FOR TYER, SCHOOL’s OUT … FOR MAZZEO, IT’S ‘BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET’
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, DATE, 2019) — There’s a brain-drain in the Pittsfield Public Schools, and if things “stand pat,” there will be no reasonable expectation the situation will magically correct itself, not with a selfish superintendent and a MIA school committee. Supt. Jason “JIV” McCandless tried to jump out of the free-falling department and pull the ripcord, but the chute failed. He appeared in line to get a job as super of the Silver Lake School District in the state, but at the last-minute, Silver Lakers came to their senses.
“Mrs. Quimby,” a source at Mercer (PSD’s headquarters), told THE PLANET JIV “made it to the final two or three.” Silver Lake then did “extensive research” JIV not just as head of Pittsfield schools but also his time in Lee. What they found, she said, “scared them away.” We wonder how can we say ‘Goodbye’ to JIV if he doesn’t leave?
The brain drain refers to (a) the hemorrhaging of many of the best students to other districts (cost to taxpayers $5 million) and (b) the exodus of teachers. It’s near-impossible to get an official number, but the one being batted about is 75 teachers given up the ghost. THE PLANET previously has addressed the mass migration of students. We have not talked about why so many teachers are leaving. In response to a reader suggestion, our Secret Squadron managed to get four recently departed teachers to speak with us. They did not want names used citing citing concerns about retribution from city hall and Mercer.
Stop right there. What does that tell you about the state of the state in our beloved city?
THE PLANET‘s exit interviews were with the four horsewomen: H1, H2, H3, and H4. They taught in middle or high school. One of the challenges about writing this was to find the best way to present the contents of nearly 10 hours of interviews. We decided on a digest, sprinkled in with some direct quotes.
The first surprise: Why they DIDN’T leave. They didn’t leave because of money. All agreed the compensation package is “fair enough.” State DOE figures show the average remuneration for a Pittsfield teacher exceeds $88,000 a year. So why DID they leave?
They cited:
- Overwork — This included excessive paperwork and the “draining bureaucratic nonsense.” This ate up time and energy better used in the classroom and lesson prep.
- Unsupportive administration — Administrators did not have their backs. When they were wrongly accused by a parent or student, for example, the administration would back the accuser sight unseen. Reprimands were “political” and usually led to being “written up.” H2 told a story of asking a question in class and calling on a student. Some other student complained. The principal admonished H2, saying the proper way is to ask the question and then let the students discuss it among themselves. Period. Hard and fast rule. No exceptions. THE PLANET asks: How stupid is that, and who comes up with these rules?
- Undervalued — The administration’s political nature means if you get promoted to Rug Row, too often it’s not what but who you know. Pet teachers were golden. Those without administrative blessings were targeted and harassed.
- Parents — Universally cited. Too often, punk students would complain to parents, who would then charge the principal’s office. The principal would a priori take the brat’s side. H1 had a kid kick her and call her “a fucking cunt” in the classroom in front of 17 other students. The administration told H1 to be “more sympathetic” because the student came from a “troubled home.” H4 tried to enforce the district policy on smart phones in class. She, too, felt parental wrath and got written up by the administration.
- Scapegoating — The feeling that “all social problems are being dumped on us.”
- Social Media — The district policy on smart phones is routinely ignored. Kids rule the classroom.
- Cookie Cutter — All four felt camped in teaching their classes. The district, they said, “crushes individuality” in teaching styles with too much insistence on boiler-plate lessons.
- Curriculum — Each lamented not having any input in curriculum.
- School Committee — THE PLANET found unanimous consent among teachers about the school committee’s lack of presence. They were derided as “politicians” unconcerned about the educational welfare of students.
- Burnout — Overwork, undervalued, and being thrown under the bus buy your boss. No mystery there.
- Teaching to the Test — Student performance is based on district scores, leading to “narrow” classroom teaching. All the women cited the enormous pressure from administration to produce inflated test scores “by whatever means.”
Noe of this is good. Within this framework, it’s enlightening to see the contrast in mayoral candidates incumbent Linda Tyer and challenger Melissa Mazzeo.
Mazzeo is the only one to issue a position paper exclusively devoted to schools. In it, she said: “At last Tuesday (10/15) Educators’ Debate the topic of recruiting and retaining teachers came up. This debate discussion was followed up by the Pittsfield School Committee’s discussion over the alarming trend of teachers leaving the district, even after the start of school. Over half of the 2019/2020 school year’s new teacher hires are on waivers. Being on a waiver means the teacher has no formal teacher training and [is] not fully credentialed.” Mazzeo said “As Mayor, it will be among my highest priorities to fully understand this disturbing trend and correct it.” Mazzeo said as mayor she would “create a Cabinet of Teachers and Principals. The cabinet will initially meet monthly to discuss all matters facing schools on a day-to-day basis. I will use these discussions — these first hand accounts — as a way to guide leadership in supporting the educators on the front lines.”
Mazzeo also brought up the need for the school committee to be regular participants in the schools. She stated, “School Committee members need to be present. They should be recognizable faces to the teachers and school staff Committee members must be in the school, witnessing how their votes and decisions are affecting educators and in turn children.”
THE PLANET searched the Tyer and Mazzeo campaign websites. Tyer had nothing on schools or education. Mazzeo had a section on “Schools” on her “Issues” page. She writes:
SCHOOLS
Next let’s talk schools. Similar to our high quality police officers in Pittsfield we also have high quality educators. That said, why are there currently 5 schools falling into corrective action by the state? Could it be that so many of our teachers are leaving in record numbers for other districts? And why are this city’s valued educators leaving in mass exodus? I deeply believe that we need to let our teachers teach and the only way we can do that is for the mayor’s office to directly interact with groups of teachers to better understand their needs and create programs that are teacher-friendly and teacher and principal-centric.
1) The School Committee needs to go into the schools at least once a month to meet with teachers;
2) I will create a cabinet of teachers and principals that I will meet with once a month for a roundtable discussion with the central administration to make certain that resources are being well-managed within the schools.
What I have observed is a growing administration and a lessening of valuable resources going directly into the schools. What I hear from teachers and principals is far too much time spent needing to adhere to rules set by a burgeoning administration rather than understanding the nuances and unique needs of each and every school and their children. Again, my mantra is budget, budget, budget. How are tax dollars being spent that provide the one essential we as a city must demand…teach our children in optimal learning environments. And I want to say something very important to you about my interest in the budget. Mayor Tyer and her team are making statements that my interest in the budget will result in the dismissal of police, firemen, and teachers. That is absurd. Given that we are under-staffed in the police department and we have teachers leaving in droves, what Administration in their right mind would let these invaluable employees go? Shame on the Tyer campaign for, again, reverting to spreading falsehoods and going negative.
THE PLANET leaves it to you, dear readers, to make up your own mind about who is being more responsive to what is a crisis of confidence on perhaps the most vital city department.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
“I’m the Burning Bush, I’m the burning fire, I’m a bleeding volcano” — The Rolling Stones, “I’m So Hot for You.”
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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I have long supported the lovely Linda Tyer in Pittsfield politics. She believes in good public schools, and she sincerely cares about the neediest students. I still say that Mayor Linda Tyer inherited a mess! Pittsfield public school system has always been about “Pittsfield politics” instead of educating children. The bureaucracy is totally political instead of educational. With Pittsfield politics, you have to kiss the powerbrokers’ dirty behinds if you don’t want to be an outsider. I guess it is the same everywhere else, too. But, to “blame Linda” is unfair and myopic!
The Tyer problem is just that we hit the ty tipping last year as it is acknowledged that elementary schools on the whole are good.Grades 6 to 8 are out of control and not to be rude but the Mayor and School Committee did not have a clue.Its not their fault because the administration gave lip service to how hard they work. Mazzeo is more likely to get them to be truthful about the state of our two junior high schools and high schools.The problem of not backing staff is huge.It does go back to Eberwien and Massimiano and the millions they wasted to end up right where we are.Money is not the answer.Raising taxes is not the answer. Crosby and Allendale are sick buildings.Time for a 5 year plan to consolidate putting more talent under one roof.The cost savings will be in less maintenance of rundown buildings.How many high school studets can work from home ?
Like the Stones quote at the end man DV you are on fire!! Great column on schools and difference between no-show Tyer and go-go Mazzeo.
The last four years of Tyer has been a display of disfunction. If she is allowing special interests to make key decisions for her, and they blow up in her face, she is still responsible. But her failure to be more involved in the schools is inexcusable. For me, this one issue alone is reason NOT to vote for her.
Dan, great reporting. The kind we don’t get from main stream media. How about some truth in numbers from a Fellow Z agent t or gumshoe? A couple columns back someone posted, without stating source, that there were over 500 students choiceing out at 5,000 a pop, for a net loss of over 400 after adding back kids choicing in, for a 2+ million dollars per year hit to The Kapanskis, despite the bs that a new high school would fix that. That’s a whole lotta shotspotters that could be bought, or even real cops. How about some truth about the new high school we couldn’t afford and didn’t need tax surcharge? How about the Fiscal year 2020 tax assessments? 2020 tax rates? All this is kept quiet on purpose. How about the school policies get posted so we can see them? What is the restorative justice policy Tyers in love with? What is the cell phone policy? What specifically and hypothetically of course, because you know they’ll are gonna say it didn’t happen, is supposed to happen to a student who calls a teacher a Cee U Next Tueasday (CUNT) in front of the class? If I make a public records request for this super secret squirrel spit, the GOBSIGs will hem and haw me to death, and then raise my taxes.
Tyer has turned into an outta touch elitist, a gold card carrying member of the Pittsfield GOBSIGs club. Dynamic, vibrant, and collaborative, she sent out 5 big glossy cardboard campaign flyers full of mistruths, half-truths, and some outright lies. She campaigned on crime first time around, relentlessly. She hardly mentioned it in her state of the city address halfway through her term, but she bragged about great schools and restorative justice. It’s worse now and so are the schools, than when she took over, despite all her efforts, and literally millions more for the police and schools. As fellow poster Hung Wang would say, sum tin wrong here. She has raised your taxes by hundreds of dollars, and your water and sewer rates are tripling. She supported the community preservation tax and pickleball, and has not supported using the marijuana money for a new police station. She gave millions to the GOBSIG connected special interests, and tried to give away more for free home improvements to the layabouts, and the expense of The Kapanskis,who can barely keep up with the escalating taxes. She allowed city letterhead to be used to send letters to homeowners requesting entry into their home, without telling them up front that this was optional. She’s all for anything that costs money and looks good, like the TyerTrash cans, and dozens of new and unneeded school jobs. Her campaign theme songs should be Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple, and Mirrors, by Justin Timberlake, because she’s all smoke and mirrors,all show and no dough as they say, although she sure likes to spend ours. Despite her failings, she’s a real niceperson and her heart’s in the right place, and she has campaigned like crazy. Not sure why she wants the job so much, but she seems to want it the most. Must be the pension, or the GOBSIGs want her to spend the rest of the GEmoney. The advantage always goes to the incumbent, with the free photo ops and what not, and the 400 some new jobs lie, as well as all the handouts given and nice contracts to The Big 3. Despite Mz. Mazzeo finally telling it like it is, with he rwriting Dan about the city needing an intervention, I fear it’s a little too little, to late, as the song says, and I predict The Lovely Linda wins by a progressive cats’ whisker. It is my sincere hope that if she does barely get in, her take home message will be that she needs to become a people’s mayor, not a special interest one. I fear she will circle the wagons, and the next 4 years will be an even more violent and virulent screwing.
SallySays, don’t you mean an even more vibrant and dynamic screwing???
According to my research, which may be wrong, there are over 18,000 family homes in Pittsfield, and therefore, according to the numbers Tyer gave Dan, that 150 homes went down in value, and 85 went down 9,000 or more, for fy 2019 assessments, Tyer’s home was in the 1.5 % of homes than went down in value, and the .85% of homes that went down $9,000 or more. Nice to be a 1 percenter. Too bad she didn’t include that stat in her response to Dan.
Not sure why Tyler didn’t use the Beacon embezzlement money herself and just BUY every residence in Pittsfield. She might be able to have achieved that objective with the 40 million dollars. Then she and Barry could be our feudal overlords. Lady and Lord Tyer.
And Mazzeo and Tyer could joust on North St. Moon and Persip could be the fools. I really think our local government let us down with a lack of imagination.
School’s Out by Alice Cooper Song Lyrics, another song for Tyer campaign
Well we got no choice
All the girls and boys
Makin’ all that noise
‘Cause they found new toys
Well we can’t salute ya can’t find a flag
If that don’t suit ya that’s a drag
School’s out for summer
School’s out forever
School’s been blown to pieces
No more pencils no more books
No more teacher’s dirty looks yeah
Well we got no class
And we got no principals
And we got no innocence
We can’t even think of a word that rhymes
School’s out for summer
School’s out forever
My school’s been blown to pieces
No more pencils no more books
No more teacher’s dirty looks
Out for summer
Out till fall
We might not come back at all
School’s out forever
School’s out for summer
School’s out with fever
School’s out completely
Whattdayaknow, the Lee and lenox schools need a super and McCandles wants to jump ship but stay around Berkshires. Let’s hope he proposes a dual superintendency running Lee and Lenox, and we can be rid of him. His candles’s burned about out here. I’m sure Tyer will give him a flaming good recommendation..
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/lee-on-cusp-of-appointing-past-leader-to-interim-school-chief-post,588694
Downside is that a ton of Pittsfield kids have opted into the Lenox and Lee school systems
You mean, the smart and capable students who’s family has the mobility to get them to Lee and Lenox. Any parent in their right mind would find a way to keep their kid out of Pittsfield schools. It is not a point of community pride, it is understanding that High School matriculation has a substantive impact on college acceptance and thus the economic ladder.
There will always be examples of kids that defied odds and go to outstanding colleges out of school districts like PPS. The reality is that aside from those success stories, PPS is losing money, kids, teacher talent, and credibility.
One of my kids goes to a private college on an 80% scholarship and the other has their pick of free rides. Never would I have let either attend PPS.
The word you want here, Shakes, is “whose.”
Correct everyone’s grammar or are you just obsessed with me?
Great Job Dan V. With such exceptional benefits and pay, the teachers are leaving in droves because of administration always siding with students and/or parents which leaves them feeling extremely unsupported. Also students ruling the classrooms and overwork were the major reasons for the mass exodus of teachers. Exit interviews are supposed to be used to improve the circumstances that are causing teachers to leave their jobs. The superintendent and school committee know why teachers are leaving, so why are they not addressing the problems? All we hear is that more money is needed to keep the teachers in the schools, but these interviews with former teachers prove that more money will not solve the problems.
Teachers should not call on individual students in a classroom, but instead it needs to be a group call out? That is ridiculous. The obvious reason for calling out questions to individual students is that it keeps students alert and not daydreaming in the classroom. If the student anticipates being called on, they are much more likely to pay attention in class.
Lack of support for teachers being sworn at and physically attacked in the classroom would be a major reason for any teacher to reconsider working for this particular school system. The overall pattern is one of coddling the students and parents. Also, because the students come from bad home situations, students need to be treated differently? Bad behavior needs to be excused? If kids are not being taught to be respectful of others at home, I think they should be taught that this type of behavior is not acceptable in the classroom. Letting the kids rule the classrooms is what is happening in the Pittsfield schools. These former teachers are describing an environment that doesn’t support getting a good education.
When parents allow children to rule the home the same attitude follows to school. The decline of parenting children and treating them as friends has contributed to many issues these schools face today. The more the federal, state & local government got involved over the years in raising your children right in your home is when things started going downhill.
Frankly, while I admire Ms. Mazzo’s enthusiasm, she is WAY out or her Lane on this. It sounds like she is running for mayor AND superintendent. Clearly there are superintendent problems, but her being elected mayor does not make her superintendent too. He answers to the school committee. They are the ones that need to get religion kn these issues and hold his feet to the fire. Mazzeo simply cannot, by law, set up a shadow superintendent office to do the things she says. It sort of shows her ignorance of the functioning of the mayor’s office.
Well then obviously, based on the pathetic school performance and teachers bailing, the school committee is not doing THEIR job. So what do you do then? I know. A mayor could step in as it is her city and bad schools effect everyone.
You are exactly correct Mr. Absurd . The SC needs to stop being complacent cheerleaders, hold the superintendent accountable
She will make the department of schools nervous.She will ask Mrs Behnke why she has 6 more people tha the mayor does. Superintendant Behnke will have to answer real questions from Mazzeo which we all know can be tough on somebody keeping the cash books.I think Mazzeo might get department heads away from their desks. Principles need to walk their buildings and support teachers not hide in their office.They all hide in their office. Also any teacher not supported by a principle should get a hearing from the school committee if they desire.These schools can be fixed.Pull the school disuption kids .Give those kids to councilor moon at the courthouse to be restored.
TSC
Yes, assoc. supt. Kristen Behnke has ten, count ’em 10, underlings. Seven could be cut and, assuming the remaining three were good at the job, no one would break a sweat.
The right tone hasn’t been set in those schools for years. What I read above says we have a leadership problem, on top of a teaching problem.
I don’t care much about waivers, personally, because most teaching schools locally (MCLA, St Rose) allow any bozo in who can pay and no one ever fails out so you graduate with a worthless degree. That doesn’t mean you can’t have intelligent graduates from MCLA or St Rose but they are usually lower teacher achievers themselves, not bright. A teaching certificate from either place is essentially useless. I would rather see a bright grad from a decent University be employed and then they can do the teacher Union rubber stamp.
Also, the parents are a big problem. But the suggestion that these are the poor inner black parents calling up and getting involved is farcical. They are not involved parents, it’s the middle class Pittsfield locals that have their precious Janes and Johnnys. You see it at little league, the near cost fights over nonsense.
Reading from above and from experience I also know disciple is not enforced consistently. A parent might be irate if X happens 5 days a week but only their kid is told off.
Fire the lousy administrators. Mazzeo is a big talker but has rubber stamped everything all along. Sad!
“we have a leadership problem”- Yup you got it! ON all levels!
Tyer can’t take on the teachers. Too many votes. JOB #1 of all elected officials is to get re-elected.
That starts the first day in office. Her re-election campaign began 4 years ago.
Don’t worry many city employees live out of town.
Trust me… I am the reason a lot of teachers are leaving. I have all the data to prove it too!
Once the racism is taken out of math , everything will be alright within the school systems once again.
Interesting, I wonder If Mayoral Candidate Mazzeo can comment on her family’s experiences, especially high school, with Pittsfield Public Schools? Those experiences should be very valuable in her quest to overhaul the school department.
And then can we get a list of all the other parents to see who they are? Police, politicians, and bankers but mostly school personnel who see the imploding system right before their eyes?
Maybe we should ask Linda Tyer who doesn’t even have any children…
How many kids does Tyer have in the High School?
Tyer has no kids of her own
Dan, really like the changes. Great job!
Great job on this article. Really proves what I have been thinking the problem was. Time for McCandass to go. He states one day that he feels it is time to leave, then does not get the job and changes his mind. There are not too many employers that would put up with this type of mentality! Most employers would say take a hike!
This is a bit off subject but I have noticed that Lovely Linda’s right hand woman Roberta McCullough-Dews has turned into a major Tyer Troll on many Social Media sites. Are not the taxpayers paying her salary? Would it not be a better use of tax payers money for her to be helping Lovely Linda clear some of the backlogged unanswered or filed petitions off Lovely Linda’s desk! Then again maybe Bare Bare or Jimmy Boy Ruberto told her not too! At least if Melissa becomes Mayor her husband won’t treating her like a puppet, because she has a mind of her own.
A city employee on facebook in city hall while on the clock commenting on posts is hilarious to me. Maybe it’s just me but I’m pretty sure she should be working not trolling the sites.. she’s so far up linda’s ass it’s disgusting. Can’t forget the wonderful Mr.Dews on facebook live & commenting while driving to work. Mr and Mrs. Dews.. more like Mr. and Mrs.Doomed
That is funny!
Isn’t that campaigning on city time.
? Illegal and unethical.
It wold appear to be, but when are the rules and regs ever enforced on the Chosen Ones?
You are correct Merry. Roberta is constantly “correcting the record” on Facebook posts. Of course her corrections are always a spin of the truth.
Appreciate the nod, M&B.
For the school department – A failing report card, a big F – 36% out of 100% for the Pittsfield Schools
http://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/2018/DistrictReportcard/02360000
Cultural Competency gets lots of attention though:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I8Wspyb09XBATVPniYzmLuuGAtYXRVmgQxaDGc-tqmA/edit
Polices and Rules:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SCvUAqOGfCN5l4ADpaWu8WvxieQ0JSZhrvE8o8SNX4M/edit
Sorry Mr. G but you are wrong. Every employee of the City is accountable to the Mayor. He/she is in charge of everything, certainly the schools considering how much taxpayer they get.
Hey X, you may be right. My time on School Committee has not been in a city district so I suppose the rules could be different. But DESE rules and regs are a complicated morass.
I would also add, X, that the mayor is an ex-officio member of that very committee. This gives her a dual role: As head of all city departments and as a voting member of the committee. She has failed on both counts.
As I was listening to Terry Kinnas talking about the partisan political add that Tyer sent out and It found it very disturbing. One of the photos shows a Peter White advocating for the Mayor. So, on a whim I see last year White received a big campaign donation from one Barry Clairmont. To say the least I thought it not ironic that White voted almost exclusively on every proposal that the current Mayor brought forward with he last three years.It’s one thing to support a party’s affiliation, but another to be downright bought by the Mayors spouse. I will Vote against White and the current Mayor. Why, because like the Planet I will not be bought and will Not’ vote for candidates who do Not’ truly represent the citizens. It just time for a change.
I couldn’t agree more, Landon. White, Persip & Marchetti ( the three amigos featured on the back of one of Tyer’s fliers) have to be voted out.
Looks like the Tyer crowd is bombing us with negatives in the thumbs down. One of her supporters called this site a derogatory name on the 411 so they are ready to swarm the opposition every way they can.
According to the 411 Dan publishing Tyer’s address will result in someone obtaining a firearm and harming her. I’m glad they think Linda is THAT important. Tyer’s trolls are the worst around, same bs on every post.. do any of them work ( we already know Dews doesn’t), they’re not upset about the valuations so I assume they’re in their parents basements still. Tyer’s biggest accomplishment is the trash cans on Tyler st… can’t wait to see her end up there after Tuesday. Tyerstrash has a nice ring to it
THE PLANET heard about the 411 controversy. We will have something to say about this prior to the election.Keep following THE PLANET. We shall be daily (Th, F, M, Tues, W) for the next five weekdays.
Isn’t everyone ‘address on the ballot anyway?
They must be afraid of the truth.
Barrie spreads his money around like a drunken sailor. Most of his ideas are passé or irrelevant in today’s world. He may buy certain candidates but THE Planet’ can’t be bought. J Lo-Barry you don’t have any class and you can’t buy that either. Tom Bowler,has class.
Ol’ Ichy here has already told you what goes on in pub school–been there and done that, so no surprises from the long-gone girls.
As I have said before, this is the case in EVERY . . . SINGLE . . . PUB . . . SCHOOL . . . DISTRICT . . . IN . . . THE . . . NATION.
Pub school is pub school.
And since this so, I’d suspect that the real reason for leaving PSD is fear of loss of life or injury to person, because all the other stuff is de rigueur across the land.
One story should suffice from middle school.
I used to play a simple game in class–kids actually loved it. Groups of four or five. Winner at each group would get a prize–the coveted BlowPop.
Well, I eventually caught on (I may be a bit slow, but I ain’t punchy) that two in a group would collude (nothing to do with Russia) to say there was a tie and thus each receive the cherished sucker.
So the default prize for a “tie” was a Smartie to each to discourage such fixing.
So a kid who was having trouble in the class actually was able to learn the minimum in order to gain a tie (but failed miserably the quiz that the game was prep for).
I awarded both a Smartie.
Stay with me here.
So after the next faculty meeting, I was called into the Star Chamber of principal and ass. principal.
“Mr. Crane, we understand that you awarded Snot-Dripper a Smartie instead of a BlowPop.”
“Yes.” And so I explained.
Seems the mother of Snot-Dripper had called the principal and complained that the kid had won the game but received a Smartie, while all other winners received a BlowPop. And, he failed the quiz (22%) even though he won the game in his group.
I am NOT kidding.
What’s f’ed up is
1. That the mother actually called the principal on this;
2. That the principal actually took this seriously enough to pursue it and interrogate the teacher.
You can extrapolate from there.
I shit you not, my friends.
ICKY
Amazing story and sad that it doesn’t surprise. While this is oft repeated in many public school systems in the country, not all of them are like Pittsfield. Check out the P.S. systems that have gone with uniforms and got serious about discipline. You will find an invariably better academic performance.
As someone who left the Pittsfield district several years ago, I concur regarding lack of administrative support against whining parents. I come support evidence of student plagiarism yet principal sided with parents. These were AP students. I was disgusted with the principal after this. Never had any respect for him afterwards.
Thanks ROCK for the witness.
Let me guess ……the boob currently running Taconic?
One thing is clear,the female Ruberto is full of mistruth’s. And Please, send this J Lo down the road November 5. Pat Kavey is going to make Ward Five proud.
And Lease. Tell Bill Sturgeon his show is awful,he is awful as a host and maybe see if he can stop bootlicking John Barrett and Jimmy Ruberto Boots. Have some class Bill. Those two are small town politicians. One couldn’t even help save his alma mata, St Joes,the other scratched tickets for a living while being Mayor of North Adams and the one that stands out with Barrett was the con-job he pulled on a Firefighter and not giving him his disability.
Ole Bill is the king of all Berkshire media.
At the beginning of the school year, the school department released the 2019 Code of Conduct. Two years went into this document, and it was crafted mostly by the school department administration with the help of some parents and teachers. The day it was distributed, there was a “pat on the back” party at Taconic.
After reading the document in its entirety, its a solid plan considering that rules of engagement are not an option. i.e., cannot physically restrain the kids. The plan proposes to get all this behavioral stuff under control- the question is, do they have the leadership to pull it off? Probably not. That is glaringly clear. If one were to research turning schools around, one would find out that it takes a strong leader — one who has a vision and a backbone to implement it — otherwise, no buy-in from staff, educators, and students.
The school system is in this position because they have allowed themselves to be pushed around by parents that are not willing to parent. Administrators who bully teachers. Unions who bully administrators. Teachers who do not want to teach or lack qualifications. The ones who do wish to make a difference are trapped or leave. The change of rules and regulations that replace discipline with “no child left behind” mentality leaves the administration running scared at the thought of a lawsuit. The School Committee is entirely out of touch with reality. The inmates run the prison.
Several insiders have stated that certain very high up admins rule with an Iron fist and have no clue what they are doing. They use fear to intimidate and control. The same trusted insiders have said other things that I will not write.
As far as “any” mayoral influence with the school department, there are some serious doubts that either have the necessary tools or education to be able to straighten this mess out. The mayor may control the budget, but to publicly try and hold any educational budget hostage would be a public lynching, and the PPS knows this. People have stated that the opponent sends her kid to private school. Although I do not think it helps her case when it comes to saying they will straighten out the school department, I think so be it. She obviously can afford it and when looking at this mess who could blame then.
The bottom line is that it is a very hostile environment. The story is a familiar one heard over and over. What is confounding is that all these highly educated people cannot figure this out. Doctorates and Masters degree’s and years of experience, and the number one problem is behavioral. Not just lousy behavior of some of the students, but many of those in charge of them.
With election day next Tuesday, the mayor’s race in Pittsfield is proving to be the most expensive of a half-dozen contests across western Massachusetts.
As of mid-October, Mayor Linda Tyer and challenger Melissa Mazzeo had combined to spend more than $89,000 so far this year. Each candidate had gone through about the same amount of just more than $44,000.
That’s according to the most recent campaign finance records filed with the state.
The total is nearly 40% more than Tyer and then-Mayor Dan Bianchi spent at a similar point during the last election. The combined total then was nearly $55,000.
Final campaign finance totals for each of these races will be available in early 2020, after candidates file their year-end reports.
Source: “Mayoral Race In Pittsfield Most Expensive In Western Mass.” By Adam Frenier, New England Public Radio, October 29, 2019
Someone must want the incumbent in awful bad,that’s what that tells me. Primary was a big tell. Maz won keys precincts and close in others. It comes down to this J Mel. Tyer hasn’t done the job.
So this blog is essentially just another platform for Mazzeo to get her empty campaign some type of…life? Lord knows it needs whatever it can get.