Mr. Katz,

Just a few clarifications.

I have stated repeatedly that we need concessions and that balancing this budget won’t be remotely possible without looking at “the largest line item” in it. As a financial professional my entire adult life, that is pretty basic budgeting reality. It is extreme to want to bust the union. You stated on Don Yorke’s radio station in August that this was your #1 cure for the state. That’s fine, but it is illegal. If you want to change the current collective bargaining law, go ahead, but do it at the Statehouse not in my child’s classroom.

The contract approved in January 2009 had significant changes in it that saved the taxpayers considerable money. For the first time, insurance was based on a percentage rather than a flat fee (something that the police and fire still don’t have.) It was also the first time that step increases were treated as just that, increases, when looking at COLAs. There were many other management changes that benefited the District, but you have already heard all this before.

Negotiations have not “gone out the window” as you imply but in fact are still ongoing. While that doesn’t make as good a talking point and doesn’t whip everyone into a frenzy, it is a fact.

You say that the $750K deficit can be closed “simply by freezing salaries and benefits at the current rate.” That again is false. As the budget elements will show and the School Business Manager detailed at the meeting, and increase in NEW teaching staff in that line item (2 new SPED and 2 previously funded with grants) account for a significant amount of that projected increase. Thus, freezing steps, etc., would NOT “simply” close the deficit, maybe 25-30% of it. Again, while that doesn’t make as good a talking point, it is a fact.

Finally, I don’t pursue or initiate “ploys,” I will leave that up to the TCC. Your comparison of legal fees for mediation and arbitration to the over $800K in legal fees (which is to date and rising) incurred by EP for their illegal imposition strategy is apples to oranges. And I would never willingly incur legal fees, but I do prefer to follow the law.

Deb Pallasch

Deb,

I know you say you WANT to achieve concessions, yet in every quotation I can find from you suggesting a particular course of action, you always end up on the union's side of the dispute. Why should the union negotiate when it's got you and your partisan Democrat friends pulling for it from the resident side? Why should it negotiate when the school committee behaves as if having no contract is as good as having a signed contract? Why should it negotiate when it's used to getting retroactive raises in the middle of a recession? Why should it negotiate when the baseline for what it can expect in raises is what it can incur in legal costs?

Dislike us as you may (without knowing us in the least), perhaps you'll secretly acknowledge that the union will be more likely to negotiate the more it thinks TCC might actually influence outcomes (which we have, are, and will).

Well, if we're interested in facts, perhaps you and your co-conspirators could review the audio of my appearance on Dan Yorke's show. He asked what I would do to turn Rhode Island's economy and civic culture around if I had a magic wand with which I could only accomplish a single objective. I said I'd take public-sector unions out of the political picture; one must act boldly and drastically when bending reality is a one-shot deal, and no other single change would have such an effect.

You may have a point, though. Using magic to accomplish a dreamland feat could be illegal. Perhaps you know a lawyer who'd look into the matter for me pro bono? Then all I'll need is the wand. In the meantime, I'll settle for a school committee willing to stand up to your pals in the union, whose salary increases have continued without abatement as the state's economy has collapsed over the past decade, drawing resources away from students and hindering our ability to increase actual programs, such as gifted/talented and full-day kindergarten. And whose representatives exert untold sums of money and influence manipulating state law to their advantage. Our disadvantage.

Regarding the "fact" about what would be necessary with respect to salary/benefit cuts, it's curious that you now so plainly concede that your initial attack was just a typical example of twisting other people's views in order to malign them. I suppose that's not a surprising tack from a woman who maligned me by name in a politically motivated note to an email group for youth athletics. (You don't come off so mean-spirited in person.)

Let's put aside arguments about whether freezing the salary and benefit lines at their current rates should be interpreted from the perspective of individual remuneration (their rate of pay, rate of coshare, etc.) or of the cost to the town (rate of labor costs). I meant the latter, in keeping with the Merriam-Webster definition "a charge per unit of a public-service commodity," which is why I wrote "rate" as a singular noun. Even if we go with your interpretation, and even if I concede every estimate that you offer, by your own admission, "$750,000 or more" would not be the necessary cut, because several hundred thousand dollars could come from a freeze.

As usual, you err on the side of the union, and my central objection was to the fact that the district is budgeting increases in personnel costs even as it speaks of shutting down schools. If you'd actually offered what you promised --- clarification --- enabling me to reciprocate, perhaps the factions of Tiverton might have hope of conversation rather than warfare.

Deb,

I should add that you were the one who put the supposed "cut" in terms of a lump sum. I imagine you did so because it doesn't help your cause to inform readers that it would amount to just a few percent reduction in compensation (again, which you calculate after raises). Even just stating that is sure to set heads shaking. Just a few percent reduction after years of increases, and the rancor goes away; the town hunkers down for the recession and does what it can to ensure that it's prepared when times improve. Many of us have taken much bigger hits, and yet your preferred strategy will lead directly to more of our town's incessant tax increases.

Wow... justinkatz. Someone sure struck a nerve. Ever heard of the saying "thou doth protest too much?"

Ms. Pallasch if you caused this much angst you must be doing something right. Keep it up!

Justin you write as if you and the Tcc were a non partisan group. If you are trying to label the writer as partisan, isn't that a label that extends to yourself and the TCC. Put your money and effort towards running for the job yourself. You seem to have lots of energy and ideas aplenty.

Justin,

I always find your posts educational and thought provoking, however, I am disappointed to see you taking to maligning the character of fellow residents instead of focusing on issues and facts. While I have never met Ms. Pallasch, I have seen her speak at many town meetings. I believe she genuinely cares about the town and her community and her comments are always well researched, reasonable and respectful.

While it is clear that you disagree, as do I in some instances, with her positions, those differences should be embraced not impugned. Differences are what lead to in-depth discussions and allow all of us to learn and grow beyond just our own narrow ideals and positions. While I know the crazies on here will always resurface, there seem to be a few poster/writers that are genuinely interested in focusing on the problem not the people. I hope you are one of them.

Why should Justin run for school commitee and get publicly humiliated? Seems he prefers sitting in his mother's basement, writing wordy letters and calling in to the Dan Yorke show. He and Joe Sousa are the Co-Presidents of the Grandiose Delusions Club.If it was up to them, Tiverton would still have gas street lamps. What do people do when they dream of holding elected office but have no credibilility? They write blogs and listen to talk radio.

Nah...gas lamps would require use of gas (to be paid for by taxpayers) and manpower to attend to them (also paid for by the taxpayers). Say it ain't so JETHRO JOE just wants to move out to the woods and avoid civilized people and an "at the ready" fire department in the event he has a medical issue. Joe has all the answers folks! Not one of which has ever been posted on here. To bust the unions is not an original idea (Carcieri). Also, a poll just last year by a well known publication revealed that 93% of taxpayers agree that unions are STILL GOOD for this country and 7% oppose them.

Say it ain't so Joe...

Deb is just another voice box that the union has drafted for their cause. The town can not afford it anymore. There is not some tooth fairy that will pay for it all.

Sailski,

Just because someone disagrees with you, doesn't make them pro this or anti that..... Focus on this issues. Other than changing union contracts, which are done during negotiations, what else can be done? While it is easy to point a finger at just one group, it doesn't address the problem. There are plenty of non-union states, and thus non-union cities and towns, that are struggling right now. We need to support smart non-property tax revenue in this town. We need to support reasonable consolidation of services. But this name calling and finger pointing is useless! As I said to Justin, maligning fellow residents is counter productive.

.

Vette1979,

Please, same comments to you - maligning fellow residents is counter productive. If we can all focus on the issues.....

Jethro, do the math!

There is no big savings to be had. Teachers are just one part of the equation....here's some quick math for you!

Let's say it cost $10,000 per year per student...which is somewhat average.

OK, so look at a teacher with 20 students in the classroom. That teacher is costing us $200,000 a year (20 time $10K per student). Yet, that teacher may only be making $50K a year. Add in benefits and that teacher is making 70K per year, about 1/3 of the total of the 200K he or she is "taking in".

My, I can tell you were never in business yourself....

Now, take your scenario.

Hire new teachers.....what is a person who did the many years of college with experience worth? Let's take a figure of 40K and let's give them many fewer benefits, only 10K. OK, so now we have saved 20K per year per teacher......a lot by ANY measure! And yet, all that means is that the total cost per student has come down from 10K per year to 9K per year. Someone like Nancy with three kids in school now costs ONLY 27K per year (while paying 5K in property tax)........

You are still so far behind the eight ball that it is impossible to balance the budget!

To achieve your goal...that is, if there really is one, we would have to get rid of 70% of the administrators, teach kids in trailers or buildings that did not meet building codes and hire minimum wage teachers.....

Impossible.

You can't fix a problem until you know what it is. Sadly, some of it is as simple as birth control. Does a family have the right to have 6 kids and cost the public schools 50K per year while only paying 4K in taxes? I know these are hard questions, and I might take some flack...but this is the reality! SOMEONE PAYS. Who will it be?

We need more responsibility at every level. Part of educating children is to tell them about why they should only have children if they AND THEIR STATE AND TOWN can afford it!

DavidS:

Perception is king, in these matters, but I don't see how I'm the one personally attacking people, at least not initiating the parry. Last year, Pallasch named me as among the bad guys in an unsolicited email to parents on a mailing list related to their children's soccer league. She turns school committee meetings into opportunities to proclaim how "unreasonable" and "extreme" Mr. Katz is. And it was me to whom she was referring in her letter.

Since her initial theme was HER opinion that the town's strategy should be "reasonable" (by HER definition), it was entirely appropriate for me to raise questions about her prior statements and their practical reasonableness. She then turned her comment, above, into a series of insinuations that I've some sort of untoward political motivation for everything (presumably in order to preserve my carpenter's fortune).

I'll admit that sleeping on matters led me to conclude that I've reached my boundary of personal attacks. I fear that Ms. Pallasch and her associates, especially on the Democrat Town Committee, have not.

-----

Craigimass:

Your approach obscures the reality. Taking total personnel costs, one can calculate that a roughly 4-5% across-the-board reduction in salary/benefits (which average upwards of $80,000 per teacher, I believe) for all district personnel would eliminate the projected deficit. Combine that reality with another one that teachers make up many times every other per-student expenditure, and then factor in that every other expenditure has remained pretty much level or decreased while the teachers' remuneration has exploded 54% (measured per pupil) in the past 7 years.

There's no meanness or unreasonableness in this. It's plain financial reality that the only way to preserve programs and maintain infrastructure is for the district to begin behaving as so many businesses have had to do over the past couple of years.

Poor wittle Justin... Everybody is picking on him. You can sure dish it our, but you can't take it!

I know, I know DavidS, scold me if you will. But this guy attacks in his blog, on this blog, in LTE's. Twists and misrepresents facts. Honestly I think everyone is way to easy on the guy... but that is just me.

Justin,

My god man. Get over it. I was one of the soccer people that received the “unsolicited email to parents on a mailing list related to their children's soccer league” that named you. Ms. Pallasch sends emails out EVERY year to try and get people to the FTM. Boy was I sorry I didn’t listen last year, won’t happen again.

The email was forwarded by a soccer parent thru the listserve, not by her. There was one sentence, ONE, that said to read the letters on-line from you and your fellow TCC’ers which she felt were written to stir the pot (and quite frankly they were). Really, YOU wrote the letter in the first place and your throwing a hissy fit that someone pointed it out.

If you are going to post and blog and be out in the public throwing stones, grow a thicker skin.

Justin,

What do you expect?

Just like you perceive us “unionist” as the reason your family is struggling, did it ever occur to you, that many on our side of the fence, view you and your fellow TCC buddies as a group who is trying to take food off our children’s plate? If your idea of reasonable cuts were to ever go through, I could loose my house! Am I supposed to just lie down and let you do it?????

Maybe some of the parents, like Deb, perceive you and your crew as a group that is jeopardizing their children’s future? Should they just say, “It’s OK, fight for cuts that will decimate our school budget, negatively affect my family and jeopardize my kids future ….. it’s OK, I understand you don’t want to pay taxes!” Sorry Justin, just like you are going to go out there and fight passionately for what you think is right, your opponents are going to do the same. There is a lot at stake here.

A lot of people in this town, who have lived here for decades, view the right wing element as a selfish and potentially destructive element. In the minds of these more liberal thinkers, the vocal right wing element views every aspect of town government through their tax bill and nothing else. Maybe they’re wrong, but as you said,”Perception is king!

Whether you know it or not you have an attacking tone to your writing and it is going to encourage similar responses. You don’t see it, because you feel so strongly about your views. You are the poster child for what I learned in my college political science class. I was taught the far left and the far right, although miles apart in ideology, are the most alike. They are both uncompromising and offer little in terms of practical solutions. To many in town, this is how you are perceived. It’s your way or the highway, no middle ground. Like many, I gave up on writing on your blog because it was as productive, in terms of finding compromises and solutions, as banging my head against a cement wall! You have a great vocabulary and writing style, but Zero listening skills. You’ll dissect and counter every point, but you never understand what they saying. Unless, of course, if they are agreeing with you.

I wish the personal attacks were not as frequent, but when one’s ability to support their family is jeopardized, and the well being of their children’s future is at stake, it gets serious. I don’t like it anymore than you do. Unfortunately, these hard times are bringing out the worst in many people!

I’d love to debate with you guys all night but evertime I get tied up blogging it is one more night that I am taken away from my five year old and these times only come once!

Ed,

With your income and (as I recall you mentioning somewhere) rental properties, you couldn't afford a 5% decrease in remuneration? (5% calculated off whatever part of the additional money budgeted for next years would be additionally yours, as well.)

I have multiple practical solutions. The problem is that the union is unbendable on just about all of them. It's sort of a binary hurdle to a range of possibilities. Support those possibilities or oppose them, the union thing sticks right out there in the middle, so it's difficult not to tilt at that as the first objective. There's not much room to compromise when one person wants to cross a bridge and the other prefers not to allow it.

Take the passion point. My main motivation on school issues is not to keep my tax bill down. I'm too poor for it to be a decisive concern. My main motivation is the effect that union leverage is having on the flow of school revenue. Taxpayers can and will only give so much. The unions are sucking up more and more. That's why there's no gifted/talented. That's why there's no full-day kindergarten. That's why there's no money for smartboards in the classroom.

-----

Everybody:

Look, if you've ever read the comment sections at Anchor Rising or heard the sorts of things said about me in other forums, you should know that my skin's as thick as mahogany 2x4s (which have been coming milled at 1 3/4", rather than 1 1/2", lately, for some reason).

My objective, here, is not to complain that I can't take the meanness (although the daily basis with which it streams into my emailbox can be tiring). It's to point out that the people proclaiming a desire for reasonableness, compromise, good will, and so on, are the ones initiating factionalism.

Justin, you are talking about the numbers but still have not addressed my primary point. Whether the cost per student is 8,000 per year or 12,000 per year really does not matter that much, IMHO. You have not addressed the simply point that a family with 3 kids in school costs the town 25-30+ K per year while paying 5K.

Who is paying the rest of the money, and why should they?

How about if one has 5 kids in school, 6, 7 ?

OK, so let's say your schools are great. What happens....I know this because I've done it! MORE AND MORE families with kids will move to your town and cost you 20-30K per year while paying in only 4-6K. Now tell me how that EVER balances out.

Chances are that very few of those educated kids will end up living in Tiverton and even if they do, they are a net loss in taxes to the town since they also put kids in school.

We have been sweeping this question under the rug for decades now because it used to be very cheap to educate children. But just with medical care, the time has now come to look just a bit further than year to year.

I am very much in favor, BTW, of public education. But the world has changed. We don't need large families to pick the crops.....or to take care of the farmstead any longer. Yet we as a society have to pay the price for educating ANY and EVERY child in our communities.

Something has to give....heck if I know what, but you are not going to fix it by shaving a couple percent off teachers salaries! It's a much bigger problem than that.....

Still, I am all for saving money. Roll 'em back. I have no problem with that as long as the administrators and everyone else shares in the pain equally....

"The unions are sucking up more and more. That's why there's no gifted/talented. That's why there's no full-day kindergarten. "

Justin,

There is a gifted and talented program at TMS - but it is called "accelerated." We have AP at THS. We do not have all day Kindy just because of the "unions." Many times when this has been brought forward, many parents don't want it (some do, but many don't) and many, many residents of Tiverton don't want to pay for it because they consider it "babysitting."

THIS is the problem many have, you talk without the facts and everything is the fault of the union. No middle, just extremes. People base judgments on actions not just words. Your words are pretty but your actions are not. Be careful who you go attacking, as those folks have proven thru actions that they support the kids. You have a LONG way to go to gain that kind of credibility.

Justin....$600 per paycheck Mass. child support....won't berate the point. Not the forum to get into this!!!!!

I am not eating Ramen Noodles but I am not been close to the economic status of some of the TCC members who are crying poverty

You have now clue of what and how union members are talking about and are willing to do at this point. We know what is going on and how bad the times are. I do not know what the consensus of opinion will be, but we live in the same world.

I will give you one point....I know you are not wealthy.....

Sailski ("I'm not Jeff Caron")

People in glass houses..(Don't forget justin is just another voice box that the TCC has drafted for their cause.) Nanaquaket private school parents and parents of grown children don't want to pay for your kids public education anymore. There is not some tooth fairy that will pay for it, but the Budget Budda will make the residents pay!

God bless America, David Nelson and the TCC!

Perhaps the way to stop the extortion ring known as union, is just give them whatever they want and more. Let the towns, cities, and even the State go bankrupt! THEN they'll go into receivership, and we can fire every last public union member and start fresh.

May be painful at first, but could be a long-term solution.

Sorry Justin,

Not buying it. I think as others have pointed out, when the discussion finally turns to the issues and facts, you are taking great liberty with them. You say you have multiple practical solutions - what are they? That's the kind of information I would like to see. Then we can judge - are the realist and feasible, would they save money or bring in revenue, etc.

Perception is king. Edavisii points out "You’ll dissect and counter every point, but you never understand what they saying. Unless, of course, if they are agreeing with you." That is the number one sign of a person who cannot and should not lead.

When push comes to shove it really is all about fairness. We taxpayers of Tiverton, some of us who have been life long residents, not the crybabies who have moved here from the city and now want to control the entire town with their "not in my backyard" mentality, of course we have a few life long residents that have that mentality as well.

We NEED revenue in this town. Why people complain about a grocery store is beyond me, we HAD one! Stop complaining and then turning down every single person who WANTS to help the town.

As for the teachers, I'm a product of the school system of Tiverton and have had children in the system. Thank goodness this is my daughter's last year! I know from my own experience that the teachers of today are no longer like the teachers of yesterday. I NEVER had to make an appointment with a teacher to stay after school if I needed help with something, today you're lucky if they care enough to even be bothered. Do not get me wrong we have some wonderful teachers in the Tiverton School system but they are few and far in between.

While us in the private sector are struggling to pay our health care expenses (mine is 85 bucks a week, do the math) and teachers aren't willing to budge paying 20.00 a week, how is that fair? It's time for fairness and one area that lacks it is the health care costs! Join the real world and pay your fair share!

"While us in the private sector are struggling to pay our health care expenses (mine is 85 bucks a week, do the math) and teachers aren't willing to budge paying 20.00 a week, how is that fair? It's time for fairness "

So JustMe,

If it is fairness you are interested in, then that would go for all schhol and town employees, right?

mytwocents, damn right go after them! They are NOT up to par with the private sector. There is no argument there at all!! Why should US taxpayers foot the bill for THEIR health-care costs??? It's just common sense if the town wasn't footing most of the premium costs then that would be money the town has. No one in the REAL world pays 20.00 a week for health-care! NO ONE!!

Just me…….I agree on the revenue part, have some insight on the “today’s teachers” part and the truth on the health insurance part.

REVENUE_- good point…..The economic problems of this town come from a much broader spectrum of problems than just one union. I know people look at education as the biggest line item and salaries make up the largest percentage. Our, money problems are not just the result of too many expenditures, they also exist because of the lack of revenue. The town needed development years ago. Many of the same people complaining about their tax bill, have stifled any attempt at development, and are paying the price for their own intentions to “keep tiverton little.”

TODAY’S TEACHERS are different because the world is different. When I attended school most of my teachers were female teachers were single. It was a lot easier for them to stay and talk to a parent because teaching was their life and the students were their extended family.

Today’s teachers don’t care any less, but they do not live the same life style. First of all, many of our teachers, have school age children, and have to pick them up after school. If they are going to stay after school they have to make arrangements and such tasks are not done instantly. Some of our elementary teacher’s, are single mothers, something that was unheard of decades ago. Others, like me, pick up there kids and/or run activities. I coach tennis, used to coach football and run web team. Some work 2nd jobs after school. Those low on the step scale need the extra income.

On the other hand, there are so many other ways to communicate that didn’t exist years ago.For instance, every teacher has a school email that they are required to check everyday. All emails are listed on the website. All school forms and documents (such as the program of studies) are available online. Every teacher has extension # and a voice box for a parent to communicate with.

Last but not least look at the educational world we live in. As my former superintendent in Fall River once said, “Education is not about kids anymore, it’s about data.” An institution that was once based around and should be based around people, as well as the people that work in it, has become so impersonal. I am not going to get into the great test score debate but often, your effectiveness, as an educator, is determined by your classes’ ability to take a test that means NOTHING to the body taking the test! Ask the student body! I do. The typical response, “I could care less how I do on those tests. They don’t affect my grades, and they don’t affect me. Why should I care?” Yet, this is the benchmark we are judged on! It is just a different world

OK…HEALTH INSURANCE…where are you getting $20 a week? I know it is not a big deal but it is around $38 per week…and yes I know that is a good deal. But at least tell the truth! Don't say were not willing to budge...that is far from the Truth!

In the last contract the teachers agreed to go from a flat amount to a percentage. Whether you realize it or not that is a BIG concession. We expect the number we agreed on, 12% to increase.

Where were you weeks ago when the town agreed to some other contracts on town that did not call for percentage co-pay (stayed with a $900 flat fee) and their explanation was, “well we couldn’t come to an agreement so we just rolled it over!”

Also, is the real bone of contention the percentage we pay or how much health care has escalated over the years? Maybe this problem wouldn’t exist if the healths care industry became more interested in health care than making an outrageous profit!

edavisiii, I totally agree that people keep shutting down every single attempt made to bring revenue into this town.

I am a born and raised Tiverton resident and I may not be considered "old" but at the age of 40 it was not dinosaurs ages ago that I was in school. I had MANY a male teacher. In fact Mr. Clarke was one of my favorite teachers of all time and NO ONE that I know till this day ran a classroom like that man did. But that is not the point here. All I am reading is excuses, excuses. Daycare centers are open way beyond the 3:30 time elementary school day ends, so if they're using child care as an excuse that one doesn't work unless it's private people watching their kids. I'm sure not every single teacher in Tiverton has kids at family/friends homes being cared for while school is operating.

I was speaking from my own personal experience with my daughter when saying that getting help after school is nearly impossible. When a student WANTS help and asks for it then it shouldn't be impossible for that teacher to provide that help!

I never brought up test scores or judging teachers on them so I'm not going to respond to that.

And just for the information, I'm telling the truth according to page #27 of the contract which clearly states that a family plan is 1100.00 a year so if my math teacher taught me well and I break that down to 52 weeks a year then that is roughly 21.15 a week. I don't spew out lies, before I write something down I find the facts to support it.

I will go one step further and link it too!

http://www.tivertonschools.org/centraloffice/school%20committee/negotiations/Contract%20Proposal%20_12-2-09.pdf

That was lasts years contract. I'm not sure how you call that a big concession? You are nowhere near the rest of the real world. I did not say that police or fire should be exempt, EVERY SINGLE TOWN EMPLOYEE should be up to par with the rest of the real world!!

The debate of health-care and the profit from this industry is not going to help us correct the town of Tiverton's problem!

The SC members who negotiated the other side called it a big concession.

Health insurance has always been a flat amount. Getting it to go to a percentage is out of the norm for school/town contracts.

That is why it was considered a big concession by the SC.

As far as the rates

Check the page again...no offense I know where the link is ....my students developed the school website!

$1100...was for 07-08

08-09 states it is12% or $1500

and...that is not the whole story....the union agreed to a set of much higher co-pays wheic saves the town thousands.

The debate might not solve the problem but it is on of the reasons fro the expense. If health care cost 5K per year and did not cost 15K, would it be such a big issue?

Putting pressure on our congress to get people more affordable health care would not help the town?

Ok, edavisiii so 1500.00 a year for you and mine costs me 4420.00 a year. I know many other people who pay more than I do........so is it fair that the rest of the world is making more than double the payment you make? I don't think it is, I am the taxpayer paying your salary and trying to keep my head above water. Before you go on and say so are teachers taxpayers too, well they have a 2920.00 advantage over me right now with just health care costs alone! That helps with the tax bill!!! I for one do not call it a big concession!!!

I still pay more in co-pays than the contract states! I sure do not have health care without co-pays either.

The problem we have in Tiverton is here and now, affordable health care is being argued day in and day out with absolutely no progress or resolution in sight. By that time we'll have no town left!!

The health care crisis is a national one and cannot be solved without complete reform of the system......the health care consortium, many owned by the bigwigs of politics (Romney, Frist) are watching all of us and laughing as we fight over the scraps after the big money went to them and their many corporate holding companies.

Sad, Really.

But as has been said before, somehow people have been convinced to act against their own interests and shout about "socialist health care". Well, you get what you deserve, and if protecting the billions for United Health Care matters more than you, your kids and your parents...so be it. It's a democracy and if a majority want to continue with paying double or more what the world pays, so be it!

But don't expect to be able to balance ANY budgets...personal, town, state or federal. You can't. The math simply does not add up.

JustMe, You say "Thank goodness this is my daughter's last year!"

So none of these cuts will impact your child. I wonder if you would be so angry and harsh if they did? Something to think about. We all paid for these things when your child went to school and now that yours are done, so apparently are you.

Craigimass, might not be able to balance ANY budget but you sure can take a dent out of it if the ones at the feeding trough catch up to the rest of the world and pay their fair share. That alone is common sense.

Lets just say the town has approximately 300 contracted workers and they were all paying the difference of 2920.00 of which my family pays that is A LOT of money the town is saving. Sure does help the budget quite a bit!

mytwocents, No it does impact me because I will have a grandson in the system very soon! If you do not think I care about his education you are wrong. What I meant by that is that I will be done with arguing with school systems and teachers about MY child's education. Now my daughter will be the one who has to carry the torch so to speak and be vocal about her son's education. It's been a long ride for me and lots of frustrations along the way. You misunderstood me.

JustMe,

Yes, I did misunderstand.

Just me said:

>>>ones at the feeding trough catch up to the rest of the world and pay their fair share

First of all, the fact is that the feeding though is the entire public and it is the health insurance companies doing the eating. Using the term "fair share" is misleading since it is anything BUT our fair share. What it is - is a share of the ridiculous extortion that the health care conglomerates are stealing from us. Since it is way too high, there is NO SUCH THING as a fair share. It is simply blackmail...and extortion and profiteering.

You are suggesting that each of 300 employees take a cut of $3,000 per year??? Seems quite drastic. Many of them would not be able to balance their budgets, stay in their homes, etc. with a cut like that. And, don't forget, these people are taxpayers also. Give them less money and they spend less on items (sales tax revenues go down), move our of your town (ALL taxes are impacted), pay less Fed and State taxes, etc.

So called SIMPLE solutions are usually anything but. Again, I am all for saving money and holding to budgets. However, painting good taxpaying teachers and other public employees as leeches or bloodsuckers is just plain wrong....when the real problems are the general economy and the lack of math abilities of the people (see my example about the family with 3 kids in school and what they cost the town).

You cannot get something for nothing. Someone has to pay. It is either you or I or someone else. I am willing to pay ANYTHING in taxes if I can see the math and understand what it costs...assuming I want those services. I had two kids in school at one time - GOOD local schools. At the time, I was paying 5K in taxes, yet just those two kids were costing the town 15K. It only adds up if LOTS of people have no kids....or lots of people stay for many decades after their children leave school....and continue paying taxes.

I know some of these are bigger societal problems...birth control, parental responsibility, etc. etc.

At the same time, everyone looked DOWN at all the public employees for many decades......while they bragged about making the big bucks in other sectors. Now that a lot of the economy has fell apart, those former Donald Trumps are crying about what the poor teachers make. It's a bit laughable....

how come Justin has not posted in a few days? Anyone ever wonder where he goes?

Actually jdevolve,

To be fair, Justin does not actually post here as frequently as say Jethro or even TCC Pres. David Nelson.

jdevolve..he is all over the place...was at some debate last night.

Jethro is the frequent flyer on these blogs

Why has Mr. Nelson become so shy?

We are just asking, are you now or have you ever been a member of the TCC? Stand up and be counted, accountability matters, right? Don't run away from the mess you have created and continue to advocate for:

Donald Bollin

Jay Lambert

Danielle Coulter

Robert Coulter

Thomas Parker

Sanford Mantell

Jim O'Dell

Madeline O'Dell

Ed Roderick

Jeff Caron

Cindy Nebergall

Justin Katz

Mel Platte

Eric Schoenholz

Deetta Moran

Cecil Leonard

Leonard Wright

Roger Winiarski

Joe Souza

TCC Founding member and BC Chair Jeff Caron said “I went out of my way,” and “commended the three school committee members who voted to investigate closing the high school.” “I think there can be serious savings in the school budget” if the high school were phased out"

ENOUGH SAID JETHRO AND TCC!

Jethro you wrote" if they act in a way that is anti child and hurt the education of our students then we will look else ware." Who is the we that you speak of. Do you or do you not speak for the TCC? You claim to speak only for yourself but then you continue to speak about we. Is there more than one Jethro? I do think that you are an honest hard working person who cares about the town, but I also think that you and the TCC are awful quick to jump on anyone who opposes you or asks the group to clarify itself on something other than the teachers contract.

As for Mr.Nelson it is clear that certain TCC members have written or spoken about shutting down the high school and privatizing certain services within the town. You can say that you did not say it but the group acts and speaks as a collective. It works in the same way that you and the TCC paint the NEA and all public union members with a very broad brush

Well Jethro I am neither an ingrate nor a union member so do your best. Perhaps when you and the TCC gave gutted my kids school system you can have some classes to illuminate with your brilliance or maybe Gsllo could bring you along to do the easy work of teaching in Centrsl Falls. Ask Ms Gallo how much longer until the axe falls on her. She is the captain of that ship and has had four years to fix it.

I was just wondering what is stopping the TCC from opening their own school. Maybe you guys could buy the ranger or nonquit building and put your money and brains to good use.

The TCC (Tiverton Carpetbagger Coalition) is please to present this year's fundraiser: Star Wars VII: Tiverton High School, The Final Chapter. Check our this line-up of malcontents, anti-socials, bitter ignoramuses, anti-public education zealots, cheapskates and otherwise fine upstanding me-first Americans:

Rob Coulter as Luke Skywalker

Colonel Tom Parker as Han Solo

Joe Sousa as Chewbacca

Danielle Coulter as Princess Leia

Don Bollin as Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi,

Michael C. Smith as R2-D2

David Nelson as Darth Vader

Leonard Wright as Lando Calrissian

Cecil Leonard as C-3PO

Cynthia Nebergall as Yoda

Philip DiMattia as Grand Moff Tarkin

And of course, Jeff Caron as Jabba