Windham Board of Finance
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After the school budget went down by a wide margin in the early summer of 2011, board of finance member Chuck Pennywell coined a new phrase:
“We [the Board of Finance] are the only friends they [the Board of Education] have.”
Leaving that meeting it started. I was hooked — and am still plagued — by that song.
First it was a hum. By the time I arrived home, it was a full blown concerto.
For good times
and bad times,
Know you can always count on me,
For sure!
That's what friends are for.
Windham's board of finance — the bedrock of town government through 80’s and 90’s due to a series of dysfunctional boards of selectmen (now known as the town council) under the Pawelkiewicz and Paulhus administrations.
The BOF took the lead, steering Windham through the troubled waters of a poor town scraping together the funds to balance the budget and maintain a respectable bond rating.
Indeed, under the able and conservative leadership of John French, and later Andy Carey, the townspeople went to bed each night knowing Windham was in capable hands. That was the case until the spring budget season of 2010.
Shower time is a hoot, if not demented. There I am with nothing but a bar of soap. I walk into the shower and there's Arthur Fiedler (don't like the new guy) and the Boston Pops. We are on the Esplanade; it's the Fourth of July and it's raining. I'm nervous, but I don't drop the soap. When the crowd sees me they go nuts. The Pops play; I sing:
For good times
And bad times,
I'll be on your side for evermore!
That's what friends are for.
Barbara McGrath and her board became “friends” of the Board of Education. She and her majority put on their rose color glasses and became advocates of the BOE.
She claimed that she and her board knew all about education because they attended BOE meetings. (Records show that Mr. Pennywell and Anita Sebestien attended one meeting on March 10, 2010.)
If they understood the protocol of those meetings they would have realized that BOE meetings are only for show.
All decisions are made in sub-committee, where there is little public or media observation, and then brought back to the main board for rubber stamping — usually by a unanimous board.
The sudden friendship is mystifying, because Chairman McGrath four years prior was responsible for bringing the State Board of Education to intervene in the Windham district and for the ensuing Cambridge Report.
As budget season turned into Christmas season, I was still in the grips of that song. I made an appointment with a psychiatrist. We sat in his well-appointed office; I knew there would be a huge co-pay.
He asked what the problem was. I explained,
He wanted to hear me sing.
We walked over to a concert grand nestled in the corner of the office — a Yamaha, (Don't people buy American anymore?).
Doctor Feelgood sat down, flipping the tails of his tuxedo to each side. It was then that I noticed his likeness to Burt Bacharack.
He played, I sang:
Keep smiling.
Keep shining,
Knowing you can always count on me,
For sure!
That's what friends are for.
After, he asked if I wanted to do a couple show tune duets? I said no, I wanted the dreaded prognosis. He told me to take two aspirin before performing — my throat seemed scratchy, especially while hitting the high notes. He suggested that I retain a voice coach or, better yet, get out of the music business altogether.
On the way out of the office, Dr. Feelgood's nurse presented me with a huge bill and informed me, "Today's visit isn't covered by insurance."
Keep smiling.
Keep shining.
MY backside!
The board of finance sent the first of five budgets to referendum as presented by the board of education in the spring of 2010 with the following comment from Chairman McGrath: "We'll leave it up to the voters. If they want cuts, we will cut."
The budget failed, and the Chairman made good on her promise.
She cut $1000 from a $40 million school budget.
Mrs. McGrath and her board were going to split Windham into parts.
There was no use arguing. The board would look at you with glazed stares. They weren't listening; their minds were made up.
The $1,000 cut was voted down near the end of June. The headlines started to appear in state papers: "Windham Residents Refuse to Support Education." Bad publicity again, and we were just feeling whole after the unjustified Heroin Town series.
Three more referendums failed until the fifth passed in the fall of 2010.
In December 2010, the State report on Windham School's Governance and Leadership was published — a supplement study to the Cambridge Report The board of finance apparently never bothered to read those reports — nor the State Board Of Education Statistics on the Windham school district.If they had, they would have realized that:
- Ourshools had the widest achievement gap in the United States,
- Our kids were not graduating on time if at all, That an inordinate number of our kids were destined to become a burden on society because they never learned to read, to write, or to balance a checkbook,
- That teacher and staff morale was at an all-time low, and
- That the BOE was mandated by the state to attend school management classes (Lighting Training) because "they never got it."
Superintendent Ortiz reported to the State Board of Education on November 1, 2010 that Windham district teacher turnover was projected at 80% over the next five years. (See last
Paragraph) She further said that the entire educational process needed change, including governance structure, decision-makers, and union contracts.
Mrs. McGrath and her board of finance had completely changed stripes going into fiscal year 2010-11 budget season.
Pouring money into a broken system time and again isn't a solution. If we have a problem, we fix it. But first, it must be acknowledged.
It's not how much money we have, it's about how we spend it. We live by that axiom in our daily lives.
If brown, scummy water comes out of our faucet, it's a health issue. Our well-being is at stake, therefore the problem must be fixed immediately. Similarly, if the fire truck is late to put out your house fire, it's a safety issue. The problem must be acknowledged and addressed.
They were no longer the keepers of our financial security.They were now "the Board of Finance/Advocates for the Board of Education." Not advocates for education, but advocates for the board of education.
If the finance board advocated for education they certainly wouldn't advocate for this school board. The board of education was shoveling money into an endless hole, and the board of finance provided the shovels.
We demand that lifestyle glitches are promptly addressed by our government. But, the most important function of local government — educating our kids — is put on the back burner.
The breakdown of the school district is not acknowledged, nor is it addressed. It is left up to a board of education with questionable-to-no management skills — a board of education that is unable to manage a successful lemonade stand and a board of finance "that just wants to be friends."
With the arrival of the Special Master in late August and the election of four new BOE members in November 2011, there is hopeful speculation that Windham's education escalator will reverse direction to an onward upward motion.
The BOF has also seen its chairman choose not to run for a second term and the addition of two new members.
The BOF must return to its old job of watching over Windham's finical security. “Friendship” is not part of the job description, nor is overseeing a school system.
The BOF is not a social service agency, nor is it an educational institution.
It's time for Windham taxpayers to support our kids and our schools and give the Special Master time to undo what the BOE spent 20 yrs doing.
Education is expensive. But, it’s cheaper then ignorance. (Paraphrasing Derek Bok.)
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