10 YEARS AFTER: TAXPAYERS HAVE SPENT $$ ONE BILLION $$ ON DEFUNCT CITY SCHOOLS
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MAY 28, 2026) — It’s not just Bitchfield. It’s Taxachusetts: school districts running budget deficits covered by slamming The Kapanskis with sledgehammer tax hikes.
In Bitchfield, Mayor Lumpy’s Nirvana of the Nebbishes, not only have taxpayers been cleaned out of house and home, but they have to do so by suffering two other indignities: (1) Most of them do not have children in city schools and (2) they’re coughing up for a product and department in a death spiral.
Statewide, 236 out of 351 school districts are undergoing decreasing enrollment, including, of course, Bitchfield. Nonetheless, the city school department’s superintendent has requested a pay raise—in total, nearly $87 million + the money from city ledgers for the department’s employee health insurance, plus costs of bussing and maintenance. They call it an austere request.
Go figure.
- Enrollment is down
- Standards are plunging
- Performance is nosediving
- Junk courses dot the curriculum
- Scandal still plagues the department
- The system graduates too many students dumb as rocks.
For all that, the schools want a raise. In the Dreaded Private Sector, heads would roll.
Ya sittin’ down? In the most recent 10 years, Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski have spent $1 billion, with a B, on city schools.
A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon we’ll be talking serious money. Guess a billion doesn’t buy what it used to.
————— ooo —————
Whether you run a household, a Dairy Queen, a department, or a city, THE PLANET fully appreciates that a budget is only an estimate. Problem is, city officials think of it as an estimate of an approximation of a guess of a guesstimate of a ballpark figure.
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Ya sittin’ down? In the most recent 10 years, Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski have spent $1 billion, with a B, on city schools. A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon we’ll be talking serious money. Guess a billion doesn’t buy what it used to.
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For his part in running of this stellar operation, Lumpy has seen his pay vault from the measles $110K he made in FY23 to the submitted $126,580 for FY27. Add about 30% for bennies, and you’ll wonder how the mayor will manage to scrape by, especially with his Falstaffian taste for ale.
Meanwhile, THE PLANET directs your attention to that background noise, which Lumpy and Queen Latifah, school superintendent, wish to keep from your ears. They have soundproofed the walls and halls with the help of the Sochol Cummittee to keep complaints about the schools from rising to pitch (and pitch fork) level.
In recent weeks, frustration has mounted over the travesty that is the school department. Parents and taxpayers have spoken out at SC meetings over the rampant and ongoing corruption, including bullying, hate speech, administrative misconduct, and much more.
DAN VALENTI’s books now available at amazon.com. They make great gifts for Father’s Day.
Yeah, and that whitewashed “independent” report on the PHS scandal? Still unreleased.
That report “investigated” three PHS administrators and a couple of teachers. You remember all that “snow” uncovered in the driveway drifts of the ex-PHS “Dean of Students,” better known as “Da Dancin’ Dean.” Triple D has been nabbed and charged with conspiracy to deed large quantities of blow throughout Berkshire County and environs.
This dude had an expired dancing certificate, yet Bitchfield thought this black man eminently qualified–so much that they passed over a more qualified middle-aged white guy? Just as THE PLANET is sure that Latifah Phillips’ skin color did not factor into her hire as school super. Not one drop.
———- ooo ———-
What do you expect when you hire men who evidently think drug dealing is fine and women who think nothing of showing pictures of their Rosebuds to students.
“During this investigation, we sought to determine the validity of allegations about PHS Administrator #2 sharing a photograph of female genitalia with PHS students on her Snapchat account.”
You’ll find that sentence in the executive summary of the “independent report,” which goes on to say that although the “investigators” search the globe for evidence, they “were unable to conclude with confidence that on her Snapchat account … PHS Administrator #2 knowingly or intentionally shared with minors of students a picture of female genitalia.”
Sure thing.
Except that Ward 7 city councilor Katherine Moody wrote on Facebook that she knows that such photos were sent to school kids.
THE PLANET cites “the N word.”
N, for “Nothing to see here folks. You can run along now.”
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“Don’t say it. Do it” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE”
LOVE TO ALL.
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May 27, 2026
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Mayor Peter Marchetti’s proposed fiscal year 2027 $232.8 million municipal operating budget — a 2.9 percent increase over last fiscal year — plus an additional $10.5 million needed to cover state assessments and overlay — brings the city’s total anticipated expenses to $243.2 million — a 3.1 percent increase from fiscal 2026; it is basically a level-funded spending plan when adjusted for recent inflation.
Mayor Peter Marchetti proposed a record-breaking fiscal year 2027 municipal operating budget at a time of significant federal funding cuts and the continued under-funded state aid to local government in Massachusetts.
Pittsfield always spends tens of millions of dollars per fiscal year MORE than its peer small cities. Westfield will spend at least $52 million LESS than Pittsfield in fiscal year 2027. Fitchburg will spend at least $40 million LESS than Pittsfield in fiscal year 2027.
Pittsfield has the 2nd highest Commercial Tax Rate in Massachusetts; Holyoke is 1st.
Pittsfield’s Residential Tax Rate and Fees are a lot higher than its peer small cities, too.
Basically, Pittsfield excessively taxes its small businesses, while the middle-class and up homeowners in Ward 4 pay most of Pittsfield’s residential taxes and fees. It is the WORST of both Worlds. Nothing has changed because nothing is more predictable than Pittsfield’s past 4-decades of municipal spending patterns.
Earl and the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics pounds, pummels, pulverizes, punishes people’s purses.
Many of Pittsfield public schools are rated Level 5 – the lowest tier – by the state. In the 2025 – 2026 academic year, a record-breaking 679 students chose to choice out of Pittsfield’s public schools to neighboring public school districts.
Pittsfield’s downtown hosts North Street’s 15 to 25 empty storefronts and social services agencies, with the surrounding inner-city neighborhood’s called “The Ring of Poverty” that most people avoid.
The only economic growth in Pittsfield is in its large underclass population, along with Mayor Peter Marchetti’s BIG beer belly and his public pay plus perks raises, and the fiscal numbers in Kufflink’s cooked books.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
https://www.iberkshires.com/story/82740/Pittsfield-Sees-Similar-Water-Sewer-Rate-Hike-in-FY27.html
KNOWINGLY OR INTENTIONALLY are the key words here. It was accidentally sent, and they couldn’t prove it was her crotch fruit. There was 100% a picture
Bratt, I agree with you in principle.
But here’s the catch. I/we would like to see for ourselves just how much of an investigation did the two retired, GOBSIG connected, judges, do to verify the “crotch fruit.”
That law office should have a Cellebrite trained, DEI employee, to download and extract a cell phones contents.
I’m willing to bet the judges called these scholars at 8:30AM on a weekday to “verify and investigate.”
No answer, witness can’t be located.
That’s what I’m betting.
A big part of the sexual misconduct in the schools comes from the Democrat policies of having the teachers and administrators getting involved in the gender and sexual issues of the students. That shouldn’t happen at all. How do you keep the boundaries between teacher and student in that type of environment? This is why we keep hearing more and more about inappropriate behavior like affairs between teachers and students and the sending of salacious photos to students.
A big part of hiding the Epstein files comes from republicans and of course number one suspect trump. Why are they bending over backwards twisting themselves in knots hiding the truth pat? Don’t you care about young girls?
Do you ever stop and think for a second, you know Autopen (via Hussien) tried to:
*Assassinate Trump twice
*Imprison him for life
*Bankrupt him and his family
*Had his campaign illegally spied on
*Steele Dossier
*Crossfire Hurricane
*Stolen election in 2020
But the Epstein List is where Autopen and Hussein drew the line on stopping with going after Trump?
I’d say you are a dumba$$, but that’s like saying water is wet.
You still believe J6 was an “insurrection.”
Only idiots fall for conspiracy theories, pal.
?
A forensic audit would ensure where the hell the shuffling of taxpayer money landed and what actually it was spent on and for? Then maybe we can correct it. One school is the only way to go. Evaporate P H S just like GE. Put a couple of Statues in its place, Maybe Mark Belanger and Frank Moynihan,or Carm.
This time next year, as the economy spirals into the abyss, many of the taxpayers will be in serious debt and unable to pay their taxes. And Pete is not going to have enough people to take all the homes of the delinquent.
I wish I had a clue as to who is and was hiding the files??? do any of us really know? how long has it been since his conviction?
Jeffrey Epstein was an Israeli-American SPY who USED Donald Trump and other wealthy and powerful men similar to the sitting U.S. President, such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, and so on, to blackmail them into supporting Bibi Netanyahu’s imperial agenda in the Middle East.
Jeffrey Epstein is most likely still alive and living in Israel. His death photos and documents are alleged forgeries. We are being distracted by the Epstein Files while the WARS in the Middle East rage with billions of dollars in spending everyday.
Think of it this way, please. When Bill Clinton got in trouble for receiving blow jobs in the Oval Office from his White House Intern Monica Lewinsky, we took our eyes off of the Middle East because we were distracted by the then U.S. President’s sexual exploits. Then, 9/11/2001, happened, and we were caught off guard.
To be clear, please see the Epstein Files as a distraction from Trump and Netanyahu’s imperial WARS in the Middle East. It is all connected because Jeffrey Epstein was an Israeli-American SPY who pushed Trump and the like towards Netanyahu’s imperial agenda in the Middle East.
If anybody was hiding anything with the Epstein files, the Democrats would have found it during the Biden administration to use it against Trump and the Republicans. Everybody knows it. Address the situation in the schools instead because that is something that is currently harming young people, but Democrats refuse to even discuss that their policies in the schools are causing many problems.
trumps own hand picked attorney general Pam Bondi showed the files right in front of her on national tv and said she was going to release them. Then all of a sudden she said they did not even exist. Kinda suspicious to a normal person.
I agree with you.
Only a fool would honestly believe J6 wasn’t orchestrated by Hussein and overseen by Pelosi, in order for them to steal the 2020 election away from Trump.
Trump’s DOJ found the pipe bomber, also if I’m not mistaken. Autopen’s had 4 years, but couldn’t….more like wouldn’t. The bomber was more than likely paid by the SPLC to plant those bombs anyway.
If I’m wrong, then how do you explain this?
The black messiah, Bathhouse Barry Hussein Obama, got 64,900,000 votes in 2008. His first presidency.
But a brain-dead, vegetable, who campaigned from his basement, and used the plandemic (COVID), also set up by the democRATS because of Trump’s flourishing economy in 2019-20, got 81,000,000 votes in 2020.
Almost 17,000,000 more votes than Hussein? As Autopen used to mumble, “Come on, man!”
democRATS love to toss out cool buzz words like, “save our democracy,” or “conspiracy theories,” but facts always leave them standing in public, with their pants down, holding their co**s, looking stupid-as always.
Ain’t that right, MW
“The plandemic.” Brilliant!
Dan, why is a algorithm telling me my post about the makeup of the school committee is unacceptable?
Don’t know. Resend.
Planet,
I’ve had a couple posts stating it couldn’t be posted. Absolutely no words in it that would have made it unable to post. Tried to repost to no avail.
You keep hinting that perhaps I think J6 was real. So let me clear that up for you.
I, along with most of the world watched it on live television, even FOX news. It was rerun a thousand times for those who missed the horror live. I trust my eyes. There were hearings shortly after where many prominent republicans expressed horror at what they had witnessed, many of them having been trapped within as is it occurred. Trump even predicted it saying all hell was going to break loose on that day and invited all his followers to be there. Police were beaten on live TV.
I am not going to try to convince you or pat that it was not really a rehearsal for a Wizard of Oz reenactment because your cult owns your brain and you could not see the truth if it was injected into your veins. You just keep bobbing along like a cork going downstream and enjoy your delusions.
Old News sick of hearing about crap that may have happened 30 years ago. Get A Helmet
Mean
Why didn’t Autopen release the files, before 2024 election cycle, if it had evidence of Republican crimes?
Tom
Because there were also high level democrats involved as well.
I know you’re a crayon eater but try and think for 5 seconds.
Mean
If Republicans are exposed in the files, why didn’t Autopen release them prior to 2024 election cycle?
Delusional Demonrats Trump Derangement syndrome , and redistricting will finish the self destruction of the party.
5/28/26@8:00am
Tom
Pat,
It’s no wonder that the Bitchfield’s Pub.Sch.Sys can’t site any real defined progress for it’s students. So you invent categories that appear, on the surface, to demonstrate some elevated level of
progress/learning.
Mean
Your delusional, if files contained evidence of Republican involvement, why didn’t Autopen and meritless garland release them prior to 2024 election cycle?
5/27/26@12:24 pm
Tom
I ran the literacy rate of Bitchfield Pubic Scohol studints literacy rate versus the amount of money Bitchfield spends per pupil through an AI program.
You want to know what you’re getting for a return on your (tax money) investment. Here you go:
*In Pittsfield Public Schools, there is a noticeable disparity between high funding and lower standardized literacy performance: the district spends a high $23,737 per student annually, yet only 30% to 33% of students meet or exceed proficiency expectations in English Language Arts (ELA) and reading. This spending sits above both state and national averages, while the reading proficiency rates significantly trail behind the Massachusetts state average.
*According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Pittsfield’s in-district expenditure per pupil reached $23,737. This puts the city’s funding level above the already high Massachusetts state average and drastically higher than the national average, which rests closer to $16,280.
*Data from U.S. News Education and Niche places overall district reading proficiency at roughly 30% to 33%.
*Middle school metrics drop lower, with only 27% of students testing at or above proficient levels.
*High school (Grade 10) students perform slightly better at 42% to 50% proficiency depending on the cohort year, but still trace behind statewide benchmarks
*Chronic Absenteeism: Pittsfield struggles with severe attendance issues. Reports indicate that 33.2% of elementary/middle schoolers and 48.2% of high schoolers are chronically absent (missing 18+ days a year), which directly sabotages literacy gains regardless of school funding.
Great info, MARK. Thanks for sharing.
Someone posted on another site that there is only one person on the combined school committee and city council who sends their child or grandchild to Pittsfield schools. Maybe they are afraid this would come out if the report was released and discussed.
When an institution has been failing spectacularly for decades, as if operated by people who intend it to fail, you don’t try to fix it. You replace it.
First of all, I am for better schools, more parent input and less identity politics etc. in K12 education.
And,
I don’t have degree in finance. However, it doesn’t take someone with lots of letters behind their name to see they want to spend money you don’t have. Huh? Then not only do they want to spend money you don’t have, but they want to dig a deeper financial hole by having a wish list every school budget.
The problem is spending it wisely. The problem is unneeded nepotismal Mercer jobs. Assistants to the principals and layers of assistants to the assistants. Huge buses crossing back and forth across the city with two kids on them. Bad roads wearing out buses early.
And now the city school system has a bad reputation, and they do not seem to be doing the right things to correct it. Gloating that their chronic absentee rate is up a couple points
Saw a foreign think tank video where they discussed how the American school system is getting increasingly worse. Less and less kids graduate being anywhere near proficient in grammar, writing skills or basic math. And no it is not an immigration problem. Their concerns were that it pulls the whole world down.
Your last paragraph describes why Trump is trying to dissolve the DOE and send it back to the states.
If you disagree that democRATS destroyed public education, I ask you how many genders did you learn about when you took Health class?
How many times were you allowed to march out of class for any political statement, much less a TDS led rant?
Case closed
The union (s) say different unfortunately they are in control at
this point.
This is what kids are being told and taught! More important than anything else they should and need to learn. .
https://thepostmillennial.com/boston-mayor-michelle-wu-to-hold-3rd-annual-trans-period-pride
That Moody lady should tread very carefully as she drudges up fodder for a Defamation Lawsuit.
She has absolutely no proof or anything otherwise that unnamed School Administrator sent illicit or inappropriate pictures to minors. She has no proof because none exists, which has also been very clearly concluded in the investigation into unnamed School Administrator.
A couple months ago someone on here said Ciara was unqualified. If she is then I’m going to vote for her because she’s smashing it tonight..Again. And Mcniece Muil Marchetti and Elias are clearly not on the taxpayers side.
The report that was giving to the school committee should be released to the public. They payed for it. Plain and simple.
Dan. Isn’t there a conflict of interest being the Mayor hires the School Superintendant. Shouldn’t he not be the Chairman? And Amused-So should not be on the c s i license board?
Agree completely.
So so Seasonal lifeguards get more an hour than city employees that’s where she’s wrong city employees get benefits way more the pay than a lifeguard.
Another prime example as to why elections can be a waste of time for the taxpayers.
What difference does it make? The licensing board accomplishes nothing. I’d like to know how Campoli made a living as an attorney. Lifvergren is the standard do nothing state worker. Sherm is …well Sherm. Amuso is a wind bag.
I interviewed one of Taconic’s recent graduates for a construction position. I asked “how many inches in one foot”, answer “10”, when i said no, they came back with 36. I said “closer, if we had three feet”…to be fair i don’t think its just Pittsfield. Teacher’s unions and a reliance on computers and internet are dumbing the kids down. Why memorize anything when you can ask “Hey Siri”.
Come on up you expect us to believe that?
I believe it! Have you not seen where news stations have a segment where they go out and ask questions that high and college educated students should be able answer? Tune into a few of those segments and you’ll find out why it’s believable.
Scout’s honor. These kids come in and can’t read a tape measure. I start by asking how many inches in a foot. No lie probably a coin flip if they get it right. If they get it right, i hand them a ruler and ask them to show me 8-3/8″ on it. I’d say only 25% can find it.
I am certain that children graduating have no ability to work with complex numbers.
Speaking of nonsense. Councilor Dina asked if there was a Portuguese translator in the d e I budget. Now that’s taxpayer service.
The she asked for a metric for something? At school committee it was another shit-show.,I don’t hint Muil has a clue what she wants to vote for.
So now they have a bump out on west st. Give it a couple weeks for a major accident….AGAIN…..
I wouldn’t get into the trade if I didn’t know how many inches to a foot. An inch either way makes a big difference. Ask my wife. Dan,Trump must have heard you they’re making some kind of deal with Iran. Let me check the Market to be sure.
Ahh, didja hire him? Is he still available? Looking for a door greeter over here at Wallyworld.
Why is the school committee made up of all white women and one token white guy, not including the mayor?
Why isn’t our BIPOC community running for school committee?
Clearly this is all by design, but who’s design?
Lord save us from” woke” white women with exploitable guilt.
Would Morningside community school still be closing if the Pittsfield population was better represented across races on the school committee? Or would it have happened sooner?
Unknowable now I suppose,but questions that have been bedeviling me.
Why is it that there were not cuts considered to the other schools in order to make up the difference for Morningside community School?
. If every school that is not being closed had to sacrifice a little something something, we would be able to keep Morningside open.
If there were cuts considered to the other schools, what were they and why were they rejected?
And why have we not heard from Berkshire Bank, Morningside Community School’s ” partner in education” at is writ large on the banner that hangs to the right of the school entrance?
Pittsfield’s bussing era begins. Sigh. There’s plenty written about bussing in Massachusetts and whether or not it was a successful approach to equitable educational opportunities for our public schools.
Boston public library has an entire accessible database about bussing in Massachusetts that people can look at.
And for everybody who says because you do not have a child in the public school system and just feels you do not have a dog in this fight stop gaslighting yourself and all of us because our public schools are indicators of the wellness of our community, and as such we all have a dog in this fight.
As for the files about the SAs at PHS?
I am not concerned about what happened because we already know; this is Pedofield after all .
I am concerned about who knew what and did nothing.
That’s what they’re hiding from us.
Bro. Give it up.
Also, the Superintendent is Black.
Let’s hear it for Amised-So asking about 200 dollars in the custodial budget of the clerks office. And Dizzy Dina trying to get the assistant city clerk a raise? No I’m not kidding Dan.
She’s not on the school committee though
details, details…the wokesters hired her too.
If anyone knows how the slush fund works listen to the building maintenance budget questioning.The answer is in there. So there apparently is not enough help in building maintenance thus the hiring of outside contractors like plumbers who probably make three times that of a hired city employee per hour maybe more.
Here’s what need to be eliminated.
Health insurance after 10 year tenure
Higher insurance premiums for current workers
School committee stipend
Cut at least two accountants at Mercer
File for bankruptcy and let the state take over
D E I should be done with
Less automobile fleet. No taking vehicles home
Zero need for psyche help on police calls
When money is committed for a project have a timeline so it is completed and or not done at all as to avoid it going into the Slush Fund
Take four million of the Free Cash and place a bet on O K C winning the N B A Championship and give the winngs to the Parks Department
Put Lumpy on a Beer budget
Ask Dina to explain her questions to administrators before they ask what are you talking about?
Tell the new I T guy..Nobody Cares
Tell Little Pete he’s lost his stature
Ask Wrinn what’s it all about
Ask Conant about his philosophy
Tell us why we shouldn’t vote for the big T next election
Mama Cass the purple does nothing for you…go Blond
Please,give or kick a buck to the nice young lady panhandler at east and first st. Intersection
I agree with you about bussing. It’s just going to ruin the other schools. Didn’t work decades ago, won’t work now
Do not have a kid in the school system. Never had one. At some point there should be relief. If a millionaire owned business can get tax breaks for years on end (some of which the owners do not even live locally) and dubious non profits pay zero taxes, a senior citizen with limited income who has paid taxes for fifty plus years deserves a break as well. They are being taken advantage of because they are collectively too weak to make a case for themselves.
As to the “wellness of the community”, I do not see such great return on investment. I see continuous decline and hard to find accountability from the “leadership”.
I agree that we’re not seeing great return on our education investment and as a senior on a fixed income it’s hard to argue against not giving us a break.
But in order to get that break we have to put forth a viable, sustainable, and reasonable solution about shifting our tax burden tothe other citizens and that’s going to be a lot of ugly conversations.
That does not mean this is not a worthy conversation to begin having and I think it strengthens the point that we do all have a dog in this fight.
However I do believe that when you remove the school from a neighborhood t that is a huge indicator about how little the people in power care about the people of that neighborhood.