Hello Concerned Quincy Citizen

May 18, 2008

Dear City Resident,

On Thursday, May 15th, City Councillors Finn, Raymondi, Keenan, Coughlin and Gutro voted to cut 3 Million dollars from our school’s budget. This could result in the layoffs of teachers, larger classroom sizes and a reduction of programs, including Kindergarten, Sports and the Arts.

We urge you to call and email your Councillors, using the contact information on this blog telling them to reconsider their vote on cutting the School Budget by such a devastating amount.

Together we will make a difference!

Over the next few days we will be forming teams for Flyer Drops in certain neighborhoods and events. Please let us know if you can help.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. .

110 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Stand Up!  |  May 18, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    This is awful! How can they cut 3 million dollars without laying off teachers and cutting programs? Did the School committee know about this. Were they consulted? Please stand up and fight for our kids. Where is the Mayor on this? I heard during the election that he would not fight for the schools. Isn’t John Keenan his Brother in Law? Did he know about this? Time to stand up for the kids of Quincy Mr. Mayor!

  • 2. Concerned  |  May 18, 2008 at 10:56 pm

    Did John Keenan offer suggestions as to what could possibly be cut? If so, does anyone know what the suggestions where? Yes, John Keenan is Mayor Koch’s brother-in-law (?)

  • 3. Stand Up!  |  May 19, 2008 at 12:24 am

    I just watched the City Council Meeting again. I watched an exchange between Keenan and Davis. Mr. Keenan seems to show no concern for laying off teachers or cutting programs. Does he have any kids in the Public schools? Oh wait Mr. Gutro just applauded Mr. Keenan for his work and meeting with the department heads. Apparently he missed the department head with the biggest budget. The Schools!

  • 4. Jay Davis  |  May 19, 2008 at 2:21 am

    I would like to thank all of those who are working so hard to save our schools. As a public school graduate, a brother of three public school teachers and most importantly the father of two Quincy Public School students, I was devastated by the actions of the City Council on Thursday night. However, ogether we can make a difference. Your voices need be heard. So keep up the good work, spread the word to others, mobolize friends and family, and show up on the 22nd! If you have any specific questions about the cuts, please feel free to contact me.

    Jay

  • 5. Stand Up!  |  May 19, 2008 at 3:06 am

    Thanks Jay, I was impressed with what I saw the other night. It is apparent who cares about the schools and who doesn’t. Also, thanks to Mr. McFarland, Mr, McNamee and Mr Kelley.

  • 6. Historicus  |  May 19, 2008 at 3:36 am

    I find it kind of ironic how Kevin Coughlin came from his son’s private school’s graduation to cast the tie breaking vote to essentially cut teachers and programs from the city’s public schools.

  • 7. They don't care  |  May 19, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t Mr. Mayor’s children and his brother-in-law Councillor Keenan’s children go to private schools? Do they really care about our public schools? I think not!

  • 8. Suzanne Lawless  |  May 19, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    What is the appeal of the “City of Presidents” if the public school system isn’t the most important asset? It is UNACCEPTABLE to cut from the school budget. UNACCEPTABLE. There has to be other ways to cut costs, and surely there must be….I’m willing to bet they are several overpaid city employees. The children of Quincy (who attend pulic schools) do not deserve this. I remember when Mayor Phelan was talking about cutting programs in the school system, yet parents of “Montessori” students were bidding at the private school fundraiser to have dinner with him.

    Congratulations on your son’s graduation Mr. Coughlin.

  • 9. "Together We Can"  |  May 19, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    @ Mr. Davis

    More Deval Patrick rhetoric is just what this city needs to get further into the hole! PROGRAMS PROGRAMS PROGRAMS – there has to be a limit for what can be provided in the public schools. Similarly, in one’s family budget – one buys what he can afford. While education is paramount, citizens should be more educated with respect to politics. It is these LIBERAL democratic fools (politicians) who scream for more money for all their programs and pet projects. We the tax payers are the ones who ultimately pay the bill!!!

    Quincy’s “Day Care”, I mean “All Day Kindergarten” is an example of foolish spending. Why are taxpayer paying the bill for those families who need child care? All day Kindergarten is nothing more than a politically derived tool for getting votes!

    Schools should get back to the BASICS – the sciences, reading, writing & arithmetic.

  • 10. Suzanne Lawless  |  May 19, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    I agree that all day kindergarten is not a necessity.

  • 11. TAXPAYER  |  May 19, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Is the budget available for us as taxpayers to view to see how much each dept. spends? I look around at the new work being done at the Fountain at Hancock & Merrymount and wonder if it neccesary. I think the crosstown connector is a waste of money, especially since the Mayor recently decided to take the Quincy Fair building by eminent domain to the tune of 2 Million dollars. This new road will not save Quincy Square to reclaim “ShoppersTown USA ” nickname we had before the South Shre Plaza. I am sick of Quincy being a parking lot for the South Shore. I think this blog should remain active so us Taxpayers can point out waste whenever we see it. I also think the 1 family owner occupied homeowners bear the brunt of any tax increase. Multi family and rental property owners can raise their rents accordingly to help offset tax increases.
    See you tonight!

  • 12. NO CUTS  |  May 19, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    I find it incredible that Nick Puleo just received the FY09 proposed SCHOOL BUDGET YESTERDAY, and thinks it “has not been distributed to the entire school committee”. What does he think the school committee BUDGET COMMITTEE
    does during the year. How does he think the City Council gets it numbers. Nick come back into the real world. There is no way 3 million dollars is going to be cut from the school budget without teacher layoffs. You are not going to cut anything from Special Education accounts, which are big budget
    busters. This year alone those accounts will be $2 million over budget. You will also not attempt to cut MCAS programs. You will take easy road like before and cut teachers, music, arts, and other school & after school programs.

  • 13. Kathy Shea  |  May 19, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    With regard to full day kidergarten being day care. It is scienticially proven the earlier you intervene with a potetial problem the faster you can get back on track. Expectations on what our children can do have changed kids are expected to come into first grade ready to hit the ground running. Full Day Kindergarten exposes the child to the length of the day and gives a system the opportunity and time to help the child achieve. With the reading programs in place we are able to identify the childs area of weakness and come back wtih wrap around classroom learning that helps push the child over the hurdle. We are no longer just sitting in circles idenfifying blocks these children are reading, writing and being prepared for road to achievement.

    Historically a child would not be identified in need until 2nd or 3rd grade. At this point it is significanly harder to get the child on track. They are also in a emotional rollacoster because at this age even the child realized that they are struggling. This is when acting out and problem begin to surface..

  • 14. Parent with K-student  |  May 19, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    At first I was not sure about all day K. I was not thrilled with sending my baby to school for 5 hours. However, my youngest was mainstreamed from the ECC program with and IEP. If there wasn’t all day K, there would not have been enough time in the day for all the services.

    This was the case for my oldest. So her services were diminished a bit and valuable class time was lost. As a result, we retained her.

    Please don’t cut all day K. I have heard more success stories than failure. Loosing all day K would be devistating as will a 3 million cut in the school budget.

  • 15. aimeegdc  |  May 19, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    I cannot believe that this is even being considered. The children of Quincy are our future. We have one of the best school systems in the state. I have watched as a friend of mine who lives in a nearby town had school cut after cut. It started with “unnecessary” (not my words) programs like “art” and after school sports, etc. and it just kept going. Her son was going to school until 1:30 because they even cut the length of how long they would have to be in school. This town has had people not wanting to live there anymore and is known for its difficult school system. Quincy is known to have one of the best school systems. I have a special needs daughter who has been provided with services that has made the quality of her life tremendously improved (which would not have happened if I had lived in the aforementioned town). I also have a son in public school in Quincy. There certainly should be other ways to make up this three million without touching the school system. It has been one of this city’s greatest strengths and should not be touched!

  • 16. Tracey Christello  |  May 19, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    While driving to work today I listened to wbz news and ironically enough as they gave the sour ecomony report the last sentence of that was THE ONLY SURE THING TO INVEST IN IS EDUCATION!!!!!!!!! How interesting is that.

    I would challenge each and everyone in agreement of these cuts to spend some time in any one of our schools for a day and see first hand why cutting valuable classes, programs etc. would be devastating to our community. I have spent time in our schools and my head spins everytime with all that great things that go on.

    Those oppose to all day K should read the cirriculum that a K teacher needs to keep up with.

  • 17. Hank Brawley  |  May 19, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    Ok – so do we have a handle on WHAT is gonna get cut???
    So it would be premature to speculate on the relative importance of differing programs until we have a reccommendation to look at.
    I am very concerned about this issue.
    I have three children in the system.
    A budget shortfall means that we cut services or pay more taxes.
    I can’t afford to pay more taxes…connect the dots!

  • 18. Hank Brawley  |  May 19, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    typo

  • 19. Tina Gaffney  |  May 19, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    I am the parent of two boys in QPS . My oldest son has Autism.
    H e is 9 years old now and without all of the Special Ed services that were and are being provided, he would not be where he is
    today.
    I will not stand by and let vital services and our teachers lose thier jobs.I am worried for the future of our schools and for my oldest son, the toughest part of his education is right
    around the corner which is “middle school”and I need to be
    reassured that this big transition for him will have all the proper staff to encourage him to continue to succesfully learn and be
    a contributing person in our society. Lets get this done…
    Tina Gaffney
    Houghs Neck
    .

  • 20. Tax Payer Disgusted!  |  May 19, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    Pothole Wise and Education Foolish!!! I agree that these massive cuts in the school budget, thereby risking the education of our youth are unacceptable, especially when the current administration can have someone on the payroll that makes around $60K a year to ride around the city and locate POTHOLES!!! Come on people, where are the priorities. Education should be Job 1. It’s a NO BRAINER, as we say!!

  • 21. Melissa  |  May 19, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    I would like Mr. Raymondi to spend a day in a Kindergarten Classroom with 20 kids and then tell us we don’t need paraprofessionals.

  • 22. Anne Mahoney  |  May 19, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this issue. Often times people think they should wait out the storm and see what the damage is. But I encourage you to keep this dialouge open.

    But please also call your City Councillors and the Mayor. Let them know your concerns.

    Waiting to see the outcome will be too late. Empower yourself but more importantly protect those of us who cannot vote. THE CHILDREN.

    I encourage you to come join me at the council meeting on Thursday Night at City Hall.

  • 23. Margaret  |  May 19, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    I voted for the current administration and my ward 5 councillor because I expected that they will go the extra mile to do what is right. I want to see why ( without blaming the previous administration) these cuts are necessary. I want to see where they made cuts and trimmed the fat so far. I want to see where all the money is going, and then and only then will people be able to have an educated discussion about this. Everyone knows that cities and towns with good school systems have a lower crime rate, better quality of life etc….Priorities need to be straight. I know there are a tremendous amount of dedicated parents out there. Where there is a will there is a way, let’s think creatively and make lemonade out of this lemon budget!.

  • 24. Dan & Patty Gillis  |  May 19, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    We have e-mailed the mayor, our councilor (Jay Davis) and the 3 councilors-at-large to let them know it is time to show some leadership on this issue – cutting the school budget now after all the hard work and positive momentum from the last few years is not only foolish, but will ultimately end up costing far more than is saved this year. Public education is an investment that pays off not only in better and more informed citizens, but in higher property values and a more stable and prosperous city.

  • 25. Question  |  May 19, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    Would the proposed transfer of the Maintenance Department from the school system to the City side effect the school system budet cuts?

  • 26. Concerned Parent  |  May 19, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    When I found out about the bedget cuts I was disgusted. I have two middle school children. They love being involved in all of the activities, they also take advantage of the mcas prep classes. They should think twice about cutting these programs. We really have to start thinking about our kids. Let’s hear from some of them.

  • 27. A mom of 2  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:05 pm

    No surprises here……I voted Phelan. We knew this would happen. Unsupportive school systems will only reap unsupportable kids over time. Quincy will no longer be a desirable place to raise your children. Why would people stay here ?

  • 28. Jeff Spicoli  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    They would stay… for The Parks!!!

  • 29. Time to start living within our means  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Cities and towns need to wake up and stop relying so much on state aide. It is clear that this money is not guaranteed. Once again its a case of only spending the funds that are available – living within a reasonable means.

    Clearly there must be ways to cut without hacking away at our school budget. In difficult times, there are always ways to spend more effectively. Once again, it is that liberal mindset -what is Uncle Sam going to give me that gets us in trouble. People need to remember that when fiscal times are good, that doesn’t mean SPEND SPEND SPEND!!! This city needs to start saving for times such as these.

    Parents should be more responsible with respect to their children’s learning and not expect the schools to do everything. Education is critical. That being said, families need to take more responsibility. Why should taxpayers supplement when parents fail to do their job?

  • 30. Concerned parent, homeowner & taxpayer  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    Unfortunately, I am not surprised that Mayor Koch is not coming out in defense of the very school system that he oversees.

    The hypocrisy could not be more blatant. During the mayoral election last year, Koch came out in strong support of the Teacher’s Union strike and used it as a catalyst to win the seat in an extremely close race. Meanwhile no one had a problem with the fact that his very own kids were attending private schools. I was banging my head over this one. Am I wrong in thinking this is a significant conflict of interest? Phelan was a huge advocate of the Quincy schools and invested in them by sending his kids through the system.

    The irony is the Teacher’s Union strongly backed Koch and he’s not returning the favor.

    I was against the Teacher’s Union when they held their strike. At first I thought they deserved more but then I learned the facts. Their average pay is not all that low in the mid-$60s and the city pays 90% of their healthcare (Question: how many of their spouses on are the city health plan? I’ll bet 100%). In the private sector you’ll be lucky if one’s company picks up more than 50% of your health. Teacher’s families pay $5 co-pays, whereas I pay $25 using a very competitive health plan. If you have kids, these co-pays easily add up to a couple hundred dollars over the course of a year. Let us not forget the full pensions teachers can collect in roughly 25 years of service – FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! A 401K is not “for life.” Obviously I have my hang ups.

    That said, I am suspicious of a $3MM budget cut. I would also like to know what other cuts there are under the city’s budget. I agree with many and that we should invest in our schools. Schools are the building block of each community and the nucleus of any city or town. We go to schools to watch sporting events, go to recitals, attend town functions, vote and most importantly, we go to schools to learn. Schools instill pride, lower crime and good schools back our “other” investments – our homes.

    I’d like to see more responsible budget cuts and have the mayor take some long hard looks at other areas to reduce costs. I’m not giving the school committee a pass, but they are only working with what the mayor has afforded them.

  • 31. Ali Crehan Feeney  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    Thanks for setting up this blog. It’s good to get the information out!

    I’d like to know who’s responsible for this forum, however – I find it perplexing that the creator isn’t to put their name out there. Why would you not want to identify yourself and stand with those who are supporting you?

    My previous comment to this affect was deleted, which I find concerning.

  • 32. Ali Crehan Feeney  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    My apologies – my previous comment ended up on a different page than this main one. I’m clearly a too-tired mother of a QPS student.

  • 33. kevmah  |  May 20, 2008 at 1:08 am

    Dear Ali and Michelle,

    My Name is Kevin Mahoney and I have set this blog up. I did it yesterday. I have three children in the public school system and was very troubled by the City Council Meeting on 5/15. My wife Anne is a School Committee member and has contributed 1 post to this blog using her name. I did not set this up to be my forum or my wife’s forum. I set this up for the concerned citizens of Quincy. I have not deleted anyone’s post. I have the capability to do so but honestly I have not found anything that disturbing.

    I hope you keep contributing and pass the word along.

    Also: on a technical note the time is about 3 hrs. off on everyones post. I will fix it when I know how.

  • 34. Maureen Oldham  |  May 20, 2008 at 2:01 am

    I think the all day kindergarten should be the 1st thing to consider in cost saving. I realize the importance of early intervention. However I don’t buy into the whole all day kindergarten will make or break a child’s education. The majority of Quincy’s kids got along quite well without the full day. If we would be completely honest most of us would agree it benefits the Parents as much if not more than the kids.

    Another cost saving idea to consider would be the buses. If families want to use the buses then maybe a fee needs to be implemented. Many Communities already do this and have been doing it for many years.

  • 35. Kd  |  May 20, 2008 at 2:01 am

    http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/07/04/how-do-i-set-the-time/

  • 36. Karl Roos  |  May 20, 2008 at 2:03 am

    The most important thing that all of us have to do is be vigilant and vocal. We need to let the City Councilors and the mayor know that we are watching all of this carefully. We needed to know why the decisions are being made, what are the trade offs, what are the alternatives. They need to fully explain their decisions and be prepared to be held accountable for them.

    These are difficult fiscal times, less money is coming from the state, property values are down, families have less disposable income. We as a city need to work together in an open and honest manner to tackle these difficult decisions. We all need to share some of the burden. This is no time for backroom politics.

    Questions to ask:
    Why such a large burden of cuts on the schools? What cuts are going to be made in other departments? Was the superintendent consulted before this decisions was made? Was the School Committee consulted? What are these cuts going to impact? What is proposed to do with the largest items of the budget, pensions and healthcare? Understandably changes can’t be made to current contracts but what future reforms are being planned for pensions and healthcare costs- is Quincy going to participate in the consortium run by the state?

    What is the tax increase going to be with the cuts, what would it be without the cuts?

    Can we suspend the additional 1% tax on the real estate bills used for acquiring open space (really Quincy has been settled since 1625, how much open space is left…) and have that go to the schools. Yes I know state matching funds would be forfeited but I would rather have 1/2 the money go to schools then open fields.

    For the teachers union, you are all educated professionals, this is your work environment. Please look around and think of some suggestions on what can be done more efficiently at the schools. Help us help you save your jobs.

    We all need to work together to solve this problem and share the burden. Lets offer solutions and alternatives. We are not going to be steam rolled into taking a bad solution.

  • 37. kevmah  |  May 19, 2008 at 9:12 pm

    Dear Kd: Thanks for the tip on fixing the time.

    - Kevin

  • 38. Rover  |  May 20, 2008 at 9:36 am

    It’s time to stand up… and stay strong, we need to support our school system now, this is a begining of a pattern. This is how it started in other communities, I grew up in a neighboring town and they had the philisophy cut from the biggest budget and we will add it back when things turn…trust me they never did and they continued to cut. We need to stay focussed on what is important – an excellent and diverse school system supporting the needs of all children. One question where are the teachers – they fought for a contract and now what… they sit idle and watch this train wreck. Where is the union! They said it was about the kids and the future, the future is now…

    Call your coumcilors and be heard. We do not want cuts we want soultions… we need them to look at other areas to address.

  • 39. Eileen & Paul DeBonis  |  May 20, 2008 at 9:58 am

    I have 3 public school children. My youngest had all day kindergarten last year. It is NOT babysitting or daycare or any of those things. My son is so far ahead of where his sisters were at that age. Kids are older in kindergarten than they were years ago. My son, for one, really needed the intellectual stimulation he received. My mother and father, friends and relatives notice what a BIG difference full day kindergarten made. He is the only grandchild within the family that got this advantage, and it shows.

    I beleive the budget cut is probably political. We shall see that it is being done to bargain over something else, or to set up some other agenda. The programs we have in our Quincy Schools are tremendous. My daughter is at Central and I cannot say enough good things about the way that school is run and the education she is receiving.. I will write to the mayor and city councilors. However, I must say that the last few times I have written to the Mayor or to the City councilors, I have only received responses from Kevin Coughlin regarding one issue, and Joe Finn regarding another issue.

    Let’s continue to speak up and find answers! I work in the private sector and our raises are not so generous as the city’s nor is my health plan as good. Nor do we get pensions anymore, just 401k.

  • 40. Fed Up  |  May 20, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    Why are we so surprised! We elected people who won’t even put their own kids in our public schools!! These people are more concerned with street cleaning and making thiings look pretty. Has anyone seen the lovely new streets and sidewalks that were put in Keenan’s neighborhood last year? Why don’t we start by cutting their paychecks to save money?

  • 41. Mother of 3  |  May 20, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Anyone doubting the advantage of full time kindergarten obviously does not know what they are talking about. The teachers and students are working so hard in those classrooms. I have a child in1st, 6th and 9th. My youngest had the good fortune to be in full time kindergarten. By March of last year, the majority of the class could read a Dr. Seuss book on their own. For a 6 year old, this is quite impressive. These children are receiving such a sound foundation for their education. I have friends in some very affluent towns who envy some of our school programs. Before knocking it, educate yourself!!!

  • 42. champagne taste on a beer budget  |  May 20, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    @ mother of 3

    Clearly kindergarten is a critical stepping stone for future learning, however have you ever heard of champagne taste on a beer budget? I am certain their are other means by which to structure kindergarten and to ensure the sucess of students by staying within budgetary contraints. Children were excelling before the advent of All Day Kindergarten and they will continue to do so.

    For decades, Kindgergarten has been half-time, and I do not think students were jeopardized by this system. Each year our high schools graduate students with impecable academic standings. They did not have All Day Kindergarten then, and they have not suffered without it.

    Many parents today rely soley on schools to teach everything from discipline to academics. Learning begins at home and should continue simultaneoulsy at home. School should be held to high academic standards but parents should as well.

  • 43. I'm no politician  |  May 20, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    I am no politican. But it does seem very strange to me to see the Mayor and Jim Timmins suggesting the city of Quincy spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, who knows how much, to hire new engineers to determine whether Faxon Swamp would be suitable for a track. Who cares whether it can all be placed in that location. Who cares whether there is no parking? Who cares that the kids will have to cross a very very busy street – IF the YMCA lets the city of Quincy use some of its land (of course there would probably need to be another soil study) But the YMCA is expanding, why would it let the City use its land. Who cares if the neighbors get flooded? To hear them talk about Faxon Marsh, one would think that the city has LOADS of money to waste… However, the studies, designs, permissions, and all necessary funding has been secured for the track at Pageant Field – oh wait – it just dawned on me – maybe since Mayor Koch will not get his way with Faxon Field, he is pulling the strings on the school budget – Like I said, I am no politician and I am not capable of talking out of both sides of my mouth – I couldn’t pay to have engineers study something I might like for my house, but tell my own children there is no money for food or the dentist. May as well move folks, this city, just like Pageant Field, its going to the DOGS. I understand that Mayor Koch is a nice man, but he may be over his head in his recent position. He should not have made the teacher’s strike a political issue, nor should he have made Pageant Field a political issue. They were hot button rhetoric, making them political is making it impossible for him to see the bigger picture and what is best for this city. This is your chance, Mayor Koch, stand up and do the right thing.

  • 44. Mother of 3  |  May 20, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    champagne taste on a beer budget

    Then we should cut ESL, guidance counselors, school nurses, after school programs, and all those other extra items. I have my MBA and I never had any of those things. Why are you picking on 5 year old kids?

    You seriously think that our high school kids have impeccable academic standings?? Are you serious??? You are seriously diluted! Which City Councillor are you related to??

  • 45. Julie Berberan  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    When Bill Phelan first became Mayor and he started to threaten that financial changes would have to be made in the schools the unfortunate result was that there was an exodous of excellent teachers from our school system and our educational program suffered tremendously. It is a shame to see this happen again. There are many wonderful teachers in the Quincy Public Schools that we do not want to scare into leaving.

    As a mother of a Kindergarten student who finds the full day as far too long, I am all for an 8-12 half day kindergarten program. A half day program would eliminate the need for nap time and lunch so the students would still be getting approximately the same time for academics. The easiest position to eliminate from the school department would be the Kindergarten Aides. The class sizes are small and there are so many parents who would be willing to help out in the Kindergarten that the Aides job is an unnecessary position.

  • 46. champagne taste on a beer budget  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    @ mother of 3

    To answer you question, I am NOT related to any politician. With respect to students graduating with impeccable academic standing, why don’t you ask the principals of Quincy High or North Quincy High were some of the top graduates will be going for further learning? Additionally, upon your research, you will learn that former graduates have attended Ivy League Universities as well as many other fine colleges and universities. I am sure these students would not appreciate your negative comments as well as the staff, when you are basically mocking the educational outcomes of this school system.

    All day Kindergarten is by no means the only area where cuts could take place. I am sure some “fat” could be trimmed from many other areas without comprising academic excellency.

  • 47. What nap!!  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    My daughter was in kindergarten last year, she never napped. That is wonderful that YOU can commit to spend a day in school, but many others cannot. What about the working single parent??? CUT ESL!!!!!

  • 48. champagne taste on a beer budget  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    @ what nap!

    I think you just solidified the points made equating All Day K to Day Care. It was invented for those parents who both work or for the single working parent. Let me be responsible for my child’s down time or “nap” time. Let me be responsible for enrichment and social time. Once again, too much is expected from the school system – crippled by this mindset!

  • 49. Where are the teachers?  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    What I want to know is…Where are the teachers?

    They wanted us to support them on their strike. Will they be there Thu. night fighting for their jobs? The $4 Mil that Mayor Koch added to the school budget goes directly to the teachers salery increases. The rest of the budget is level funded.

    I hope they will be standing next to me on Thu. fighting to stop the 2% cut and fighting for their jobs/programs as they did last spring!

  • 50. Concerned About Other Things  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Can we move on from the Kindergarten argument? I think it will be effected but not wiped out. Why aren’t the teachers concerned?
    Where is Union President, Paul Phillips on this? Your silence is deafening!

  • 51. Those who stormed city hall  |  May 20, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    If there are teachers that should go, get the news coverage of the storming of city hall last year. Those that stormed city hall behaved badly, not professionally as I would expect from a teacher. Those teachers should be the 1st to go. What kind of example did they set for our children anyway? Also, those teachers that harassed their fellow teachers during the strike, putting strange items in their mailboxes and shunning those who did not want to strike. Or what about those that sent those “lovely” Christmas cards to the Phelan family at the direction of Paul Phillips. They refused to exercise their own judgment, and subscribed to the mob, bullying mentality, something we all try to teach our children to not only avoid, but actively discouorage. I love my children’s teachers, I admire them, but I was very disappointed in how some teachers behaved during that strike. Our society has forgotten how to behave civilly and with decorum to accomplish our goals… My children were quite aware of what some of the teachers did during the strike and they cried because they held their teachers in high esteem and were extremely disappointed to find that some of the teachers did not live up to their expectations.

    That said, we move on, we forgive and try not to repeat past errors. Mayor Koch has seen the light with the Quincy concourse, perhaps he can be influenced to see the light here. Each member of the City council should be reaching out to us, their constituents, to explain their actions and their plans. How do they plan to implement these cuts? We have taken so many steps forward in our schools, let’s not step back. Central may be an old school, but the quality of its teachers and its programs are what make a school, not the building. The programs and teachers at Central are 1st rate. The principle is to be commended on the atmosphere of excellence and openness she has instilled in that school.

  • 52. Kevin Mahoney  |  May 20, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    I understand your frustration but I think we need to lay off the teachers. I think we need to stick together. Your fire (questions and concerns) needs to be directed squarely at the City Council (certain members; Raymondi, Keenan, Gutro, Coughlin and Finn) right now.

  • 53. Tracey  |  May 20, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    WOW!

    We need to redirect our anger and truly look at the big picture hear people. Cutting a budget just doesn’t happen in one area it happens all around us. These cuts potentially will hurt every student in this city. My thoughts are that many do not know how a department even starts to make this happen. Please tune in and educate yourselves with the way a system works. We need to not cast stones right now we need to unite as a community and let the City Council know that education must come first no matter what grade you are in and that a 3 million dollar cut cannot be tolerated.
    By pointing fingers we are not rising about we are joining in. Please lets stand together and advocate for our children as loudly as we can.
    SEE YOU ALL ON THURSDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

  • 54. Larry Chretien  |  May 20, 2008 at 8:37 pm

    Here are the facts as I see them:

    1) At a time when education is becoming increasingly important to the well being of indvidual children and the cities they live in, the mayor submitted a school budget that would maintain services at this year’s level.
    2) For the first time in at least twenty years, the Council went after a mayor’s proposed school budget with a meat cleaver. Also without precedent, they did it without giving the superintendent a chance to present the QPS budget to them, and to explain the impacts of cuts.
    3) As parents, each of us could probably find some budget cuts to be less offensive than others. But we must understand that a quality education today requires many different things. And rather than putting ourselves into the pit against each other and the “taxpayers”, let’s stand together for the benefit of each other’s children and say that cuts are unacceptable.

    I’ll be at the Council meeting on Thursday 6:30 pm and doing my best to get the councilors to reconsider.

  • 55. Anne Mahoney  |  May 20, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Again, Thank you all for coming to the table and openly discussing issues and opinions. It is safe to say we are for the most part on the same page –

    We are working hard at the budget process. The approach is to try not to adversely effect the student. But unless we can change this vote the ripple effect will be felt and have dramatic impact.

    The next two days are critical we need to reach out to as many people as we can and have them join us in unison at the Council meeting.

    I ask that over the next two days that you tell people to come out to the meeting. Make it point to discuss the situation with other parents at pick up and drop off. Or at the bus stop… If people are not informed send them to the blog to get some insight and if they want to share some thoughts.

    SO PLEASE tell people to come and join us.
    If we come out in numbers we will be taken seriously… No one person can make this change on their own. We need your support.

  • 56. Kevin Mahoney  |  May 20, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    If you missed it, please check out the numbers School Committee Member Jo-Ann Bragg has supplied. I think you will find the numbers disturbing, maybe confusing initially, but none the less disturbing. Read it twice. It will sink in!

    Scroll up to “Recent Posts” on right. Select “Some Numbers to Consider”

    Thanks for the time in putting these numbers together.

    Kevin Mahoney

  • 57. Not surprised !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  |  May 21, 2008 at 6:08 am

    Why does this not surprise me. Its seems like the Mayor has his own pet projets and agenda, . What a change this administration has been, putting up our taxes, water bill etc. Why doesn;’t the Mayor set up a task force to collect all the money owed to the city by delinquent water , sewer and tax bills. Why are we renting our city owned property for minimal fees while our own school system is crumbling , the numbers Jo Ann Bragg set up speak for thermselves, Shame on you Mayor Koch, and all ot the people who support putting this on our Children, since his Children to to PRIVATE SCHOOL they won’t be affected. I have sent a link to this blog to everyone in my address book with ties to Quincy, I will be there to voice my opinion

  • 58. NO CUTS  |  May 21, 2008 at 7:13 am

    The Mayor’s budget allowed for level service funding for the schools. Last week the CITY COUNCIL MADE $5MILLION IN CUTS to the Mayor’s Budget. This included a CUT TO THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT OF $2,925 MILLION. The CITY COUNCIL, not Mayor Koch is the BAD GUY.

  • 59. qps student  |  May 21, 2008 at 8:02 am

    as a student in the quincy public schools with two younger siblings, one just leaving the full day kindergarten, i can not believe that people think this is a waste of money. going through school in kindergarte i was condidered an “advanced reader” because i could read good night moon. my sister comes home with chapter books which she can read with the occasional question on a word. they are so far ahead of where we were a few years ago. this will help future students even more. and if we have such smart highschoolers now look at there sat scores in 10 years compared to ours. if anything, cut the lab program for fifth graders and the esl that was the biggest waste of money and time. kids fell behind in normal school to learn caligraphy and other stuff. Italso held back our classes because we could not do anything on the day 20 kids were missing from our classes. Those kids who did lab were tthe ones who flunked AP in middle school. busses to and from central every day would save some money already. and kids who were in kindergarten with me who were born in america went to esl through fifth grade! i get that maybe u need a year ort wo but not 6 years learning a language about your native country!

  • 60. Hank Brawley  |  May 21, 2008 at 11:50 am

    Do we have an approximate amount that would be saved by a return to the 1/2 day kindergarten?

    The current full day program is certainly not a waste of funds.

    I’m sure that the full day is somewhat of an educational benefit to some of the children.

    However, it was my understanding from the inception of the program that the “full day” benefit to families in having the children at school for more hours far outweighted any specific educational benefit to the individual children.

    Do we have specific empirical evidence on the educational benefit to the student on full day vs half day kindergarten?

  • 61. Theresa Walsh  |  May 21, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    What I see from looking at the numbers Ms. Bragg supplied this forum is that almost 4% of the school budget was slashed. My question, which I sent to the five City Councilors who voted for this cut is: were the other 33 departments (listed on the Quincy Governments Departments page) budgets also cut by at least 4% and were there areas in these other departments where more than 4% could be cut? I have not heard a reply from any of them as of yet. I’m sure there are areas where cost cutting, if absolutely necessary, would be less painful than taking so much from the School Department.

    I do not understand why Mayor Koch is being made the bad guy in this forum. I do not have a strong opinion one way or the other about his admisntration so far, with the possibly exception of the whole track location fiasco, but this is not the forum for that discussion! He submitted a level funding budget that would have kept services at their current levels. This wasn’t a big cushy budget with lots of finagle room and big increases in programs. His budget proposal was slashed. Why is he the bad guy for this? What does it matter if his kids attend private schools if his original budget adequately took care of the rest of Quincy’s children?

    I also find ludicrous the idea that full day kindergarten has been targeted as some sort of boondoggle. It is a program that will reap academic rewards in the years to come. Having a full day program allows the children the time to really learn and better prepares them for the grades 1 through 5 and beyond. With Quincy’s wonderful diversity there is a large population of children who do not speak English in their homes, it is imperative that all students have as many early learning opportunities as possible. Additionally, mandatory passing grades on the MCAS have made early learning key – I have yet to see a study that shows early learning does not help in future academic achievement. With so many older kindergartners since the September 1 cutoff became non-negotiable the children are ready and able to learn in a full day setting. Those parents who feel their child is not ready have the option of keeping them home another year or doing a half-day program.

    So let’s focus on getting some answers as to where this money is being cut and what the alternatives are to cutting $3 million from the School Department budget. Lets make sure that the City is not making unneccesary spending decisions in other departments while cutting funding for our childrens’ future.

    I’ll be at the meeting tomorrow night looking for these answers.

  • 62. ? Quincy's Preschool Program  |  May 21, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    Has any analysis been down with respect to Quincy’s Preschool Program. Currently it is an integretated program. While it is a wonderful program, perhaps the rates could be raised to make them more competetive with private preschools. It is a critical program for children with developmental delays/ and those that are economically disadvantaged and might not otherwise attend preschool. These children need this preschool. That being said why not raise the rates for the community children that are not receiving services? Why is the school system subsidizing those that could well afford to pay for private preschool but chose Quincy’s for the lower rates.

  • 63. Julie  |  May 21, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    I have read some, not all, of these comments. There are a couple that got to me. They concerned the all day kindergarten. When I first learned Quincy was going to be providing all day kindergarten I was against it. I thought it was a bit much for the young ones. But having had my daughter in the all day program last year I think it is a wonderful thing. It is not “day care”. It is school. I have had 3 children going through the Quincy public schools, the older 2 were in part time kindergarten. I think full time is definately the way to go. My daughter learned so much more in full time than she could have in part time. What is the point in going to school for 2 hours a day? What can you possibly learn in 2 hours? Not much. One of my children has had an IEP for most of his school life. I believe if he had the opportunity to be in kindergarten full time he may not have struggled as much through school as he did. Full time kindergarten is a wonderful thing, and NOT a waste of money, and I think all city’s and town’s should have it! I bet the people on here complaining about full time kindergarten do not have children in public schools here, or their children did not have the benefit of full time, so they do not realize what a wonderful thing it is.

  • 64. paulunion  |  May 21, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    Wow, lots of comments here that should be commented on in return.
    First, the Mayor says, and I believe him at this point, that this was a City Council initiative. If his brother-in-law led that initiative, that’s for them to straighten out. The Mayor’s proposed budget had none of these cuts in it. I hope he will defend his original budget, but he has not had much of an opportunity (yet) to do so. We’ll see.
    Nick Puleo has been criticized for suggesting that there might be ways to accommodate such a cut. Chalk that up to inexperience at this point. If he continues to suggest that we can “eat” such a cut without serious harm, by nibbling at the edges of what we do, I will question his politics. He also needs to work with his colleagues a little more closely. Mrs. Bragg is right on about the impact of this on the schools. The impact on the property tax bills of the Mayor’s proposed, and frankly indadequate, budget is estimated at $600/average home. With the crazy cuts of the City Council (pre-emptive cuts), that figure goes down to $400+/average home. As if that amount will cause LESS outcry. The City Council will have succeeded in causing outcry over lost services (especially education) at the same time they endure outcry over increased property taxes! Great job, guys! Please NO ONE!

    If there is a bullet to be bitten on property taxes, and I am convinced Phelan left us a good sized bullet, then we should bite it now and get it over with. I am a taxpayer, too; and those taxes pay for services. People who follow the schools know that there is a pretty tight budget already, and there’s not a lot of “wasted services”, unless you want to pick on certain groups: little kids, special needs kids, foreign-speaking kids, really smart kids. I read some of those people above this comment, talking about kindergarten. If they are willing to do that, we can eliminate services for one or more of those groups. And that would be wrong.

    But keep your eye on the ones doing this: Not the School Committee and not the Mayor. It’s the City Council. “They got some ’splainin’ to do!”

  • 65. Laney  |  May 21, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Paul Union, My, you are dutiful. It is seared into our memory that just about a year ago, Koch stood with you and your teachers at your picnic and made who knows how many promises! He appeased you then and he appears to be appeasing you now. His hands were not on the knife that did the cutting. Why must you bring Mayor Phelan into this? He left office in a surplus with a good bond rating. I am no mathematician, but I knew if you got what you wanted last year; these cuts were coming. Why is everyone so surprised?

  • 66. concerned parent  |  May 21, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    I take acception to the Mayor Koch bashing. This problem was INHERITED FROM THE PRIOR ADMINISTRATION!!!! Where the mayor or any one of us sends our children is a personal decision. How dare people question/condemn choices we all make as parents.

  • 67. Laney  |  May 21, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    FYI: I can’t let you go through life thinking the phrase is ‘I take acception… It is actually, I take exception. Did you go to QPS?

  • 68. concerned parent  |  May 21, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Hey, Laney -

    What about all the UNPAID bills Mr. Phelan left for the current administration to pay???? Are those somehow Mr. Koch’s fault as well??? And for those who think that the lab program should be cut…….track the graduates of this program into high school and on through college, and you will see that they have a large advantage to those who have not gone through this program. An one final note, the buses to and from Central are MBTA buses and paid for by the students of the school. The city does not surplus these fees. Maybe some of the cuts should be to the CITY School buses bringing children to and from PRIVATE schools (St. Mary’s in particular).

  • 69. concerned parent  |  May 21, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    LANEY-

    Tell former Phelan, “Thanks for NOTHING”. It sounds like you two are tight.

  • 70. paulunion  |  May 21, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    “Paul Union, My, you are dutiful. It is seared into our memory that just about a year ago, Koch stood with you and your teachers at your picnic and made who knows how many promises! ”

    Hmm, Laney, “seared into your memory,” but you don’t know how many promises? Apparently the searing process affected your counting ability, but not your delusions. We had no promises. Nor was I AT that picnic. Other than that, your venom is still functioning, if nothing else. If your suggestion is that with Phelan there would have been no budget problem, that’s patently ridiculous. What there is without Phelan is a meeting of all the unions with the Mayor (Yesterday) to let us know what’s going on; no imperial pronouncements.

    And the “Did you attend QPS” snotty comment: Your idol, William J. Phelan attended QPS. That’s to his favor. Spelling and usage problems among public AND private school students are common; that doesn’t mean they were never taught those things.

  • 71. kevmah  |  May 21, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    Dear Paul Union,

    I would like to welcome you, and thank you and the teachers for all the support.

    Kevin Mahoney

  • 72. paulunion  |  May 21, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    I have finished reading the comments finally. I notice that the internecine infighting has begun. Parents with kindergarten kids say “cut ESL,” and regular ed parents say “cut the APC program” and the APC parents say “cut…anything else.”

    I have yet to find anything that QPS does that is without merit. It is less than useful, at this point, to start on each other. It is more useful to question the whole concept. Remember, the City has $24 Million in reserves and could wipe out the bills. The Mayor has not suggested that, because there will be bills aplenty once the school construction costs come in (how’d those get so high?). He has suggested “biting the bullet” now, by taxing up to the 2 and 1/2 levy…which we have not done up until now. Check property tax bills in other, comparative communities to see what he’s talking about. At the same time he did not suggest any programmatic cuts. The whole idea of cuts at this point is exclusively the City Council’s.

    “Shooting” at Koch, or the School Committee, or school programs you don’t use or know about, is not the way to go. The way to go is to organize to ADVOCATE for the schools and the budget AS PRESENTED. (please excuse the capitals).

    Lastly, for those “shooting” at the QEA, I just found this site TODAY. I send out blast emails to my members. They are well aware of the City Council meeting, and I have called on them to show up. Normally, I’d have commented to the G-D Ledger (now it’s official “name”); but they have not covered this story at all. Because you have not heard from us does NOT mean we have not been involved and are not working on this.

    It’s time to circle the wagons, and NOT so we can shoot at each other.

  • 73. Taxes are real  |  May 21, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    The realization is that balance needs to be struck between city services such as education and the amount of taxes that one can be expected to pay. Their has to be a class ceiling on this. While some policiticians are playing the political game – pleasing at all costs, (because that’s the popular thing to do) others are being more honest with respect to this issue.

    Taxes will go up – that is to be expected. How much is the question? I think the councilors who have suggested cutting the school budget are trying to strike this balance. They are not acting with malice but with reason. Some of them have children in QPS too. You can’t say they don’t care about the schools. They are also looking out for all citizens of Quincy. I think with creative thinking cuts can be made without affecting the academic excellency in our school system.

    I am certain that the same individuals that say don’t make any cuts, would also be the one’s crying when their property taxes increase over $700 for the year. Balance is key and that’s what we need.

    It seems that trimming expenses will take part city-wide, within all departments. This elitist mindset that it can’t happen in our schools is absurd. Some things need to be cut; tough times call for strict measures. If anything, this should be eye-opening and people should realize that in good economic times, spending should not be so plentiful!

  • 74. concerned parent  |  May 21, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    I am speaking to the person who said that the aides should be cut from the kindergarten’s …that they are an “unnecessary expense”. I don’t know what kindergarten your child attends but at my child’s school the Aides interpret English for more than HALF the class. How that could be considered an unnecessary expense is appauling. How could a teacher function without an aide to interpret for half the class? This is not a place where any fat can be trimmed.

  • 75. NO CUTS  |  May 21, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    We need to STOP the infighting. Paulunion is right it is time to circle the wagons and block the CITY COUNCIL from making any cuts in the budget. The CITY COUNCIL LOVES seeing this type of behavior. Remember DIVIDE WE FALL. This infighting makes it easier for THE GANG OF 5 to pit Special Ed against ESL, ESL against AP, AP against Sports and so on down the line, until they win the WAR. Let’s work to STOP the cuts and WIN the WAR. We all have our CHILDREN’S and the CITY FUTURE in mind.

  • 76. Abigail  |  May 21, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Lets keep our eyes on the prize . Keep calling your Councilors and spreading the good work. We can’t seem to get press so this is grass roots – door to door.

    See you all tomorrow night. Paul – glad to hear your gang will join in. I hear Police and Fire are on board too.

  • 77. KAR  |  May 21, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    The current Mayor “level funded” the budget and yet his minions in the city council slashed this very same budget- hmmm…?
    Even if you are not politically in the know, it stands to reason that the debacle/ city council meeting was a “bag job.” The Mayor won this election, because he is “Mr. Nice Guy”; that said, he couldn’t afford to be the one to alter or reduce the amount for the upcoming year. NO… he let his “people” do it for him. His brother-in-law included. There are those who will still drag his predecessor into the ring, in an attempt to establish a smoke and mirrors ruse. (Does that officially get old after two years? Is there a statute of limitations on that?)Regardless, he can still shrug his shoulders, dodge the press and profess his own innocence at the current crisis.
    Let it be known that the teachers, police and fire unions all ‘negotiated’ contracts last year. Each was given a substantial raise AND each is now looking at a 3.5% decrease= staff decrease. Each was told this would have to happen and each barreled forward in search of its piece of the pie. I guess it is true: you reap what you sow.

  • 78. Donna C.  |  May 21, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    Thanks for the Blog!!!

    There is a school committee meeting tonight at 7pm.

    I’ll be watching!

  • 79. KAR  |  May 21, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    BTW… the Patriot Ledger is no longer subscribed to by any teacher. Let this be illustrated further by their refusal to cover pertinant news. Instead, they dig up old fossils to revisit… WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW in Quincy? WHAT?
    Oh, although, it is ever so fascinating to know who spent what and when, a year or years ago… but, let’s face it, what is impacting me and mine NOW is more imperative.
    Unless, you conveniently want to dismiss this- but why?
    Mayor Koch’s decision making or lack there of IS in and of itself decision making. Whether he owns it or not, he is the perpetrator. It is what it is. Kindly remove the overused and underunderstood refrences to “kool-aid” and “insider”… they are trite at best and definitely overutilized to illustrate inane points. He can smile, nod, and differ… at the end of the day, the City’s unrest lies with him.

  • 80. Z.M.Artinian  |  May 21, 2008 at 9:37 pm

    RE: cutting all day kindergarten, I read one comment that said that we’ve had half-day kindergarten for decades, so why do we need it now? I can answer that in one word: MCAS. We HAVEN’T had the MCAS tests for decades, that’s why. That’s why more pressure is put on kids to learn to read earlier than they could before. Students need to learn basic skills much faster so that they can be ready to learn the more advanced reading comprehension strategies required to do well on the MCAS. It’s this reason, and not the need for daycare that is the real drive for full-time kindergarten. There has always been standardized testing, but the results of the testing never had the ramifications that MCAS scores now do.

    As far as finding the balancing act to raising kids these days, I’m finding it’s becoming more and more difficult, and we’re faced with challenges that were unheard of a generation ago. I quit a well-paying job two and a half years ago to stay home with my children, to live up to my parental obligations, and the inconveniences of school that gets out at 2PM, and even earlier on Tuesdays. Now, life is a struggle to find work just to pay the bills, AND I volunteer fairly regularly at my school. I’m not sure what to do next, but I deeply resent the comments by others who seem to think that part of the problem is that parents expect the schools to do all of the parenting for them. There are no easy answers any more when families need two full time incomes just to survive a modest existence. I’m not sure what choices are left, but at this point, asking the parents to shoulder even more of the burden simply can’t be an option at this point.

  • 81. paulunion  |  May 21, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    KAR thinks that City Council motion was a bag job with the Mayor “in on” it? That is ludicrous.
    If KAR thinks negotiations played a role in this current debacle, that’s also ludicrous. The raise teachers got for last year and for this year, and for next year were ALREADY on the table under the previous mayor. That’s right, those were Phelan’s raises. And no, no one was EVER told that resulting cuts would “have to happen.” If Phelan had said that and then offered the raises, he should have been impeached rather than merely voted out. Quit making stuff up, KAR. The current mess has more to do with budgetary shenanigans, like keeping the tax rate artificially low by using free cash and reserve funds to pay current expenses, and putting expenses off until after the election. And we know who did that.

  • 82. Is this a school committe member?????  |  May 21, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    The Quincy Sun
    5/22/08
    Quote from Puleo

    “There is room for savings in our budget without an impact on programs,” said Puleo who added that cutting by the full $2.9 million “will be a very painful process for the students and staff of Quincy Public Schools,”

    Puleo noted that the City Council does have authority over the school department’s bottom line, but not over its choice of spending.

    “In order to keep our city’s fiscal health in good order, the school system needs to bear some of the burden, “said Puleo,

    The Quincy Sun
    5/22/08

    What side is he on?

  • 83. Get your flyers here  |  May 21, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Spread the good word.

    http://sosquincy.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/rally_flyers1.pdf

  • 84. All - Day Kindergarten  |  May 21, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    @ Z.M. Artinian

    You mention that MCAS are the reason behind All Day Kindergarten. While MCAS testing is far from perfect, why does it exist? It is in place because for years, Massachuestts Public Schools were graduating students who were ILLITERATE! Schools were failing the children.

    What is the correlation between full-day K and MCAS success?

  • 85. Concerned  |  May 21, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    Just a little clarification:
    To concerned parent: 1) Although you are correct in saying that the MBTA buses are available at Central and are at the cost of the students, the APC students who do not live in the “district” of Central have transportation services provided to them courtesy of QPS, not the MBTA.

    2) I would question whether the benefits of the APC program don’t also stem from the significantly lower number of students in the APC classess compared to that of the “neighborhood” classes. I tend to think you would be outraged if you found out that your A student that does terrible on standardized tests is in a class of 25 compared to a class size of about 18 because these students do well on standardized testing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think APC classes should be cut because they shouldn’t, but QPS needs to open their eyes and acceptance procedure for APC students. I fully believe APC classes should be made available at all of QPS’s schools. Yes, I know this is a whole different topic for another time!
    3)Transportation to the private schools in Quincy is not something QPS does by choice, rather by law. The City of Quincy is legally bound to offer transporation services to the students of Quincy that attend the private schools within the City. Luckily, St. Mary’s is currently the only school making use of this law (as far as I know)

    To Laney: Get over it, we have a new Mayor. This Mayor DID NOT suggest cuts, he suggested level funding, the council suggested the cuts. For anyone who has watched the council meetings at all over the past number of years, John Keenan has been sending warnings of this potential. This does not mean I want the cuts, it just means that John has been trying to warn everyone that at some point, we would be in this position unless something changed.

    I also wondered why I have only heard talk about cutting programs and teachers/positions? Why has there been no implication of potential administrative cuts? Although it won’t save everything who else thinks that the progress reports MAILED home aren’t worth the paper their printed on or the postage used to send them? These reports can be sent home with the student. How many other expense like this can be shaved to help?

    When all is send and done, if I had to choose between an additional $485.00 with cuts as a tax increase or $600.00 with no cuts as a tax increase, I choose the latter, and am grateful I am in a position to make that choice. I do understand their are people who can’t afford either.

  • 86. concerned parent  |  May 22, 2008 at 7:07 am

    Thanks for the post but unfortunately you are not correct on some of these issues.

    1. The MBTA bus to Central is not “Out of Service” therefore open to the public and the students pay. Although the 3 buses at the end of the day are “Out of Service” the students pay .60 per day. I believe this is the current student rate for the MBTA. This rate is for all students, including those in the APC. There is NO exception for the students living out of district.

    2. As for the class sizes of the APC, they are ideally 18 – 20 students per class, but in recent years they have begun to rise to 22-25 students per classroom. Why is this? I have no idea. But in my opinion, parents are trying too hard to get their child into this program, whether they belong in it or not. But as you have said, this is a topic for another time.

    I do agree with you on one point. Whether you are paying $485 more with these budget cuts or $600 more without the cuts, the difference is only roughly $30 more per quarter. I think this should be do-able for most if not all residents of the city. Save the schools!

  • 87. Concerned  |  May 22, 2008 at 8:27 am

    I stand corrected. I was given incorrect info, and not from a parent, about QPS bus availability.

    Due to my inability to attend tonights meeting, I want to thank you and all citizens of Quincy for attending tonights meetings in trying to SAVE THE SCHOOLS!

  • 88. Concerned  |  May 22, 2008 at 8:28 am

    *and trying to SAVE THE SCHOOLS!

  • 89. one for all  |  May 22, 2008 at 9:46 am

    The ledger weighs in”

    http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x1880507637/Quincy-schools-would-get-biggest-hit-under-city-council-budget

  • 90. A Concerned Parent & PTO Member  |  May 22, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    There is no question that these are tough economic times – and I won’t say I have all the answers – And I don’t want to start a debate over funding schools instead of fire or police – However, I do think the City of Quincy and the School Committee need to work together instead of creating a standoff – Afterall we are one of the few city’s left that runs their own buses – you can’t tell me this is saving the school system money? Personally, I’d walk or drive my child to school instead of busing them; especially if it saved more dollars? And given structural improvements that have been made in may of the schools with new boilers and plumbing there must be cost savings there. Didn’t the the city of Quincy signing into the consortium of trash collection with Braintree and Weymouth bring savings? Come on people be productive and creative and talk with each other!!

  • 91. Theresa Walsh  |  May 22, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    It is probably naive to think that there will be no cuts, I really hope that the School Department along with the other 33 City departments decide to work WITH the City Council to avoid some of the more drastic cuts. $3 million is a lot of money for any department to have cut from it’s budget. I hope that both sides work towards sort of compromise. I’m hopeful that the cuts will be far less, and therefore easier to absorb ,than initially thought. I also hope that parents come together and not target school services that their child does not use. Because I spend a great deal of time at my child’s school, I see the benefits of programs that she does not use and will most likely never use. I do not think that the City can afford to cut these programs or any of the programs they currently have. Ideally, many of these programs should be expanded not cut!

    Perhaps more use of email notifications rather than the seemingly endless stream of paper notices could be one way to cut costs – or the Honeywell system of phone notifications could be used for more than school closures/emergencies. Or using 1/2 sheets or both sides of a paper. That won’t save $3 million dollars, but it would make a dent – and help the environment. Just as we look around our homes to make cuts in expenses in these times of rising food and gas prices, each department could probably find ways to reduce some of their costs, while avoiding layoffs and a loss of service to the City ’s residents.

    Working together towards solutions to this fiscal crisis is what is going to keep the Quincy a great place to live and rasie our families.

  • 92. Hank Brawley  |  May 22, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    @ Z.M. Artinian and others on the full-day thing.

    So…in your description(s) it sounds like the full day is a family benefit.

    Can WE afford to pay for YOUR childcare?

    Can anyone respond to the request for empirical evidence to support the full-day thing???????

  • 93. See you there  |  May 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    See you all at City Hall Tonight @ 6:45!

    Lets Rally together to Save our Schools!

  • 94. Councilor Davis says "All - K = Day Care"  |  May 22, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Councilor Davis, your remarks this evening on television confirmed what commentors here have said, “All – Day Kindergarten is Day Care.” You stated that working families need this service or without it they would be paying $6,000 for private day care. I guess the empirical evidence is no longer needed; you solved the mystery!

    Thank you, Mr. Davis. It warms my heart to know that through my taxes, I am contributing to Quincy’s free day, albeit full-time Kindergarten.

  • 95. Tracey  |  May 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm

    Friends,

    One thing we can all agree on is that our children are the most important asset that we have. Therefore a good education is vital to flourish in today’s society. With that said tonight our Mayor along with our City Council came to a compromise. This does not come without increased taxes or cuts but surely these cut are more tolerable than were yesterday. We will still continue to provide the very best for our children in the classroom in all of our schools but we will need at this point to work together to make this City the place it is and forever will be. This is a beautiful place to live and our City heard our cries to protect our children.
    I thank all of those that sit on our School Com. They are advocating for our children tirelessly and continuously. We advocate for our children every day that is what we are there for to protect them and make things right. Together with our Superindent they will continue to advocate along with us for the best there is to offer.
    I also thank the City Council for listening to our concerns and hearing them. Although the future will be hard I think we have proved time after time that we can all work together and meet a common goal. We agree to disagree and that is a right that everyone of us has. We will work with this Council and we appreciate their hardwork as that comes tirelessly as well. We are a strong community and we will make it a better community by working together.
    Thank you Mayor Koch, Thank you Dr. DiCristofaro, Thank you School Com. members, and Thank you City Council. The road is long but we will strive forward together.
    My hope is that all of us do work together to make this City an even better place as we all share the same goals.

    Sticking together we can do fabulous things.

    Thank you all!

  • 96. Z.M.Artinian  |  May 23, 2008 at 12:58 pm

    @ Hank Brawley

    RE: Can WE afford to pay for YOUR childcare?

    Can anyone respond to the request for empirical evidence to support the full-day thing???????

    Perhaps you did not read the second paragraph I wrote. I QUIT MY FULL-TIME JOB to stay home with my kids. I AM NOT asking the schools, or anyone else to shoulder the burden of daycare for my kids. I am shouldering that burden, more or less BY MYSELF.

    As far as empirical evidence goes, I do not have any, nor did I claim to have any. I am simply stating the justification for the full day kindergarten. Whether or not it will work still remains to be seen. My entire point is that FULL DAY GRADE K IS NOT DAY CARE, and yet it seems that it was interpreted as if I was saying it was. Please re-read my original posting and confirm what I wrote for yourselves.

  • 97. paulunion  |  May 23, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    There are loads of nationwide studies about the usefulness of full-day kindergarten…and early childhood preschools for that matter. In Quincy, you don’t see any “empirical” evidence until they get to third grade tests; and i wouldn’t accept test results as the reason to do full-day kindergarten anyway. The long term benefits occur in “habits of mind” created at that time, positive experience in schooling created at that time, and social interaction improvement created at that time; and those things show up later in graduation rates, life-long learning, and social successes.

    Full-day kindergarten is a great thing; I wouldn’t say it is for EVERY kid, though. Parents who use full-day kindergarten only for child care reasons are dead wrong. I have no problem contributing my taxes for full-day kindergarten. Society benefits from that expenditure.

  • 98. Extremely Confused  |  May 23, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    Does anyone else think that we should be concerned about all the kids who go to our schools, but don’t live in our city? If we were to crack down on this, maybe our class sizes and resources could be reduced. Just recently, on the way to work, I dropped my child off at NQH and went over to the train station. The train coming from Boston came in and about 30 kids got off and walked across the parking lot and over to the high school.

    Many kids in Central live in Dorchester. One actually told my son that he has permission to be at Cental until a spot opens up at Latin for him!!!! Does anyone know if our schools check up on this?

  • 99. quincymom  |  May 23, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    <>

    Extremely Confused ,

    I think it was the fall of 2006/2007 that the school security was doing random checks at the NQ train station. If I recall it caused a bit of controversy and racism was brought up.
    I don’t think I have heard anything more about this since then.

  • 100. Hank Brawley  |  May 29, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    Paulunion & others

    We have great respect for your opinion. Your contributions to this community are ENORMOUS.

    However I don’t feel that I was ever presented with any evidence to support the concept of full day kindergarten.

    Since our community has determined that there is an “intuitive sense” that full day is worthy of funding, could we make a review of the science? Could we cite those studies that were used to support this concept?

    I only remember the full day thing as something conceived of as an expenditure that we SHOULD do for FAMILIES in this community. Since this program is not mandated by law I feel that we should review the program and determine if it’s worth the cost. Just my opinion!!!

    So I’ll repeat my request. Can someone cite the specific scientific research data used to support our expenditure(s) on full day kindergarten. I’d like to read the studies and get my own sense of the cost vs benfit of this program.

  • 101. Quincy Mom  |  June 1, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    To Hank Brawley,
    If you google scientific research on full day K you will see what research has been published. I can tell you from experience in a system that has offered free full day K for eight years now that I have seen a big difference in the students attending full day vs. the students in Quincy attending half day. My children attended half day K in Quincy while I was teaching in a full day program. There is no way that the students were able to get the exposure to the content or enrichment that my students had. Especially the children in the afternoon session that only met 4 days a week. Was I happy when Quincy implemented full day K? You bet! Was it a day care issue? Absolutely not. I was thrilled to see that students in Quincy were going to be given the same educational advantages that the students in my system have had. Quincy needs to keep moving forward. Full day K is part of the future for all students in Massachusetts.

  • 102. Hank Brawley  |  June 3, 2008 at 11:58 am

    QuincyMom – Thanks for the heads up on how to do my own research and…respectfully I was hoping that others could tell me what they based their opinions on.

    Full day prepares kids better than half day – AGREED, and let’s not miss my point about how much that costs.

    Who should pay is my concern so the cost vs benefit is something that I would like to understand.

    So, QuincyMom, when you googled full day kindergarten in support of this plan before it was proposed or whatever part you had in the decision making process and review, which specific studies did you adopt andwhat was the science behind the additional expense to all the taxpayers of Quincy?

    I must disagree with the prmise that all taxpayers should pay for costs associated with raising children beyond state (or is it Federal?) mandated education benefits.

  • 103. pay now or pay later  |  June 5, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    The ealry identificaton of childen with learning disabilities expedites the delivery of services. Early intervention shows us that. Children are reaching kindergarten ready to begin their educational careers. Full day Kindergarten lets us have access to children beyond the limited morning circle-snack-and-away-you-go 1/2 day programs. Watch last night’s School Committee; early literacy & RTI testing gets kids what they need – and that saves us taxpayers real $$$ by not needing special services later.
    Full day Kindergaten is a real bargain -

  • 104. pay now or pay later  |  June 5, 2008 at 4:08 pm

    To Extremely Confused:

    The Drug problems in Quincy have lead to the break up of many families. The homelessness Act guarantees children the right to continue to attend their ‘home’ school when DSS steps in. I’d ask some of those Central kids ‘what town is your foster home in’ – I can tell you it ain’t Quincy. There is a strong need for Quincy families to step up and foster these kids so they don’t have to be treated like outsiders in the City they used to call home. You’d be surprised how many of those kids there are…

  • 105. Extremely Confused  |  June 6, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    To pay now or pay later:

    There are kids in our schools who started here, moved w/their family to Dorchester, Brockton, Randolph, Southie, etc. and have remained in our schools. These are not foster children. I would never advocate pulling a child out of school because they are in foster care or homeless. I do believe that if you move w/your family to another town, then go to school in that town and stop burdening our school system. Oh yes, by the way, there is a student up at North who lives in Weymouth and is freely admitting this to the other kids. He claims that he has permission to be there. He lives w/mom and dad, starting here and would like to finish with his friends. What is the cost per year per student. His family should be billed!!!

  • 106. Mrs. H.  |  June 11, 2008 at 10:56 am

    I am not sure if anyone still reads this blog, but I am wondering who is looking into the flaws in the budget that were presented at the last school committee meeting?. I understand that the city has hired an outside auditor, but I am shaking my head here thinking how could our own city officials not go line by line and really study the budget further?

    Are they doing so now? Have they learned anything? And if there are still questions, how can the school committe vote on a new (compromised) budget if there are still many unanswered questions. Especially when there are cuts involved?

    Thank you.

  • 107. Elaine Marchi  |  June 11, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    My understanding with the budget, and the former mayor’s bizarre behavior last week, is that there is no surplus, that much of that was bult on numbers that don’t work and has created a deficit of 4 million in the water department. It’s money the city doesn’t have, and besides certain people who want to pick fights for personal reasons, I can find no issues with the budget. Mayor Phelan insulted so many people at that meeting, and even worse, he is not being accurate.

    If he thought he was just trying to helpful, why go to the school committee meeting and go off rather than picking up the phone?

  • 108. Accountant  |  June 11, 2008 at 7:05 pm

    FYI, numbers can be manipulated to look anyway you want. If you want to create a surplus, you just don’t report all your debt. If you want to create a deficit, you withhold your receivables. No matter how many auditors you bring in to conduct an audit, if your client is dishonest and withholding information, then you will never have accurate financial statements. The issue is if there was supposed to be a surplus and someone was withholding bills and debt, then that person should be fined, prosecuted, etc. Wasn’t Phelan accusing Sheets of the same thing??

  • 109. kevmah  |  June 11, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    To Mrs. H.

    Yes, people are still reading this blog. It has declined following the May 22nd Finance meeting but recently has become more active. There are still more questions about this budget and the recent School Committee Meeting has only added to those. I have talked to some highly respected people (I can not give names), and most agree there should be a surplus not a deficit. Robert Haley, former Vice President and Research Director for the Quincy Taxpayers Association has weighed in. Please check out his letter to the City Council that he has allowed me to post. It is long, but it is clear and will shed some light on some of your questions.

    Thanks,

    Kevin Mahoney

    http://sosquincy.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/some-questions-on-the-mayors-numbers/

  • 110. Mrs. H.  |  June 11, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Thank you very much Mr. Mahoney your post was helpful.

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