December 1, 2004
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
At a recent Bridgewater Board of Selectmen Meeting, a change was made to the composition of the Education Study Committee. (An interesting note is that the Chair - Marilee Kenney Hunt - was not present, nor did there appear to be written correspondence from the Committee requesting the change.) A motion was made to remove three members from the Review: Paul Sullivan, JoAnn Whittemore and Doug Dorr. These three individuals were placed on the Committee by the Selectmen, to bring financial background and perspective to the Study. They are the Municipal Administrator, Town Accountant and Town Treasurer/Collector. The motion subsequently was approved 3 (Allan, Mike, Dennis) to 2 (Herb, Mary Beth).
With these three individuals now removed from the Study Committee, there is now quite a hole in the ability of this group to impartially review the finances of the School District.
After the Committee was chosen, there was some concern that the Study was stacked to show that simply "more money is needed for education". However, those concerns were balanced by the three town financial people on the Study Committee - individuals who most have confidence in their ability to impartially review numbers, UNDERSTAND THE NUMBERS, and make appropriate recommendations.
The fact that these three have been now removed from the Study Committee calls into question the impartiality of whatever facts may ultimately be presented. To me, the bias is clear in all that has been said and done by the core of the remaining group - Mike Berolini, Don DeLutis, Dennis Gallagher and Marilee Kenney Hunt.
Therefore, whatever may ultimately be presented by this group may be interesting reading, but will no longer carry the significance that I once believed it would. Save time, save the Town money (there has been discussion about hiring someone to help assemble "facts"), and just have the group publish what we all know they are eager to say -- "our goal is to spend more on education".
