Editorial

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

By Walter Brooks

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.”