>>Valley Patriot>>
|
North Andover Schools
- Dejavu All Over Again
Ted Tripp
 Yogi Berra’s famous phrase is
an apt description of what’s going on now in the
North Andover school system. Administrators, principals,
the superintendent, even most School Committee members,
are recreating the same conditions that outraged
taxpayers 30 years ago.
Back in the 1970s, school committees had total autonomy
and if a committee wanted more money for its district, it
simply went to the board of selectmen or mayor and said
“show us the money.” The town or city had
simply no choice but to give the schools whatever funds
they wanted. This led to annual property tax increases of
10, 20 or even 30 percent in some cases. School spending
was out of control and taxpayers struggled to afford the
huge tax increases.
After a decade of this, voters had had enough and in 1980
overwhelmingly adopted Proposition 2 ½. This was despite
scary predictions of huge layoffs of police, fire and
teachers and a decimation of services. Somehow, the towns
and cities survived these restrictions on their gravy
train, and reduced spending to the much lower levels
allowed under the new law. Because of Proposition 2 ½,
Massachusetts no longer has the highest property taxes in
the country.
Now, the mentality that got towns into trouble in the
1970s seems to have resurfaced in the North Andover
school system. There is an exceptionally strong focus,
not seen for years, on more and more money. Acting
Superintendent Bergeron wants more money. The high
school, middle school and all five elementary school
principals want more money. Many of the more zealous
parents want more money. Finally, and not surprisingly,
the School Committee wants more money.
How much do they want? The bare-bones increase requested
is $3.2 million more than the town manager and Finance
Committee can afford to give them. Of course, the schools
would rather have millions more than this so that they
could add more programs and restore cuts from previous
years. If we gave them everything they wanted, our taxes
would go through the roof and we could shut down the
senior center because seniors couldn’t afford to
live in town anymore.
Despite all this bad news, it must be mentioned that
there are several people seeking to bring some sanity to
the school budget. School Committee members Chuck Ormsby
and Bill Kelly, along with parent Diana Headrick, have
put together an alternative school budget that would save
most teachers’ jobs if the $3.2 million does not
materialize. Selectman Chairman Rosemary Smedile and
others feel the town should take a serious look at this
proposal for the good of our schools.
In returning to the school spending problem, one may ask,
“Why is there such a focus on money now?”
There are several reasons. First, the School Committee
has consistently agreed to excessive teacher contracts
that were both unaffordable and immune from the effects
of economic downturns. These generous agreements, along
with onerous state mandates, have largely been
responsible for the elimination of courses and programs
that many of us had years ago. They have also led to the
proliferation of user fees for sports, transportation and
other school activities.
A second reason is the isolated community and culture in
which the school administrators live and work. If you
don’t believe me, go to a School Committee meeting
and listen to them speak about education. The jargon some
of them use is nearly indecipherable; it’s like
someone speaking in “tongues.” You have to
wonder if some of the administrators speak this way to
keep the rest of the public in the dark.
Take, for example, classes that are offered in the high
school. Do you think students take English, math, science
and social studies? Think again. At a recent meeting,
Principal Susan Nicholson spoke on the adverse effect of
cuts on classes such as American Thought, Global Thought,
Human Development, Critical Thinking, Bioethics,
Robotics, International Relations, Spanish for Native
Speakers, Environmental Science, and Technology
Education-Wood. Then there is great concern over what
happens to the Wellness Program. Now, these may all be
interesting and worthwhile classes, but does the average
person in the street have any idea what’s taught in
each of these classes? Is the Wellness Program what we
used to call “Health”?
Perpetuating this culture has helped isolate the school
community from the rest of society and the usual rules of
economics. Being a government entity – “public
schools” – employees of the system are further
removed from the supply and demand of a competitive
educational system. There is little incentive for change
and innovation in this type of structured environment.
This has led to a situation where repetitive demands for
more money have now become the main mantra within the
establishment to improve educational outcomes. Not
surprisingly, lack of money has also become the main
excuse for educators to explain why student performance
doesn’t improve.
Many parents buy into the money mantra and become
activists for the school establishment, passionately
demanding that the town provide more funds or their child
will suffer irreparable damage. At School Committee
meetings, some actually threaten to move out of town if
the money is not forthcoming.
This enormous pressure to increase school funds puts the
town in a very difficult financial position and is behind
current moves to establish trash fees or put another
Proposition 2 1/2 tax override on the ballot.
Like in 1980, town residents should tell the schools to
get their spending problems under control and stop
whining about a lack of money. We should also tell the
schools to put their academic house in order and deliver
a superior education to our children with the funds the
town and taxpayers feel they can afford to give them.
Time and again, it has been demonstrated that just
supplying more funding to the schools has had little to
do with improvement of outcomes in the classroom.
Finally, we should all remind the school advocates —
and tell them not to forget — that they are part of
the larger community we call North Andover.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The June, 2006 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 8,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover, Methuen, Haverhill,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury and Lowell.
|
Valley Patriot Archive
Prior Columns by Ted Tripp
|
