tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478885332727102848.post3355020200502048273..comments2024-02-22T10:59:34.564-05:00Comments on Always Home and Uncool.: Redistricting means always having to say you're sorryKevin McKeeverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10673014424525900380noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478885332727102848.post-33075784698142420772008-05-01T19:39:00.000-04:002008-05-01T19:39:00.000-04:00Kevin,I have to admit that this absolutely a great...Kevin,<BR/><BR/>I have to admit that this absolutely a great summary of this seemingly never-ending drama, which we Toquam parents have been living through for the past 8 months! It is almost a tragic comedy to see these elected officials try to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. <BR/><BR/>First trying to knock out Toquam by proposing Academies at Dolan, then using non-existant criteria to measure Toquam against Davenport Ridge, Hart, Rogers and Murphy, then Hart is off, and Newfield parents get pissed, and on and on and on.<BR/><BR/>How do we impeach and get a new BoE?<BR/><BR/>All things considered, I believe Malloys timing was completely and perfectly timed for maximum political capital. He allowed the BoE to slip the noose around their necks and just as they were about to pull the board out, then the mayor, or the governor in waiting, rides on in his white horse to save the city from closing one of their only top performing schools, but shooting a shot across the bow of the BoE.<BR/><BR/>But now, who knows what is going to happen.<BR/><BR/>JeffJeff Herzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052191113156139978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478885332727102848.post-37449252199850669822008-04-29T12:24:00.000-04:002008-04-29T12:24:00.000-04:00Anyone see the Advocate Article on Starr's proposa...Anyone see the <A HREF="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_9090973" REL="nofollow">Advocate Article</A> on Starr's proposal?<BR/><BR/>Best...quote...ever:<BR/><BR/>McDonald said the Stark plan only made matters worse. <BR/><BR/>"It's a really unique skill to infuriate every contingent of parents in one meeting," he said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478885332727102848.post-22870222914189911462008-04-27T19:23:00.000-04:002008-04-27T19:23:00.000-04:00If I might add to Dr. Starr's mea culpa:"Forgive m...If I might add to Dr. Starr's mea culpa:<BR/><BR/>"Forgive me, dear citizens of Stamford - for I have had an epiphany. I've been here as your superintendent for a few years, and you are a seasoned people, a realistic people. You know that I do not intend to spend the rest of my career in your fair hamlet. <BR/><BR/>Driving home to my far-away home in a neighborhood with an it-factor even Revonah Woods will never attain, it came to me. I knew at that moment: closing Toquam would be the death knell to my career. What city would take a superintendent who closed one of TWO successful schools in a district rife with failure? <BR/><BR/>Having stood by silent while the Board of Tactics - I mean, Education - closed the chapter one of the only feel-good stories in this city, what town would be interested in me (at a much higher salary, might I add)? I'd be damaged goods, no more relevant than Julia Wade's one public comment, less up-to-date than my Blog of No Comment, no funnier than Susan Nabel's acerbic retorts, less mysterious than Monica Hoherchak's Sphynx-like demeanor (except, of course, when it comes to Rogers).<BR/><BR/>So with this epiphany in mind, I bring to you my sacrificial lamb: Stark.<BR/><BR/>Forgive me, citizens, for once I was lost, but now I am found. I see the error in my ways. I finally (FINALLY!) admit that achievement and success SHOULD BE criteria when it comes to choosing which school to close.<BR/><BR/>Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I am the Great and Mighty Oz, and I see the error of my ways. <BR/><BR/>Toquam, you have been granted stay #23 of execution. Don't exhale just yet, because The Board of Tactics is still gunning for you."pattyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15599429717669216237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478885332727102848.post-76795293401300432292008-04-26T06:22:00.000-04:002008-04-26T06:22:00.000-04:00Sigh. Well, thanks for writing this so that I did...Sigh. Well, thanks for writing this so that I didn't have to. Mine post probably would have been twice as long and contained many, many more expletetives.<BR/><BR/>I think you pretty much captured the past FOURTEEN MONTHS of emotional ups and downs as the board has pounced on a new school ever few weeks. <BR/><BR/>I am tired of all of the parent committe meetings and data research we've had to do to try to supplement the information that they are using, because they don't bother doing the fact finding on their own (or they ignore the facts if they are not convenient).<BR/><BR/>It's the redistricting equivalent of pee-wee hockey, watching them fall over each other to furiously skate over to the newest shiny puck.<BR/><BR/>I would add two more things. I don't think Starr takes the BQE here. I think he drives, because he can't drop his kid off at the nice, <EM> private Montessori school</EM> that his OWN child attends in Manhattan.<BR/><BR/>And two, thank goodness I kept my maiden name, so that although the Board knows I have kids in the system, they can't figure out exactly who they are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com