I figured with the August meeting coming tomorrow I had best put my feelings from the July meeting to print.

I wonder how much of the good feelings toward Mr Scully are part of the honeymoon phase and will still be around in October.  The not so subtle digs at the former superintendent were not lost on anyone.  That position doesn’t turnover so quickly by accident.  I can just hear the committee’s praises for our “permanent” Superintendent now:  we love the communication, that interim guy didn’t do things like you do!  so nice to have a “permanent” replacement that we can count on.

I feel for Garin Veris.  I don’t know how much more clearly he can possibly explain the sports fee issue before people comprehend there is a fee and that it needs to be paid to participate in sports.  His position is unenviable in this manner.  No one likes the fees but they do need to be paid.  Students who pay the fee on time and in full are the ones most hurt by the nonpayment of others.  Opportunities for waivers do exist for families who cannot pay – all they ask is that you apply for the waiver before the fee collection becomes an issue.

Apparently privatization is only a dirty word when applied to the Special Education department and the Custodial department!  Imagine my surprise in hearing Mr Wood’s suggestion to privatize HHS security after the fights regarding food service, Futures, and the night custodians at HHS!  Mr Wood investigated other high school security forces and discovered most other places “Don’t do it like we do here in Haverhill.”  There are lots of things we do here differently.  Just because its different doesn’t make it wrong – bring a stronger and more detailed argument.

Lastly, I noticed that our Interim Superintendent made some pivotal appointments.  Somehow no one felt the need to question his decisions by stating that he’s only the interim and won’t be around to truly experience the impact of his decisions.  Funny that!

At one of the last school committee meetings it was noted by a commenter that perhaps families should pay an extra tax while they had children in the education system.  This sounds interesting on the surface – pay for what you’re using – but without the coinciding credit when you don’t have children in the education system its simply an extra burden on families.

I got my very first job at 15.  I paid my taxes every year to the federal government.  I shopped at stores around town and paid those taxes to the state government.  I owned a car at 16 and paid the required fees and taxes that accompanied that privilege.  When my husband and I got our first apartment together we paid rent that included our share of the property tax the complex paid to the city.  Later when we purchased our home we paid the property taxes directly along with all the other items that include a tithe to the governments.

We did not add little tax burdens to the education system until 2005 – when our oldest started kindergarten.  At no time before 2005 did we go to any of the tax people and clamor that we wanted our taxes back for the infrastructure we did not currently use.  Our youngest will graduate high school in 2022.  I will still be paying taxes towards an education system I will no longer be using.  To add extra taxes over and above for having children in a system I’m already paying taxes to fund is asinine.

Yet that is exactly what we have.  I had been discussing this with my husband a week or so ago and we were adding up all of the dollars we send in support of the schools in supplies, cash, and time.  The supply list we get each September, the fundraisers for various activities, the ticket prices for various events, the donations we give to the school raffles, the fees for field trips and activities, the dinners we attend and the time we spend helping out add up significantly by June.

This brings me to the issue of sports fees.   Once upon a time after school competitive team sports were held without fees for the players.  Due to budgetary constraints those times are over and most communities now have sports fees.  What I’m curious about is why the hyper focus on sports fees to the exclusion of all the other extra fees parents pay during the course of an academic career.  We never see articles about the unfair fees to rent instruments or purchase band uniforms.  There are no scathing editorials about the fee to join the National Honor Society.  No one balks at the dues to join the Chess Club or the Academic Bowl or the Key Club.  Yet there is a clear line in the sand that sports fees are unfair and need to be eliminated.  So while I agree in principal with this editorial about sports fees being a tax I say the writer doesn’t take the issue far enough.  Sports fees aren’t the only fee I see as a tax on parents.

While we’re discussing sports fees I’d like to weigh in on the article that prompted the editorial linked above.  Apparently a mother is upset that her child’s report card has been withheld due to lack of payment of sports fees.  I feel badly for the child because he has irresponsible parents.  I don’t feel badly that his report card is withheld.  The school has exactly one piece of collateral in this bartering system and I see it as a failure of the School Committee that there is no official policy authorizing the withholding of one’s report card for failure to pay the fees.  If the mother in question had gone to speak with Mr Veris when she was first assessed the sports fee for spring track this whole issue would have been solved then with a waiver form.  I wonder how mom will spin this issue once her son is in college.  They withhold grades for unpaid fees and there is no School Committee to complain to.

I really want to thank Garin Veris for the effort and enthusiasm which made Friday night’s Comedy Night fundraiser such a wonderful success.  Mr Veris worked very hard (as did all the booster clubs and many other people) to make this night happen.  I saw him all evening taking pictures and talking to people and being an ever gracious host.  The students in the HHS athletic program have a passionate advocate!

I want to chastise the local media for not attending this event.  I’m sure someone could have taken a couple of hours Friday night to enjoy the show, take a few pictures and write some nice words about something great happening in Haverhill.  While I didn’t take any pictures I did enjoy the show and I am going to write some nice words.

Before I get to all the niceness I wanted to do a little name dropping.  Doors opened a little before 7:00pm for a show that began at 8:00pm.  I got to meet Representative Brian Dempsey and Chamber of Commerce President Joe Jajeuga.  I saw School Committee Members Sue Danehy, Paul Magliocchetti and Joe Bevilacqua – although Mr Bevilacqua left before the show started.  City Council member Colin Lepage was also at the show.  I was surprised I did not see more of our City Council Members and wondered why our esteemed Mayor was not in attendance.  I know Dr Buchanan would have attended but he was at his daughter’s wedding – I can’t fault him for being there instead!  Kara Kosmes enjoyed the show as acting Superintendent.  I didn’t see any of the HHS administration and found this rather surprising as well although there were many HHS teachers in attendance.

Michael’s was full Friday evening!  375 tickets were sold prior to the event and people arrived without tickets looking to pay at the door.  Michael’s was very accommodating and set tables up for the latecomers in every available space they could find.  Guests were treated to appetizers of stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, cheeses, crackers, hummus and pita bread.  Every table had a centerpiece filled with fortune cookies to add a little fun.

For entertainment we were treated to five very funny comedians.  A few of the comedians had Haverhill roots which was an added treat.  I didn’t know we had such great local talent!  Our MC for the evening, Dave Rattigan, kept us entertained and kept the night moving as we listened to routines from Bill Pickles, Amy Tee, Dan Bulger and Tony “V.”

Since the event was a fundraiser guests could buy raffle tickets, bid on silent auction items and a few live auction items after the comedy portion of the evening.  Despite the athletic theme of the evening there truly was something for everyone to take a chance on.  The booster clubs brought in some fantastic items like:

• “Who wants to be a Millionaire” lottery basket
• “Stock the Bar” liquor basket
• “The Best of Haverhill” restaurant gift certificate basket
• “Bling” jewelery basket
• “Backyard Bash” cookout supplies
• “Spa Basket”
• “Keeping Cool at the Beach”
• … and more!

The big ticket live auction item of the evening was a signed and framed jersey belonging to “Big Papi” which went for $400!  The Celtics and Bruins tickets each brought in $275 and the Patriots tickets fetched $250.

The silent auction’s biggest item was the Haverhill Country Club round of golf which raised $340!  Other items of note were the Haverhill Eats restaurant certificates which went for $300 and the Orthodontia gift certificate that brought in $210.

Lastly I want to thank Team Haverhill, Alfa Aesar, Olivia’s/Kreuger’s Flatbread, State Representative Brian Dempsey and State Senator Steven Baddour for helping sponsor Friday’s event.  Thanks for your support of our students, our high school and our city.

For medical reasons I’ll be watching tonight’s School Committee Meeting from the comfort of my couch.  The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Friday is the Comedy Night to benefit Haverhill High School Athletics.  I am looking forward to a fun night for a good cause.  Thank you for all your hard work on this event Mr Veris and all of the booster clubs!

I’m watching this item.  I wish I could see the original email message as I’d heard some rumors about people being unhappy at the high school but they were all vague rumblings and nothing that I could work to substantiate.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from Team Haverhill’s “Possible Dreams 2010″ event.  How many people would brave the rain?  What would the conversations be like?  Who among our elected officials would attend?  How much participation would the audience be allowed vs how much would be presentation by Team Haverhill?  We got Grandma to watch the kids and set out for the Technology Center at Northern Essex Community College and answered all of those questions and more.

You can read the Eagle Tribune’s take on the night here.  I’d like to mention some of my more memorable moments.

We sat in tables of four or five and discussed different questions posed by Team Haverhill.  Then we left comments about our discussion as Graffiti on our table before moving on.  The first question was what good things happened last year, follows by what is possible for this year and finally what relationships have been started or should be started to make the goals for 2010 reality.  Then the night became a town meeting where people could stand up and speak to the group.

I appreciated that the Mayor and almost all of the City Council came out to join us.  I was disappointed that only one member of the School Committee decided to make the trek.  I was exceedingly pleased that Garin Veris, our new Athletic Director, came out and spoke about his plans for our kids and sports and his fund-raising and invited everyone to get involved and support our kids by attending Haverhill sporting events.  Every time I see him speak; I am heartened by his message.  He stresses education, community and personal responsibility among all our students first and foremost and athletics as an important venue for making that happen.

Some items I heard last night that I think bear looking into are – in no particular order:

• A Riverfest.
• A footbridge across the downtown and kiosks with footmaps and notes of interest at the train station and downtown.  The footmaps could have coupons/advertising for the local businesses of interest.
• Expanded Single Stream Recycling.  Lets get this to the rest of the city!
• I heard that the Woolworth Building and now the Kmart have been stymied so long because of contracts the bankrupt companies have with the property owners to pay money even though the building is vacant for a certain period of time – leaving the property owner zero incentive to sell/redevelop.  I really want to know where I could find more information on this!
• Better relationships between our various volunteer groups – we can do more together than we can apart!
• Earth Day Environmental Fair – an expanded Earth Day event at Winnekenni Castle.
• City Councilor Michael Young announced he has a committee whose sole purpose is to award his salary as City Councilor to 24 deserving entities around Haverhill.  Contact him for an application!
• Improve Haverhill’s image.
• Expand our Farmer’s Market.

All in all we had fun, good conversation and met lots of new people.  I look forward to seeing what this event spurs for 2010.  For anyone interested – Team Haverhill’s first “get things done” meeting is February 8th.

New Athletic Director, Garin Veris, has wasted no time tackling the tough issues facing the Athletics Department of Haverhill Public Schools.  Veris met with the DPC at their January meeting as part of their monthly “Meet the Administrator” outreach program and outlined his plan for the various sports teams and the students who make up said teams.

What most impressed me about Garin Veris was his emphasis on the whole student.  He is not looking just for the kids who are most athletically inclined.  He is looking for kids who want to play sports – and working to make sure that as many of those kids as possible get to play sports.  But he stresses that they will only be allowed to play sports if their academic careers don’t suffer in the process.  He spoke about how much he appreciates now the work his parents did to ensure his studies always took precedence over his athletics. Garin Veris explained to us that he wants to foster not only participation in the Athletics Program but in the community as a whole while fostering leadership, respect and academic success.

Garin Veris also spoke at length about how vital Middle School involvement is to the success of our High School programs.  He has extended the invitation to our Middle School teams to fill the half time gap left by the lack of a band.  He hopes this will keep the Middle School students excited about playing and bring all of the students together and generate fun and interest in our sports events.  Other half time plans include inviting the Haverhill High School Alumni band players to return and play during the games as well as having a dance group from Haverhill High School perform.  We cannot sit on our haunches and expect the students to come to us – we need to go to them and show them all of the great things we offer at Haverhill High School.

One of the more controversial issues facing our Athletic Department is sports fees.  Whether or not you agree with the fees – they are a roadblock for students and they are a roadblock for the accreditation of our High School.  The last report cited at an earlier School Committee Meeting stressed that Haverhill High School needed to reduce fees and increase participation in our programs.  The easiest way to reduce fees is to fund-raise the money instead.  Garin Veris is hoping the First Annual Haverhill High School Athletics Golf Tournament will do just that.  He has tasked the Booster Clubs with working together to maximize the success of the tournament.  He hopes the funds raised here will be the beginning of many years of improvements in our Athletic Program.  I hope he is right.

If you would also like to meet the administrator; Garin Veris will be outlining some of the Athletic Department offerings at the January Parent Academy: Enrichment Activities.