Editorial

Disband the State Historical Commission

“Rogue Agency” an obstacle to economic recovery

Another example of "Political Correctness" carried to bureaucratic silliness

It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in Economics to know that jobs are the key to Massachusetts’ recovery from the Great Recession, as well as to the state government’s long term financial stability.  Every new job brought to Massachusetts – or every existing job retained here – brings with it both tax revenue and spending in local economies. 

With apologies to Bill Clinton's campaign manager James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid!” He other dictum was "Change vs. more of the same."

Some time ago our state pols fell under the sway of "Political Correctness" which gradually took hold from elementary school to university, from the media to the arts, from the country fields to factories and offices, and they learned to say what it was safe to say, and unfortunately also legislate that way.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is one egregious example of legislative political correctness on drugs.

In recent months we have watched the Massachusetts Historical Commission as a major impediment to the state’s economic recovery.  The breaking point came with the Commission’s interference in Meditech’s plans to develop a $65 million project on a parcel in Freetown where the company hoped to employ 800 people.  When Indian artifacts were rumored to exist on the property the Commission became involved and has brought the project to a screeching halt.

The Commission’s arbitrary and capricious use of their ill-defined mission.Much has been written in the months since our October 12, 2011 editorial on the topic.  Articles like last week’s story in the Fall River Herald News have brought out more accounts of the Commission’s arbitrary and capricious use of their ill-defined mission to block one business project after another.  Referred to as a “rogue agency” by some, the group apparently operates without oversight and with no way to appeal its decisions, according to David Begelfer of the commercial real estate trade association NAIOP Massachusetts.

Any place in Massachusetts could be declared “historic”

The classic David Horsey cartoon says it all.Virtually any place in Massachusetts could be declared “historic” by one special interest or another.  We saw this with the recent CapeWind controversy over a beach where the Mashpee Wampanoag’s – the Christian-converted “praying Indians” – once observed pagan sun worship rituals.  Fortunately that particular case did not stand up to the light of day.

No one denies that Native Americans suffered a terrible fate at the hands of the Europeans invaders of North America, but the definitive website on their burial customs says that Northwest coastal tribes put their dead in mortuary cabins or canoes fastened to poles, not buried as Americans do today. But the MHC's standard, every inch oif ground in our state may be subject to reclaim as a sacred burial site.

Despite the agitation in the press and commercial groups, neither Secretary of State William Galvin (under whose office the Commission operates) nor Governor Deval Patrick have stepped up to address the damage this agency is doing to the state’s economy.

We believe that the Legislature must now take leadership on this critical issue.  We urge you to contact your state representative and state senator to demand that they disband the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Even a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court isn't safe

If our elected officials won’t take ownership of this issue, there is perhaps a way the citizens can get their attention.  Does anyone remember when Supreme Court Justice David Souter ran afoul of his fellow citizens in Weare, NH over the issue of eminent domain?  Some of the good people of Weare suggested that his own home be taken by eminent domain.  That certainly got his and other people’s attention.

So perhaps the good people of Brighton could start by declaring Secretary Galvin’s home in Brighton as an historically significant site, demanding that the buildings be removed and the property returned to its historic condition.  Then they could move on to Governor Patrick’s house and yours.

Read the rebuttal Letter to the Editor here.One way or another, it’s time to get our elected officials’ attention on this issue.  The MHC  cannot be allowed to continue its campaign against the state’s economy.

Sandwich Students Flock to Sturgis

SANDWICH’S KNIGHT FLIGHT

   
   Is Sandwich High becoming a Cape version of 'Salem's Lot?

Sandwich Students Flock to Sturgis Lottery - A quarter of SHS students apply

Cape Cod Today has learned from a trusted source that 25% of the incoming freshman class at Sandwich High School entered the Sturgis Charter Public School enrollment lottery last spring.  With all that’s going on in their town’s beleaguered school system, who can blame them?

Actually, who can blame anyone for wanting to attend Sturgis?  The school consistently ranks as one of the best public high schools in the United States.  And who can blame anyone for wanting to avoid Sandwich High School?  While SHS is ranked among the 500 best high schools by Newsweek magazine, recent publicity surrounding the school makes us wonder why a parent would dare send their child there.

Questions Continue to Emerge

As the highly publicized Ty McGrath assault case grinds forward, more questions emerge by the day.  McGrath’s mother feels her son was targeted by district administrators because she filed a report about a football player who was allegedly smoking a joint just prior to a varsity game – and was allowed to play in that game despite her report. 

We have the assault and battery case where McGrath is alleged to have beaten a freshman both in the school locker room and outside the building.  There is the resulting case against the alleged victim’s brother who is charged with making threats against McGrath.

McGraths are contemplating lawsuits against the Sandwich police and perhaps even the alleged victim’s family. We also have the journalist-heaven story of a police officer reprimanded in open court by a judge for improper interrogation tactics, causing a confession by Mr. McGrath to be thrown out of the case he is defending.

Yesterday, the “Sandwich Watchdog” blog – clearly a supporter of Mr. McGrath – implied that the McGraths are contemplating lawsuits against the police and perhaps even the alleged victim’s family. 

Meanwhile the alleged victim’s family has held their silence on any civil actions they may be contemplating against the school or Mr. McGrath.  Sandwich Watchdog reports that the McGraths will not settle the case with a plea bargain but expect young Ty to be exonerated at trial.

If the Lawsuit Fits…

Assistant Superintendent Maxine Minkoff received a settlement of $165,000. The Sandwich Public Schools have spent a lot of time on lawsuits lately.  There was the shameful case of Assistant Superintendent Maxine Minkoff, who went after the district for a breach of contract surrounding her dismissal in 2009.  Minkoff eventually received a settlement of $165,000. 

Then there was the court battle of former Superintendent Mary Ellen Johnson, who also claimed a breach of contract but eventually was defeated in the courts.

Heaven knows what other litigation the district might be involved with.  With everyone seeming to be in such a litigious mood around town, we wonder how the school leadership is able to spare the time to educate students.

Institutionalized Bullying?

The Sandwich school leadership remains silent.Some of the comments by Julianne McGrath have left us wondering if there is some kind of institutionalized bullying that’s sanctioned at Sandwich High School.  Ms. McGrath implies that if her son was in trouble and she hadn’t been in the administration’s disfavor then the alleged assault might have been handled differently. 

Does this mean that it’s okay for seniors to beat up freshmen as long as their parents are on the Good Do-Bee list in the office?  Are there sanctioned gangs of jocks stalking the locker rooms to pounce upon unsuspecting underclassmen?    

We don’t know and the school leadership remains silent.

Is It Something in the Water?

The town which gave us Jeff Perry, Camp Good News.Sandwich is that garden spot of the Upper Cape that brought us the Camp Good News scandal last year.  Senator Scott Brown blew the lid off that godly establishment when he told us in his biography of the sexual molestation at the hands of a camp staffer. 

The town managed to overlook the shameful past of its local State Rep. Jeff Perry.

Then there was the big Sandwich Community School swimming pool locker room scandal last year, where parents were concerned that their kids were in the locker rooms with un-vetted community pool members.  Meanwhile, the school district’s leadership is suffering one melt-down after another.

Sandwich is starting to sound more like Salem’s Lot.

Some Questions for Superintendent Canfield

While Superintendent Richard Canfield mails home surveys to parents of kids who left the district, it appears that another 25% of his freshman class is desperately seeking enrollment at Sturgis.  We’re not going to ask him why they’re leaving until he finishes his survey process, assuming there are any students left in the school by then.

1. Have you disciplined any of the adults who were in charge of the SHS locker room on the day of the alleged assault by Ty McGrath?

2. Who called the police that day?  Was it school staff or a student?  If it was the staff, what is the protocol for escalating an assault from an in-school matter to a police matter?

3. In the past year, how many locker room assaults have resulted in the police being called?

4. Have any students been sexually assaulted in the locker rooms? 

5. Have Sandwich athletic teams continued to engage in hazing or rites of passage such as Andover High School’s homoerotic “ookie cookie” game?

6. Why don’t you re-boot your athletic programs by removing the athletic director and team coaches?

7. Have any parties in the alleged McGrath assault filed lawsuits against the school district yet?
8. What steps have you taken to ensure that further locker room assaults do not happen at Sandwich High School?

Read the previous SHS editorial here.

Knights of Mayhem in Sandwich

Judge throws out confession, endangering case

Sandwich Police blow an Open and Shut Case

One thing’s for sure – Sandwich High School senior Ty McGrath has a good lawyer.  He needed one and he got one.

We saw this last week when Barnstable District Court Judge W. James O’Neill threw out the alleged confession of Mr. McGrath related to his November 7^th alleged attack on a freshman in the Sandwich High School locker room.

This is America.  Every person accused of a crime has a right to a vigorous defense.  Mr. McGrath has a lawyer who is earning his fees.  Clearly the Sandwich Police made a mistake in their interrogation and damaged what might have been an open-and-shut case.

We expect the next thing we will hear is that a plea bargain has been struck because the Commonwealth doesn’t have sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.  If that happens, we hope the alleged victim’s family files a civil suit so more of the facts can be put on the record.

Judge listens to a crying adult

If the case gets plea bargained, we hope the victim’s family files a civil suit so more of the facts can be put on the record.We do, however, take exception with one remark made by Judge O’Neill, who said, “I can’t overlook the fact that he’s an 18 year old high school kid who is crying.” 

Really, Judge?  “Boo hoo!”  There are plenty of 18 year old men fighting and dying in Afghanistan right now.  In eight months or so, Mr. McGrath could be over there alongside them... “18 year old high school kid” indeed!

No one denied that the varsity football player beat up a freshman

So far no one seems to have denied that the varsity football player beat up a freshman. Indeed, comments by McGrath’s mother make it sound like her son was singled out for punishment because she rocked the boat regarding another player who might have been smoking pot prior to a football game. 

There are plenty of 18 year old men fighting and dying in Afghanistan right now.So does that mean that it’s okay for football players whose mother isn’t rocking the boat to beat up younger kids?  The twist offered by Ms. McGrath makes us wonder if these beat-downs might be part of Sandwich High School tradition.

Indeed, many of us here at Cape Cod Today grew up in high schools where the jocks got away with mayhem while the adults looked on almost benevolently.  The star athletes had a whole universe of support from the coaches, administrators and “boosters”.  Many of them committed bad behavior with impunity while lesser mortals in the student body would receive harsh punishment for the same behavior.

Penn State in Upper Cape? Something is rotten in Sandwich

Are we to infer that if Mr. McGrath’s mother wasn’t a squeaky wheel that the police wouldn’t have been called following the November 7^th incident?  If a different member of the football team had allegedly beaten a freshman would the matter have been handled internally – or perhaps ignored? Is Sandwich High reacting like Penn State in these instances?

Not a single coach or athletic director has been terminated as a result of Ms. McGrath’s complaints about joint-smoking football players or the alleged beating of a freshman.Something is rotten in the high school at Sandwich.  We thought that Superintendent Canfield – the “new sheriff in town” – was brought in to solve the problems in the Sandwich Public Schools. 

To our knowledge, not a single coach or athletic director has been terminated as a result of either Ms. McGrath’s complaints about joint-smoking football players or the alleged beating of a freshman in a poorly supervised locker room. 

Instead we today read the Sandwich Watchdog’s story about arbitrary and capricious discipline at Sandwich High Schoool.

When will Superintendent Canfield stop hiding behind surveys and take ownership of the institutional problems at Sandwich High School?

The poor superintendent’s probably afraid that if he tries to lead he’ll be shipped off to Mary-Ellen-Johnson-Land.

Sandwich Schools search for an excuse or a scapegoat

Clueless Knights – Beleaguered Sandwich Schools Plan Survey
154 kids head for the lifeboats while only 24 board sinking ship

We’ve watched more videos of the Sandwich School Committee over the past couple of years than we care to remember, mostly to witness the “mad tea party” try to stuff Mary Ellen Johnson in their teapot one more time.  A recent video of the December 21^st meeting included the new superintendent Charles “Richard” Canfield outlining his plans to survey Sandwich parents whose children have chosen to send their kids elsewhere.

We hope Dr. Canfield likes tea.The Cape Cod Times reports that 42 Sandwich students left the district under school choice and another 112 attend Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis.  The loss of 154 pupils creates a financial loss for the district, though hardly on the scale of Dennis-Yarmouth’s stunning $1.9M “sending tuition” for school choice.  Since 2001 Sandwich has lost 15.61% of their students to declining population, school choice and charter schools.

So here we have – after months of PR disasters – the Sandwich Public Schools just now pondering why parents of 154 kids have lost confidence in their district.

Jekyll and Hyde?

Academic excellence in Sandwich is an established fact.  With the district’s impressive test scores and Sandwich High School’s rating by Newsweek as one of America’s 500 best high schools, it might make an outsider wonder why anyone would want to matriculate elsewhere.  Indeed, when we first heard that some school board members wanted to set up a budget to market the district we were excited.  That’s before we learned of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Sandwich Public Schools.

The typical apologia of a school with poor test scores is “A school is much more than its test scores.”  In the case of Sandwich, the same reasoning might apply.

In addition to the escapades of a school board bound to slaughter a superintendent who led the district to excellent test scores and national recognition, Sandwich has been afflicted with an out of control teacher union that soured the milk that nurtures school choice.  Next came the drug raid at Sandwich High School, as lampooned by satirist Cardinal Borgia in Wasted Days and Wasted Knights. 

Athletic Scandal Explodes

A board bound to slaughter a superintendent who led the district to excellence.In November an earlier hazing scandal was recalled when Sandwich High School senior Ty McGrath, 18, of Plymouth was accused of assaulting a freshman in the boys’ locker room at Sandwich High School. 

Then McGrath’s mother, Julianne McGrath, made statements to the press indicating her belief that her son’s legal problems may have been a form of retribution for the emails she and other parents sent to athletic director Ellin Booras and Superintendent Canfield about favoritism on the football team and a matter concerning a player who appeared to be high from a pre-game joint.  (Here we go again with the Wasted Knights!)

This was followed quickly by a male cheerleader, John J. Amaral, being charged with threatening Mr. McGrath as reported by BadJocks.com which concludes their story with the prophetic line “Not sure where this one is going to go, but things are a little screwy at Sandwich High, to say the least.”    (If BadJocks was a U.K. site we’d be obligated to compliment their British understatement.)Would you send your aspiring athlete to a school like this?

Racism Anyone?

About this time we were researching a story with a prominent member of a certain sovereign nation in Mashpee who was disappointed in his school district’s refusal to pursue a Native American studies program.  Our editor asked if it would be possible send the kids to Sandwich on school choice.  Wouldn’t Sandwich give them a better education?  

His response was “Sandwich?  That’s KKK headquarters!”

How ugly is that?   We have noted before in passing that Sandwich offers one of the whitest school populations on the Cape.  With all the other issues they have, is it possible there’s a pinch of racism in the district’s poison brew?

So Let’s Do a Survey!

Read the news, Dr. Canfield!  It’s all right there on your computer screen.Amidst all this anecdotal evidence of their problems, the Superintendent’s solution is to take a survey.  On the surface that seems sublimely clueless.  Read the news, Doctor Canfield!  It’s all right there on your computer screen.

Or maybe Canfield is sublimely clever.  The 64 year old superintendent has worked in education since 1969.  If he watched any of the video of last year’s school committee showdowns with his predecessor he knows you have to tread softly when you’re school superintendent in Sandwich. 

If he can conduct his survey and bring back “objective” results from the parents he might avoid a trip down the rabbit hole that swallowed Mary Ellen Johnson as the Queen of Hearts cried “off with her head!”

Sandwich Public Schools’ problems are as numerous as the hairs on Dr. Canfield’s head.  A “survey” might be a safe beginning but sounds woefully inadequate. 

During the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School’s recent travails the term “360 degree review” became a virtual epithet at the troubled school.  At this point Sandwich’s schools need their own 360 degree review and the faster the better.

Another look at Route 132

With Sears and Kmart on the ropes, Cape Codders should be concerned

Red Xs above indicate some of the businesses which have closed along Route 132 in Hyannis.

On April 2, 2011 Cape Cod Today ran this editorial about the state of the Route 132 “shopping destination” area in Hyannis.  At that time we expressed concern that community leaders were not doing enough to fill the many large, vacant retail stores along 132.  On April 2^nd we believed that these vacancies imperiled the very tourist trade that drives the Cape’s economy.  Developments this week make our concern all the stronger.

Sears Holdings operates both the Sears and Kmart brands and is in very deep trouble indeed.  The day after Christmas the corporation announced plans to shutter between 100 and 120 under-performing Sears and Kmart stores after abysmal holiday sales.  As the New York Daily News reported on December 27^th, Sears saw a 6 percent decline in holiday sales while Kmart was down 4.4 percent for the holidays. 24/7 Wall Street named Sears one of the ten brands most likely to disappear in 2012. The New York Times today reported that Sears, which has been slow to renovate rundown stores and improve customer service, expects earnings to fall by more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter, far worse than expected.

Although the Sears and Kmarts here are not on the company's list of closings, they may be in the near future since this corporation is on its way to the dust bin of history. When they close the problem on Route 132 will reach a crisis.  Sears Holdings has only listed 79 of the planned 100-120 closings, thus far.

In recent years the news has been replete with stories of retail catastrophes that unraveled at warp speed.  Circuit City, Linens and Things, Borders, Blockbuster and many other chains went into restructuring efforts with the best intentions of survival but were overcome by the market before they could emerge with a winning formula.  If worried vendors slow shipments or demand payment up front a retailer can fly to pieces in a matter of weeks.

Couple this with the restaurants in Hyannis which have shuttered recently; Old Country Buffet, TGIF, Polcari's, Chili's, Hooter's, Mildred's Chowder House, Mitchell's Steak House and others, and you're heading toward a ghost food court of sorts.

So that takes us back to Route 132 in Hyannis, where the two most visible retail properties are the Kmart at Airport Shopping Plaza and the Sears store right across the street at the Cape Cod Mall. 

What if we lose both Sears and Kmart?

What would YOU like to see on Route 132 Hyannis?
Crate & Barrel, Lord & Taylor, Saks 5th Ave, Target, Ikea, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s or an Apple Store? Vote in our POLL HERE and let your voice be heard.What would the loss of Kmart and Sears mean for the Cape?  In the case of Sears, probably not all that much except people will need to find a new source of easy credit for appliances.  There’s not much else in a Sears that you can’t get at Target or Wal-Mart. 

If Kmart were to go, on the other hand, it would be a difficult thing for families and lower-income families that absolutely depend on Kmart for affordable products.  Failing a long drive to Falmouth’s Wal-Mart, there isn’t anything else on the Cape that compares to Kmart. 

Were Kmart to close, we would think it a no-brainer for Wal-Mart to take over that space at the Airport Plaza.  If Wal-Mart stayed within the current footprint of the building there isn’t much that the Cape Cod Commission or the Town of Barnstable could do to stop Wal-Mart’s arrival.

But what of the Sears store?  Our top two choices for that property would be Target or Kohl’s.  We don’t have anything comparable to these stores on the Cape so one of them might make a terrific addition to the Cape Cod Mall.

Route 132 still bleak

The rest of the 132 corridor is still looking sad.  The Sports Authority took over the former Filene’s Basement store at the Airport Plaza, though that’s not quite the “destination” that a Kohl’s might be.  Stop and Shop is building a new store at the foot of Bearse’s Way.  When that store opens, then we’ll have a vacant supermarket at Southwind Plaza to compliment the vacant Borders.  If we’re fortunate, perhaps Southwind will be able to attract a Market Basket store to finally bring worthy competition to Stop and Shop in Hyannis.

Airport Plaza still has the former Filene’s furniture stores – in the old theatre building – standing vacant.  The never-occupied building erected for Circuit City still grows weeds next door to McDonald’s.  The Festival at Hyannis (think Shaw’s Market and PetSmart) is looking like a ghost town with more vacant storefronts.

What other stores might help in making Route 132 the shopping destination that it once was?  In addition to the big-box retailers named above, perhaps a few high-end clothing or home good stores would help.  How many professional women buy their clothing off-Cape because they can’t find reasonable prices on high end apparel in the mid-Cape area?  How many yuppies are “forced” to buy from Ikea or Crate & Barrel over the web or by trekking off-Cape?

In our April 2^nd editorial we suggested that an Apple store might be a good addition to Route 132.  That started some howling from the local independent Apple resellers.  Sad as it is, an Apple “company store” is a totally different experience than one of the wannabe Apple retailers we have now – and who appear to be quite the destination for burglars more so than the shoppers we need to anchor the mid-Cape as our shopping destination. How many Cape Codders drive right past Hyannis to visit the Apple store in Hingham because they want the “pure” Apple experience?

Speaking of crime, in April we cited street crime as one of the two biggest strikes against Hyannis’ business community.  We are pleased to tip our hat to the Barnstable Police street crimes unit for some excellent work in “putting a bite on crime” this past year. 

Chamber and town fail to lead

If ever we needed an effective Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce as well as a useful Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce it is in this situation.  The chambers should be leading the charge to recruit national retailers to the Route 132 corridor.  Sadly, that’s not what chambers of commerce usually do – they typically dig a moat around existing businesses and man the parapets to keep away new competition. 

Surely the Town of Barnstable could take a lead on this.  Not only would this improve local employment prospects, it would bring more people into the Hyannis area to spend their money.  It would also give the town government a whole new group of businesses to shake down for the privilege of doing business in Barnstable. 

Why 132 matters

Whether we like it or not, Hyannis is the retail anchor of Cape Cod’s tourist economy and Route 132 is the epicenter of retail activity in Hyannis.  If our retail anchor is not strong, the entire Cape’s economy can suffer as a result.

One can shop at a Target in Wareham or a Kohl’s in Plymouth.  Wal-Mart can be shopped in Falmouth and Wareham.  There are plenty of retail choices better than those offered in Hyannis within an hour’s drive from most of Cape Cod’s population. 

Anyone who has visited the 132 corridor on a rainy summer’s day knows that the tourists all head for the malls when the skies open up.  If 132 doesn’t offer appealing retail choices, those tourists might stay at home – or visit an area with nicer shopping opportunities.

For the year-round residents, Route 132 must maintain a solid base of national retailers the Cape Codders want to shop.  If they fail to achieve this, more folks will just drive on to Wareham and Plymouth to do their shopping. 

Our 2012 Gifts to both good and bad Cape Codders

CCToday's Christmas Wish List for 2011

It is our tradition to suggest the blessings and curses appropriate for our fellow Cape Codders whose fanfares or fiascoes have helped fill our news-hole this year.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Cape Cod,
and time to "pull legs" with the gentlest of prods.

First to my fellow eCapers who labor so prodigious,
A huge Christmas dinner, and your spouse does the dishes.

To all our bloggers who make this site rock.
Lots of ideas to ridicule and miscreants to mock.

To eighty-thousand plus readers whether in sackcloth or drindl,
An electronic reader, like the Amazon Kindle.

To Dave and Phil Scudder the Hy-line Cruise bros,
Our atmosphere's thanks, plus environmental kudos.

The Falmouth Library Trustees, a tutorial -
Don't block a vet's memorial.

And I won't forget Sandwich - HQ for KKK,
Why else would they treat footballers that way?

Let's give Wareham its own prison, their miscreants to banish,
Just get your kids away from the Triangle in Hyannish.

To Cape Cod's politicos who next year seek our vote,
May you all get elected (hey, that's just a joke).

To Congressman Keating, whose 10th District was shorn,
A permanent move to his summer home in Bourne.

For new Senator Dan Wolf, what could be finer,
For his commute to Boston a Boeing Dreamliner.

To Rep Sarah Peake who we've all gotten use-ter,
New District lines that now include Brewster.

 To Rep.  Cleon Turner a slide further west,
Now even Yarmouth will experience the best.

 To DINO Atsalis and Whig Party Hunt,
Some top-notch opponents to be perfectly blunt.

To ex-Town Manager Klimm, who will bounce back we're sure,
A little vacation before his next sinecure.

To "The Michael" O'Keefe who gives much excitement,
A Happy New Year with no federal indictment.

To muckraker Manso as he and O'Keefe bout,
A best-selling status for his book "Reasonable Doubt."

To Democrats here as they drift to the right,
A new name for their party - GOP sounds about right.

To Cape Cod's Republicans as they disappear from sight,
It was fun while it lasted, sleep well and good night.

To the nice folks at Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod,
A new web address which isn't so odd.

To the Cape Cod Commission and its anti-business creed,
It's time to expire, we've outgrown your need.

To Mashpee "Praying Indians" who forgot Jesus Christ,
A conversion to their old gods - hey, they got a good price.

To Orleans' DPW for their Cove Road repair role,
A deep hole to hide it and a small lump of coal.

To our police and firemen who work day and night,
No one plays with the matches and everyone drives right.

To Bob Dwyer at the museum of our nature, so dear,
A thousand new donors to greet the New Year.

To Cynthia Stead, a bizarre change of will,
And a return to her Liberal youth on Blue Hill.

To Cape Cod Healthcare, every doc, nurse and lackey,
A quiet New Year when no visitor goes wacky.

To Felis at Alberto's who hosted our Christmas fete,
A thousand good reviews - every one of them neat.

To Clean Power Now for their long, well fought fight,
Retirement at last,  may your future be bright.

To Jim Gordon at Cape Wind, as he heads for the wire,
No more opposition, and another big buyer.

To our friends at Cape Cod Times, may ad space cease to taper,
And everyone on Cape Cod subscribe to your newspaper.

To the folks at Cape's weeklies, short staffed and ill-paid,
Generous publishers who make their wage woes all fade.

May our eight Public Radio station's staff start to smile,
As thousands and thousands more turn to your dial.

May Bob Whitcomb at Projo at last reach his goal,
A well-financed dotage some place near Woods Hole.

To the gang at The Globe, the end of its groaner,
When a liberal local becomes its new owner.

For Cape Cod TODAY, an internet heaven,
As more dig our motto: "Cape Cod 24/7."

To my hard-working wife Pat, who says "all is forgiven."
"You can still write this column and not work for a living."

Too little education is a costly thing

School Competition: The end of the beginning

As 2011 ends, Ptown, Monomoy and Nauset raise stakes

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."This year, 2011, will be remembered as the year that forever changed public education on Cape Cod. 

From a scandal at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School to dropping, shifting school enrollments we’ve seen a lot. 

We have watched the Sandwich public schools squander their school choice attraction in a pair of public relations disasters (teacher contract and football beat-down). It was Mark Twain who first told us, "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."

"He who opens a school door, 
            closes a prison."This month we have seen the groundbreaking for new campuses for our two charter schools and a skirt-raising negotiation over where Provincetown’s high school students will attend school in the future. Carolyn Cragin and Paul Niles should hang Victor Hugo's admonition on their office walls, "He who opens a school door, closes a prison."

Lastly, we enjoyed a misguided op-ed in the old media by a young woman who thinks that football championships should determine the greatness of a school. At least she could have had the wit to quote Vince Lombardi, "A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall."

The bottom line is that the ground has shifted under the Cape’s public education system and the landscape will never be the same.

Challenging Numbers

Cape students drop 18%, some schools close, others merge.Faced with a Cape-wide drop in enrollment of almost 18% in the past decade, some school districts are dissolving (Provincetown) and others were forced to merge (Harwich/Chatham).  Cape Cod’s public schools now enroll 6,478 fewer students than they did in 2001.  When a business loses 18% of its customers drastic changes are required.

Meanwhile – if declining enrollment isn’t sufficiently challenging - a district like Dennis-Yarmouth finds itself losing over 300 students to other districts under school choice – and paying $1.9 million in school choice money to those other districts in the process.

Evolve or Die

Chatham’s schools maintained their independence for almost a generation by embracing school choice.  Indeed, Chatham learned how to package themselves as a “destination district” for school choice students.  Similarly, Nauset Regional High School has been able to expand course offerings and athletic opportunities with 23% of the 1,000 students attending under school choice, bringing $1.3 million in funding to NRHS. 

On the other side of the coin, we see elementary school districts like Orleans that has lost over 22% of its enrollment or Brewster that lost 28% both stubbornly refusing the open for inbound school choice.  In the case of Orleans Elementary School, the decline in enrollment is perilously close to a point where 50% of the faculty could be laid off – yet the Orleans Elementary School Committee refuses to evolve.  In Brewster they are held prisoner to a surplus school building that they cannot abandon due to state funding requirements – yet the school board won’t evolve into school choice.

Charter Schools Expand

Will the third Sturgis Charter School replace Sandwich H.S.? With Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School moving to a new facility in East Harwich in September 2012, the charter middle school becomes a more attractive destination to children in the mid-Cape area.  Similarly, Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis is opening a second campus to accommodate their overflowing wait list.

Charter schools are not a panacea but they are attractive to many parents and students.  Certainly a reader of this news site is no stranger to the academic and compliance problems that surfaced with Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School this year.  As far as Sturgis is concerned, we hear rumors of “unsuitable” kids being banished from the school, much to the ire of school administrators in neighboring districts. 

No matter either school’s internal issues, Sturgis remains ranked as one of the best high schools in the nation and CCLCS has shown a commitment to ameliorating their problems.

The Provincetown Wild Card

Last weekend we learned that Provincetown is negotiating with the Monomoy Regional School District about a possible tuition agreement for their high school students who currently attend Nauset.  It was also revealed that discussions are pending on a possible joining to either Nauset or Monomoy’s district by Provincetown.  While the jury is still out on this undertaking, many people believe this is an elaborate ploy by Provincetown Superintendent Dr. Beth Singer to drive a hard bargain with Nauset, where tuition rose by $2,014 per student in one year.

Looking Ahead - What Cape Cod school districts will look like in the near future

Public education on the Cape will never be the same.  Competition between districts will escalate as the student population continues to drop.  We expect the next three years to be an exercise in Education Darwinism here on the Cape, perhaps most visible on the Lower Cape but encompassing the Upper Cape by 2015.

If we were venture a prediction on the Cape’s K-12 education landscape in 2021 we think it might look like this:

District....................................................................Towns

“Upper Cape Regional”...............................................Sandwich, Falmouth, Mashpee

“Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal School”........................Native American tribal school

“Barnstable-Yarmouth Regional”...............................Barnstable, Yarmouth

Monomoy Regional School District............................Chatham, Harwich, Dennis

Nauset Regional School District  (A K-12 district).......Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet,  Truro and Provincetown

Upper Cape Regional Tech & Cape Cod Tech...............Merged at the former D-Y High School        

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School..........................Second campus in mid-Cape area

Sturgis Charter Public School.....................................Third campus at former Sandwich H.S.

As Winston Churchill said in 1942, “This is not the end.  It is not evening the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Ten Questions for DY Superintendent Woodbury

Superintendent Clams Up - Readers Feel Free to answer for her

For the past two weeks Cape Cod Today has attempted to arrange an interview with Dennis-Yarmouth Regional Schools superintendent Carol Woodbury.

As part of our continuing coverage of education on Cape Cod we have sat down with several school leaders over the past few months to gain a sense of how each is addressing the challenges of the Cape's dwindling population, competition from charters/school choice and to hear their vision for the future.

In more than one case our analysis of the educational landscape was changed significantly by these meetings. Thus far, we have found the superintendents and other school leaders to be an intelligent, insightful and optimistic group. They seem aware of their districts' strengths and also their vulnerabilities.

On October 19th, we sent an email to Superintendent Woodbury requesting an interview and ending with these words: "Would you be willing to sit down with me and one of my reporters and share your plans to address the challenges facing your district? We can speak on the record, off the record or a combination of both. Dennis-Yarmouth is an important piece in the local education puzzle and I would love to hear your thoughts."

We followed this up with three phones calls to Ms. Woodbury secretary who promised to have the superintendent contact us.

Now we need our readers to answer these questions for her

No response has been forthcoming from Ms. Woodbury. Thus, we are forced to bring the interview questions to our readers and ask for your help.

Below are ten questions that we might have asked had we been granted an interview. Should we still not hear from Ms. Woodbury, we welcome our readers' emails on how any of these questions might be answered. We will publish reader responses in a follow-up article if the superintendent remains behind the barricades.

               Send your answer
to any of these questions here and we may use them in the follow-up article.

Ten Questions

1. School choice and charter schools have taken their toll on the Dennis-Yarmouth schools in the past few years. Indeed, last year DY lost almost $2 million in school choice tuition to other districts with over 300 students choosing to go elsewhere. How do you plan to address this attrition and, over time, reverse this exodus?
2. Is it possible at all to re-capture kids who have left the district to charters/choice or do you have to focus on retaining the kids you have now.
3. DY recently converted the M.E. Small Elementary School to one of the new "Innovation Schools". How is this different than a Horace Mann Charter School? What is the advantage of one over the other?
4. Dennis town meeting recently voted to commence the process of withdrawing grades K-8 from the DY Regional School District. What brought this district to this threshold and how likely is a "separation" to happen?
5. If Dennis persists in wishing to withdraw K-8, Yarmouth's assent is required. How likely is Yarmouth to go along with the separation and what impact would it have on K-8 in Yarmouth?
6. If Yarmouth does not assent to Dennis' withdrawal from DY, how does the district proceed at that point? Can the two towns worth together or will this become one of those "locked in hatred" "War of the Roses" type of marriages at that point?
7. Aside from "student drain" and the Dennis "divorce", what are the biggest challenges facing Dennis-Yarmouth Regional Schools?
8. Other school districts are beginning to equip all of their high school students with netbooks. Is that something that DY is considering? What advantages would that bring and what would the down-side be?
9. We recently published verbatim "emails to the editor" by several who purported to be students at Dennis-Yarmouth High School. We were a bit surprised by the grammar and composition of those emails. Is this writing typical of students at DYHS?
10. In our analysis of DY's MCAS scores and demographics, we were impressed by the parity we see across most of the schools that teach the same grade levels. With minor exceptions, it seems that DY provides amazingly consistent educational opportunities across all schools. How did you achieve that kind of consistency?

If MS Woodbury does not answer these questions, we will publish the answers we receive from readers.

                             VOTE in our POLL: Do you think teachers should be unionized?

Sandwich Teacher Union Sours School Choice

Union Snatches Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

What is the matter with teacher unions today? How disappointing is it to read that the Sandwich teacher union is staging a "work to rule" job action to punish the school district over contract negotiations?

Lately teacher unions seem to have incredibly bad timing. Those who followed the scandal that unfolded over Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School may recall that the entire story arc began with the Orleans charter school's teachers voting to unionize.

Why have the teachers in Sandwich gone 424 days without a contract? Since contract negotiations are held behind closed doors, we probably won't ever know the entire truth.

Could it be that the teachers' union "doesn't get it"? Could it be that their leaders are out of touch with the new reality facing public employee unions in this economy and political climate? Does the union realize that it might not be possible to squeeze the taxpayers of Sandwich for more money or super-deluxe benefit packages?

Despite recent melt-downs in the leadership of the Sandwich school district, we believe the district is doing the best it can to work with the teachers that have helped make Sandwich High School one of the best in the nation.

Lately teacher unions seem to have incredibly bad timing. Those who followed the scandal that unfolded over Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School may recall that the entire story arc began with the Orleans charter school's teachers voting to unionize.

Now we have Sandwich poised for success in the school choice competition, offering an excellent "product" - and here come the teachers shutting down the co-curricular activities that comprise a key part of the district's success.

If the district can't control its teachers any better than this, perhaps Sandwich should put aside its school choice plans and leave that to the more stable school districts.

                             VOTE in our POLL: Do you think teachers should be unionized?

CapeCodTODAY's Halloween Trick or Treats 2011

Rewards for noteworthy Cape Cod folk

With Halloween upon us, it's time to think about how we might reward some of the people and organizations that have graced our pages this year.

Nauset Superintendent Richard Hoffmann gets to take off his Grinch outfit and have a pizza and cupcake party to celebrate Nauset High's success with school choice.

Nauset school board member Sarah Blackwell gets force fed two dozen cupcakes at Dr. Hoffmann's pizza and cupcake party.

Save our Sound gets a package of windmill cookies to celebrate their pyrrhic victory over the FAA.

Cape Cod Times columnist Sean Gonsalves gets a new Truro-made cross to bear and a tape recorder which resembles a pistol from Cardinal Borgia's Badican Academy for getting educated about so many issues by rewriting Cape Cod Today stories.

Nstar gets 3,000 rotten pumpkins that were killed by their herbicide spraying.

Touched by Angels trickster Gina Clark a stale Devils food Cake without a file in her cell.

Wampanoag tribal leader Cedric Cromwell gets a Lifetime Membership in the Jenny Craig Weight Loss program in preparation for the millions he'll be making when the Tribe's Casino opens in a couple years.

Cape Wind's Jim Gordon gets the "Job Award" for putting up with a decade of bullshit while trying to help America free itself from foreign oil.

The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod gets 100 pounds of smelly scallop shells for changing their name and allegedly using off-Cape contractors to handle the re-branding.

The Sturgis Charter Public School gets 200 shiny red apples for continued excellence and five apple trees to plan on their new "Sturgis West" campus.

Superintendent Carol Woodbury of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional gets a cameo in The Walking Dead zombie series for her leadership in a dying school district.

Barnstable Town Manager John Klimm gets 450,000 pieces of candy corn on his way out the door.

The Town of Falmouth gets the "Nasty NIMBY Award" for Article 7 in this year's Town Warent which will ban "Sober Houses" and such.

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School gets 1,000 pounds of popcorn to serve in their new multiplex-turned-school.

Laptops for KidZ gets 219 Hershey Kisses - one for each computer they placed this year.

Balise Ford of Hyannis gets a truckload of M&M's for revitalizing the old Puritan Pontiac building.

The Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless gets 62,000 candy apples for soldiering on through a difficult loss.

Orleans board of health member Gussie McKusick gets 100 rolls of toilet paper for her verbal diarrhea about this newssite's coverage of the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School.

The Orleans Highway Department gets a bucket of cold molasses for their glacial progress on the Cove Road sidewalk replacement.

The teachers and principals in Sandwich Public Schools get giant tollhouse cookies for soldiering and teaching excellence despite two years of meltdowns at the top.

Superintendent Carolyn Cragin of Chatham, Harwich and Monomoy gets a case of Milky Way's for seeing the future of education and embracing it.

Yarmouth and Orleans' Sewer Proponents each get one Snickers bar to float in their toilets but must pay $25,000 each to flush it down the toilet.

Select members of the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum board each get a poisoned apple from the Evil Queen for way too much drama in recent months.

The Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Brewster Shelter gets a giant bowl of pet treats for their love and kindness all year long and warm hugs in memory of their beloved Squash.

Camp Good News gets one stale, melted Good News bar for reasons best known to them - and our 50,000 daily readers.

Truro Police Chief John Lundborn gets a case each of Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars, because "sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't."

Special Sheriff Jeff Perry gets $110,000 worth of Payday candy bars to celebrate his new sinecure.

Cape Cod Community College President Kathy Schatzberg gets a case of Whoopee Pies to celebrate her impending retirement.

Senator Scott Brown gets an extra large Nestle Chunky candy. As the ads used to say, "Open wide for Chunky," Senator, and maybe it'll help keep your foot out of your mouth.

Congressman Bill Keating gets to use Scott Brown's pick-up truck to move his stuff from Quincy to his second home in Bourne when the Mass. Re-districting is finalized.

Kudos to State Rep Sarah Peake for coming up with the best reelection idea ever, a Special Mass. License Plate for Baby Boomers who are the arch typical "to to the polss" kind of voter which earned her a NY Times Editorial.

A truckload of Gummy Dinosaurs for the region’s print newspapers. 

Holders of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition “Spay Neuter” plate get a bucket of toys for their pet.

The keepers of the Edward Gorey House get a big bag of chocolate spiders

Members of the Barnstable Street Crime Unit each get a big bag of Dum Dums (the candy, not the bullets) for all their good work cleaning up the streets of Barnstable

Judge Brian Merrick gets a big box of saltwater taffy for making jury duty at Orleans District Court fun and interesting

Mal Hughes and the folks at Cape Cod Child Development get a truckload of pumpkin pies for bringing Thanksgiving to hundreds each year.

Merrill Blum and his colleagues at the Veterans Outreach Center get grocery store gift cards for supporting our veterans so well.

Truckloads of groceries for the region’s food pantries that feed thousands each year.

Mandy's Cape Creamery gets 10 pounds of gummy bears for their great food and ice cream throughout the summer.

Alberto's Ristorante gets a bucket of Portugese Anchovies to add to it's Caesar Salad.

The Masonic Angel Foundation gets a case of Listerine in memory of Trevi the cat’s special kiss.

The good people at Independence House get 2,500 Mr. Goodbar’s – one for each person they helped last year.

Our men and women in the military get any treat they like to thank them for their service.