Please stop talking about things which you have no clue, and apparently now this isnt just what constitutes a fair teacher contract negotiation but has been extended US Political History as well (as a Lawyer one should well understand the perils about making public statement NOT based on fact/ reality but on what just works best for you at the time. Danger Danger will Robinson. I see a theme here!)

Clinton and Nixon DID work together on Foreign Policy as Clinton understood the experience and perspective a elder statesman (even a disgraced one) Like Tricky Dick could bring to the table:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nixon-foreign-policy-advice-bill-clinton-revealed-article-1.1264304

I suppose there was still only one student found with drugs during last year's dog search right?????????? Enough already. Time for new leadership in the BOS and SC!!!

IRONIC: "Harkness also added the difference between opinion and information"

"We're changing the policy for the sake of changing it," said Keele.

Hey! Look who just joined us! Welcome to education in the Westford Public Schools!

I keep reading disparaging comments made about Westford Schools on the Patch blogs. Can someone please help me understand this? From my perspective, Westford Schools are in or close to the top 10 in the state. Now are they perfect? No, of course not. Are there drug issues, teacher morale issues, bureaucracies, state mandates, etc? Yes, but come on people, would you rather be Brockton with all that AND failing schools and worthless real estate values?

Steve-
You are seeing perhaps 4-5 disgruntled teachers post to the blogs because they didn't get their step raises last year. It does not matter what the topic, they post. How morale of teachers is shot, how there is a brain drain with people leaving, how other towns pay more, how can we spend more money when we didn't give our teachers their raise, and on and on. If Westford gave them what they wanted last year you would not hear a peep of any of them. Go to town meeting and watch they all vote with glee to approve an over inflated budget. It happens every year. Why would they automatically do this? Because they get paid. End of story. Even last year when negotiations were ongoing they voted yea. Who cares about the town and its fiscal mess, we are voting yes so they will pay us.

I am not a teacher and am not anti-teacher. I am a concerned tax payer who wants the best town services at the best price. Is there anything wrong with that? When Whole Foods finally moves into their new location in Westford, it is unlikely that I will shop there. Perhaps for a Holiday treat or something really special, but not everyday. It is just not in my budget.
My recollection of last year was that all of the bargaining units in town agreed to no increase in pay. Furthermore, if any of the other bargaining units were able to negotiate a raise for themselves, then all of the contracts would've re-opened.
Having said that, I feel that we really need to hold our Board Members, Town Manager accountable. We all need to get to ATM.
And, I promise no quickies at Paul's beforehand. I'll be there at 10:00 on the dot this year.

Oh and one more thing to the question being discussed. I have to agree with Margaret Murray on this issue. Those who have worked alongside of Supt. Bill Olsen ought to be the ones who are doing the goals evaluations for that particular school year.
Newbies can put in their .02 cents after they have put in a full year on issues relevant to School Committee topics.

@June I completely disagree. Hiring and oversight of the Superintendent is one of the most important responsibilities of the SC. If the SC wants to ensure current members evaluate the Superintendent, they should push forward the process so that it is complete before town election.

However, the bigger problem is the "A for effort" mentality that typically forms the basis of the evaluation grades. The Supt.'s evaluation should be based on meeting measurable results -- test scores, attrition rates, and other performance criteria -- any of which could be effectively evaluated by new and old members alike.

If you think the extent of the low teacher morale is 4-5 disgruntled teachers posting on Patch you are out of touch, the schools and students are excellent. A MAJORITY of teachers harbor very strong feelings over their treatment last year and continued instances of teachers feeling left out and left behind when important educational decisions are made.
If next years negotiations look anything similar to last years than buckle up and hold on. The fact that WPS teachers have little/ no confidence in those steering the ship should be a concern to residents with kids in the system. I repeat, NOT only about lack of steps Sam

Sorry Ghost. I stand by my statement. If you got your cash we wouldn't hear boo from you.

Override talk, behind closed doors, is fermenting for next year. Because we can all agree the 'Sadowski Voucher Model' isnt going to be implemented in the next 12-24 months; we are at a crossroads.

Where do we go from here?

Please think about this question THIS YEAR at ATM when you vote to approve a $49 Million School budget that includes hundreds of thousands $$$ in new positions that the walls just close in that much more for next year. If you vote YES now be prepared to vote the same YES in next year's Prop 2.5 override to sustain the freight train!

Last year ALL our unions were forced to sacrifice and 'take one for the team' please dont slap them in the face by taking the 'savings' and spending it on new positions that we honestly cant afford moving forward in the next several years. Its as irresponsible as Uncle Bob Jeff's ban the guns trample the constitution plan. ENOUGH!

I like that, "The Sadowski Voucher Model" or "SVM".

Ask Harkness and Olsen about this years preliminary discussions...the seed has more than been planted (not publicly) that the schools are going to ask for a override next year.

I think rather than just voting NO next year residents should show up at town meeting and ask tough questions of our school leadership about bringing more people aboard, no matter how nice they would be to have, a year before the poop hits the fan fiscally in town. Irresponsible!

Residents with children in the system- please pay close attention now as things are headed for rocky waters next year and the course is being charted now! When coaches resign for sports or college letters aren't being written teachers will be blamed for their actions, lets hold leadership accountable for their actions before it gets to that

Override gets a Yes vote from me if there are no new non mandated positions in this year's budget, teachers gonna get RIFT left and right if we keep up this toomfoolery

Jesse James says in another post that the School Committee is artificially inflating the Special Education costs to cover the negotiated teacher contract from last year? Anyone have anything further? Proof Jesse? I am not unwilling to believe but would like to see/hear more. Something doesn't smell right

I did it here

http://westford.patch.com/articles/school-committee-recommends-new-fy-14-budget-to-voters

They also always underestimate revenue by almost a million dollars, thats not easy with the size of the numbers they are talking about. Did a complete spreadsheet about the SPED kids. I used only towns with similar enrollment populations, I used enrollment, sped enrollment, % of sped, # of teachers, # os SPED teachers, % of sped teachers, child to teacher ratio, average salary, average teacher age, avg home value and property tax rates. I can email it to you if you want legalcontractsMA@gmail.com or if someone has a place where we can host it that would be great.

But needless to say Westford has by far the fewest sped kids, fewest sped teachers, etc. So this Olsen statement that sped children are part of the financial burden is blatantly unsubstantiated. Many schools have 2-3 TIMES the # sped kids Westford has with similar overall enrollment.