Override Scandal evidence builds…
As first reported here at Townie Talk, the January McKibben report indicated a further student enrollment decline expected over the next decade from the current 4,350 or so students to 4,170 or so students by 2034. The report flies in the face of the bogus narrative that the school budget was being driven by increasing enrollment. Enrollment was projected at 5,005 students by 2023 in a report used to justify the $300m massive 7-12 Middle-High School. (Coincidently a Milton consulting firm provided the enrollment projection… did I mention the same hometown as the former Superintendent).
What Townie Talk needed to know was when did they know the enrollment projection. Townie Talk now gives you the answer…. Emails obtained through a FOIA request
(Consultant to Superintendent Geiser note the date of Jan 29, 2024)
On Mon, Jan 29, 2024, at 7:39 PM Jerome McKibben <j.mckibben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com>
wrote:
Jill,
A Happy New Year to you. Attached is the final report for the 10-year population and enrollment
forecasts for the district. The maps and live/attend tables are at the end. Please let me know if you
have any questions or comments.
Jerry
(Superintendent Geiser response to McKibben Consultant on Jan 30th, 2024)
On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 09:11:07 PM GMT-5, Jill Geiser <jgeiser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.net>
wrote:
Hi Jerry,
Thank you for sending the report. Quick question….we have the new grade reconfiguration – I thought I
sent it but can’t remember. Next year, our ES will be K-3, Chenery Upper Elementary 4-6, Belmont MS
7-8, and Belmont HS 9-12. Is it possible to frame this in these grade level groupings?
Best,
Jill
McKibben responds with the changes requested (which have no material impact on the enrollment) on February 21, 2024. Geiser schedules him to present to SC a week after the override.
This taxpayer study was material information essential to not just the school committee, Select Board, and Warrant committee but to voters being asked to support a massive tax increase largely to support a school system that has misled residents at best by implying enrollment decline was temporary and at worst let supporters believe the lie that budgetary increases were to support surging enrollment. For five weeks the information was available… and 5 weeks it stayed conveniently buried. The WC and SB should demand an investigation.
Library needs to go on Ozempic…
The soil at the library is “unstable”. I could have told you that. Regardless, the Library building committee hit its first major pothole requiring them to use existing funds to bring in a massive drill to make deep holes and fill them in with concrete to provide a foundation capable of supporting the massive new building. A contractor said that while the technology is proven, the procedure must be done exactly right
or you might be throwing $40m out the window. The building committee met to approve funds to pay for a supervisor and additional testing. The cost of this unforeseen expenditure is still within the budget, but the new procedure is less than 50% done and well let’s just say that is difficult terrain to build on. Good luck.
Rodent’s, Crime, and Adultery in Belmont
Relax… I will leave the Adultery conversation out but the other two are fair game. A solicitor came to my house last week selling tick, mosquito and rat remediation services. We talked for 30 minutes as he told me the entire area says they don’t have rats. Anyone living near Grove Street either has taken steps to eliminate rats from nearing their property or they have rats. Grove Street has 3 households that were known host families. Two have chickens and the other has a poorly kept jungle of a yard. I walked by two dead rats just last week (the hairless tail is the giveaway). Grove Street has rat hotel boxes surrounding the fields and they are not for the décor. Rats are nasty but brilliant creatures. They take up housing near food sources… (compost bins, poorly secured trash lids, loose seed bird feeders, chicken coops, left out dog feces, etc). Your only protection against neighbors that have these delicacies is to make your own property undesirable. My only request would be to NOT use poison that can be transferred to predators that eat rats. There are solutions… but the easiest is eliminating the food source.
My friend Paul Roberts is concerned about the lack of competition for leasing Tasers in Massachusetts, and this came up at Town Meeting. Perfectly valid complaint as competition creates value and I can get behind value. What I can’t get behind is when others argue against the need for Tasers. In just the last two weeks, a 32-year-old was charged with murder by firearm and in a separate case a 21-year-old was charged with murder of a child by firearm. Both had direct ties to Belmont and their crimes were horrific although thankfully neither occurred in Town. Belmont has seen a rise in linkage to violent crime and our Police Department should be outfitted with every available tool/weapon to address what is a growingly violent population more comfortable using weapons than fists.
John Magazzu ’86
Speaking of fists… in the 7th grade I became friendly with John Magazzu. He and I had a few classes together and would share a spot in the principal’s office once or twice. I lost touch with John in High School and recently learned of his passing. The saying “When we were young” captures the nostalgia of youth and longing for the simplicity of older times. Back in 7th grade after a few boxing workouts with the Police Athletic League I mistakenly agreed to a classic basement boxing match with gloves and a timekeeper. John was my opponent and he taught me two valuable lessons. Number one was don’t lead with your head and number two more importantly was never box if you have braces on. Rest in Peace John.
BHS/MS debacle part 616….
Parents are complaining that the poor design of the Girls Softball field with low netting results in dozens of softballs ending up in Claypit pond. It is somewhat surprising the field was designed with all 3 bases and home plate with the track record of the committee.
Summer Movie suggestion….
“Old Dads” tells the tale of three best friends who become fathers later in life and find themselves battling preschool principals, millennial CEOs, and anything created after 1987. Some salty language but also relentless laughs.
Prediction(s)
The Karen Read trial will end in a hung jury. It is hard to believe that any jury couldn’t find some reasonable doubt. With that said the Federal case within the case will provide jaw dropping shockers. Bet on it.
President Biden will step aside possibly July 1st and will transfer power to Kamala Harris in July. Harris will become the first female POTUS but will announce she is not seeking the nomination. The team of Gretchen Whitmer Pres. (Michigan Governor) and Maura Healey VP (Massachusetts Governor) will be the new Dem ticket. Long shot but who knows…
Why the 2020 Election was rigged, and the Debate just proved it.
The left says the “2020 election was rigged claim” is the great lie. Of course, the left refuse to entertain any evidence that doesn’t agree with their goal of becoming a Socialist nation. How do you rig an election? There are plenty of ways but the easiest is to paint your opponent as corrupt and evil through lies and mistruths and to repeat them so often that people assume they are based in fact. I think CNN’s most used word was “debunked” the last election when the entire network is void of truth most of the time when reporting on Joe Biden.
Remember Mitt Romney, he was loved by the left until he became the GOP candidate for President. As soon as that happened Romney became this evil man who abused dogs and kept women in chains. Senator Harry Reid swore Romney paid no income tax and that he had undeniable proof. Of course, Romney did pay taxes and when pressed that his actions were McCarthyite Reid responded: “Well, they can call it whatever they want,” “Romney didn’t win, did he?”
So, flash forward to the 2020 election. Russian collusion (lie), Hunter Biden Laptop is fake (lie), Very fine people comment (lie). These were narratives pushed as fact by most major media outlets to paint Trump as corrupt or paint Biden’s involvement with Hunter as non-existent. More disturbingly was the involvement of key Government employees lending credence to the lies and the use of the DOJ to pursue nonsense. American trust in the FBI/DOJ has never been so low. There is no doubt election interference occurred by these measures alone.
Three weeks ago, James Carville implored the media to again boost their biased coverage of President Trump to defeat him again. They don’t even try to hide it anymore. They are agents of the establishment who want you to continue to trust them even after all the lies.
For the last four years the media have continued lying to Americans about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Remember how the campaign hid him in the 2020 race. They said after the State of the Union how strong Joe was. What you saw last week was the reality of the last four years. Joe Biden was never really President outside of in name only. It is all too clear to all but diehard Biden fans that he is just a figure head. Longtime rumors suggest Obama has been running the show from his DC digs.
What changed is the campaign realized that the election is a runaway win for President Trump. That the most important issues to Americans are Inflation, Immigration and crime which happen to be the three biggest losers for Democrats who can’t even find a way to say the name Jocelyn Nungary, the 12-year-old Texas child gang raped and murdered by two illegal immigrants’ courtesy of Democrats failing to close the border without conditions. Realizing, how bad things are for the party, it became clear to party insiders that the only chance at victory is to sacrifice Joe and let him debate, knowing full well his incompetence. Then the goal is to get Americans to think this election is about the candidate and not the disastrous Democratic policies that have allowed close to 12 million illegals into our Country, caused crippling inflation, put American forces in harms way across the World, and pushing America closer to civil war.
So how do you rig an election? Tell lies over and over and say anything that challenges the lie has been debunked. Unfortunately for the media as hard as they try, they can’t get past the reality of weekly murders and rapes by illegal immigrants, supermarkets and drug stores closing or at minimum locking shelves because of crime, homeless defecating in the streets, American forces understaffed and over deployed, and the daily pain of buying anything due to intense inflation. Those are the results of Democratic policies, and it doesn’t matter who the Dem nominee is because the solution to America’s problems requires reinstating Trump policies and electing him even with all his baggage is still the best option to save America.
Some other headlines of interest
CBS News poll show 62% of Americans want ALL undocumented immigrants deported.
46% of EV car buyers are unlikely to buy EV again citing cost and convenience. (McKinsey)
Walgreens to close 2200 stores citing inflation.
Mass Governor sends team to border saying don’t come here after an illegal immigrant child rapist was released on $500 bond instead of being held for ICE agents and has now disappeared.
The Boston Celtics won their 18th championship.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed an energy bill giving a huge boost to nuclear power.
Kudos to Walter Almond for sharing this beauty…
The difference between “Highly Educated” and “Highly Intelligent”
has never been more obvious than now.