Blog Archive

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Time to connect the dots


Yes, lets us think outside the box and connect the dots. stay on your toes people cause your about to be scammed.
As we ALL know Young is worthless and is a HUGE supporter of Miller, and because of this she will grab a hold of him like a leech to push for her boyfriend the charter school he wants to create.Remember this name John Graziano.
Reminder:
WESTMINSTER  Following the mystery of his sudden departure from his former position as principal of Baldwinville Elementary School this past January, John Graziano came forward this week to talk about his concept for a brand new K-8 school that he has been privately working on for the past several months. Hmmmmm coincidence??? Doubtful.  
Also according to Templeton he is not a good Principal and does not play well .. hmm remind you of anyone ? A snake and a viper. His sudden departure was leave or be fired and the public knows deal. 
Nothing good can come out of this for Warwick and its people. Its already clear she cannot control a budget and Templeton is still crawling out from the rubble that we will crawl from if she is not removed. Miller has alienated teachers, and parents to the point they quit or refuse to send their children to PVRS , not to mention she is a known liar and has proven this over and over with newspaper ads alone. As for Young , I would not trust him to thread a needle. 
Be alert and be wise Warwick and the rest of the School committee, You have chosen many wrong paths in these last two years , this will be a fatal flaw you will not recover from and please do your homework this time so we do not have to do it for you . 







As public school enrollments shrink in Franklin County, some education leaders are thinking outside the box for alternatives to closing schools to balance the financial books.
A recent example has emerged in Warwick, where the 18-year-old Warwick Community School, built to house about 150 pupils, was down to an enrollment of 57 this past year.
This summer, David Young, a member of the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee from Warwick, has suggested exploring conversion of the public elementary school into a semi-autonomous Horace Mann Charter School.
The chief advantage, beyond the freedom to innovate more: students from outside the district might bring $10,000 or more in tuition payments from their sending districts, about twice the amount a traditional public school receives through the Choice program.
The state created the Horace Mann charter schools in 1997 as a cross between a standard district school and a more typical “commonwealth charter school” like the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in Hampshire County or the Four Rivers Charter Public School in Greenfield, which have no affiliation with the local public school systems.
A Horace Mann school must be approved by the local school committee and teachers union and get its money funneled through the local school committee, but is governed by an independent board of trustees with more freedom to innovate in its programs and more flexible staffing rules.
Young said his “motivation is the revenue side of the equation,” believing the switch could put Warwick Community School on a more financially sustainable path.
At the start of the 2016-2017 school year, Warwick Community School had 57 students, of whom 23 came into the district through Choice. Whereas the district receives about $5,000 per Choice student, he explained, it could get perhaps double or more under Horace Mann.
For example, according to data updated in May by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Athol-Royalston Regional School District pays $11,169 per charter school student, and the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District pays $13,798.
Young said he thinks Warwick Community School would have a good chance of winning state education department approval because it’s a Level I MCAS school and has a “handsome campus” and “great staff.”
There is often money available to support planning and the first two years of operation at a Horace Mann charter, as well.
Local funding would continue to come through the school district, in accordance with an agreement the district would reach with the Horace Mann school, which Young said would include providing lunch from Pioneer Regional School, as is done currently, and providing transportation. The school could also apply for private grants and receive individual contributions independent of state and local funding.
Of course, the potential financial success of the Warwick school and academic success of the students it would attract from outside the district would come at a price — to sending districts — which has always clouded the feelings about charter schools locally.
This may not be the solution, ultimately, but as Pioneer Superintendent Ruth Miller has said, “we have to start thinking about doing things differently.” She is right.
For now there’s lots to research and consider, but the prospect sounds exciting, especially if the change creates the opportunity for making the already attractive school more successful — academically and financially.

Friday, July 14, 2017

UPDATE

A retraction will be made in the Greenfield Recorder to state that the so called storage area Miller wanted you to believe was her office is in fact Cathy HH office.

Anymore lies we can call you out on Miller?


Thursday, July 13, 2017

SC meeting tonight at PVRS PLUS

Let us help you.
Lets start by clearing out VP after all Bacon seems to think without Cathy HH she can handle everything and thats over 100,000.00 savings.
Healy can go this position is not a required position and a Secretary at a lower cost can handle Millers side jobs and that is another savings of over 100,000.00
Millers and Bacons pay can be cut as well. These salaries are more like a city than a rural. 40,000.00 from Miller and 50,000.00 from Bacon would be a sufficient salary .( How much do you really care about the kids Bacon and Miller?? Show us) Thats another 90,000.00.
So far we have saved you 290,000.00 .
Cutting Paras and teachers is not the way to run a school. This should be done at the top down not the other way around. 
Let these cuts come from Administration NOT the schools or its programs OR Teachers and Paras .

 Also, you wouldn't be having these kids leaving to go to Charter schools and school choice if you listened two years ago. In two short years this school has been in destruction mode since Miller came and has grown increasingly worst with Bacon and the VP. Yet, our SC has chosen to allow this and look at the mess PVRS is in. 

Mark my words sure as I am sitting here typing Music, Sports , Band and Theater  are on the chopping block because thats what she does.Than she will cry how she did not want to do this and how she had no choice .. SHE HAD CHOICES  she just pissed away money and now has to find it  the same way she destroyed Templeton and the NH school. I can BET her credentials were never checked. We found out more about her in less than a week but our SC ( God Bless their little hearts .. yes thats a southern slam) did nothing and allowed her in.

SC smarten up before its to late and change this mess.. YOU CREATED IT ! 

Kids nor their parents want to send them to this school. It's not gonna get better it's gonna get worst . School Choice does not even consider you anymore and thats a shame on you.  What was once a school of choice for many is now the school people want to flee from. AGAIN, losing Mike Duprey has come to haunt you  and Cathy HH will also be your downfall.


MAKE THE MEETING YOUR KIDS FUTURES DEPEND ON IT AND SHARE THIS WITH OTHER PARENTS.






NORTHFIELD — To live within the $14.2 million spending plan approved for next school year by the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s four towns, administrators are facing another unanticipated $102,000 in cuts to budgeted items.
According to Superintendent Ruth Miller, the cuts will be needed to cover growing special education transportation costs and tuition for an increasing number of students leaving the district through School Choice and for charter schools.THIS IS SHAMEFUL AND AGAIN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO RUN A SCHOOL OR BALANCE A BUDGET BUT YOU SURE CAN GIVE THEM OFFICE PERSONAL OF YOURS RAISES.
“We had more kids choice out,” she said.WHY IS THAT MILLER ?? FOR ONCE TELL THE TRUTH! ITS YOU AND THE PEOPLE YOU HIRED @PVRS YOU DESTROYED OUR SCHOOL!!TEACHERS KIDS DEPENDED ON YOU FIRED WHEN IN FACT YOU SHOULD OF BEEN FIRED LAST YEAR!
Based on budget documents from the district, $553,747 was budgeted for charter school and school choice students last year, while this year’s figures are looking more like $715,221. Miller said she had only anticipated needing about $654,294, making for an approximately $50,000 gap.
Additionally, she suspects the approximately $250,000 spent on special education transportation last year will increase substantially.
Miller shared the figures during a budget subcommittee meeting on June 28, and asked the district’s principals to come to the July 13 School Committee meeting with ideas for where cuts can be made elsewhere in the budget to free up money. However, principals acknowledged it won’t be an easy task.
“There wasn’t any fat in that budget,” Warwick Community School Principal Elizabeth Musgrave said during the meeting.
Still, Miller said since the meeting she’s met with the principals and believes cuts are possible by small adjustments to substitute teaching budgets and supply budgets, for example.
“Once you do all those little things, it kind of does enough to make up for reductions and be able to keep all our teaching staff, and that was really important to the principals,” she said.
At the suggestion of Bernardston Elementary School Principal Bob Clancy, administrators pink-slipped five paraprofessionals from across the district before the June 30 deadline and plan to rehire as the budget evolves.THIS IS SHAMEFUL
“Many of them will be reinstated, but we’ve written to them, we’ve let them know that this is a process,” Miller said. “We clearly can’t hire everyone back … When you have a reduction in kids and a reduction in staff, it makes sense that there wouldn’t be as big of a need for the paraprofessionals.”THIS IS YOUR FAULT MILLER BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO BALANCE A BUDGET OR LEAD AND FIRED TEACHERS WHO DISAPPROVED OF YOU OR SPOKE OUT  STOP LYING.
During the budget subcommittee meeting, School Committee members shared their own ideas for where cuts could be made, which included eliminating Pioneer’s assistant principal position and avoiding paying Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Pam Lawrence an additional $14,000 for digitizing documents.WE PAY HER HOW MUCH!! However, the committee had mixed opinions and didn’t reach any definitive decisions.LAWRENCE IS NO MORE THAN A HIGH SALARY SECRETARY !
Administrators will explain their ideas for further cuts during tonight’s School Committee meeting, which will be held at Pioneer at 7.















OK we will call it like we see it


OK...we will call BS when I see or hear it .
Miller states “Everybody’s really happy to have us in the school,” Does this woman EVER speak the truth?! She is here against her wishes and will make everyone in this building more miserable than needs be. If she cared about being closer  than the money she pissed away on main st could of been used to resolve the previous Superintendents building. It was CLEARLY stated her first year that it was maintainable and could be fixed So don't give us the BS line we all know better. ( What do you expect them to say ? No we don't want you here? They need their JOBS!)
The room Miller chose looks alot like Cathy HH room on top floor . Look closely .. she is trying to be a martyr stating how she moved into an empty storage area. My God does she ever quit? Cathy HH had this area for many years.




Than wait for it .......Asst Superintendent and another asst to the superintendent WHAT! Gail Healy can't handle that either so we pay for an extra? Why is she here still? ( Healy and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Pam Lawrence have their offices in room 410, and Miller’s office is in room 414, a former storage space.) Like with previous schools we are paying out more than what is needed in Millers office. Their no way she needs two that was what Healy was for .Seems again SC not doing their JOBS and watching for abusive incomes which already are clearly out of the park.Seems if we could lessen the amount we pay these people and remove some we would of had the money to keep vital teachers in place.

In other words more BS from Miller. How can we trust someone who does not live in the same reality as the rest of us?
Were watching .









NORTHFIELD — The long-awaited move of Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s central office is complete, with administrators settling into their new home on Pioneer’s upper floor.
The School Committee approved the move to rooms 402, 403 and 407 last month, after which administrators and custodians packed and moved everything from the leased space at 168 Main St. Assistant Superintendent Gail Healy said everything was moved Thursday, with administrators using Friday to unpack.
“It’s the perfect space,” Superintendent Ruth Miller said. “It’s great for kids (and) we didn’t take anybody else’s space, it was space that was available.”( BECAUSE YOU FIRED THE TEACHERS)
The move affected four classrooms and one closet space, not simply the three rooms that were approved by the School Committee. The special education office is in room 402, payroll and accounts payable is in room 403, and technology services is in room 407. Healy and Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Pam Lawrence have their offices in room 410, and Miller’s office is in room 414, a former storage space.
Miller explained her position requires she have a room to herself to keep meetings confidential, and with extra space available, administrators decided to make use of it.
“They’re empty and it didn’t make sense not to use them given the confidentiality issues,” she said. “It really wasn’t a vote (the School Committee) needed to take.”
With significant staff layoffs at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, several classrooms were available for the central office, though computer and science labs were left alone. Moving upstairs was considered the most cost-effective option, as the district wouldn’t need to spend any money installing air conditioning.
By moving back to the Pioneer campus, the district eliminates $3,030 per month in leasing costs, while allowing administrators to work more closely to students.
“Everybody’s really happy to have us in the school,” Miller said. “We’re going to be part of the culture, and I think that’s important.”

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Five Staff Members Resign




Nathan Holesovsky like so many others who are now gone was more than a band teacher , he was a friend. He made you wanna achieve and he was always available to listen. 
No truer words have been spoken than these "uncertainty at Pioneer" . Teachers  afraid of speaking up in fear of losing their jobs, lost communication with the teachers, students and parents, the list is endless here.Not to mention the parents  not wanting them to attend this school and school choice deciding on BUHS.
Its even harder to stand by and watch a school once so strong in spirit and togetherness fall apart like a landslide and be more of a prison than a school. 
To turn the clock back is now impossible. To much has been lost and Miller has once again achieved her line of destruction.Everywhere she goes it follows. Templeton is still rebuilding and will be for years to come.
We can and will promise her this, wherever you go WE will make sure they know  about you. This has to end at Pioneer. Her destruction of schools is over. What she did to Templeton and PVRS will not go unnoticed and she will never get another chance to hurt another school.That goes for the other two as well. You destroyed our schools and you think you can just walk away? NO! The people next in line deserve to know the truth and they will. This was the final straw. As for the SC its up to us as Taxpayers to hold them accountable and vote them out .Enough of this nonsense. They have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they are incapable of leading a damn mud puddle.

Nathan we wish you the best and may your dreams be fulfilled. You will be missed at PVRS.












NORTHFIELD — In a year when Pioneer Valley Regional School lost more than one-quarter of its classroom teachers, students say it’s losing another crucial part of the Pioneer community: Band Director Nathan Holesovsky.
Holesovsky announced his resignation on the second-to-last day of school, after being offered a job as band director at West Springfield High School that morning. According to Pioneer Principal Jean Bacon, Holesovksy was one of five staff members to resign, and one of two to resign in the final week of school.
During Holesovsky’s 13 years at Pioneer, he worked to grow band participation to about 100 students in grades 7 through 12, roughly one-quarter of the school’s enrollment. He said he applied for the West Springfield job with the same goal in mind, seeing it as an opportunity to work at a significantly larger school with more opportunity for growth.
Though the West Springfield band has only 40 students in grades 9 through 12, enrollment is about 1,200 students, he explained, which he believes could align with his dream all along.
“When I graduated from college and started teaching music, I always imagined myself in front of a large program … and not just numbers, but more opportunity for growth,” Holesovsky said.
He said he is going to try to grow the West Springfield band to 75 or 100 kids.
“It’s exciting. I’m sort of building, just like when I came to Pioneer … but when we go up, the up can be even higher.”
By contrast, Holesovsky said there’s a level of ncuertainty at Pioneer, one of many local schools plagued by declining enrollment. Experiencing a 25 percent drop in enrollment over the last eight years, he grew concerned about how the numbers may affect his band, and with his daughter Annalise having graduated from Pioneer this year, Holesovsky felt it was the right time to think about the future.
Still, his new start has also given him pause to think about his time at Pioneer teaching music, serving as head of the fine arts department and occasionally assisting John Passiglia with shop classes.
“It’s hard to say goodbye,” he said, and not just to his students, but to his fellow teachers and the community. “I’ve come to know the community, the people that support us, the businesses. That’s sort of been my world.”
Under Holesovsky’s leadership, the Pioneer middle and high school bands earned bronze and silver ratings at the regional Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) festival, won an excellence award at the Heritage Music Festival in Toronto, worked with renowned composer Frank Ticheli, and took trips to Nashville and a Celtics game, to name a few accomplishments. In 2016, Holesovsky also won the Grinspoon Award for Excellence in Teaching.
To ensure his students the opportunity to say goodbye, Holesovsky sent a mass email on June 21 announcing his resignation.
“It was really sort of an intense two days there,” he said. “I couldn’t get anything done. It was just kids streaming in all day long.”
Though his students are happy for Holesovsky, the news came as a surprise, said Justin Hubbard, 17, of Northfield, who has played tuba in the band since seventh grade.
“I was shocked because none of us really knew, and also very upset,” Hubbard said. “He’s been my band director for so long, I gained a connection with him … It sounds like the right move for him, but he’ll be very much missed at Pioneer.”
“I was very, very sad,” agreed Ella Potee, 15, of Northfield, a four-year band member who plays the sousaphone, tuba and baritone horn. “He’s a crucial member of the staff at Pioneer … It’s a big loss.”
Hubbard remembers how Holesovsky, or “Mr. H.” as his students call him, made trips fun and memorable, and encouraged students to reach their full potential.
Potee added that though she “doesn’t describe herself as a great musician,” she received endless support from Holesovsky.
“He still made me feel very valued and crucial in the band,” she said.
Even getting up early to practice marching in heavy costumes was enjoyable, thanks to him, she said.
“He always seems to make it fun and exciting when we’re doing something we don’t necessarily want to do,” Potee said. “He is truly amazing. He’s endlessly committed and is always able to expand on what we can accomplish for such a tiny school. You wouldn’t think Pioneer would have such a great a band, and it’s because of him that we do.”