Hebron Dollars & Sense

We need to CUT costs in these schools. This year would have been the perfect year for no increase in the school budget (it did not happen!!), there is always a reason to ask for "MORE". I suggest we look at downgrading our superintendents position to half time or part time. Other communities have - we all need to research this issue.

Here in town we have so many specialists on staff ... do we really need a FULL TIME SUPERINTENDENT? Marlborough does not a full time superintendent .. Salem plans to try this .. why NOT Hebron? We need a complete change on our current HBOE. Yes, ALL need to be replaced! We need to thoroughly investigate the background and philosophy of anyone seeking a position on this board.

Join the discussion ... help with the research .. post links and your thoughts (pro or con).

whoa whoa whoa....I think you might be anti education.

/sarcasm

I believe in "supporting" public education but our town has become a little ridiculous. Lets not go there ... it impacts on my health. This year because of binding arbitration decisions the HBOE did not have the salary issue so (in my opinion) they could have kept the budget level to last years total. BUT NO ... they found new things to add and in doing so came in with an increase of LESS THAN 1%. (That did not ruffle anyone's feathers and hardly anyone notice ... BUT, an increase is an increase even if it is 0.05%

Hope you read all the other threads ... you can figure out what is going on. One parent attends one of the last HBOE meetings and supports the small increase and states in public that they should round it off to 1%and give more to technology. Some female at the Charette publicly states the fire house needs to be moved from main street. These folks have lost touch with others in this community.

We are reusing and recycling volunteers in this town and several are steering the direction of the town ... others keep volunteering to add to their "political activism" section of their resume and are positioning themselves for a run for elected office. THOSE are the ones we do not support!!

YES -- without kids in the school, my taxes pay for my road to be cleared, the use of the transfer station, the library and the senior center - add up these items and view the percentage of the town budget that touches my life. Our elementary school has specialists for so many areas ... 2 filled principal positions, one vice principal, one curriculum specialist/technology person, several secretaries, one special ed director etc., etc.

I will agree I am "anti education" when they continue to ask for more, more, more - continue to mix up must haves with wish lists AND our board continues to rubber stamp all the ideas presented to them without a challenge. We are throwing dollars into a bottomless pit according to research. What is the role of parents in their child's education? For some, there is no involvement. One parent works if not both and the one who chooses to stay home is involved with so many groups and committees. The meetings and their volunteer group membership become their job and they have no time for their own kids let alone have time for family meals. Let's question those seeking a position on this board that controls most of the town money ...

View the live streaming meetings on the town home page; copies are still there. Read minutes from meetings. The sewer debt deficit was never explained well enough for me...that fund needs to be watched. We need people who have an education background to serve on the HBOE (they know if we really need a particular position for success in the school - why do home schooled children and those from one-room school houses continue to be successful). If we continue to upgrade technology maybe we can switch to virtual teachers and get rid of all the "humans". We would certainly save $$.

YES I caught the sarcasm but we really are retirees - our children are educated and grown -- and they were sucessful in "much larger" classrooms. Do you sometimes wonder if the parents want the class room size limited to protect their kids from the H1N1 flu, or TB, or the yearly flu outbreak or even the common cold.

you did see I was being sarcastic?

also can I please get a TLDR on that?

ok read it...yea I agree. Little dramatic at the end but ok.

This current HBOE is still not helping to lower the education budget in town. Yesterday I noticed the "speeding" bus dropping kids off at the end of their driveway. Folks have questioned this before ... asked why they did not revert to "BUS STOPS" for a neighborhood. No one responds to the question ... thank goodness some folks may resign from the HBOE this year!

We need to check the candidates for the school board. I would prefer someone with a background in education who knows the rules better than most of us in the community. I would also like someone who has lived in our town at least several years rather than 3 months. I would also eliminate any individual who has served as a volunteer for any/all activities in town and gets elected because of "name" recognition. I would also eliminate any parent who drives their own student to school each day and forces me to pay for that "empty" seat on the bus.

With gasoline prices climbing .. stop and go driving uses more fuel. I am sure they will say it is a "safety" issue etc. Maybe the mothers who drive will pick up all the kids in their own neighborhood and eliminate some stops. Those big cars can hold close to 10 little ones safely. Seriously, this may be a viable solution.

Hope my eyes are fine. When I read through the bar graphs for the 2010 CMT results Go to page 3 of this link, I view MARLBOROUGH as the top scoring community for all grades except 5th grade reading and math (just 2 of the 12 bar groupings). In those two categories, Hebron may be a little higher.

I found this interesting since Marlborough is being guided with a HALF TIME Superintendent!