Turkey Time!

The Middleboro School Committee is the latest local poster child for lack of transparency. The SC decided to deep six the current superintendent, Roseli Weiss, for the transgression of being honest on MCAS expectations and have the audacity of asking for a raise.

Middleboro has an illustrious history of less than splendid MCAS results so when Weiss appears to lower the bar the SC demands some degree of retribution. Top it off by her requested for a contract extension and a raise and the door was open for the bum’s rush for Weiss.

The raise issue was of particular interest as I was reading a recent article of equal pay. One of the reasons why women sometimes lag behind is a lack of aggressiveness. Seems men are more vocal in seeking out a few pennies more. So Ms. Weiss decides to ask and the SC is stunned. Hey, boys and girls, just say no!

The SC was in full turtle mode and there is certainly no profiles in courage as the information had to be gleaned by the Middleboro Gazette forcing the issue with the club being the Freedom of Information Act. So Weiss gets the gate and we’ll get a new administration who – if they are smart – will certainly say “Middleboro will be Level One in MCAS!” And I will start in left field for the Red Sox in 2015.

I watched the parade of parents on the telly who thanked Weiss and expressed disappointment with the SC. That added some degree of excitement to what is normally one of the most mundane evenings on said telly.

Why does the Middleboro schools do a half-day professional development each month? That counts as a full fay. Would seem to me it would be more productive to have three full day professional days and then have that extra seat time.

In Middleboro if you are a retired teacher from the Middleboro system and substitute you are compensated at $100 per day. Retired from another system and you get $80 a day. Considering our MCAS results maybe it should be flipped.

Maybe the proposed alignment of February – April vacations will help?

Olga Roche, the deposed commish of the DCF, was handed a nice fiscal kiss after being “fired.” Roche was allowed to hang around to fatten her pension and collect some vacation and sick time. This was outed by The Boston Herald and when confronted the latest DCF hack in charge said essentially “No comment as we respect her right to a private retirement.” Translated: If we wait long enough this will go away.

Rising rapidly up my food chain in my “Pantheon of Idiots” is the latest group of those in need of a feeling of moral superiority – the divesture crowd. So if a public pension fund sells off fossil fuel positions that is supposed to hurt the fossil fuel industry?

Here it is in a nutshell. We are a technological society and scientific evidence clearly supports the excessive use of fossil fuels as being a negative. I am sure some wingnuts can find a blog or two that provide contrary evidence. Now for point two. The fossil fuel companies are heavily invested in alternative energy just as tobacco companies started to migrate into other areas. Smart business

Just a drive down picturesque Route 44 will show a small solar farm and in the background wind turbines. On my roof is a solar unit that has been there since 1982 – long before it became “sexy” to use alternative energy. The transition is taking place.

Is there anything more foolish than day trading in stocks? I would consider going to Village Market and buying one each of every scratch ticket a better option. I get on message boards and read their endless whining about the hour by hour fluctuations of a stock. They respond like petulant four year-olds as the daily numbers are posted.

Who says you don’t win at gambling? Turns out our newly formed Gaming Commission lead by Steven Crosby has run up some impressive expense tabs. They far exceeded certain suggested limits imposed by the administration of expense accounts for public employees. Maybe a former member of the G & E Board could land a job there?

Selectman John Knowlton had an excellent opinion piece in the Gazette regarding the recent failure of the police station renovation. It is over! No second try.