The event was moved inside to the Middle School auditorium from the location of Memorial Park due to possible rain — the fact that the announced rain venue of Town Hall wasn’t used may have depressed turnout to about 160 persons. To be clear, I think this is more reflective of the community — a faithful supporter of Republican lightweight state representative Susan Williams-Gifford — than anything else. There were a few people devoted to Deval there in 2006 delegate clothing, but the majority seemed to be interested citizens. It was a mix of political operatives, would-be political operatives, local officials, local nutjobs, and a good smattering of private but active citizens.
The governor showed up only about 10 minutes late, which is sparkling for such an event. People with clipboards urged attendees to sign in, and circulated during the event to take down contact information for any unresolved questions. After a short set of remarks, the governor invited questions, with staff numbering attendees and delivering microphones to the citizens.
I was glad to see that the dominant topic of the town hall was education. A school committee member, a teacher in another town, and a university professor all asked about these topics (I had the chance to speak with the governor in my capacity as a teacher and union member before the event). The governor heard a lot about the end-arounds for which charters are infamous, such as skimming off the best student to raise their scores and leaving district public schools with a greater proportion of students who require the most resources to educate.
While admitting the inequities in charter education, Deval repeatedly sought to move quickly off of the current charter model onto the idea of his proposed “Readiness Schools”, a new and different kind of charter. He emphasized the fact that teachers could “take over” a school in this format as one of three ways to turn a public school into a “Readiness school”, though any group of citizens can form a “Readiness school” to act out their issues with the local school as well.
My personal take (more on this later) would be that if the governor would be willing to mandate in law that (charter schools + readiness schools =< X) to ensure that we aren’t exacerbating and enhancing the charter dodge, but are instead replacing it with an accountable and equitable model, I could be interested.
The governor also answered questions on stimulus funds and bottlenecks ranging from simple to complex, as well as addressing patronage, agriculture and water pollution industries, and funding for towns with a seasonally variable population, such as Wareham.
The governor is a clever, quick-witted, and charming man, and that was on full display during the town hall. The crowd liked him because frankly he’s a likable guy. His charm survived even the press of the “fathers’ rights” advocates vocalizing their issue. They did get two of 10 questions, which were repeats of questions they’ve asked elsewhere (one questioner drove down from Roxbury), a good show. However, this quickly moved into shouting imprecations and questions from the crowd, and spontaneously standing up and delivering speeches while the governor was trying to talk. My feeling is that I would likely agree with their beliefs, but their passion/stridency may well drown out the strengths of their argument. Deval dealt with them well — I rather suspect he’s had lots of practice — but the points the advocates were making quickly were overwhelmed by the rudeness with which they made them.
Taxes, gambling, and health care were not raised as subjects of concern by citizens at the forum.
The governor has been approachable as long as I’ve known him, and he certainly works well in small crowds. I can’t say that I agree with him as often as I wish I could, but he comes across very well in this format — no wonder he’s using it so much. I can see why somebody would come away more supportive of the governor after an evening such as this.
What was the crowd’s take on gambling?
“Taxes, gambling, and health care were not raised as subjects of concern by citizens at the forum. ”
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p>Of course, there were 11 questions — 2 on fathers’ rights, 3 on education, 2 on the stimulus, 1 on pension reform, 1 on agriculture…I’m afraid I forget the other 2. Had we got to 20, perhaps things would have been different.
My aging eyes.
Did the prevailing wage come up?
JUst in case you missed it – The public’s position on prevailing wage was settled in 1988 when Question #2 (the repeal of prevailing wage funded by non-union contractors and supported by Barbara Anderson) was defeated in 349 of 351 Massachusetts cities and towns with a statewide 58-42% vote.
payed for by big labor. The question isn’t settled. It is a different time and a case can be made for the billions of dollars we’ve wasted in this time. Sorry striker57 the number one problem facing the commonwealth is the Union’s control of every aspect of government. It’s time to pull the wool from out in front of the peoples eyes.
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p>You don’t really understand how many of my non-political friends both democrats and republicans were outraged by the waste of Stimulus money. Again I’m not looking to repeal the prevailing wage, I’m looking to change the formula by which it is calculated from: Whatever the Unions and “contractors” negotiate with no check or balance to using the Federal guidelines. This will save the Commonwealth 17.7% of every construction dollar spent.
,,,certainly I would read that with GREAT interest. Anyway, off to finish up some last minute drafting for an ongoing hearing [I am in court again tomorrow].
Do you think it’s fair to say that if polls show significant majority of MA folks support charters, but that special interest groups are likely to disproportionately attend these events, that of COURSE the Gov is going to be on the defensive in these settings, but it doesn’t indicate the zeitgeist?
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Do a majority of the parents of special education students support charters?
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p>Do a majority of the parents of elementary school students support charters?
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p>What is the definition of “charter” used in said “polls”?
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p>I would love to know what “polls” you are talking about…and I am not on the payroll of a charter [you were good enough to disclose that you ARE on a charter’s payroll – but I don’t know which one or in what capacity] nor am I a “professional educator”.
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p>My “categories” are: private citizen, parent, parent of children with learning issues, attorney, former Guardian Ad Litem for Education for indigent students on a one at a time basis [before that role was abolished in this state on 11/14/08, unilaterally, by Chief Justice for Administration and Management Mulligan], taxpayer, small business owner, etc.
What are you, Nixon? If charters are so great, one might expect fans to put in the effort to talk to the governor. Instead, they can’t be bothered. The people who work the most in education, instead, at middle school, high school, university, and school committee level, all dislike them.
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p>A pluarlity of Americans believe that the human species was created by God within the last 10 millenia. Expects and specialists be damned, should science teachers teach that because so many people agree? Your defense that lots of people think it’s a great idea doesn’t much impress me on an issue this technical and complex. Thank goodness we don’t do health care the way you suggest we do education.
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p>PS: I mentioned the Boston Foundation study you love so much to Deval during an earlier conversation (and I’m working on a post on its severe methodological shortcomings) and he was surprisingly in accord that its rigor was lacking.
You are right. Financing (with threat of jail) the filching of your own child and then being told that it is in his/her best interest is nothing to get passionate about.
Passion is good. Passion turning into rudeness is counter-productive.
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p>If I disagreed, I’d be cheering these advocates on because their approach is inimical to what they’re hoping to accomplish.