to seek re-election?Summary Paragraph: Menin justifies why he is running for re-election, despite spending five of the last six years listening to the sound of one hand clapping (his own), and tries to clarify some confusion in the community.
After spending six years on the School Committee, eviscerating core curriculum in a desperate effort to keep some credibility in Newburyport Schools, of fighting to make more open and transparent every process, every nuance of our education system that we can legally illuminate; after cutting teachers and classes that I know have made a profound impact on the lives of all of our children, and (selfishly) my own; why would I run for re-election?
After pushing the School Committee and the community for six years to look at reconfiguring our school system to more accurately reflect research-based understandings we have about how kids learn and develop, only to have a catastrophic budget calamity force that change as painfully as possible; why would I run for re-election?
As the elbows start flying, I sense some confusion out there in the community, as well as frustration. I understand that. This past year, the schools, under Dr. Lyons, have taken a giant step towards accountability and credibility. I watched the former ignored, and the latter damaged in five years of moronic cuts and a lack of coherent planning, of a $20,000,000 "corporation" lurching from crisis to crisis, substituting inequity for decision-making. It always angered and frustrated me; when Dick Sullivan left the School Committee I worried that while he and I didn't agree on some things, I had lost the other voice for change on the Committee.
Yet, I'm running for re-election. It ain't the money, folks. Nor the prestige.
Confused?
Do not confuse my commitment to building community through dialogue, finding common ground, and using my training as an educator to look at the system we have built and see what it can be, and not what it has become; please do not confuse that with indecisiveness. Not after this past school year.
Do not confuse my commitment to find ways that folks who have lived here for generations, and people who have lived here for two years can identify shared goals; don't confuse that with cowardice, paralysis, or a fear of reaching out across boundaries to find common ground.
And do not, if you have spent even one-tenth of the literally more than a thousand hours I have spent trying to improve this school system for all of our kids, from High Street to Kelleher Park, consider that my time has passed.
In fact, it is just beginning.
As I talk to people, and listen to some of the good people running for School Committee, essentially the issues are being framed thusly:
We can make better decisions.
We can make faster decisions.
We can at least make decisions.
The School Committee never does anything.
There is too much process.
As much as people tried initially to tiptoe around it, this election is being framed in some ways by the other candidates, and perhaps some in the community (although I haven't run into it yet as a thought that hasn't been planted, especially in Ward 5) as a referendum on the School Committee. Or inaction by that governing body. Or on wasted potential. Or about a School Committee that allegedly holds itself aloof and cannot communicate with the community.
Funny. That's exactly why I ran six years ago. But that isn't why I'm running now.
I'm running for re-election because finally, after five years of administrative mediocrity, (in my opinion), of only being allowed to lob ideas in from the outside, of five years of "happy talk" and "everything is fine" and "don't worry about the test scores we have a plan"; finally we have an administrator who gets it. And he has hired a team that gets it. And he, and they, and all of us will be accountable to the kids, and the community. And that is exactly what I hoped for six years ago. And spent six very long years of my life fighting for.
Yeah, the School Committee has a lot to learn about communicating ideas to the community. Being without steady cable TV coverage for more than a year has hurt. A rushed campaign to pass an override, spurred in part because the School Committee believed the Mayor when he said at School Committee meetings he was thinking of putting a debt exclusion on the November ballot didn't help. And that was despite the extraordinary efforts of some of the very same people running in this election.
The DOR Educational Quality Assessment report arrived prior to the decision to seek an override. It validated the entry report submitted by Dr. Lyons virtually point by point in identifying the critical needs in our schools, and left us with two choices-- reconfigure the Schools to achieve both educational and financial goals, and move quickly to reorganize the school curriculum to get going on the required changes. And find some new revenue, quickly, to take advantage of the reconfiguration. The override lost. No, actually, the community lost; a community that has always supported education in the six years of my service on the School Committee, as measured by the City Council consistently providing more revenues to the schools than it was legally obligated to.
The problem, simply, is even that is not enough to prepare our students to succeed in this new age.
So I thought about running, before I decided. A lot. About the impact on my family. On whether I could remain focused on my singular purpose-- ensuring that the schools meet the educational needs of every child where they are- supporting those in need of support, challenging those in need of challenging.
I decided to run again.
But I'm not going to change. I'll always express my opinion; I will always opt for the sloppiness of finding more ways to include people in the public dialogue that is education. You may not agree with me, but you'll always know where I stand. I'll keep asking questions. I'll keep questioning answers. The stakes are very high.
I am, admittedly, a process guy. I think it is important to hear from everyone, just in case
my ideas, well, stink. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a juicy, creative idea that honors learning and challenges kids.
So let the wild rumpus begin, I'm still going to play by the rules I set for myself.
I'm not running down an opponent. I'm not using e-mail lists to keep the network humming.
I'm not accepting donations to run. Give me money, and I'll just give it to the schools.
No fancy brochure, just a self-designed slightly cheesy one that might end up on your doorstep. If you get one, bring it inside quick, or the ink will run in the rain.
I bought signs this year. And I'm walking and listening
And if the community decides it has had enough of me, or that the other candidates are more compelling, I accept that, and remain grateful for having had the opportunity to serve.
But I'll sure miss boring the crap out of the community every other Monday night.
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