Submitted by Brian Raabe
In a brief letter BET Chair Fisher makes any Soviet apparatchik proud. (FISHER: Clarifying the Matter of School Start Time and Bussing May 22, 2025)
He talks of the request to restore school funds and maintain the current school start time needing to come from the BOE or another department. The BET can’t make the request unilaterally. “I checked with our lawyers…”
He then goes on to say, however, that even if the request were made it “wouldn’t be appropriate to take the matter up as it does not exist in this year‘s budget.”
All bureaucratic doublespeak not withstanding Mr. Fisher, you’ve been reading the paper. This matter exists very much in the here and now. It compels action – not a DMV like reply of “can’t discuss now, doesn’t exist.”
He adds, “…a request to appropriate funds for the next fiscal year cannot be addressed until we are in that year’s budget after July 1. The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) doesn’t meet until September and “so it either waits until then”, (when school is already in session) “or the RTM has to call a special meeting.”
What kind of reply is that? Note to RTM – call the meeting. The BET/DMV may prefer inaction and forms filled out in triplicate. Be a body of doers instead.
Finally, Mr. Fisher shares, “from my standpoint, supported by some others on the BET and the BOE, there are other areas in the schools budget that could be reduced without affecting student achievement.”
Circular and wrong. Firstly, while one can respect an undergraduate degree in economics, your opinion is irrelevant. Your role is to listen to the professionals, educators.
Secondly, you on the one hand abdicate responsibility for anything related to this matter by stating all requests for additional funds must come from the BOE not the BET, and you then insert yourself into a position of responsibility by sharing your opinion. You cannot have it both ways – demanding cuts and then not liking the cuts made because you’ve, “done your own research.”
In conclusion, you and the BET may prefer to run out the clock and wait for an RTM meeting in September when kids are already in school but that smacks of Bolshevism. It isn’t hard to see through.
RTM, call a special meeting, End run this BET charade. Set aside your party affiliations and get this done.
On a final note, Mr. Fisher’s letter concludes with a self congratulatory pat on the back for various school projects underway. The short answer is we’ve had schools condemned and have been in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Projects are in motion because they’ve been neglected for as long as they can be. That’s nothing to be proud of.
Brian Raabe