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An
Open Letter to the Gr. Lawrence
Technical School Board
Methuen Councilor Kathleen Corey
Rahme
 To the Membership: Chairman Leo
Lamontange, Lawrence; Vice Chairman Gerald Silverman,
Andover; Kenneth Henrick, Methuen; Michael Condon,
Methuen; Richard Hamilton, Lawrence; Daniel
Fleming, Lawrence; and John Driscoll, North Andover
From: Kathleen Corey Rahme, Methuen City Councilor, At
Large, Vice Chair
I have chosen to write an open letter because of the
numerous, feeble attempts to discredit the Methuen City
Council and their work pertaining to the travel and
conference debacle at the Greater Lawrence Technical
School. I received a bullying email (08-12-06) from Mr.
Gerald Silverman denying any alcohol reimbursements, and
further stating the City Council was outside their
jurisdiction when it comes to the school. I, along with
every elected official in the communities of Lawrence,
North Andover, Andover and Methuen, received a letter
(08-09-06) from Mr. Leo Lamontange refuting the alcohol
reimbursements for some of the conferences. He included a
letter (07-24-06) from Mr. Charles Fox, Assistant
Superintendent of Finance denying any reimbursement took
place.
There were alcohol reimbursements, together with lavish
hotels and top shelf restaurants. In response to
Lamontange’s letter campaign, I shared copies of
some of the expense reports and distributed them to the
four communities that support this school. Further, I am
willing to share this information with anyone who would
like to see it.
Mr. Gerald Silverman insists there was no formal vote
taken to send Mr. Kenneth Hamilton to Chicago. There may
have been no vote taken, but there was a tacit agreement
reached that he should be allowed to attend based on the
fact he served for four years and was basically “a
good guy.” Not seeing any rebuttal, no letters to
the editor or any further corrections by any person on
the school committee, I, like my constituents recognize
there was a consensus. Further, as elected officials,
your committee failed to voice any opposition. You were
all conspicuously silent.
Certainly you can understand why the public would be
upset that their elected representatives chose not to
look out for their interests. How could Kenneth Hamilton
feel so entitled as to book a trip without knowing if he
was going to be reelected? He could have canceled.
Besides, why should the taxpayers even have to reimburse
him for the deposit that he claims he would have lost?
Who is he?
Educational conferences are wonderful opportunities for
professionals to exchange ideas and bring back cutting
edge educational advances to the district. The only thing
a non-elected, private person could bring back is
receipts. Does the Greater Lawrence Technical High School
Committee produce reports in order to share their
acquired knowledge and other findings from the
conferences? What is the policy?
It was also stated by Mr. Gerald Silverman that the City
Council of Methuen has overstepped its jurisdiction and
was stretching in their involvement in the Greater
Lawrence Technical School. I beg to differ. We are
one-fourth responsible for approving their school budget.
Why is it you feel we are overstepping our boundaries?
You don’t seem to understand the role of the Methuen
City Council. We are responsible for our share of the
budget. Methuen taxpayers contribute a total of $1.3
million which is used to educate 229 students from
Methuen. We voted down your budget based in part on the
failure of former Superintendent Mr. Frank Vacirca and
Assistant Superintendent Charles Fox to respond to my
inquiries in a timely fashion regarding the spending
practices from the past five years of the School
Committee. I personally voted down the budget because I
felt our own elected officials, Mr. Michael Condon and
Mr. Kenneth Henrick who serve on the school committee,
were not serving the taxpayer’s interest when they
allowed Mr. Kenneth Hamilton to attend the conference.
These conferences have turned into family reunion
junkets. Richard Hamilton, Kenneth Hamilton and John
Driscoll, all of whom are related, attended these
conferences along with their families. Then, they
either split the bill in half or in fourths when they
brought children. I have a problem with this mathematical
formula. This travel policy is antiquated and with no cap
on spending, it shows a total disregard for the people
who elected them. I want to see better travel policies in
place. Everything should be separate. Reasonably priced
hotels and food allowances would be more acceptable.
According to MGL Chapter 44 section 58: Cities and towns;
limitation on purchasing powers it clearly states “No
city or town shall pay a bill incurred by any official
thereof for wines, liquors or cigars.”
What is this all about? It began with an attitude that a
non-elected person should be allowed to attend a
conference. It continued with a disregard for an elected
official’s request for information. It further
escalated after finding alcohol, lavish hotels and
exorbitant meals on expense reports. It is now in the
“kicking a dog with a broken leg,” complete
denials of wrongdoing, proposed performance audits and
elected vs. appointed committee phase.
The continued attempts to deny any wrongdoings are a
disservice to all.
The Greater Lawrence Technical School has one
responsibility and that is to provide a good education
for our young people who study the trades. I contend the
school committee has lost focus of this. The GLTS has
demonstrated itself to be one of the lowest performers in
the Commonwealth according to the D.O.E. Office of
Educational Quality and Accountability 2005 report. Our
children deserve better. If the travel junket debacle was
what it took to bring this school into the forefront,
then it was worth it.
I look forward to seeing positive changes under the new
Superintendent, Dr. DeLucia. We all need to move forward
and not lose focus of the most important thing; the
education of the children.
Kathleen Corey Rahme is the former Central District
Councilor in Methuen and was elected as a city councilor
“at large” last year. She is also the founder
of the Methuen Youth Corps and hosts "Call to
Serve." You can email her at kcoreyrahme
@comcast.net
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The September, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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Valley Patriot Archive
Prior columns by Councilor Rahme
Prior Lead Stories
Prior Editorials
So Many Questions!
Prior Columns by Hanna
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