Councilor John R. Connolly packed a hotel ballroom Wednesday night for the kickoff of his bid for mayor, urging supporters to embrace a new generation of leadership in Boston.
In a forceful speech, he outlined his vision for a city where, he said, entrenched power has stifled progress. Connolly promised “a more inclusive City Hall that listens,” built on the “need for new ideas, new energy, and new leadership.”
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Connolly's continued malignment of the Boston Public Schools is little more than a publicity stunt that will do little to improve public education in this city. The breaking up of the status quo that he advocates is little more than a continuation of the policies that has seen an expansion of charter schools. These charters have tremendous teacher turnover, do little to educate students with special needs or are English language learners, and drain money from the public schools that serve ALL children. His ideas ARE the status quo. Ideas that have bought into privatized schools with little public oversight. The ideas Connolly has signed onto has turned ALL schools into testing factories that do little to inspire the generation that are in our schools today.
99 is spot on. Connolly has little in the tank and his ideas about our schools will lead to a two tier system. Finally, Connolly want all teachers to work an additional two hours per day without compensation to compete with charter schools. Does his law office operate the same was to compete with the Office of Public Defenders?
Do people realize that the more Union members are asked to work uncompensated hours, the more the rest of us will too - large orginzations will never stop demanding more for less (see WalMart) Also, teachers have to grade, plan and fill out paperwork - they work long hours as it is. Why does Conolly advocate for neighborhood schools, as a landlord I alway loose tenants with kids due to the unpredicatable school assignment policy
At this point we in the City of boston really need a "new" mayor these are some of the reasons why:
(1) Mr. Menino just raised the rents for almost all renters within the City of boston; he put into effect some ridiculous law that forces landlords to have their rental units inspected by Inspectional Services each year and pay a fee to the City for doing it..sounds like a good idea right ? WRONG. Now landlords will be forced to make there apartments Section 8 quality, andd unlike section 8 residents you will have to pay top dollar now for your apartment without receiving a 90% rent voucher from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Great idea mayor Menino create a few more jobs for your friends, while screwing everyone in the City of Boston
(2) Mr. Menino just gave State Street Corporation a $11.5 Million tax break while raising all of the assessed values of individual property owners in the city of Boston while he knew that State Street corp was actively training INDIAN nationals to take jobs away from Boston residents in downtown Boston and return to work in Punea with good middle class AMERICAN jobs. Another minor issue is that State Street just laid off about 300 Boston workers months after receiving this $11.5 Million tax break. Hopefully Mr Menino can derive another method for securing a couple of jobs in the future for his grandchildren that will NOT wipe out hundreds of good paying Boston jobs.
(3) Mr. Menino has put into effect a policy that allows tow truck operators to tow cars that parked legally on city streets on thedays of street cleaning. It used to be that you received a $25 ticket if you left you car on the street by mistake on that day, but now for instance in Oak Square Brighton your car will be towedbuy operations like Stadium Auto Body who are more than happy to coolect a $120 tow fee after you have paid a $40 ticket. If you aer not wealthy and work an overnight shift and awake to find yoru car towed - remember to go out andvote against Mayor Menino and encourage all of your neighbors to do the same - I will...
We were towing cars for street cleaning 25 years ago when I worked with the BTD.
What about people who live in the neighborhood, pat attention to the rules, move their cars so ALL of us can have clean streets!
Connolly is a mediocre candidate running against a terrible candidate. Mediocre schould beat terrible, but not in Scranton with Clams.
99% and Sam the Man - Your claims about Mr. Connolly ideas could not be more incorrect. First, John Connolly is a former teacher. Second, if Connolly is bent on privatizing public education then why does he send his children to Boston Public Schools? And finally, regarding extending the school day so that it is in line with other large city school systems (from 6 hours to 7 hours per day), he has stated many times that he wants to and intends to increase teacher pay. -- I've lived in the City of Boston for 25 years now and have seen very little performance improvement in the BPS. Yet my real estate taxes go up every year. I don't mind paying the tax if it is a true investment in the next generation. In fact, I'd rather pay for a great k-12 education system that prepares students to live independent, fulfilling lives then to pay for the even more costly adult life-long social services programs to help folks who cannot make their way in an ever increasing global econonmy solely because they attended a poorly run Boston Public School.
Teachers already work an extended day in this city for no compensation. It's called helping kids after school, planning at home and on the weekends, making calls to parents etc. After 26 years teaching I work on average a 60 hour week. This is time I take away from my family. We cannot keep young teachers in the system because of the work load. Anyone who claims Boston teachers only work a 6 1/2 hour day is being disengenuous. You may say Connolly is a former teacher (1 year?...2 years?) but he hardly has a clue as to what teachers do...OR...he is grandstanding!
What about the quality of kids coming to school - does that matter? Do you think the teachers in Wellesley are that much better than Boston? How about letting parents have certainty in the assignemnt process - so more families would stay in Boston - as a landlord I know - they leave when their kids come of school age - they want to know where their kids are going!
I don't know if Connelly can or will do a better job, but I do know if you vote for Menino you'll have to vote for three people, Menino and the two guys holding him up.
Mr. Connolly taught in a charter school and worked an extended day with little compensation for his 'real' day. That's the way it is in charter schools. But that doesn't make it right.
Question to Bostoned1: Does Mr. Connolly or any other atty for that matter, work for no compensation when a client asks him or her to? Of course not. Neither do other professionals, such as doctors, nurses, accountants, plumbers, electricians, IT personnel, newspaper reporters, and so on.
Also, 99 is correct: the average teacher works an additional uncompensated 1-3 hours per day JUST TO KEEP UP with daily responsibilities and obligations.
bostoned1 – You are misinformed and do not have all the information, 99% and Sam the Man are correct. The Boston Public schools is the BEST urban school district in the Nation! The Council of the Great City Schools said so! Your real estate taxes go up because 50% of the land in Boston is owned by large non-profit institutions, private colleges and universities, and hospitals. They are tax exempt and you, Boston Homeowner, pick up their tab!
The Mayor's PILOT program is asking these institutions to only pay 25% of what they would owe if they were for profit! Mayor Menino is even willing to take off 50% of that for "community service" bringing their contribution down to 12.5%! As a homeowner and taxpayer in Boston, who is picking up 75% of their share of the bill, I want them to pay more than 25%! If they paid their fair share, schools could be funded for an extended day and a better life could be had by all the people who actually live in the city!
http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/FY13%20First%20Half%20PILOT%20Status%20Report%20for%20Web_tcm3-35784.pdf
http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/FY12%20Second%20Half%20PILOT%20Status%20Report%20for%20Web_tcm3-33007.pdf
Boston's school day is seven minutes shorter than the national average. The real status quo is using the phrase as a meaningless cliche, and then blatantly making up "facts". Boston's" shortest day in the history of short days" is further disproven when taking into account extended learning day programs that are offered at many of our schools, such as citizens schools. At my "status quo" traditional union stifled school my sixth graders have an option for before school starting at 8, then are mandated to attend school from 9:10-5:45 (8.5-9.5 hours), because of our Citizens Schools program. If all of the programs that extend the day are calculated into our school's day, then maybe our "shortest day in the history of short days" will actually read more like "kids in in Boston are in school for a wicked long time!" Maybe programming partnerships is one reason, along with the hard work of our principals, teachers, and paraprofessionals, that Boston is ranked the #1 urban school district in the United States. The "status quo" silver spoon fed harvard grads who do not listen to the troops on the ground about how over testing, school closings, mandated Pearson curriculum, narrowing of the curriculum to MCAS tested subjects, profit motive, and neglect of the epidemiological gaps that persist in our urban districts while teachers are scapegoated are harming our education system. That is the status quo.
Colum Whyte is correct 7 minutes shorter. If this is a problem for anyone running for the mayor’s office, they can deduct it from the uncompensated “volunteer” time that teachers spend on the job. Many Boston teachers keep kids who need extra help after school, as well as kids who need behavioral redirection. Teachers attend student's sports games because parents are working, and empty bleachers dispirit the team. Teachers attend science fairs, art fairs, talent shows, and chaperone dances so BPS kids can enjoy the same experiences as their suburban peers. Teachers take kids on field trips that put us on a bus before the school day starts, and returns long after the school day ends, when we transport those kids without rides home.
Teachers participate on the School Site Council, the Instructional Leadership Team, and the School Accreditation Teams. During school vacations we have teachers who take students on week long “community service learning trips” inside and outside the country. All these additional activities are uncompensated! Boston Teachers pay for Xeroxing at Staples and Office Max and buy copy paper and supplies that the BPS never seems purchase enough of, all unreimbursed!
That is enough, if Mayor Menino or John Connolly wants an extended day, providing teaching services, there has to be a “quality” plan, and they need to compensate teachers fairly! As Sam the Man said, "Does Mr. Connnolly or any other atty for that matter, work for no compensation when a client asks him or her to? Of course not, neither do other professionals, such as doctors, nurses, accountants, plumbers, electricians, IT personnel, newspaper reporters, and so on!"