By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2015) — Late last week, area 8th graders were schlepped off campuses. They were treated with yet another dose of politically correct social engineering, a session of “I’m OK, You’re OK, that Loser Over There Is OK, We’re All OK.” The lead photo in The Boring Broadsheet depicted a boy/girl presenting on LGBT-Bi-TransThis-That.

It was all so inclusive.

Meanwhile, our young scholars lost more hours when they could have been studying and drilling in reading, writing, and math — only they don’t drill any longer. Memorization has long been out of fashion, even though it provides marvelous discipline for later academic and life exercises.

The day before, the young scholars were let out of classrooms at 10:30 a.m. in Pittsfield so that teachers could do whatever they do when they are let out on one of the many contracted “half days.” By all credible measures, U.S. students rank appallingly low compared to the rest of the world. For example, consider this from cnycentral.com:

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As the controversy surrounding the Common Core continues, a new survey puts U.S. students far down on the list of the best.

A global education survey released Tuesday shows when it comes to math, reading and science, teens in the U.S. rank 36th in the world. Students in Shanghai are rated the best.

The results come from an assessment done last year. More than half a million students from 65 countries took a two hour test as part of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. Students in East Asian countries performed the strongest with students in the Chinese city of Shanghai doing the best. Singapore came in second in math, followed by Hong Kong.

The global exam, which was given to 15-year-olds around the world, is considered the worldwide benchmark for education ranking by country. The test measures standards in subjects like math, science and reading across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Asia and parts of the Middle East. This year, Tunisia in Africa also participated.

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In Pittsfield, despite the public schools eating up 71% of a $144 million city budget, academic performance continues to decline. The performance has nothing to do with the bricks and mortar of buildings. What is not happening that should be happening in the schools would require a far longer and more detailed analysis than THE PLANET will supply today.

The essential point is that tomorrow, the Pittsfield City Council will vote on whether or not to approve borrowing of what is advertised as $120.8 million to build a new Taconic High School. By the time you add up all the non-reimbursable costs, including a blank check taxpayers will be required for removal of PCBs on the construction site, the project will likely come in closer $200 million. The cost of financing the bonds alone will set taxpayers back about $3 million a year.

Legality of Council Vote in Question

The council needs 8 or more votes to approve the plan. THE PLANET has already questioned the ability of three councilors (Krol, Amuso, and Mazzeo) to vote because they retain dual membership of the agency requesting the money (the SBNC) and the one that will approve or disapprove the funding (city council). You can’t sit on both.

Nonetheless, they will all vote on Tuesday. The best possible vote for councilors to make is to reject the project outright. That would involve four negative votes against this foolhardy expense. Are there at least four forward thinkers on this council, four independent types, four with the backbone and integrity to cast their lot, for once, with The Little Guy? A vote against the ruinous borrowing will be a vote for We The People. A vote in favor of this spending will be a slap in the face to taxpayers and citizens. 

All along, The Suits and the Vested Interests have used subterfuge and deception to sell this project. Financials have been fudged. In place of hard data, the school department has supplied pretty pastel renderings. There has been no official, independent review of the claims being made by the Pittsfield School Department, the school committee, the superintendent, the SBNC, the architects and designers, the bonding agent, or anyone associated with the propaganda put forth.

There are a small but powerful number of insiders that stand to make a killing off this project. With $120.8 million flowing and the usual lack of oversight and accountability you find in city business as a whole, THE PLANET doesn’t have to draw you a map. That would be the most reasonable explanation for the zealous fervor for this excessive project.

Facts that Backers of the Project Cannot Refute

Advocates for the building of this school have not been able to refute the facts:

* Pittsfield has no real economy.

* The city has a spending problem. Expenditures far exceed income. Taxpayers have to make up the difference.

* The city continues to dole out tax breaks to connected individuals and companies. Taxpayers have to make up the difference.

* The mayor has promised and the council is certain to approve yet another round of tax hike to pay for increased spending in the FY16 budget.

* Jason “Jake” “JIV” “Man UP” MacCandless, Pittsfield school superintendent, drove a $4 million increase in department salaries, then cries that the department is in a $2 million hole. JIV makes about $200,000 (including bennies).

* Enrollment in the schools continues to drop. Since the start of the school year, enrollment is down another 100 or so, to 5,744 (source: State Department of Education website).

* More than two of every three students in the Pittsfield schools come from impoverished families. These families are headed by people who have made lousy choices for their lives, and taxpayers are expected to clean up their messes.

* Compared to state averages, Pittsfield schools have a higher dropout rate, a lower attendance rate, average more days absent per student.

* A shocking 35.5% of all Pittsfield students — 2,010 of them — are absent 10 or more days each school year.

* Chronic absence is 35% higher in Pittsfield than it is in the state.

* Unexcused absences are more than 50% higher than in the state. (Source: State DOE).

* Pittsfield’s graduation rates are lower.

* Almost 50% of students in Pittsfield schools fit into one of these categories: first language that is not English, English language learner, student with disabilities, or student with high needs.

* Despite the propaganda issued by School Department apologists on classroom size, average class size in Pittsfield according to state data is 15 students per class, 20 percent lower than the state average.

* In the school year 2013-14, almost 700 students had to be disciplined. More than 5% of the total student body had to be suspended out of school. Another 9% were given in-school suspension.

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This is happening not because of outdated buildings. It’s happening because administrators have failed to back up teachers, who have lost control of classrooms to wild, unruly, disruptive students. It’s happening because the city has given up local control to state bureaucrats, who impose curricula that do not challenge students of meet local needs. A “state of the art” campus won’t change any of that.

The Only Good Vote for the City is a “No” Vote

Rather than tell you the truth about what is happening inside Pittsfield classrooms, The Suits want to distract you. They have tried to sell you on a $200 million new school. It makes it look like they are “doing something.”

They failed in making the sale.

That is why they didn’t dare give you, the citizens who will be paying for this boondoggle for the next 28 years, a direct vote on the measure. They have been terrified since day one that citizens would get a direct vote on the project. Pittsfield needs better than that. It needs representatives who want citizens to own their government. It needs reps who have no problem letting The People, not The Politicians, decide on a nine-figure spending proposal.

Between now and tomorrow, if you’ve ever thought of contacting your councilor, you should do it now. If you ever thought of attending a council meeting, you should do it tomorrow.

If this project passes, bankruptcy is the likely outcome. Instead of being the “economic engine” its backers claim, the new school will be a sump pump that empties the city treasury and the pockets of its citizens.

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“If I laugh just a little bit, maybe I can forget about the way I feel for you, inside.” — Cat Stevens, “Maybe,” (1972).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.