To The Citizens and Voters Of Montague:
Over the past year I’ve become increasingly concerned about the current atmosphere of the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee as it continued to insist on spending levels well beyond what the financial brain trusts of both communities were publicly stating could be maintained without dire consequences to other town services. I attended several Montague town meetings wherein the financial facts were starkly presented to the voters.
Time after time the tax-paying voters rejected the school budget, not out of any animosity against the schools and its students, rather due to the gloomy financial picture locally, state-wide and nationally. In one of my public comments I stated: “We need to squeeze six cents worth of value out of every nickel,” a situation I was convinced was not happening at the school level, no doubt due to the inefficiencies of both the school committee as well as the administration. Some members persisted then, as they continue to do now, in suggesting and crafting budget busters.
By attending several school committee meetings, it became apparent to me that the culture of the committee seems to suggest that their mandate was somehow different than that of the towns they represent. That they were only interested in the “school side” rather than the town-as-a-whole was evident. The committee and administrative leaders apparently refuse to acknowledge that the schools ARE the community, along with the police, fire and DPW departments. It is this culture of separation and isolation that I intend to change. Change needs to come to the school committee. The committee needs to understand that they do not operate in a vacuum, rather that they are part and parcel of an ENTIRE community. There is no intent on my part to degrade the educational experience of our (versus their) students . On the contrary, as a well educated person, I strongly and emphatically support the public school system. We are doing an excellent job of educating our students. We have sincere, committed staff who daily work to insure the QUALITY of OUR students’ education. My concern is not with those issues but the way in which the school committee operates and votes to spend OUR money in frivolous ways, under the guise of needing more to do more. Now is the time, as it is with EVERYONE ELSE, to do more with less. If elected to this one year seat, you can rest assured that I will take the entire community into account when it comes to budget matters. If elected, change WILL COME to the school committee. Thank you for your consideration.
Garry L. Earles is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with a national reputation as a seminar trainer in child & adolescent mental health conditions and accompanying issues. He has been a resident of Franklin County for over 30 years. Garry L. Earles, LICSW
Turners Falls, Massachusetts 01376
413-863-4128
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