timcollins's blog

With the decisions the Finance Control Board has made up to this point, they are behaving more like an anchor than a life preserver. Ask any realtor what the most important things a community needs to maintain and improve its property tax base. At the top of that list, you will find the school system.

"The children in the Springfield Public Schools are certainly not responsible for the cities financial problems and they will feel the pain of Governor Romney’s out-of-control board for years to come."

Dear Editor:

This is in response to The Republican’s editorial on November 16 entitled “Charter school critics need to do homework.”

Dear Editor:

In a recent article in The Republican, Superintendent Burke indicated that members of the control board want him to create a surplus in the School Department budget so that money could be transferred to the city side of the budget.

Dear Mayor Ryan,

I am writing to all members of the School Committee and City Council to ask for your help in the campaign to save Springfield. I understand Governor Romney’s legislation that created the control board has stripped you of your authority. This legislation has not, however, stripped you of your moral authority.

Everywhere I go members are angry and frustrated and they have every right to be. What is happening to us and the children we teach is unconscionable and we will not let it stand. We are in a fight for our professional lives, the life of our school district, and the very life of the city of Springfield.

On June 3, 2004, the day after Springfield’s bond rating dropped to junk status, Governor Romney tried to sneak through a bailout bill that would have eliminated our collective bargaining rights. He tried to do it in an “informal session” of the House.

September 16, 2004

Letters to the editor
The Republican
P. O. Box 2350
Springfield, MA 01102-2350

Dear Editor:

Shame on Commissioner David P. Driscoll and the members of the State Board of Education for becoming unwitting allies in Governor Romney’s push to privatize public education in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

We are opposed to the Springfield loan bill in its current form. Two amendments are needed.