Sam Obar 180

Errors on Sam Obar 180

2010-03-11T00:51:35Z

I would like to apologize to my blog readers for a few egregious mistakes made on my blog over the past few months. I made a mistake with my initial post about longevity payments in the Town of Walpole by incorrectly blaming the unions for the longevity payments when I should have blamed town bylaws. Later, in another post, I reported inaccurate information regarding a proposal to demolish a house on Main Street and construct a strip mall. In fact, the proposal calls for not a strip mall but a large office building. My post about that was deleted because I still needed more facts. Additionally, my latest post about Mr. Stephen Imbusch's appointment to principal of Walpole High School has made some believe that I do not like Mr. Imbusch. I realize how it may have appeared that way based on what I wrote, but, rather, I have always said that I would support whomever was chosen but would probably have been more inclined to support Mr. Holcomb for the reasons I stated. Regardless, Mr. Imbusch is an incredible individual who is more than qualified, and I have maintained that position. Another error that I made was in implying that I had not been given the chance to ask during site visits how parents and teachers felt the candidates would handle school crises. In reality, I did theoretically have the chance to ask this question. But I had other questions that had to take precedence.

I let down my readers by making serious errors, and I wish my readers would let me know when I do things like that. I value your readership, and I continue to strive for accuracy and will do my best to report the truth in the future. I'd also like to boast by saying I also appreciate those who continue to tell me that they trust my blog more than they trust other local news sources!

Imbusch is the one

2010-03-08T23:13:27Z

School Superintendent Lincoln Lynch announced the new principal of Walpole High School today in a letter to students, parents, and staff. I can't say I agree with his assessment of Mr. Imbusch, but as I have said before, I will support whomever is chosen. Good luck to Mr. Holcomb, the other finalist. I hope to see him as Superintendent somewhere someday. I had been secretly hoping he would pull an upset.

A message to Mr. Imbusch: Please read what I wrote about you and where you can improve in your exposure and connection to students. Please take it to heart. I think it would strengthen and improve the school, and I am sure you would agree. A good number of students that I have spoken to would have preferred Holcomb, so you have some work to do to reach out to the student body! Also, you should consider some of the ideas that Holcomb has proposed, like requiring 25 hours of community service from students as a graduation requirement. I would be one to go along with that, although maybe not at the level of 25 hours but less than that.

Here is the text of the letter:

Dear Students, Parents and Staff:

As Superintendent of Schools, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Stephen Imbusch as the new Principal for Walpole High School. Mr. Imbusch demonstrates the leadership characteristics needed to move the school forward. Mr. Imbusch began his career at Walpole High School thirteen years ago as a Technology Teacher and has served the past eight years a Assistant Principal.

Throughout the exhaustive four month selection process, Mr. Imbusch exhibited an authentic desire to advocate for the success of every student. He expressed his belief that students and faculty deserve an atmosphere of mutual respect. He openly identified weaknesses that need immediate attention, such as removing the school from accreditation warning status; improving two-way communication with students, faculty and parents; establishing a team-building model for inclusive decision making; and strengthening mid-level courses. He understands the history and culture of Walpole and will ensure stability in the position.

My sincere thanks to the scores of students, parents and staff who participated in the selection process. Several common themes surfaced from a thorough review of the feedback submitted. Mr. Imbusch's skill set best aligned with the framework of skills and characteristics necessary for the leader of a 21^st century high school.

Both finalists earned our sincere appreciation by preparing for and participating in the process.

Mr. Imbusch will fully assume the duties of Walpole High School principal on March 15, 2010. The District will be posting the (now vacant) Assistant Principal position for a start date prior to the next school year. In the meantime, an Interim Assistant Principal will be announced shortly.

The contract is under negotiations.
Sincerely, Lincoln Lynch

Final comments on WHS principal candidates

2010-03-06T22:39:56Z

I was fortunate to have had the honor of being a student representative on the committee that conducted site visits of both Walpole High School and Seekonk High School, the current workplaces of both candidates for principal at WHS. The site visits were conducted last week, and are the last steps in the process of selecting a new high school principal by March 15. Here are just some of my thoughts about the candidates, taken from what I heard during our site visits and from my own conversations with members of the school communities. These are in addition to my previous statements about each of the candidates from February, here.

I came away from the site visits with the full belief that both candidates are extremely strong, and no matter which one is chosen I have no doubt the other will someday take a higher job and will do an outstanding job. Both candidates are extraordinary people who love their jobs and love seeing students succeed. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Both were clearly professional and compassionate in their work. I basically see no problem with either becoming principal of Walpole High.

As part of the site visits, the committee met with groups of students, parents, and teachers at each school. In Walpole, students we met were very enthusiastic about Mr. Imbusch potentially becoming principal, and genuinely seemed to like him. However, there was a dramatic difference between them and the students in Seekonk who literally could not stop talking about how Mr. Holcomb has made their high school experience so much easier. Later, as we were walking through the halls of Seekonk, I was struck by the fact that students were high-fiving Mr. Holcomb because they wanted to. They genuinely connected with him and respected him. The students we spoke to in a group said they were sad he might have to leave to work in Walpole. They said that Mr. Holcomb respected them, and the respect was mutual. They said he went to school events, sometimes with his family, because he really liked to go.

Let me be brutally honest. The sort of relationship between student and administration that we saw firsthand at Seekonk doesn't appear to exist in Walpole with any of our administrators, not only Mr. Imbusch. While Mr. Holcomb is known to walk the corridors of the school and likes to check in on teachers in their classrooms, Mr. Imbusch has never come into any one of my classrooms. Both candidates were called "calm" and "professional" when they were dealing with student disciplinary issues, yet Mr. Imbusch does not command as much respect from students as Mr. Holcomb does. Mr. Imbusch does not peek in on teachers and students to check in on how they are doing. I don't see Mr. Imbusch at school events or athletic games outside of school. The students in Seekonk called Holcomb "down to earth", whereas in Walpole I don't see that from Mr. Imbusch. I see someone who seems serious most of the time with no sense of humor. I perceive him as an administrator who works in an office somewhere near the lobby and who only shows himself between classes and a few times during the day when he's in a hurry to go somewhere. He does not show his face very often. He does not walk into classrooms to see students learn. One teacher in Seekonk wrote an email in which she said, "It is not unusual for [Holcomb] to stop in classes spontaneously and support learning. Just last month, he stepped into my classroom and without missing a beat started teaching factoring to a surprised class. The students loved it!" I have not seen the same from Mr. Imbusch, and frankly I can't imagine him walking in on even a computer class, which he used to teach. Staff members at Walpole High said Imbusch was "magical", and said he is always around "taking it in." Unfortunately, I don't share the same view. I don't believe he's taking it in at all. Parents at Walpole High said they wanted a principal who "knows all the kids by name." I don't think Imbusch knew my name until this year. He doesn't know the names of any of my friends. He's not familiar with any of my siblings who have gone through the high school with him as assistant principal. Mr. Holcomb, on the other hand, knows the names of students. Seekonk students said that getting to know Mr. Holcomb is an "awesome experience." They said he motivates students and is there for everyone while not choosing favorites.

Students at Seekonk want Holcomb to be their assistant principal. They begged us not to take him as our principal. They like him. With Imbusch, from a student's perspective, I see someone who spends most of his time in an office and I don't know whether I would even notice or care whether he left this year. I feel he is our assistant principal, and that's about it. I feel no connection whatsoever to him. The students we spoke to at Walpole High liked him, but I didn't see any significantly visible enthusiasm or excitement in the prospect that he would be their principal. In Seekonk, students were practically falling out of their chairs to try to tell us how much Mr. Holcomb had made a difference in their lives. That had a huge impact on the impression I had of Holcomb.

Another reason why I would have a difficult time supporting Mr. Imbusch for the principal position is because of his, and other administrators', lack of collaboration with the WHS Student Council. The Student Council has been frustrated for many years by the fact that they have not been able to get any of their proposals implemented because administration has failed to work with them. The Student Council has been relegated to the role of being nothing more than a mere school spirit organization as a result of the administration not giving them the power to do anything significant. If Mr. Imbusch becomes principal, I would like to see him try to do what he can to collaborate with the Student Council and enable them to be a more effective organization. Frankly, I don't think he will do that, judging by his work as assistant principal. Mr. Holcomb, on the other hand, seems to me to be somebody the Student Council could probably better work with in their initiatives. Otherwise, I think it would be best if we disbanded the Student Council if it can't get the full cooperation of our administrators. If its only role is to promote school spirit, it would be best if we created another, more concentrated, organization to do so. The Student Council should really be a partner in working to improve the school. Administration, including Mr. Imbusch, has not given them any ability to do this over the past several years.

In terms of working with students outside of the Student Council, I have not seen very much effort from Mr. Imbusch. When Imbusch was on the graduation requirements committee to reform our outdated graduation requirements, the final proposals were never presented to the student body as a whole. To this day, I await the list of the revised requirements that Mr. Imbusch seems to be so proud of. I have not seen them yet. They are not on the school website. They were never presented to students. I will wait.

Regardless of their connections to students, only one candidate I think really has the experience and the long term commitment to be principal: Mr. Imbusch. Holcomb has been assistant principal at a small school in a rural town for about three years. He has already talked of becoming superintendent somewhere someday. While this is an admirable goal, and certainly I see him working his way up to that role someday, I feel he needs more time to get his feet wet in Seekonk before he starts thinking about such lofty goals. If he has only stayed there for two and a half years, I can't imagine how long he'll stay in Walpole before he'll start applying for superintendent jobs. He is still fairly young - he has time, and needs to slow down. Mr. Imbusch, on the other hand, has been working at Walpole High for many years now both as a teacher and as an assistant principal. He has worked his way up to this status by learning the ins and outs of working in a school both as a teacher and as an administrator. At Walpole High, we need a principal who will come and improve the school with everything he's got and then will leave after a solid number of years. We simply can not continue to have principal selection committees every three or four years - we need someone who is there for the long run. In my view, Holcomb is rushing to get to the superintendent's job without stopping to take a breath for a moment and just enjoying the experience of making a positive experience on students and helping them succeed. To his credit, he served as a teacher for ten years, but only got into administration four years ago. He is an incredible individual who will undoubtedly go far in his career and still has time in his life to do so - but his desire to move as quickly as he can into higher office after only a few years as assistant principal is disconcerting.

One of the questions that I would have liked to have asked teachers and parents at Walpole and Seekonk is how they feel each candidate would have handled major scandals or incidents like what we saw in Walpole last year with our Athletic Director. When major incidents, like a student death, or scandals occur, it is important to have a strong leader who can guide the ship through turbulent waters. I wonder what Imbusch or Holcomb would do when you have a faculty in turmoil, a student body in shock, and the media knocking at your door. I never got a chance to ask that question and would have liked to have known the answer from the perspective of teachers and parents who have worked with him.

The decision to choose a new principal is extremely difficult. I would have a hard time making the decision if I was in Mr. Lynch's shoes. Both candidates are equally qualified. Both candidates are incredible people. Thank you to both for their service and dedication to my generation. I await the final decision this week and will support whoever gets chosen.

Patrick Shield and Longevity Payments

2010-02-28T20:47:11Z

On February 27, I had a great interview with Patrick Shield, candidate for Walpole selectman. Listen to the interview here, or play right here:

One of the discussions Shield and I had was about longevity payments. See my previous blog post about the payments here, which has been modified from its original version as a result of our discussion. One of the things I had not realized was that it was not actually the union's fault that we were handing out longevity payments to our town employees. It is actually in the personnel bylaws, here.

Shield also asked how much money the town spends on longevity payments per year. I wanted to know the answer to this too, so today, after an analysis of the town budget, I determined that the town spent about $78,188 per year throughout all departments on longevity payments last year.

Shield pointed out that even while longevity payments may not exist in the private sector, private sector employees get other forms of bonuses and perks that public sector employees do not get. I agree, and it's unfortunate.

Therefore, let me propose a new idea for Walpole. Instead of spending about $78,000 per year on longevity payments let's distribute the money in this way:

$50,000 in bonuses to exemplary town employees who have been nominated by department heads or members of the public
$20,000 in bonuses to town employees and department heads who find ways to reduce costs
$2,000 to improve the town website (if even that much)
$6,000 in bonuses to exemplary Walpole school teachers who have been nominated by students/parents/department heads (to boost the salaries of Walpole's underpaid teachers)

Additionally, this can serve as an transition to two other proposals I have to cut costs in Walpole:
Cut the $1500 we use to put up holiday lights during the holiday season
Use it to promote increased use of recycling, composting, and renewable energy throughout Walpole town departments

All Walpole police officers who earn more than $105,000 per year should have their base salaries reduced by $10,000. That's $130,000 worth of money we can use to hire at least two new police officers for the Town of Walpole, or perhaps give it to the fire department to reopen East Walpole Fire Station.

Baker visits Walpole

2010-02-28T00:15:19Z

Charlie Baker, who is running for governor as a Republican, visited the Westbury Farms Family Restaurant in downtown Walpole today. He met with a variety of local residents, answered questions, and gave a short speech. He then took a walk to Betro's Pharmacy where he chatted with customers there.

During his speech, Baker promised not to make any cuts to local aid or prison mitigation money as governor. He also sought to do a total review of all state regulations and unfunded mandates.

Governor Deval Patrick, running for re-election against Baker, will be visiting Walpole within the next couple of weeks according to reliable sources inside his campaign.

Here are some pictures of Baker's visit to Walpole. This article is by no means an endorsement necessarily for Baker or his campaign.

Mr. Baker speaks with Walpole Police Chief Richard Stillman and other Walpole officers.

Mr. Baker chats with customers at Westbury Farms.

Mr. Baker answered questions from local residents in the parking lot of Westbury Farms. Selectwoman Nancy Mackenzie (at left) and Town Moderator Jon Rockwood (at right) were present as well.

Mr. Baker was introduced to local officials by fellow Republican, Town Moderator, and 2008 State Senate candidate Jon Rockwood.

Various members of the Board of Selectman were given the opportunity to speak directly with Mr. Baker. Shown here are, from left, Chris Timson, Selectman Chairman, Cliff Snuffer, and Nancy Mackenzie, along with Jon Rockwood.

Mr. Baker chats with Peter Betro, of Betro's Pharmacy, and a customer inside Betro's.

Gubernatorial visits to Walpole

2010-02-25T20:59:36Z

It seems that Walpole is becoming a "battleground town", if there is such a thing, in the race for governor. A visit by Republican candidate for governor Charlie Baker is expected on Saturday, February 27, at 10:30 at Westbury Farms in downtown Walpole, and sources within the Deval Patrick campaign tell Sam Obar 180 that details are still being worked out for a visit by Governor Deval Patrick to Walpole within the next couple of weeks.

Rumors first began swirling of a visit from the governor yesterday, when Walpole Times reporter Keith Ferguson first reported that the governor was visiting an East Walpole home tonight. That is true, however, it appears to be a private fundraising event that is closed to the public and to the press. A source within the Patrick campaign told Sam Obar 180 that "the gathering [...] is an informal private party at the home of an old friend of the Governor's."

It appears, however, that even as tonight's event is closed to the public, the governor will be coming to Walpole in a more public capacity "within a week or two," according to the same source.

More details will be published on this blog once they are known. Check out Sam Obar 180 for all of this and more.

My thoughts on the WHS principal candidates

2010-02-23T22:31:41Z

I had the opportunity to attend the open forums for both candidates for the open Walpole High School principal job on February 23. I was able to see both candidates present and discuss their so-called "education philosophies", and find out why each would like to become the next WHS principal. Here are my thoughts.

First, I would like to say that the forums were well run. In the particular forum that I attended, we were seated in a conference room just off of the WHS media center. We filled out questionnaires regarding each candidate and the forums were very interactive with a lot of questions and a very open atmosphere. School Superintendent Lincoln Lynch and Assistant Superintendent Jean Kenney ran the forums very well.

However, I was disappointed that there were no forums for actual STUDENTS. There was a forum for parents, faculty, department heads, the so-called leadership council, and Student Council. But there was no forum for just students. I guess it was assumed that the Student Council, which had selected members of its own to serve on the Principal Search Committee, represented the student body as a whole. However, as a student who is not part of the Student Council, I can say that the Student Council does NOT represent the student body as a whole. It would have been nice if all students had the opportunity to hear the principal, rather than just a select few.

Stephen Imbusch

Mr. Imbusch is the front runner for the job owing to his current position as Assistant Principal at WHS. As a student at Walpole High School, I can say that Mr. Imbusch has for years clearly been trying to get involved with the students and teachers. From the beginning of freshman year, I have seen Mr. Imbusch standing in as many hallways as he can, looking at each and every student who passes him. It can get fairly annoying, but I recognize now that he probably does that because he wants to market himself as student-oriented, which indeed was a focus of his presentation about why he should be selected to be principal.

He has teaching experience at Walpole High, and he has been an administrator here for a number of years. He knows all of the faculty and students, or knows of them. One of the things I had been hoping for during his presentation was whether he had any new ideas for the school. I didn't expect him to have any major new specific proposals because he has already spent so many years in an administrative position and has had the opportunity to put forward his ideas already. I had assumed that of the two candidates for principal, he would be the one who would be unable to present any NEW creative ideas and proposals for the school. However, I was clearly wrong. Among other ideas, he pushed an initiative that I thought I would never hear uttered from a Walpole administrator: the idea of implementing what he called "online learning" and embracing technology a lot more. What a true relief that was, although I am not surprised given that Mr. Imbusch is a former technology teacher.

He discussed his role in reforming the student graduation requirements this year, and discussed the introduction of student advisories instead of homeroom blocks next year. Both of these were ideas that he seemed very passionate about pushing for some reason, and appeared to be taking credit for these initiatives even when they were very complex proposals that are even to this day being worked out.

However, I was concerned with Mr. Imbusch's response to a student who asked him whether the graduation requirements should have been presented to the student body as a whole after they had first been proposed. Indeed, every single student who had been on the committee to reform graduation requirements had voted against the proposed changes in part because they felt they were too difficult to attain and would result in scheduling conflicts and nightmares for students who could not take their preferred classes. Up to this point, no one on the student body actually knows what the new graduation requirements will be, even though they have been in the final stages of planning for months. Mr. Imbusch seemed to agree that students should have been able to review the new requirements and offer comments on it, however I wonder why he had not done so when he has already had the opportunity.

Overall, Mr. Imbusch performed extremely well, and better than I thought. Additionally, while his Irish accent may bother some people, it really isn't that bad.

Scott Holcomb

Of the two candidates, I was most disappointed with Mr. Holcomb.

He started the presentation off extremely strong, using six large blocks that he had created the previous evening at home. The blocks, which each had one letter on them, illustrated his educational philosophy. He stacked the blocks in the shape of a pyramid, with three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. The block on top had the letter S on it, standing for "Students". He believed that students were the most important element of his educational philosophy, and therefore belonged at the top. In the middle were the T and P, standing for "Teachers" and "Parents" respectively. And at the very bottom were the blocks representing Administrators (A), Community (C), and Municipality (M). I appreciated the fact that he clearly preferred offering a visual description of his educational perspective, however I really didn't think they proved anything other than he is a good visual thinker.

In general, he used a lot of fluff during his presentation, and seemed to be obsessed with the idea of promoting school spirit, which is actually quite a problem at Walpole High School but really should not be at the top of our priorities list in my opinion. He used words like, "I want to unite our school further," without actually showing how he sought to do that other than through school spirit activities.

A positive of his presentation, however, was his interest in collaborating with students and being creative about extracurricular activities. He seemed to indicate he would be willing to circumvent the teachers' union in order to make sure that students had a wide choice of extracurricular activities. He said that the education and enrichment of our students should be put above making sure that all teachers get paid for every activity they serve as advisors to, which I wholeheartedly agree with. He also discussed adding such things as after-school movie viewings which require little teacher supervision.

However, from reading The Walpole Times' profile of him, I can say that I was really concerned with the way he seemed to cast off Walpole High School as just another step towards becoming a Superintendent somewhere. According to the Times, "if selected for the job, Holcomb said he'd love to serve Walpole High as principal for the next 10 to 15 years whereupon he'd like to pursue a position as a superintendent."

To me, it seems as though he's more interested in moving quickly up the ladder of administration than about actually spending some time at Walpole High and enriching the education of the students who go there.

--

Having heard both of these educators present their reasons about why they want to be principal, here are my final comments: I think either candidate would be perfect for Walpole High. I don't have any preference as to which candidate Superintendent Lynch chooses to be our principal.

Regardless, here are the pros and cons, as I see them, of each candidate:

Imbusch

Pros:

Knows the school and its students and faculty; has taught here and worked here since the 1990s
Discussed embracing technology
Presented specific examples of ways he has worked to improve the school and what he wants to see implemented as principal

Cons:

Lives in Rhode Island; how much time can he really commit to Walpole High School and related events?
Could not point to specific examples of where he has directly collaborated with students on initiatives other than through large committees to reform specific policies

Holcomb

Pros:

Willing to put education above unions, if necessary
Good at visual descriptions
Already has a foot in the door with a wife who teaches in Walpole
Deeply passionate about promoting school spirit

Cons:

Used a lot of fluff, no real specific ideas that he wants to implement
Disconcertingly concentrated on school spirit for some reason
Seems to be more interested in moving up to superintendent than actually spending quality time in Walpole

Where in Walpole is this?

2010-02-23T10:56:27Z

This is fairly easy. However, there will still be some who still won't know. All are eligible to enter.

If you think you know, submit your answer to sam@samobar.com with the subject: "Where in Walpole", and you will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize of being able to ski free as many times as you want at Wachusett Mountain for the rest of winter 2010, or going to as many Pawtucket Red Sox games as you want for free in summer 2010 (courtesy of our friends at WDIS AM 1170, Norfolk).

Longevity pay is money better used elsewhere

2010-02-18T15:34:51Z

If you work as a Walpole police officer for at least 25 years, you automatically receive a hefty payment of $875 upon your 25th anniversary of service. Even if you work just 5 years, you get a posh bonus of $475. Add that to the thousands of dollars you already earn in detail work and overtime, and you can see why being a Walpole police officer is actually quite lucrative. No wonder more than half of the Walpole Police Force earns more than $100,000 per year.

The police aren't the only ones earning nice bonuses for merely sticking around. It clearly pays to work for the Town of Walpole, thanks to clauses in various union contracts that permit town employees to collect longevity payments. Personnel Bylaws require the town to reward employees for their years of service - compensation that is largely unheard of in the private sector. In fact, there is no mechanism for rewarding town employees for their performance or for saving their department and the town money.

The longevity payments are funds that can be used to renovate the town website, purchase textbooks for the school department, or even lower parking, athletic, activity, and lunch fees at the schools. Instead, they are being used to reward our government employees for simply working a long time when the rest of us get squeezed with higher fees.

We all know how hard our municipal employees work. I go to the Walpole Public Library regularly, and am taken aback by the friendliness that the staff exhibits towards all patrons. Town Hall employees are always friendly and helpful. They work hard and love their jobs. Police officers and firefighters are incredible people. I understand why one could argue longevity payments are reasonable.

But when Walpole is struggling to cover its costs, and is cutting tremendously in other areas of the budget, it is time to put a stop to the practice of providing longevity payments. As the Las Vegas Sun wrote in December, "Longevity pay is a holdover from days when governments didn't pay particularly well." Now, those days are long gone. Being a government worker is actually fairly profitable, even in a small municipality like Walpole. I know the unions had to make painful decisions this past year in health care and other costs. But the town needs to stand up for its taxpayers next time and push for an elimination of the longevity payments. Few businesses reward their employees with these lucrative bonuses - there is no reason why the town should. My radio producer has not missed a day of work since 2000. I think he's one who would deserve a good longevity payment, but too bad my radio station is in the private sector. When none of us can afford longevity payments, our town can't afford them either!

Regionalization: What Will Work and What Will Not

2010-02-17T01:35:30Z

My apologies for not posting on this blog as often as I should. Actually, I have a number of different articles I am writing for this blog all at once, but most of them involve extensive research in the town's budget and salaries. All of these articles will be published at later dates.

I am very pleased to see that Town Administrator Michael Boynton has suggested regionalizing certain town services. It makes a lot of sense to regionalize services like Animal Control, Veterans Services, and Health. Our town animal control officer may be disappointed that he may lose his job, and I don't blame him. Many of us are familiar with our ACO's work. In fact, I believe that he has been involved with finding one or two dogs that my own family has owned over the years. Unfortunately, however, regionalization is probably the wave of the future when municipalities must find long-term solutions to revenue cuts.

Veterans and Health services, too, could be consolidated, and Mr. Boynton has proposed Engineering as well. I don't actually know all that much about the work of any of these departments, so I can't give an honest assessment as to whether it would be a good idea to regionalize.

However, Mr. Boynton also proposed regionalizing library services. I can't imagine how he proposes to regionalize library services. Walpole is on the way to building a massive new library and towns nearby, too, have libraries that they are happy with and will not be leaving vacant in favor of regionalization. So library services can not be regionalized in my view. Unfortunately, since Mr. Boynton appears to be unwilling to come on to my radio show again, I don't think we will ever get the opportunity to get the facts about what exactly he is proposing. Hopefully that will all come out later.

Regionalizing other town departments, however, is a positive step in the right direction towards saving Walpole money. Also, hopefully by next year, we will have a new governor like Charlie Baker who has vowed not to cut local aid in his budgets (but that is by no means an endorsement for Mr. Baker).

I would like to close this by saying that videos of Walpole Selectmen's meetings are now available on the internet here.

Time Capsule Must be Found

2010-02-07T19:42:05Z

Town Hall sources who are knowledgeable in town history have given Sam Obar 180 exclusive information. Apparently, many decades ago, a time capsule was buried under the old Stone School. Today, the school no longer exists, however, the land is supposed to become the new home of the Walpole Public Library very soon.

I am asking for the public's help in trying to find out more information about this time capsule. It must be found before the new library is built.

Not very much information is known at this point, although my sources are doing their best to research it. More information will be brought to Sam Obar 180 when it is known. It is believed that the Historical Society and Historical Commission may work as well to try to find the capsule.

Walpole Rail Trail Bike Path

2010-01-31T02:17:03Z

On the list of 2008-2009 Goals and Objectives for the Board of Selectmen, the following is listed as a goal:
"Explore the possibility of establishing rail trail bike paths."

Indeed, Walpole has several areas of abandoned railroad beds, including some that cross Industrial Road, Plimpton Street, Common Street, and South Street.

Additionally, Walpole happens to own a lot of land that could potentially connect these areas.

A bike trail connecting these areas could be financed and maintained by allowing businesses to sponsor separate portions of the trail and having small billboards up along the trail. Grants may also be available.

Here is a map that I created of what one such bike path might look like in an ideal Walpole. This may or may not be doable. The blue indicates a trail going over land the town already owns, whereas the red-orange is land that may or may not be already owned by the town.

Mr. Szymanski's Glaring Hypocrisy

2010-01-29T21:41:15Z

This week's Walpole Times featured an off-base and highly outrageous op-ed by Mr. Jeffrey Szymanski, the president of the Walpole Teachers Association, and a history and economics teacher at Walpole High School. Mr. Szymanski is also a Republican and lives in Providence. He openly criticized Walpole's business climate, declared that Walpole is waging an "assault" on education, and proposed a variety of new taxes and fees none of which he is willing to pay for himself.

To begin with, some intelligent individual over at the Times decided that the headline for his column should be "Working together is the only way." Alas, if one actually reads what Szymanski has written, they would see immediately that he does not propose working together. He proposes laying all the blame on the taxpayers for not doing enough to support the schools, and proposes increasing taxes and fees and not sharing any of the responsibility for enabling our schools to recruit and keep the best teachers.

He writes, "We'll need all town employees, the superintendent, School Committee, Board of Selectmen, town administrator, parents and all taxpayers to come together and creatively find a way to do their part." Notice how he fails to mention "unions" or "teachers" like himself. As someone who doesn't live remotely near Walpole, who represents a union made up substantially of people who also don't live even remotely near this town, he doesn't appear to actually have any desire to be part of the solution of lowering class sizes and increasing the quality of Walpole education. He prefers instead to stir up the flames, which he has done on more than one occasion.

Mr. Szymanski then has the gall and the chutzpah to propose, even as an anti-tax Republican, that the town "enact the hotel and meals add-on tax with all deliberate speed." He then openly criticizes the Walpole business climate by saying: "I know the "other side's" argument. It will make Walpole appear anti-business. Too late. That perception has been around for a decade or more."

Actually, Mr. Szymanski, this has perception has not been around for a decade or more and I take offense to that. As someone who has never lived in Walpole, let alone this state, how would you know? I agree that Walpole is anti-business, but at least I am a Walpole resident who has lived in this town all my life and have seen first hand how businesses can not survive here.

In 2004 and 2006, Szymanski himself ran for State Rep. in his hometown of Providence. Needless to say, he lost, but not without dragging Walpole in.

In 2006, he ran on an anti-tax platform against an entrenched Democrat. A website called DemocratsforSzymanski.com, set up in 2006, states: "Here's a question you might ask yourself: Isn't it time we tried to lure entrepreneurs to Rhode Island, since they are the engines of economic development? Maybe [Szymanski's opponent, Joanne Giannini] should spend a day in Jeff Szymanski's high school economics class!" Perhaps Mr. Szymanski should spend some time in his own economics class. He has just proposed higher taxes for businesses in the very town his high school economics class serves, and justifies it by asking, "Has anyone really ever chosen a restaurant based on what the sales tax on the bill would be?"

Further, the website states, "Jeff will advocate for senior citizens, working men & women, our children, our libraries, and taxpayers." I don't think so. Based on his op-ed in this week's Times, it would appear that he advocates for teachers and teachers only. Forget about taxpayers.

The website goes on even more: "Jeff thinks it is time to get rid of Rhode Island's position as a top ten highest tax state. High taxes hurt the poorest of our citizens, and Jeff understands this." No, apparently he doesn't, because he has just proposed a multitude of new taxes and fees in the Times this week. He further admitted that he "can't afford to live here," yet is still okay with proposing even higher taxes anyway.

What a hypocrite! No wonder he lost! He had better hope that if he ever runs for State Representative again, none of his opponents will dig up this nasty little column from the Times and use it against him.

He adds insult to injury by suggesting that the town "actually promote the extra 1 percent by encouraging Walpole citizens to patronize local eateries." Does Szymanski have the mistaken belief that Walpole residents do not already support local eateries? Forgive him - he does not live in Walpole, or even Massachusetts. He has not visited Finnegan's Wake or Westbury Farms on a weekend.

He says, "I feel the need to at least remind all that the governor's $750,000 prison mitigation cut in late 2008 has left a permanent hole in Walpole's town budget. It rankles me to see leaders in Walpole failing to acknowledge this at every possible opportunity and instead pointing fingers at teachers, custodians, secretaries, food service workers, and others, as if they caused the problem because they're paid too much." Actually, I have never seen anybody point any fingers at teachers, custodians, secretaries or anybody else. WE ARE IN A RECESSION. THERE IS NO MONEY. We understand the prison mitigation money has been cut, no thanks to you. We HAVE been acknowledging this at every opportunity. We symbolically cut off EMT services to the prison. Our resident state senator filed legislation to have the prison provide their own emergency services. We have been forceful and angry about the funding cuts. We have not been pointing fingers at you or your union. We have been respectfully asking you to make valuable investments in education by securing the jobs of some of our teachers by taking a furlough day. Teachers are not paid too much. No one has ever said that or implied that. However, we in Walpole recognize that the state has had to cut local aid and prison mitigation money because WE ARE IN A RECESSION. THERE IS NO MONEY.

Mr. Szymanski also has the gall to mock Walpole's starting teacher's salary and connects it to the lack of interest in teaching from this year's graduating seniors. "I hypothesize today's seniors, with the mountainous college debt many will wrack up, don't want to enter a profession that starts at $37,000. That's Walpole's starting pay this year," he writes. Mr. Szymanski, if you are unhappy with your salary, please find another town to find a job in. While it has long been known that Walpole pays its teachers less than other area towns, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and go to one of those towns that you seem to believe is a paradise. And take your tax proposals with you, please. I will repeat what I have said numerous times, WE ARE IN A RECESSION. THERE IS NO MONEY. I expect that other towns in the area would also be unable to pay teachers the starting salary you seem to have in your fantasy world.

Mr. Szymanski concludes his so-called "Commentary" with: "In sum, let's all roll up our sleeves and get to work to protect education from the current assault, lest our school system be irreparably harmed in 2010-11. Our kids deserve it. The schools took a big hit this year, and it's being felt with far fewer programs and much larger classes. The upcoming hit could be the knockout punch. I'm ready. The teachers I represent are ready. Who else is ready?" I certainly am NOT ready for his new taxes and fees.

I would hope that the Walpole Teachers Association would have the common sense to remove Mr. Szymanski from any leadership position within their union. He is destroying his own credibility, and in the process is destroying the credibility of his union. I support unions, and I support education. But I do not support higher taxes, and many other Walpole residents don't either. The Mr. Szymanski of 2006 would have understood this. Unfortunately, the Mr. Szymanski of today does not. What a shame.

Ideas for putting Walpole on the move

2010-01-26T03:05:52Z

Once the economy picks up, and local aid starts flowing in like a fountain (which hopefully will happen one day), here is what I would propose if I were in a leadership capacity in Walpole:

1. Stop renewing licenses of bad businesses
While The Walpole Times and the Board of Selectmen have been looking the other way, immediate neighbors and environmentalists have certainly not been on the issue of Allied Recycling and its repeated violations of orders from the Board of Selectmen. Allied has ignored complaints from neighbors about noise, they have sleazily bypassed deadlines and guidelines set by Selectmen for years now, and have become one of the most-visited sites of our town building inspector. Yet, for some remarkable reason, this business keeps getting its license renewed even as it is sued by an environmental group for violating the federal Clean Water Act. This business should be STOPPED and removed from town. We do not want businesses like this in Walpole. That is why we stopped CPV, sludge, and regional trash transfer facilities. Allied is no different. Thank you to Cliff Snuffer and Nancy Mackenzie for voting against an Allied license renewal this year.

2. Bring decision-making to the people
Even though the Selectmen proposed this in their set of goals for 2007-2008, they still have not held neighborhood Selectmen's meetings. Neighborhood meetings should be held in South Walpole and in East Walpole especially. The Town Administrator and the Board of Selectmen should hold a public budget forum at Walpole High School when budget season comes around, and not just leave it to citizens to attend Town Meeting to express their concerns, if any, about the annual budget. Whatever happened to putting videos of Selectmen's meetings online? School Committee meetings should be put online. FinCom meetings should similarly be filmed and put online. Spring and Fall Town Meetings should be put online. Voting records for selectmen (how they voted on every issue), as well as the results and roll call of all Town Meeting articles should be put online. See more ideas for online utilization further down this list. Newspaper columns in The Walpole Times should be written by the Town Administrator and other decision makers on a regular basis.

3. Bring innovative ideas to the schools
School Superintendent Lincoln Lynch does a superb job every year with the school budget. However, Walpole's aging senior citizen population is rapidly dying off, and it is essential that the vast collection of local history that many of these seniors hold be passed on to the next generation. Unfortunately, with the lack of any local history classes in our high school, this has not occurred. These elders should be brought in as guest speakers, and local history and civics classes should be taught at WHS. Teach current events in all social studies classes throughout elementary, middle, and high schools. Teach foreign language in elementary schools. Redo the Rebel mascot with a new image. Expand partnerships between the schools and the Walpole Public Library. The library is a 10-minute walk away from Walpole High. In-class field trips could go to the library. This is reasonable, considering class periods are 70 minutes long.

4. Improve the town website
Directly engage the existing web design students at Walpole High School to design a new town website. Introduce online permitting, like Walpole selectman Cliff Snuffer has suggested. Create blogs for selectmen, school committee, town administrator, and the economic development team. REVAMP ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE!!! Put campaign finance information from local elections on town website in a browsable database. The website should have a searchable database of every municipal employee, their function, and their contact information if appropriate (excluding schools). The website should also have a list of all volunteer opportunities on behalf of the community (namely committees), and an easy online form and information about each opportunity. Full list of ideas are here.

5. Utilize neglected properties in town
Robbins Road - once the new police station is built, on the remainder of the massive town-owned acreage there, put in fields or maybe sell it. Put fields at Adams Farm. Encourage green neighborhoods and community gardens. Bring farmers markets to Walpole at Sunnyrock Farm, Adams Farm, or in downtown Walpole. Consider putting in bike trails throughout town linking conservation areas - obviously it is okay if they cross streets. Focus on Turner's Pond Area - make it a real destination with a park next to Turner Lodge. Put the senior center at the old library once the new library is completed - the nearby Thomas funeral home is apparently okay with the idea of allowing people to park in their lots - as long as there is no funeral. That will handle the parking problem, and prevent a perfectly good building from becoming vacant for years. Do not allow a strip mall to be built across from McDonald's, bordering conservation land, which is now reportedly being proposed by a local developer. According to 2009 Walpole Selectman Candidate Patrick Shield, the current list of vacant commercial sites around town hasn't been updated since 1997. What is up with this?

6. The Environment
No trash fees, ever! Thank you to Mr. Boynton and the Board of Selectmen for standing firm on this. Promote expanded use of recycling, ESPECIALLY at the schools. Hire a company that will pay the school district to take away their recycling - there are many such companies in the area - and reward teachers with pay raises - from these payments - for recycling in their own classrooms. Use composting at school kitchens. Use green technology on town buildings - solar panels on all school buildings. Allow town employees to use their own cars and get reimbursed for when they use it for town use.

7. Public Safety
It would be ideal to increase the Walpole Police force to over 40 officers, and to increase police presence in the schools and revive the DARE program. The East Walpole Fire Station should be reopened and staffed with a third ambulance. New police and fire stations should be built in town.

8. Other Miscellaneous Ideas
A community service day will be held every year throughout town for all citizens and with town employees participating. A Town Hall Picnic/block party on Stone and School Street can be held every summer, perhaps in conjunction with Walpole Day. The picnic will be open to the public, and town leaders will be in attendance along with the town administrator and other officials in a casual atmosphere. Have an internship program at Town Hall. Post a list of all tax delinquents on the website like Brockton does. Allow town employees to wear casual clothes every day - namely the Town Administrator - enough with the "government is out of touch" so you must wear a tie and look like a politician to be taken seriously in Walpole.

Snuffer becomes latest official to come on the radio

2010-01-24T20:20:09Z

Walpole Selectman Cliff Snuffer came on to The Sam Obar Show on Jan. 23 to do an interview with me. We predominantly discussed the police station proposal he is pushing for, but we also discussed issues like zoning and Allied Recycling. The interview reinforced my belief that Mr. Snuffer really is a selectman for the people who looks out for the best interests of the community and its residents. After the interview, Mr. Snuffer showed me a list of what his priorities are as selectman and what he promised he would do when he ran. He keeps the list with him, and uses it to remind himself he really is the people's selectman. This is reflected in the way that he voted on zoning and on Allied Recycling. While the rest of the Board was looking the other way on Allied, he and Nancy Mackenzie were the only ones who voted not to renew their business license this year.

While I learned a lot during the interview, and found Snuffer to be extremely insightful, I have not yet decided whether I will support the new police station.

The interview is available here.

Here are some quotes from Mr. Snuffer about the police station:

Regarding saving money by not hiring a designer and using existing plans from other police stations: "I see no reason in the world why on a 55-acre site of which we will be taking some 3-5 acres of utilization we could not as on a plain piece of white 8.5 by 11 piece of paper do a simple drop-in design."

Regarding the concerns neighbors have about the proposed station and the impact on Johnson Middle School: "I think it's very important that it's known that from the very beginning, we have indicated that this process would involve as the first group of citizens, the Robbins Road residents."

One particular quote continues to disturb me: "Right now, the plan is for a solid 50-year life expectancy." I did not bother asking: Then does this mean in another 50 years Walpole will be facing yet another frantic search for a new police station and a new override? I would hope not.

Other highlights of the Snuffer interview:

"It is my opinion that Chris Timson, the chairman of the board of selectmen, is on to something when he talks about affordable housing, perhaps of the senior variety [in the old library building]".

"From what I understand, the senior center into that type of a building (the old library), while it is a good thought, as are other spaces, doesn't seem to fit whatever their seemed criteria is."

"I actually agree a little with you (Sam) [on the town website]. I believe there are a half dozen areas [on the website] that could be spruced up. [...] But I think it could use some improvement. I think we could do a lot of online licensing."

"I believe that my opinion should have prevailed [on not renewing the license for Allied Recycling]"

"You could probably sell seats to the fireworks for $100 apiece on the roof [of the new library]"

"People don't realize that the parking that you see behind the buildings on Main Street we don't own that - the town does not own that."

"What have we had a result of our zoning? Power plants, we've had recycling areas, we've had regional trash transfer facilities, we've had sludge. I mean I can give you the litany of why Walpole is a cursed community relative to that. Let's make it a better one by having a little more common sense as we approach the fall town meeting which is where the zoning will come back."