I’ve had a number of requests to recap tomorrow’s Town Meeting “just like you used to” and I’ll be doing it — with a twist.
I’m liveblogging Town Meeting, from the floor to your Internet, starting from the moment I find a seat (hopefully in the auditorium!) to the moment we have a decision. I’m doing this with a techno-assist from my neighbor and, knock wood, we won’t have to move to the back up plan, which involves my iPhone.
Oh, and it’s all going down on TheDailyGrafton.com starting around 9:30 a.m.
Who is this aimed at? People who are going to be out-of-town and checking in on their smart phones. People out running errands and hoping they can get to the high school before a vote takes place. People stuck at home with a sick kid who wants to watch the same DVD over and over instead of Town Meeting on TV.
Or people who just want to hear me snark on Town Meeting. You know, for old time’s sake. Sadly, I’m going to be a bit too busy for Bingo.
See you there!
The stars aligned and my friendly neighborhood hawk perched on a telephone wire at a time when I had the Greater Grafton Camera ready to catch him.
Any idea what kind of lethal predator I have swooping around my yard on a regular basis? It’s a seriously bad-ass bird — although I think there may be more than one of them. The one I tried to snap on my deck a few months ago was the size of a Labrador retriever puppy, it seemed, and I think its breast feathers were a bit more yellowish. Anyway, I’ve seen this, or one similar, carrying some bunny or kitten-sized prey away.
From Ellen comes a plea for costumes for Grafton Middle School’s April production of “Guys and Dolls.”
Here’s what they need:
- Dresses and sizes: The girls range in size from 8 girls to 14 women’s (my best guess) We can always take something in.
- Boys/mens suits and suit coats.
- Dark colored dress shirts.
Are your cast-offs dreaming of a life on the stage? This could be their chance.
I’ve had a number of people asking if we are going to be playing Town Meeting Bingo on Saturday and, you know, I think that’s just what we’ll need to make it through this meeting.
If you’re not familiar with Town Meeting Bingo, here’s the drill from May. We basically come up with a whole bunch of Town Meeting cliches — the constant reminders to “speak through me, the moderator,” the person who refuses to use the microphone, the first time Scott Browne pops up, etc.
There are 25 spots on a Bingo card and not all the cliches from last time are applicable this time — and with it being a one-big-issue Town Meeting, that opens up a bunch of whole new categories.
Who’s up for Bingo?
I would like to point out that the bit of nepotism on display today on TheDailyGrafton.com is not, in fact, a mother pushing her son into journalism. It is not an editor desperate for sports copy, either.
My family has a disease. Into every generation, a writer is born. My son has apparently inherited this gene.
I will say, handing my son his first reporter’s notebook, on his request, and instructing him on interviewing techniques was a rather proud moment.
I don’t see myself encouraging journalism as a career for him, however. He has an A in Pre-Algebra! I can’t make a writer out of him!
As Grafton residents know, there is no definitive Plan B if the proposed Grafton High School is not approved by voters. Greater Grafton recently received a copy of “Plan C,” a super-secret proposal to have a system-wide layoff of Grafton students to ease school overcrowding.
Dear Grafton student,
We regret to inform you that budgetary and space issues have forced us to terminate your education, effective at the start of the 2010-2011 school year. We realize that this may be a difficult concept for some of you to understand — indeed, some of you may not even know how to read — so we have prepared an informational booklet, “Mr. Bobo Can’t Go To School,” for younger students.
We realize that this interferes with your life plans and may prove to be rather inconvenient for your family. After all, the area isn’t exactly teeming with affordable private schools and adjacent towns, facing their own school space woes, aren’t clamoring for school choice students. Besides, we need to spend that $9,180 ($3,000 below the state average per pupil rate) that we would have spent on your education educating other children, so we’re requesting that high school-aged kids also avoid going the charter school route…. and good luck finding a spot at Valley Tech.
By remaining education-free, you will be saving the taxpayers of Grafton the cost of building a new high school. Should your family actually manage to sell their home in this economy, we ask that a “no children” clause be placed in the deed. Tough economic times call for creative measures, and we salute your sacrifice.
Sincerely yours,
The Grafton Public Schools
P.S. Police Chief Crepeau asks that you not turn to a life of crime to compensate for your lack of education, as he is unable to hire more police officers.
Just a note for anyone who is looking for a babysitter for Town Meeting on Feb. 6 — my son is a graduate of the middle school babysitting course. He’s 12, can speak the language of trucks, dinosaurs and Legos with small boys and has practiced diapering on a stuffed lion… although I don’t think I’d try him on a human just yet.
Also, he’s incredibly patient with his little sister, who frequently gives him reason to be impatient. He was a favorite of the children of our former neighbors, who have sadly moved to points south.
Drop me an email at greatergrafton (at) gmail.com if you’re in the market for a sitter. Bear in mind that this is my firstborn, so I’m sure there will be interviewing for suitability on both sides!
Also, for your reading pleasure, this fact sheet on the reason why we will all be occupied on Feb. 6 — the proposed Grafton High School.
Back when I started this blog, I touched a bit on why exactly the space problem at the high school level concerned me. I have two kids, so that’s obvious. But here’s the big issue for me: I’ve been here before.
Back in the late 1970s, I used to hear the school bus for the high schoolers in the early morning hours. I used to watch the high school kids get off the bus from the dinner table. It wasn’t that Bellingham had an exceptionally long school day — far from it. Our high school was on double sessions because of overcrowding, and the teenagers in my neighborhood were either going to school from before dawn until noon or from noon until dinner time.
Bellingham High School at the time held grades 7-12. We were supposed to get a middle school, but that didn’t happen. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it — what kind of education were those high schoolers getting in just half a day… and what were they doing with themselves the rest of the day?
We’ve been talking about a new high school here in Grafton, but I have yet to hear of Plan B — what happens if the high school doesn’t pass? How are we planning to shoehorn all these kids into our schools?
It’s never something that’s really discussed in public, although Joe Connors did mention at the school forum yesterday that some of the “scary stuff” would be discussed at School Committee tomorrow night. I have brought it up with both Connors and Grafton High Principal Jim Pignataro.
The answer is, there is no set answer. Maybe trailers in the parking lot. Maybe double sessions. The fact is, the building isn’t going to be able to hold those students — so where are we going to put them?
Bellingham’s eventual solution, from a student’s standpoint, was not a terrific one. Forced, I believe by court order, to stop the double sessions, they opted to cram the seventh graders into the elementary schools. Let’s just say that an open double classroom (this was the ’70s) that might be suitable for a first grader is ridiculously noisy and small when it comes to a seventh grader.
I don’t see that solution available to Grafton. The high school’s crowded, the middle school is even more crowded, and there’s so little space at South Grafton Elementary School they have to have a kindergarten class attend three days a week so they can offer art to the rest of the school the remaining two days.
I think it’s time to discuss the scary stuff. What is Plan B?
It was inevitable.
Oh hell, I’d vote for him just to see Scott Browne in action on the Senate floor. We’ll see you on Feb. 6 — and that reminds me, who’s up for another round of Town Meeting Bingo? We’re going to need a whole new list of box topics for this special vote on the new Grafton High School….
I used to refer to the power duo of Greater Grafton and GraftonTimes.com as “Jenn’s media empire.” I’m beginning to feel like that’s not quite as much of a joke anymore.
Today, we launched TheDailyShrewsbury.com and it covers — you guessed it — the town of Shrewsbury. I hired a fantastic new reporter to cover the town. And we’re only going to have one week at CentralMassNews.com to get used to having four sites (the other two, of course, being TheDailyMillbury.com and NorthbridgeTimes.com) because on Monday, we’re launching TheDailyAuburn.com and TheDailyLeicester.com.
Whew!
Even if you haven’t seen our sign up on Dr. Crossman’s old office, you’ve probably guessed we’ve outgrown our adorable little office at the top of One Grafton Common. We’ll be moving to the more spacious quarters — with a view of Lake Ripple, conveniently located next to the liquor store, what more could you ask for a growing media outlet? — in February.
What does that mean for Grafton? More places to find out what’s going on in the nearby towns, mainly. Right now, I’m looking at a small stack of notebooks with four Grafton-centric stories that must get written for GraftonTimes.com, I hope, today. I have interviews in town lined up for most of the week. The batteries in the Greater Grafton Camera are charged and ready, so if you see me pointing it your way, smile.
And when we are finally settled into the new digs, anyone up for margaritas at Cancun?
