AFTER RUINING THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SOCOHL COMMITTEE DESERVES THE BOOT, NOT A PAY RAISE
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 4-6, 2025) — THE PLANET looks at the current situation of Bithfield public schools:
- Level-5 “achievement”
- 90% of students unable to read or write at grade level
- Unprecedented levels of scandal
- Said report on scandalous allegations will be kept hidden from the public
- Parents of good, smart kids exasperated by “inclusion” classrooms
- Rising costs, sinking performance
- Problems with classroom discipline
- Weak, politically-correct curricula
We could go on.
Give this sad state, we pose this question: Does the school committee deserve a raise?
City councilors Ken “Juicy” Warren and Sleepy Jim Conant the Barbarian think so. The two woke up, the first from fantasyland and the second from a sound sleep, calling for the SOCOHL committee to be rewarded for this incompetence.
It’s so Bitchfield, isn’t it.
Juicy really topped himself on this one. First, he made the statement that members of the SLOOCH committee make “less than half” of what councilors make. Let’s crunch the numbers. Councilors receive $8,000 ($10Gs for prez). SOLOHC committee-ites make $4,000. Juicy thinks $4K is “less than half” of $8K! Clearly, a devotee of Bitchfield’s odd form of math. Second, he smeared every person ever to sit on the SOCLOH committee by saying “you get what you pay for.” Next, Juicy said that “even if we double … the pay for six of them, it will only be $25,000.” Juicy thinks 6 times 4 is 24. And doncha like the “only” part of “only $25,000,” which goes to prove that the bums think its THEIR money, not yours.
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Juicy really topped himself on this one.
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You might recall that in February, the council’s O&R subcommittee recommended not to approve the request. That might sound like a win for Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski until you realize the set up. O&R’s vote was with the full understanding that it would refer the measure not back to the full council but to the Charter Review Committee. Nice dodge, that. O&R pulls a little “Profiles in Courage” all the while knowing the CRC will be granting the increases.
From the first day of the city’s birth in 1891 to 2015, the SLHCOO committee served without pay. Since being paid, in a mere 10 years, the Unmagnificent Seven managed to take schools into the gutter. Cause and effect? Or just another of those “Bitchfield Coincidences?”
———- ooo ———-
Asked to comment, Sleepy Jim said, “ZZzzzzzzzz.”
Alisa Costa-Plenty at-large said. “I’m a big proponent of getting more people to run against me.” At large. Big. Pass the cupcakes.
Ward 3’s Matt Wrinn-Tin Tin said the money grab “definitely should be heard.” In the land of mindless advice, the deaf are king.
Dumpster Earl Persip “I think most of us spend more money going to events than actually what we take in from our salaries doing this.” Right. They’re all going broke robbing taxpayers blind. The extra money? “A drop in the bucket.” Again. HIS bucket, not yours.
Ward 6 Councilor Dizzy Dina Lampiasi said lack of candidates and low turnout are signs that something is broken in the system. Mighty perceptive of Ol Diz. Yeah, it’s broken, and she helped break it.
And all the while mayor Lumpy wonders where the yellow went.
THE PLANET has seen many a harebrained notions, but a pay hike for the SOLHOC committee might top them all.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
————————————————————
“The government solution to a problem is usually a bad solution to a problem” — Milton Friedman.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
Copyright (c) 2025 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.
The Kapanskis are an ATM for the career politicians to vote themselves public pay raises.
The 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics pounds people’s purses. Predictable Pittsfield politics will increase municipal spending to record high levels in the city’s fiscal year 2026 operating budget that begins on July 01st, 2025.
It is a Pete White-wash, a Peter Marchetti soaking, and a Bill Cameron secrecy show that the Kapanski’s have to pay for because before death, they pay taxes for Kufflink’s to cook the books.
The federal government is cutting spending, while Pittsfield politics is heading off of the cliff (Nilan).
Jon Melle
I actually gave you a thumbs up for this post!
Pittsfield’s only economic growth is always in its excessively large underclass population.
https://www.iberkshires.com/story/78530/Pittsfield-Homeless-Count-Increases-Over-2024.html
Pittsfield’s Level 5 (failed) public school district is rated Group 11 due to poverty.
Pittsfield’s downtown – North Street – is sarcastically called “Social Services Alley” with the inner-city neighborhoods that surround North Street sarcastically called “The Ring of Poverty”.
Pittsfield’s violent crime rate has doubled the statewide average since at least 1980.
Pittsfield’s municipal finances always have record setting high operating budgets and hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal debts and unfunded liabilities.
An effective city government would NOT want the above socioeconomic and financial problems because it would NOT attract middle-class families and small businesses to invest in Pittsfield. But instead, the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics keeps on excessively spending taxpayer dollars like the city has endless cash flows.
You know what’s crazy about your post JM?
Did you realize everyone you listed there VOTES democRAT, just like YOU.
A critical thinker would see the forest through the trees.
A mind dead, democRAT, like those listed, plus Gov. Maura Healey, Michelle Wu-Han-Flu, and you, will Blame Trump (TDS) and continue the downward spiral.
If current take for Sochol members is 4k, current cost is 24k. Not a lot to spend to wreck an 80 million dollar enterprise and the lives of students and parents.
Doubling is 48k. That’s something.
*Scohol – pardon my spelling.
Except minor detail – there are five mouths, not six – so much the better.
Excellent column!
Every last school committee member deserves to be kicked to the curb, not given a raise!
Where’s the transparency regarding the PHS staff issues?!
Where’s the commitment to the taxpayers in going over the school budget with a fine tooth comb?
Now they want to reorganize the middle schools and create a transportation nightmare!
And city councilors should be more concerned about being better stewards of the city’s finances, including the out-of-control school budget!
Thanks, LEN.
Your idol Don Trump has been doing his usual great work .Nothing to see here.LOL, what do you folks see besides complete failure?FOX also sees great success.WTF ….what about all those scary trans athletes?You and Putin love what stupid Don is doing.
50 years school system failures, run by democrat administrators and teachers who wereindoctrinated and educated by the same system. Colleges and followed the same path.
School choice = Republicans promoted entirely by Limbaugh Sean Hannity will Idiot Bill Bennett…its intention was to get urban white kids to suburban schools and kill the urban schools which are democratic.Your white racism conspired using Reagans welfare Queen language has peaked under another fool Trump….Its you who is indoctrinated.This is why you can so easily say racist words now that you have the slimist of a majority.
Urban democrat schools were/are a failure educating children. They have sunk even lower with DEI and woke agendas. That is the reason for school choice, parents wanting the best education for their children.
What is racist is hiring people based on ideologies and political affiliation, rather than ability education and qualifications.
PPS is a fine example. Level 5 education. Scandalous Administrators and Teachers, and drug dealers.
Big win for Trump. SCOTUS ruled DOE must defund all DEI initiatives.
Going to be layoffs a PPS.
The 1960s unwoke white man is not aware
Democrats want drag queen hour for 5 year olds, think men can breast feed and get pregnant, want tampons in the Mens room at schools.
Mental illness.
Chinese fortune cookie ‘- white flour.
Maybe try prune juice?
Just passing through ehh! Keep moving and passing gas elsewhere.
That’s the first thing out of Costa-Plenty’s mouth I agree with.
She doesn’t mean it though. Just the usual thundering. Like with councilor demanding transparency for the lawyer’s admin cover up. They demand with great noise a summarized redacted statement.
Couldn’t agree more Dan, the School Committee should not get a raise. They ramble on about He/She and Non-Binary. While our schools suffer. Absenteeism is a major issue not being addressed. According to the D.O.E site using last Yrs. numbers Pittsfield High has 25.9 absences on Avg. Taconic 23.4 . Greylock has 11.2 Lenox 11.7.You wonder why both those schools are tops in the county. Someone should be fired if they have a truancy officer, if not someone should be hired. Eliminate Dean of Students too.
So is it ok or not to overfull toters? Because Casella has been picking them up overfilled.
Don’t fall for the push on RCV (ranked choice voting) that Markey, Healey, Driscoll and state dems are touting…..
https://howiecarrshow.com/push-for-crooked-ranked-choice-voting-continues-in-ma/
Does this Administration ever get anything correct?
On the first page of the City of Pittsfield Charter Review Introduction, they can’t even spell one of the “Witnesses” correctly. To think, Sir Chas. Kronick was on the City Council for two years but they spelled his name incorrectly. Wonder how many other errors are in this 50 page document of bull crap?
As far as raises for the Scohol Committee, a big NO! After the way Cameron and Hathaway nastily spoke to the students from PHS at the last meeting, they should both be asked to step down. The whole scohol committee is clueless and that includes the Mayor.
M&B
You are so right. The document is an embarrassment.
Now that is funny! Clearly the councilors haven’t lived in Berkshire County very long.
And I merely suspected most on the Council were brain dead. They misspelled my name on the Councilor’s Office door too, but I fixed it by stealing an ‘N’ from another councilor’s name and trimming it to an ‘I’. That stuck for two years too though the kerning was suspect, saving the taxpayers labor and material monies.
Also noticed that they are going to free Affordable Housing Trust members from State Ethics restrictions by making them special municipal employees.
That’s a wrap – you no longer have a government, but just a bunch of guys spending your money.
The Charter Objection is the only way to enforce or block waiving the Mayor’s request for committee review mandated by the Council Rules. One Councilor – just one – can force the body to work a little harder as is required by the letter of the Council rules.
Removing the Charter Objection lets the Mayor avoid Council Rule #27 restricting spending. Current major spendings require a Finance Committee review. To make a deadline, the Mayor must provide time for the initial Council introduction of the request, a finance review minimum three days later, and then a final Council vote.
With your new Charter, the Mayor shall present his request a day before his deadline. His friendly Council shall waive #27 Finance Review because Friday is a drinking day and pass his request with no questions asked. (One or two will thunder about the want of time as he goes along with it.)
“The Charter Objection is the only way to enforce or block waiving the Mayor’s request for committee review mandated by the Council Rules” – paragraph 5
Edit:
The Charter Objection (CO) is the only way to enforce Council Rule 27 which requires a Finance Committee review for major spending, borrowing, or grants. The CO also blocks a Council vote to waive the committee review, which was a common request from the Tyer administration.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Warning D- Bags will be at Park Square this afternoon. They will be holding signs of dis-information. This is to protest, the closing of the border, deporting criminals, removing waste and fraud in the Government, not allowing boys to crush girls in sports and trying to end 2 Wars. Don’t engage, avoid the area, your IQ could drop by simply driving by. “No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.” Mark Twain.
They have no legitimate rational arguments to defend any of their policies. All they have is vitriol, threats, vile name calling, protest with signs calling people nazis, etc…… All emotion no
intellect.
TSC! This means you.
Zombie alert, downtown Pittsfield! The morons will be out on the streets today for the anti-Trump demonstration. I bet most will be wearing face diapers. Hopefully ICE will also be there!
Were there any fireball Tesla terrorists in attendance?
Across the Pond:
31 March 2025 | The Irish government has frozen the bank account of an Irish teacher after his continued refusal to use gender-neutral pronouns for a student at Wilson’s Hospital School.
Enoch Burke, who has spent more than 500 days in jail for refusing to comply with a court order, also had his salary payments halted. Burke attempted to withdraw funds from his Bank of Ireland account last week but found that he was unable to access his m-ney. The account reportedly holds over 40,000 euros — his personal savings from years of work. The Irish government and courts have frozen these funds and are set to seize them next week.
Burke said the Courts have also directed that the Irish Attorney General Rossa Fanning may apply to seize any other assets he may own
Dan, fear not ! Our little city is a safe space for transgender panhandlers. Why do we need education?
My life long dream is to panhandle on a four foot wide median and to be a transvestite protected by the city council and mayor Peter.
GOB
So true!
Raise your hand if you watch FOX Russian Newsand support fascist countries.
TSC
The label of “fascist” has become the hoariest of cliches, so overused that it has become meaningless the same way as “racist,” “inclusion,” “equitable,” and “diverse.” Statements and labels do not arguments make.
An online Huffpost news article states that Donald Trump uses DEI, illegal immigration, antisemitism, government fraud, waste and abuse, and the like, as pretexts to eliminate his political opposition.
The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, Elon Musk’s “techno-fascism”, Trump’s authoritarianism, and the like, is punishing dissent, and destroying democracy in favor of strong-man rule in the White House.
Trump’s weaknesses are the grassroots protests against his MAGA movement, his declining public support, his tariffs debacle, the myriad of court cases, and that the U.S.A. is a democracy.
I also wish to write that The Berkshire Eagle has blacklisted me from publishing my many letters to them for around the past 21 years now. The Eagle publishes editorials calling for government transparency, free press, and pointing out Trump’s authoritarianism, but it does not apply to my letters being published in my native hometown’s newspaper.
I am grateful that blogger Dan Valenti allows me to publish my writings on Planet Valenti. The New Hampshire Union Leader also publishes some of my writings. The Boston Herald also publishes some of my letters.
“techno-fascism”
Please define that, and explain it in terms of US government. Explain how it is a new phenomenon.
You can’t define it – I think that you made it up.
JM:
Trump’s weaknesses are the grassroots protests against his MAGA movement.
OP:
The leftist narrative is that these are grassroots efforts, but they are being carefully orchestrated well in advance.
Were the Pravda press doing their job, they would expose these facts instead of openly promoting these events. The people would know that these ‘protests’ are set up well in advance, and that many people are being paid for their
appearance.
To brain dead sheep like TSC, name calling or labeling someone an “ist” is the only hand they hold now.
TSC is trying like he!! to keep that “racist MAGA” thing going. It’s on life support TSC. Time to find something else-like maybe a policy the democRATS are going to implement to HELP AMERICANS. Not there wallets or illegal aliens.
Toss a few facts at them: Barry Obama and team illegally spied on Trumps Presidential campaign (Crossfire Hurricane), Steele Dossier, Hunter’s laptop, Jan 6, the mysterious disappearance of all those masked (Feds) “white supremacists groups” who always seemed to show up in a red area during the last election cycle but have now vanished once USAID was slashed, Xiden giving illegal aliens social security numbers/payments to allow them to ILLEGALLY vote to ensure a permanent one-party rule, etc.
I’ll get no response back. Or I’ll get horse$hit MSM talking points.
Some of the truest words ever spoken: Can’t fix stupid! Why not? Because it doesn’t think it needs to be
fixed.
And the bastards were getting Medicare by the billions of dollars and some still are.
You suggest name calling is a weak mans tactic and then you use the term Xiden? Are you not one of the folk who name call more than any others on this blog, of which there are many Maga types who do so?
Try the prune juice. It really will help you .
Quite a turnout at Park Square in Pittsfield.
https://www.wamc.org/news/2025-04-05/berkshire-demonstrators-join-nationwide-hands-off-rallies-to-protest-trumps-agenda
Please ask Bill Cameron the following question:
What is the point of an independent investigation?
Our Opinion: “The public deserves access to the full findings of Pittsfield High School investigation report”
The Berkshire Eagle, Editorial, April 06, 2025
When the independent investigation into allegations against several educators at Pittsfield High School is completed, the School Committee should swiftly make the report’s full findings publicly available. That is what’s demanded by the most basic sense of municipal transparency for a report paid for by city taxpayers, and it’s what’s owed to district families forced to endure a crisis of confidence in the administration of the county’s largest high school.
It’s concerning that the Pittsfield School Committee chairman apparently no longer holds this position. In an interview this week with WAMC Northeast Public Radio, School Committee Chairman William Cameron said he does not intend to make the findings of the PHS report public when the probe is completed.
That’s a significant about-face from December, when the School Committee retained Springfield law firm Bulkley Richardson & Gelinas for an investigation led by retired Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup. At that point, School Committee members — including Chairman Cameron — pledged transparency. During that Dec. 30 School Committee meeting, Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti (an ex officio committee member) directly asked the chairman if the report would be made public upon completion. Chairman Cameron said yes, with the exception of details which cannot be disclosed under public records laws.
Those exceptions Chairman Cameron referenced in December are understandable and commonplace for these sorts of reports. Minor redactions can and should protect sensitive private information, mitigate the spread of demonstrably false claims and insulate the district from defamation liability. But the key word should be “minor.” There is a big and critical distinction between using a scalpel for absolutely necessary redactions and using a hatchet to cut off major portions of the report’s findings from public view. Unfortunately, Chairman Cameron now seems set on the latter option, which would fail district families who deserve to know as much as reasonably possible about the controversial and possibly criminal behavior of several current and former PHS employees and the administrative environment that allowed that unacceptable situation to fester.
We’re not alone in our concern over Pittsfield citizens being denied the full facts unearthed by an investigation funded with their tax dollars. After Chairman Cameron announced his intentions to block significant portions of the PHS report from public view, several Pittsfield city councilors called for their constituents to have access to the information they deserve on the state of their school district.
The School Committee, especially Chairman Cameron, should heed the comments of At-Large Councilor Earl Persip III, who underscored why an opaque handling of this report could do more harm than good: “If you do not release the information, people will continue to question the information. There’s no reason for people to trust the process if the process isn’t open. That’s what people’s fears were in the beginning, and it’s playing out like people thought it would.”
Councilor Persip is entirely correct. The reason this investigation was necessary in the first place was because the district — including the people’s elected representatives on the School Committee — squandered the confidence of many families who depend on a Pittsfield school system now mired in controversy. Even a district that hadn’t burned that trust would court reasonable skepticism by veiling a report as important as this one. It should be entirely unacceptable for the Pittsfield School Committee to do so given the stakes and status quo here.
We all owe it to the students we must protect and the facts we must seek to resist the ugliest urges that rage and indignation provoke. That means not only holding the School Committee accountable for a transparent investigation but having the discipline to not prejudge that investigation and let the full fact-finding process play out.
When the School Committee first contracted with a law firm for the PHS investigation, we worried about the potential pitfalls for the final report’s transparency. We noted that this arrangement left the door open for the district to cite attorney-client privilege in order to conceal major portions of the report.
Unfortunately, Chairman Cameron is confirming our previous worries, directing the School Committee through that door of secrecy in suggesting the district is legally or ethically bound to shrouding more than it releases from the investigation’s findings. The School Committee chairman should remember that he works for the people of Pittsfield, who paid for the report the chairman wishes to obscure from their view. His instinct to protect the district should extend to students and families who deserve to know what has happened and what is going on at Pittsfield High School. That calls for more than an “executive summary” with some findings neatly curated by the School Committee or other education officials. Otherwise, what is the point of an independent investigation if the public’s view of the final report is narrowed at the discretion of a handful of district leaders?
It may require more pressure from the public and their representatives on the City Council, but School Committee Chairman Cameron should recommit to handling this report’s findings as transparently as reasonably possible. That means keeping redactions to the legally necessary minimum and letting the people of Pittsfield know the rest.
Caption: City councilors say they don’t need a full airing of what could possibly include defamatory statements, but they want to see a redacted version or an executive summary, arguing that’s required to rebuild trust and understand what might need to be corrected.
Hot air. Everyone wants to look good.
Paid protesters/Commies bussed in from out of town.
And they have no idea what they are protesting…..!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/anti-trump-protester-speechless-when-asked-why-hes/
Photos locally and nationally show mostly old white protesters. Not many young people and even fewer from the African American community. Looked to me to be mostly “professional”
protesters.
Millions of old protesters all across the country. Some in wheelchairs whining about their social security and medicare of which NONE of the deserve it. Deport all of them to El Salvador. Bunch of mothers and granpas and grandmothers. Who needs em? Maga!!!
The local signs of these “Hands off Protesters” in Pittsfield say, “If you’re not Angry You haven’t Been Paying Attention”. We were angry during the Biden years while losing thousands of dollars a month from inflation, but these same people didn’t care then. Most of these protesters are paid off. The media and Democrats are now so concerned with our financial well-being while ignoring it during the Biden years. Suddenly our legal system is a big concern for them while they looked the other way during Biden’s abuse of our justice system to attack his political enemies.
*Sarcasm* Are you writing that you are not a sympathizer for Hunter Biden’s “bad boy behavior”?
Lara Loomer caught them again……
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/geofenced-every-event-democrats-caught-staging-another-inorganic-color-revolution
50 nations have reduced their tariffs to 0 in response to Trump’s proposed tariffs….Trump won!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/863624800737630/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=2142007326232698&__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVtncNTm0_AHY1ZmmzUzKKFXMN4XA0wj7x3VZqt_tdIR61L5O72oTh3a_NG_cihfIm1RDGjY0fOcaUceIYicTX5zKGQLS1NwR_qk5V0PZyNMfaeiX4WtML-rx6S_m8KhrRKde-6Gn3Pe4mNFch0n2grjn_Sq2oVPJ9yeDDrPsLSc4tiSi7OrRAlKtliUdkQKSgK3pub3WwWaQp0gQyFtUtjLVPp-CEwRF2F_m6oq38b0GVrDGq4ndfHErHy6ZzMb5s&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R