Free speech in education? Apparently not, if it goes against the narrative of the administration.

Maybe we need body cameras for teachers and in the classrooms:

we could then watch what tax dollars are paying for.

North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., about an hour’s drive from Atlanta, was thrust into the national spotlight this week when pictures and videos surfaced of its crowded interior on the first and second days of its first week back in session. The images, which showed a sea of teens clustered together with no face coverings, raised concerns over how the district is handling reopening schools during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Facing a fierce online backlash, Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Otott told parents and guardians in a letter that the images “didn’t look good.” But he argued that they lacked context about the 2,000-plus student school, where masks are a “personal choice.”

Hannah Watters, 15, wore a mask as she captured the inside of her school. On Wednesday, she ended up with a five-day suspension for violating the district’s student code of conduct, BuzzFeed News reported. The rules bar students from using social media during the day or using recording devices without the permission of an administrator.

See, it is not just in Templeton, Phillipston:

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 8/4/2020 5:00:30 PM

ORANGE — Eight votes prevented the ratification of a Proposition 2½ override Monday, seven weeks after a roughly $4.6 million budget for the joint middle/high school was adopted at Annual Town Meeting.

Residents voted 367 to 360 against ratification, which required a simple majority.

A vote in the affirmative would have provided funding for the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School assessment. A motion was made at the June 15 Town Meeting to increase the Finance Committee’s recommended budget by $339,722, but that vote was contingent on the override’s passage. This rejection means there will be a reduction in the assessment.

Two-thirds of the school district’s towns — Orange, New Salem, Wendell and Petersham — must approve the district’s budget for it to be adopted. Wendell and Petersham approved it, while New Salem residents voted to reduce their town’s assessment by $123,680. If Orange voters had passed the override, however, three out of the four towns would have approved the budget, more than satisfying the two-thirds majority necessary for adoption, and New Salem would have been obligated to contribute its share as a result.

On Tuesday morning, Mahar School Committee Chair Peter Cross said his committee was slated to meet at 4 p.m. that day and he estimated there was roughly a 50% chance its members would come with a revised budget. He said Orange’s assessment would be level-funded if roughly $430,000 is cut, which is what Orange and New Salem residents voted for at their respective Annual Town Meetings. He also said this will make eliminating positions “hard to avoid.”

The meeting’s main topic will be Mahar’s reopening plans — fully remote learning, in-person education and a hybrid of the two.

Finance Committee Chair Keith LaRiviere said he predicts this matter will have to be resolved at a Special Town Meeting at either Orange or New Salem in the next month to month and a half.

“Since our request (going into Orange’s Annual Town Meeting) was to level-fund their assessment, at least in theory, they should come back with a budget number that is lower,” he said. “I hope that they do that. There’s no guarantee that they will, but I hope that they will.”

LaRiviere said he was not shocked by Monday’s outcome and what surprised him was the vote margin.

“I’m surprised that the vote was that close. I had hoped that the override would pass, but the voters in Orange are pretty well-known for not approving override requests. So, I was kind of expecting that it would fail,” he said, adding that it seems to happen “more often than not.”

Cross, on the other hand, did not see the rejection coming. He also said he stood with signs advocating for ratification outside the polling location at Mahar from noon, when polls opened, to 1 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., when polls closed.

“I was hopeful,” he said. “It’s hard to lose a close one like that.”

There was a 14% voter turnout, according to Orange Town Clerk Nancy Blackmer.

Right now, the end of year expenditure report shows Insurance and Benefits having an ending balance of $141,304.00 left over after paying all the expenses; this is the third year in a row that there has been a six figure leftover amount - which rolls into unassigned balance (commonly referred to as free cash) Seems there is a pattern of putting in front of town meeting more than needed appropriation for insurance and benefits. I do not think it wise to try and appropriate to the penny, but 3 years in a row you have at least 100 thousand dollars left over, something needs adjusting. (Note: there was end of year transfers out of insurance and benefits too)

You can find this information on the Templeton Town website.

This could change when final state budget is voted on, but . . . . .

STATE LEADERS ANNOUNCE LEVEL FUNDING FOR MAJOR LOCAL AID ACCOUNTS

FY21 UGGA TO BE LEVEL FUNDED AT FY20 AMOUNTS

FY21 CHAPTER 70 SCHOOL AID AT LEAST LEVEL FUNDED FOR ALL

 

July 30, 2020

After months of uncertainty regarding the size of the state’s fiscal crisis, state leaders today announced a framework for protecting the two main sources of local aid in the state’s fiscal 2021 state budget. According to a statement issued by A&F Secretary Michael Heffernan, the Governor and Legislature are committing to no less than level funding of Unrestricted General Government Aid and Chapter 70 education aid as the baseline amount for fiscal 2021 funding for each community.

As a selectmen, I was in favor of a level funded town budget for fiscal year 2021.

It was just a matter of time, mortgages, taxes, maintenance, income; they all have to come from somewhere and what happens when the eviction control ends? Setup for failure from the very beginning.

from newspaper:

Massachusetts landlords in need of rent payments are hoping a federal judge will soon end the state’s eviction ban amid the coronavirus pandemic, a lawyer representing property owners tells the Herald.

Landlords in a federal lawsuit in Boston’s U.S. District Court are arguing that the eviction moratorium is unconstitutional, said attorney Richard Vetstein, lead counsel for the property owners.

The suit is against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

“The state has never taken this drastic step,” Vetstein said of the eviction freeze on Wednesday.

“Our main thrust is there’s never been a whole moratorium on the filing of evictions in the history of the Commonwealth,” added Vetstein, who also has a state lawsuit pending in Suffolk Superior Court.

Vetstein is representing Marie Baptiste, a nurse who owns rental property in Randolph. Her tenants owe her about $20,000 in back rent, and that figure is expected to climb to $25,000 by October when the moratorium would expire at the earliest.

Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday extended the moratorium from August to October.

“She’s a blue-collar nurse, and is in serious financial difficulty because of this,” Vetstein said. “When a tenant can’t pay, that burden flows down to the landlords.”

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/07/seek-alternative-transportation-mandated-social-distancing-to-limit-how-many-students-massachusetts-districts-can-transport-on-school-buses-this-fall.html

The Senate on July 16 passed a $17 billion five-year bond bill to fund a wide range of transportation-related projects, though the bill does not establish future funding levels for the Chapter 90 road and bridge program.

Because the Legislature had already passed a standalone fiscal 2021 authorization for Chapter 90, the Senate opted not to take up Chapter 90 again in its comprehensive transportation investment bill (S. 2813).

The MMA, with the support of Sen. Adam Hinds, filed an amendment to the Senate bill that would have funded Chapter 90 for five years at $300 million per year, indexed to inflation, but the amendment was withdrawn before the Senate debated and voted on its bond bill.

The Senate bond bill includes funding for several municipal transportation grant programs, including $20 million for the Complete Streets program, $70 million for the Municipal Small Bridge program, $50 million for a new Local Bottleneck Reduction program, and $100 million for a new Municipal Pavement Partnership program.

The bottleneck program would fund changes to address “operationally influenced” impediments to traffic flow, which cause safety issues and excessive idling that boosts greenhouse gas emissions. Changes would include redesign, re-striping, lane and shoulder width adjustments, addition of auxiliary, collector and distributor lanes, signal improvements, ramp adjustments, signage and other infrastructure improvements.

The competitive pavement grant program would be for the construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, repair and improvement of pavement and surface conditions on municipal roadways. Expenditures may include the costs of engineering, design, permitting, climate change adaptation and resilience, and other services essential to the projects.

The MMA has long advocated for an increase in Chapter 90 funding, which represents the only source of unrestricted and non-competitive state funding for local road maintenance. Chapter 90 has been level-funded at $200 million since 2012, with a few one-time exceptions.