Welcome, friends, to a new feature of the www.northandover.org website, a column called “In Case You Missed It…”  There’s so much that goes on in our town each week, yet the demands of normal family life make it difficult to attend or watch many meetings.  I try the best that I can to keep up with meetings – it’s a bit easier for me because my children have grown older (15 and 11), and my life is fairly flexible.   Through this column, I’m going to try to update you periodically on meeting highlights, newsworthy events, and maybe add a few political musings.  Let’s grow this column together – let me know if the information is useful to you, feel free to send suggestions, and please do comment and lend your own interpretation of current events.

This past week was a busy one – I watched the BOS meeting and attended two School Committee meetings.  The Board of Selectmen has been wrangling with liquor license hassles for the past couple of meetings which have generated news coverage, but I’m curious why I’ve not seen an equal amount of news coverage about the wrangling with state roadway grant monies for the Old Center renovations.  In other matters, the BOS unanimously awarded Town Manager Mark Rees a bonus based on exceptional performance.  They handled the matter as it should be done:  openly, and offered with reasonable justification.  Equal justification existed for the monies awarded recently to former Assistant Superintendent Dr. Bergeron too, and if the action had been taken in a lawful, professional way by our School committee, no controversy would have ensued.  I remain hopeful that our School Committee has learned a valuable lesson and will never make such a blunder again [see School Committee meeting notes below].   Here’s my take on the additional funds given to both Town Manager Rees and Dr. Bergeron:  both men did exceptional jobs last year, especially considering that it was a crisis year for our town, and they both deserved every penny awarded them.  Good municipal employees who go above and beyond the call of duty in hard times need to be shown how their efforts are recognized, valued, and appreciated by the citizens who employ them.  And yes, sometimes that justifies a small monetary gift of appreciation.  These amounts, combined, are but a drop in the bucket of our municipal budget – and if we intend to keep or solicit good, high-level management employees, we need to show that North Andover is a nice place to work…and live in. 

As for the School Committee meetings, Tuesday’s meeting was a workshop without public comment, and unfortunately, it was neither taped nor televised.  The Committee voted unanimously to direct the School Superintendent and Staff to adopt the following non-prioritized list of directives:  (1) continue to move forward with FY08 budget directives; (2) achieve cost savings through proposed reorganization strategies or identification of efficiencies; (3) support a Standards-Based Education System, thereby supporting improved MCAS scores; (4) take “meaningful” steps to substantially increase AP enrollment and offerings; (5) enhance the music program at NAHS; (6) form a district-wide emergency committee; (7) put adequate controls in place over revolving-fund accounts; (8) look at adding additional sped staff to reduce reliance on costly contracted services and out-of-district placements; and (9) look at a comprehensive pre-k – 5 literacy plan, that can be used for sped and regular education students.

I absolutely LOVE the statement Dr. Marini made during the course of their deliberations:  Dr. Marini said that not only do the schools need to find efficiencies where possible, but they need to demonstrate that they are mindful of the fact that they are spending public money and they have a responsibility to spend it wisely.  This really dovetailed nicely with what I was thinking – that the override monies won’t go far enough, and before we can think about adding new staff, we need to make sure we can afford the programs and staff we already have in place.  AND…we always need to keep in mind that to ask for increased monies very well means taking money from staffing of municipal-side departments…like the Senior Center and Library…

Thursday’s School Committee meeting was a regular meeting, with no reporters present.  Chairman Whidden opened the meeting by reading a letter of citation for a violation of the open-meeting law regarding the additional monies awarded to former assistant superintendent Dr. Bergeron (referenced above).  If I understood the reading correctly, they were found in violation for conducting phone calls with a quorum to discuss the matter, but that their vote in executive session to award the payment, although stretching the limits of the law, did not violate the open-meeting law.  The letter went on to say that their public reading of the Notice of Citation satisfies any remedial action, and no further action is necessary.

The meeting continued to, for the most part, recap a lot of what was done in workshop format on Tuesday.  Dr. Ormsby did suggest that he would like to see Dr. Marini “time-bind” the voted directives, set benchmarks, and add more “specificity” to measure accountability. 

Perhaps the most enlightening portion of the evening was Dr. Scuzzarella’s presentation on the upcoming NEASC visit to review our High School accreditation status.  She was very positive about our preparedness and said steps taken by the town this year to support our schools will factor positively in our assessment.  She did think that NEASC will move cautiously in removing our warning status, and she reminded the committee that there are many schools with the same difficulties as ours.  She did say, however, that “My professional opinion is that we will remain on warning through another budget cycle.”  She went on to say that should we remain on warning, “if we do not make progress, pay attention to improving their suggested areas for improvement, then we have a problem.”

My overall opinion of the week is that we have too many board meetings scheduled in the same week!  Since our BOS, SC and Fincom meet in the “slower” months on an alternating week basis, can’t they work together to adjust their schedules to fall into opposite weeks?  When you add in the possibility of PTO, PTAC, and School Council meetings (just to name a few), a little consideration of making your meetings accessible to the general public would go a long way…Chairman Whidden even suggested on Thursday that if citizens want to really hear what’s going on, they should attend the subcommittee meetings as well.  These aren’t televised…or publicized well…and are probably beyond the practical reach of the average citizen.  Dr. Marini spoke of the need to have a district-wide calendar – I can’t wait, we’ve all been asking for one for years – maybe then we’ll see a better coordination of events that parents have a shot at participating in.

In closing, I hope you’ve all seen our Forum flyer for the November 15th State of the Town of North Andover event with our local and state elected officials.  Please be a part of the event – submit questions and attend!! It is so important that we show our elected officials what aspects of our town and which issues most concern us.  Let’s start the conversation for FY09 now!

Thanks for listening!

Sandy