right on some of that, but the teachers are being indoctrinated also by these far left liberal colleges, but just as with Target, it’s the people at the top who are pushing these woke far left policies. One Back Rock official said yesterday that they had to force these far left policies onto the people any way they can which includes gender and far left indoctrination. It’s become more important to these companies than the money they are making because it’s all about controlling us to think the way they want us to think. Same with the schools. It’s not so much about teaching the kids as it is to kill their independent thought processes.
FOX NEWS……business plan……Killing independent thought….and very very successful at it as one can clearly see above
You mean educated.FOX does indoctrination
Cuckoo
So let me restate for you – the leaders of Target and the leaders of our colleges want to kill the independent thought processes of our children.
Have I got that right?
And tell us, Pat, how many kids have you raised?
I suspect I know the answer.
Target wants to kill everyone’s independent thought processes by merchandising products that most people are not comfortable with these products being appropriate for young people. The schools are working on the minds of the young so they become adults who think the way the activists want them to think which is always questioning their gender and obsessing over it and, of course, voting for far left causes.
Dan, do you have the authority to hand out section 12 paperwork?
What is “Sec. 12” paperwork?
I must ask: what the f*** are you talking about? I’ve been to many Targets in different states and clearly cannot gain one iota of information about whatever the hell it is that you are talking about.
Its beyond your comprehension
Ok, what Target products are you talking about? Can you give us examples?
Listen to news other than CNN and MSNBC and you will hear real news and not the indoctrination you are fed everyday by the far left media.
I do watch the same media as you and I don’t see mention of Target.
“…products that most people are not comfortable with these products being appropriate for young people…”
I hereby revoke your grammar certification.
Thank you, but what is your opinion of Target selling clothing for young men to hide their private parts? We are talking elementary children. Do you think this is right? Stop hiding behind grammar mistakes and let’s hear facts from the far leftists and NOT emotion and misinformation.
What clothing for young men hides their private parts? Is that your example? What does it mean?
She does not think young boys should have to wear jocks straps all day. It damages their sperm.
But there are beaches in Rio that allow private parts to be fully displayed and so is Pat in favor of that?
You can’t have it both ways Pat.
Thanks snark for the explanation. She’s right, there’s no reason to wear jock straps all day. Did Target really say that? C’mon, can’t possibly be true!
You probably don’t need help hiding your cocktail frank
Just to be clear it is the way to tell the difference between a male and a female. It is the body parts.
KINDERGARTEN
You can do better than that. Criticizing for syntax? Cheap shot.
Not fair, Dan.
Exactly, K.
You are in control.
K: this is informal writing. Typos and errors are acceptable. It’s dress as you please.
Tell it to Chelsea
I thought pointing out an errant relative clause was in fact rather clever.
Removed from the point of exchange, which is namely to contribute to the discussion rather than police grammar, I agree. My point simply is that you are a much better argumentative foe than that. To lay a little New Testament here, to whom much is given much is expected. That’s one of the small prices to pay for being held in high esteem, our good friend!
Oh g’wan, pointing out the errant relative is exceedingly sophisticated. (esp. since her basic argument is really stupid).
Be clause your a clown
You have a muddled view of what goes on in college. You do spin a hefty narrative, though.
And both are better than any Republican state
Cuckoo
Where did you go to school?
The first step to take to remedy the disaster that is the Pittsfield school system is to acknowledge that the failure exists. And it has to be acknowledged by those in control of it. To do this would be acknowledging that they have failed and failed for a long time.
None of them is going to do this. Ever. This would take balls of tempered steel. And even if the guy or gal with balls of tempered steel came upon the scene, they would be hamstrung by all the woke policies. All the folk who whine about their toes being stepped on would be parading in the streets crying about how offended they were. The world is full of karens and their little babies that they pamper and teach how to be pampered.
We are talking about a dysfunctional system, created by dysfunctional people and overseen by dysfunctional people. We can talk till we are blue in the face but I feel confident that if any of us were to come back and look at this same situation, fifty years from now, not only would it not be better, but it would be even worse, and cost ten times as much.
Like an ugly monster with cancer, no one wants to go near it to help it.
SNARK
This is one of the most insightful comments dealing with the disaster that is the Pittsfield Public School system. Well expressed. Many thanks.
Agree with your comment Dan except I would like to add that Snark’s comment does not just apply to the School System it applies to all of Pittsfield in general. Pittsfield is gone and there is no coming back at least in our lifetime. It has gotten to point that you can see more decay by the day. The streets are basically inundated with zombie addicts looking for their next fix. Our police department can’t do the job they were hired for as they spend their days doing “well-being checks” for the Brien Center. I have asked many times, does the city get reimbursed for working for the Brien Center? The WOKE Tyer administration has never had any accountability or oversite from the heads of her departments. The sad thing is, there is not a darn thing taxpayers can do, except move out of the city and take a loss. Really fear for the future of Pittsfield, especially with the choice of Marchetti or Krol, both are weaklings.
Sturgeon said the Mayor is doing a great job. Special place in Hell for these types of media.
He’s been all around the world so he would know
I didn’t know that.
“To do this would be acknowledging that they have failed and failed for a long time.”
And who, exactly, are we talking about here?
City leadership. School leadership. Now and for the last 25 years.
Well ok, I see that certain moves like GA contracts for paraprofessionals do nothing to benefit us locally. But surely the school leadership could snip out idiotic moves like this to get things moving in a positive direction?
Ya know those nine councilors who some people refer to as puppets because they vote in a block and apparently as instructed from a source outside their committee? Well, in some places school comittees get their instructions from the same place. It is almost like one big happy family that sometimes seems to pull in the opposite direction of what is good for their community.
The Pittsfield Public Scohol System has been in decline for many years. I believe the Scamdemic of 2020 and “progressive politics” have now hurdled the PPS off the ledge without a parachute.
The admins have been greedy and over bloated for as long as I can remember. I remember Dan talking about this same problem almost 20 years ago on his radio show.
Prior to the Scamdemic, you never heard about SRO’s being a bad thing in school, until progressive politics entered the fray. In fact, SRO’s usually kept a handle on the thugs and miscreants from completely acting up, like the kids do now. I DO NOT ever remember a kid punching/hitting a teacher in my day. Now, it’s a weekly thing on social media platforms. Especially if a teacher takes a cellphone away from a kid.
The low IQ people and race baiters (progressive politics) seized on the opportunity to go after the cops. Enter the Cultural Competency Coach and Helen “Handgun” Moon, into the mix.
Both are frauds. It’s just one knows how to fleece the taxpayer better than the other one. Think ARPA money (ROPES Course). The other one grew up in the suburbs of Boston to loving/wealthy parents, but somehow now thinks she grew up in the former housing projects of southside Chicago. As an elected official, she even went public with a racial hoax of her own, like the girl at Simon’s Rock College did.
They got the SRO’s out of the Pittsfield Scohol’s and now their staff fear for their safety of being assaulted or worse, spit on. But of course, it’s “white supremacy” or “racism,” or whatever progressive phrase or buzzword they come up with.
If you read the link I provided, read what Dr. Eden-Renee Hayes, DIE Officer for Bard’s College, talks about. She mentions how students of color fear a police officer when they see one in school. Nothing to back this up, other than her opinion. Nothing out of Hayes about the racial kidnapping hoax that a black female student perpetrated against every white male student in the school either. She just keeps pumping out the DIE racial grift.
Pittsfield Moves To Find New School Resource Officer Amid Police Staffing Shortage | WAMC
Instead of worrying about paying administrators top dollar and getting cops out of schools, so the thugs can run wild and shutdown the purpose of school, how about we go back to the basics of reading, writing, and math?
Keep going PPS. The bar has been set low by another progressive sh!thole, Baltimore. I believe you can be there within five years, or less with the current path PPS is on:
Report finds in 23 public schools in Baltimore NONE of the children understand basic math | Daily Mail Online
Some folk do not want the cops in the schools but do not hesitate to call them to the neighborhood all day and all night.
There are problems, for sure. But thank God the majority voter in Pittsfield has a more optimistic and hopeful view of where we are headed than the majority of contributors to this blog – I have to constantly remind myself of the constituency of this blogsite when I interpret PV comments so I can keep a realistic handle on things.
Yet, you offer NO facts to back up your opinion, huh K?
The floor is yours Senator. What have I said that is factually incorrect?
They never rely on facts. It’s all about emotion.
You sound a lot like Pete White, only dumber.
That’s not possible. Come up with another one.
Markus Aurelius you need to get out and travel to some different states and countries to broaden your perspective a bit.
Thanks for the advice C.
Now, what did I say that was factually incorrect?
I deal with facts, not opinions.
The floor is yours……
It’s basically your tone and your interpretation of your facts. Your tone could be quite different and there is wide possible latitude in the interpretation of your facts.
So, what your basically saying is, I’m factually correct, but the facts don’t support your narrative, so you result to trying to psychoanalyze my posts and minimize what I’m saying.
Got ya!!
Well, the facts are facts and I accept them and it’s good to know them, and you are factually correct (I hope) but, simply, they are subject to different interpretations.
Word salad, i.e.- BULLSH!T.
Nice try C. I’m not amateur hour, like TSC.
To “Vibe It Up,” with me, you best come correct when dealing with me.
“Vibe” enough for ya, that I get that BBEC loan, K?
No idea what your talking about. The only word salad is yours.
I’ll paraphrase your post, “the facts are the facts and I accept them”………”they are subject to different interpretations.”
Riddle me this C. What does 1 + 3= ?
The facts tell me the answer is 4.
What’s your interpretation of the question?
I’m trying to understand how you left loons come up with the nonsense you spew.
You mean interpretation of the answer, Markus. I’m sorry it would take you years to reach that level, even if you were willing, which you’re not. On second thought, all it takes is willingness.
In quantum theory, the interpreted answer could well be closer to 3.
Yeah, sure K.
But, you NEVER answer my questions.
What teacher got “beat up” in school, in Pittsfield, in the 70’s?
What have I said that was factually incorrect on any of my posts? Not what you don’t like or don’t agree with, factually incorrect.
You are a more polished version of TSC. You come across as well spoken/written, but just like TSC, you post opinions, hearsay, and rumors, and then claim it to be fact and actually try to defend it as fact.
Oh I don’t know, I think TSC is pretty darn polished.
Just like his marble sized brain.
No I’m not going to name the beaters or beatees. Your facts are correct. Different people infer different things from your facts.
Plenty of teachers got punched out in the Pitt in my day – mid 70s
Really? I just called and asked my uncle, who taught at Crosby in the 70’s, he didn’t recall any teacher getting beat up in class.
What teachers and at what school did they teach at, got “punched out in the Pitt?”
He’d like to know also. He said, “That’s news to me. Now, I’m interested in who it was.”
The teachers were not ‘beat up’ but were punched in the mouth. This was in the halls at PHS not in class, and I never witnessed it personally, but widely corroborated by my friends.
Yeah, I remember guys on the football team telling me they scored with every “hot chick” in school.
So K, I’ll render your opinion the same as theirs, BULLSH!T.
No facts, no dice.
As I told C, I deal in facts. Not opinions, hot flashes, or anything else you left loons come up with.
It’s ok, I think I understand what’s going on here.
Exactly-I said it clearly above.
No facts, no dice.
Pretty easy to understand.
Do you still have that sign about the secret tapes in Baltimore?
A friend of a friend heard it from a guy who worked at Burger Chef.
Liberal loons make stuff up and think people are as gullible as liberals are dumb
Gaetani was a teacher in the 70’s he did the punching.
Nothing says “Vibrant, Dynamic, and Inclusive,” like this article:
Splash pad at The Common in Pittsfield is broken after an act of vandalism. It might be out of commission for weeks | Central Berkshires | berkshireeagle.com
Remind me again, how much did Flat Tyer cost the taxpayers for this project?
If you see Tricia Farley-Country Buffet (D-illegal immigrants and prostitutes), you can thank her too. The “grant money” she gifted to Flat, brought this gem to Pittsfield……..along with bums and vagrants on North Street, Berkshire Crossing, and most traffic islands at most of your nearest intersections.
Such a disgrace! once again Please tell me one piece of Economic development any of these clowns has brought to the area.Smitty, tricia, Hinds, Mark, worthless!!! now we have Krol and Peter M running for Mayor my god help us.
The place has tweekers on every corner, old men on stolen bikes, New residents that make the bad guys on Deliverence look good. The parks are filled with needles and North Street is one empty store front after next..Pittsfield is always in the top !0 for most dangerous cities.
Stanley dumped another theater
Scool choice was designed to pull the students from urban school and send them to suburban or private schools along with the cash going to the school of their choice.School choice is the most racist Ed reform law in History.The Pittsfield school committee supports this racist law.The opinions on the planet are made by people who still support Don Trump crime wave ex prez.He is failing and looks terrible and will be 80 soon and 400 pounds…where is his wife?He pays her money to be seen with him.DiSantis is calling him a do nothing which is true
Barron is amost 7 feet tall and is being scouted by the Atlanta Hawks.
Cuckoo
Again a Planites hit the nail on the head. Merry and Bright. Brien center Artsy n Yorkers,the Ltbgq whatever their called,methadone junkies and transient homeless people is what we become.Add a 205 million dollar budget…results Disaster..
The school admin. And school committee will never reduce their budget. They will have to be forced to do it. As mayor I will demand that they reduce their fiscal year 24-25 budget by 7%. I don’t care how hard they will cry wolf. I just want it done period. In order to get hold of the budget we Have to start to widdle the school budget way down because it is artificially way to high. We need less talk and a lot more action by the admin.in slashing their budget. The schools are strangling our taxpayers to death and now they need to be reigned in .If not voluntarily then I will demand it. They can take there school speak and put it in you know where.
Not with swamp creatures we have on the council and school committee
The Pittsfield model is the worst in the state. So,get the money by bringing students back here. The system is still Level 5 !
Why punish the students and the families smart enough to get their kids out of Pittsfield and into a better system? Either fix the schools in Pittsfield or send all the kids out to the Burbs. The taxpayers would save money and the children would get a better education
If you send ALL the kids out to the burbs you still have a problem because many of these kids ARE THE PROBLEM. The ones leaving are leaving to get away from the chaos which severely dilutes their own learning experience.
The asshats who are not interested in getting an education should be summarily separated and allowed to play in a bouncy house all day. Forcing students interested in education to have to sit all day with the already brain dead kids should be unconstitutional. And it is not right that taxpayer have to pay such high taxes to house and baby sit all these morons for the better part of the year. I feel so bad for the students and their parents who just want to learn but have to be subjected to the circus and sometimes dangerous atmosphere, that apparently state laws mandate. Totally backass to the original mission of schools.
Sounds like you graduated from a school of fish!
So many in far left Pittsfield want to deny what is going on with companies being forced by their boards to go woke. They live in denial and refuse to accept reality or they just want to pretend it’s not happening to fool the public, but we can all see it with our own eyes. Target selling clothing for very young boys to hide their private body parts because according to their woke board, it’s not just a small percentage of young people who are trapped in the wrong body. No, these woke boards would have you believe that over half of our population is trapped in the wrong body because this is the future they envision for America. Keep everyone obsessing over their gender while big government takes away your freedoms.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/woke-corporate-governance-often-stems-involved-investment-firms-former-anheuser-busch-exec.
Wow, Pat, you need to remove your blinders. Do you not see that what you write can’t be true in any universe? It is a good example of creative fiction, however. I’d love to meet you someday to see what kind of person actually believes this sort of stuff.
Just google Tucker Carlson and you will what kind.
Delusional leftist lunatic
Rome burns and left wing loonies like you refuse to see and accept reality. You love playing the liberal fiddle.
I’d love to meet you. To make it easy for you we could eat at a restaurant close to your favorite liquor store or pot shop.
So let’s take a look.
“boards would have you believe that over half of our population is trapped in the wrong body”
No, Pat.
“this is the future they envision for America”
No, Pat.
Why must you say ridiculous things?
I was trapped in a woman’s body for nine months.
Never doing that again.
You should have run for state rep.
Pat,
You think McConnell is far left.
Mitch is a D.C. swamp creature. He’s done a few good things over the years , but it’s time for him to retire.
Brawls were breaking out in Los Angeles over a Pride event at a school. Even immigrant parents were saying things like, “I didn’t come from Armenia to have my kids subjected to this”. Some of the immigrant families Biden is pouring into the country are very traditional and family oriented and are not liking the rainbows, gender confusion, and the schools know better than the families philosophy they are experiencing in the far left school systems. Linda Tyer recently had her own Pride event here in Pittsfield to celebrate for the entire month of June since the far left has taken over the month to push their rainbow agenda.
https://nypost.com/2023/06/02/brawls-break-out-as-parents-protest-saticoy-elementary-school-pride-event/
Tyers pride event is actually happening right now at the Common.
It’s a month long event. She had one a few days ago too.
I think Trump is on the come back
Trump is the best thing to happen to Dems over the past several years – his candidacy gave the dems wins in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Trump for POTUS, yeah!
Think of the Pittsfield public schools as a stock that increases in value with decreases in production,would you continue to buy that stock? No,you would lay-off or consolidate or your investors would dump it.
Is she a pride participant or actually a persuasion of.
She’s looking for someone to love her. Anyone…..
Obese pride?
Was listening to npr and they stated that if a high school student who did well with their grades in all three years and if this student indicated they want to be a teacher, the school system would pay to send the student to a 1year intense program in the field of the students interest. After that year the student would teach alongside a master teacher for a full year in their subject matter. The following year the student would be offered a position in the school system they graduated from. This sounds very innovative and should be offered in all school systems. This program would insure that there will always be teachers available to fill open positions. There probably will be some glitches but this is a new idea and it should be evaluated here in Pittsfield. The benefits for the community will be vast and this program should be looked into by the pittsfield public schools.this could be the answer we are looking for as I see huge benefits all around for all involved in the public schools and taxpayers also. Let’s order the school system to get involved and check this program out and report to the kapanskis asap I as a innovator myself am very interested in this program. Innovation should always be looked at.There is nothing to lose and it will keep the schools administrators busy working at least some hours during the day.may be we could come up with a plan of our own based on the principles of this program.
Are you running for School Committee or Ward 6?
NPR is Marxist.
No, it would leave them underqualified.
Foot note the beauty of this program is the fact that the student teacher will not be bogged down with useless Ed courses which burden the student with trash which they will never use
A good high school education would be very sufficient and eliminating these fluff courses will allow the student to dedicate nearly all his or her time to studying content they will need when they start their teaching careers. This could be a win win for all involved. Let’s think about this.
Good concept if the woke Marxist bullshit is kept out of the process
This does not sound bad but is it really a result of how hard it is to recruit teachers in today’s environment?
Because if people do not want to teach because of all the horseshit involved with gangs in schools, drugged up students who get violent, kids who have little or no real upbringing and show no respect for the teachers, the goddamn phones, and trying to teach courses with half the class not being able to understand English, I don’t think your idea will really help that much.
Make schools safe for teachers and eliminate all the obstacles that make the job so unrewarding. Why would anyone want to put themselves through day after day or babysitting a bunch of pampered whiny brats and go home miserable? Less and less and less people want this degrading experience and I do not blame them one bit.
NAiled it.
Country Buffet should have been booted out of town when she sent her kid to school out of district.
People need to pay attention when a politician says one thing and does another. Country, as a once Pittsfield school teacher, knows just how lacking the Pittsfield schools are. She certainly did not want this experience for her own child but felt it was good enough for other peoples children.
Much like the mayor of Pittsfield who feels that while living in the Pittsfield inner city is good enough for her constituency, she is having no part of that herself. Having access to detailed crime information she opted to make sure she was as far away from her city as possible and still maintain the residency requirement to be mayor.
Just proves that the choices most politicians and others in the power circle make are not for them – but for everyone else.
Did they have a tuck contest?
Classism in Public Education video on YouTube:
(1) Classism In Public Education – YouTube
What defines a class?
Mayor Linda Tyer & her multimillionaire CPA third husband are: American Rich.
Social class in the United States – Wikipedia
Barry Clairmont’s second wife Linda Tyer wears a: White collar.
She lives in a: Gold collar – Gated Community – neighborhood within a few feet from the Hancock border.
Designation of workers by collar color – Wikipedia
Tricia Farley-Bouvier wants to legalize sex workers who wear a: Scarlet collar.
Answer is: class is an indistinct stratification marker. It does not convey permanence such as caste or aristocracy, the distinction from one to another is imprecise (upper middle class vs lower versus rich has no real boundary), it is not necessarily tied to wealth (land rich – cash poor Appalachia), behavior (lottery winners versus old money), or opportunity.
The definition for class, Wikipedia notwithstanding, being the playground of academic laziness, eludes the field of sociology and even the Marxist departments anywhere have yet to define it. It is a useful term for stirring up emotional states and bad legislation such as the ‘Millionaires Tax.’
There are broad models for social stratification, good luck making use of them. Economic analysis tends to be of greater value.
There is no gated community near Hancock.
Is this woke semi Marxist crap?
FROM IBERKSHIRES
“One of the things I love the most about Pittsfield is the spirit of collaboration,” Mayor Linda Tyer said in a video message.
“There are a variety of instances and residences and businesses and nonprofits that all come together for a common cause of making this city the best place to live, work, and visit. Downtown Pittsfield is a great example of what collaboration can achieve.”
She reported that the Beacon Cinema in April experienced its highest attendance since opening with more than 47,000 moviegoers and is expecting to welcome a record-breaking 179,000 this year.
Snark……. Are these numbers realistic? And if so, why is this guy getting tax breaks because if you multiply the cost of a ticket by these numbers, uh, don’t seem like he needs em as much as the seniors on fixed incomes.
Trump will be indicted for espionage and insurection and his only hope is he must be elected President to become the Authoritarian Trump to rule America and you MAGAs are going to help him overcome democracy.Fools always rule because they tell you what you should fear…listen to Pat and Trapper and you will see the brain fully washed by Rush Shaun and FOX/ PUTIN