Sorry LS. You should of thought of this when you were hiding money in postage meters and giving out big raises in a terrible economy. When is Lincoln going to pay for the underfunding that has been going on for years? When is LS going to have a competent finance director? LS has been and continues to be out of control.

The numbers don't add up "No Override Budget Does not Work"

Super presented a $26.4mm budget

No override budget of 26.7mm doen't meet the needs, (then why is the super budget lower?). If the "no overridge budget does not work why did he present less)

Super really wants $27.2mm or $800k more then he presented (or $500k more then the no override budget. This is to hire 8.66 teachers. If he increases his budget to the no override budget he is just under 1/2 way there.

Could there be a pattern here? Override results in higher taxes, Sudbury citizens without kids in the school system move out, new residents move in with more kids in the school system, override necessary for additional new students.

Rinse and Repeat.

Or, perhaps we as a town can come up with a way to manage our costs. I continue to propose a focus on "core" curriculum. If students wish to explore the vast elective options at LS then let them pay a fee just as they do for athletics. I'm not against the opportunity to take these electives, I only question whether the taxpayers need to support courses such as French Cinema.

(Part 1)

I agree with most of these comments. Interesting how many issues there are at our special school.

1. Superintendent: We have had a temporary stand-in Superintendent for how many years?
Mr. Carpenter is a very nice person. However, he appears to put more effort into asking for more money that to find ways to save money. It should be a requirement of this position to save the taxpayer’s money rather than looking for new ways to spend it. This automatic sense that the budget will increase 2.5 – 2.7 percent every year at a minimum is financially irresponsible. I have no idea how Mr. Ritchie got away with everything he did and it should have been a lesson to everyone this spending is unsustainable.

Mr. Carpenter applying for a Superintendent position in Harvard can only mean LS is his second choice at best. It would be comforting to know LS is Mr. Carpenter’s first choice, but it’s not.

Mr. Carpenter recently went on a school related trip to Europe. It’s not clear who paid for it and I have yet to hear why this trip was necessary during scheduled school time.

cont.....

(Part 2)

Mr. Carpenter and apparently the LS School Committee recently made a deal with a power company for solar panels with no guarantees of saving money. "Under that contract, the company (SunEdison) would build and maintain the structure for free in return for the rights to provide power to the school for 20 years." So LS would be locked into an electricity provider for 20 years with NO choice of another power company? Sound like a sweet deal for SunEdison. Why bother let the free market set competitive rates when you can sign a 20 year contract with a company who will decide what you pay? How the hell can this be a good deal? Are there any smart business people in our school systems?

2. 4 to 5 classes: There has never been a compelling reason why this cannot happen at LS. Very stiff and sometimes arrogant responses arise when this method of saving money it proposed. If our schools are going to be over burdened with unnecessary out of town students (see below), the 5 classes has to be implemented.

cont.....

(Part 3)

3. Out of town Students: We continue to have out of town students attend our schools at the expense of Sudbury residents. Children of town employees are “ENTITLED” to attend our schools for “FREE”. This is a ridiculous benefit and needs to go!

Also, Sudbury residents pay a majority of the expense for educating METCO students. I have provided the numbers before and certainly will again is there is any interest. This is a tremendous expense. I completely understand why people want to do this, but I wouldn’t choose it over providing for my own children’s education or the education of my neighbors who might not be as financially secure. I have heard of families leaving Sudbury because they could not afford the taxes. Yet out of town student families do not have this concern. Now that is simply wrong and a damn shame!!!

4. Special Education Costs: Some people think it not Politically Correct to question the costs related to special education. It should not be treated any different than the rest of the expenses. The Special Education costs have increased dramatically and are a significant part of our total school budget. Let’s examine the costs of special education carefully and ask the important financial questions. It’s our children, our employees, our schools and our money. There is nothing to be afraid of by looking at these costs.

(Part 4)

5. The White House: There were big plans to convert the White House Day Care Center to something more profitable. I have not heard anything on this for years.

6. Lost money: Over the years, lost money has been found. The Postage Meter story is just one of them. How is this acceptable for any organization? This alone is a red flag for a through audit.

7. GIC Insurance: No efforts by LS to save their employer (taxpayers) any money. You cannot get away with this in the business world. If you told your boss you don’t want to save the company money, you would probably be fired. LS was given a choice and they made the wrong one. It’s not about the children first. It was all about the LS employees first.

8. Lincoln paying its fair share: This is the Era of everyone (ie. anyone with a job) paying their fair share. State rules have implied Lincoln has not paid its fair share for many years and yet there are no discussions on how they will pay Sudbury back? We should all be looking for a reduction in property taxes when this happens.

cont......

(Part 5)

9. Too much non-class time: This goes for SPS as well. With an already very generous holiday, sick, school vacation and personal vacation time, there are too many half days and professional development days. These days have snowballed over the years and have resulted in the school calendar year being extended. Extended to the point where families have to cut their summer vacation time short because the first day of school is before Labor Day now. No matter how you slice it, this is a part-time job with full time benefits.

10. Audit: I agree both schools systems need through audits by INDEPENDENT auditors. No one should feel threatened by this. It’s simply a method to find out where money can be saved.

It bothers me when I hear Mr. Carpenter complain about the number of new students. How can anyone representing the schools possibly think it’s reasonable to complain about an increase in students when they refuse to teach 5 courses, address the education benefit for out of town employees, take a serious look at special educations costs and reconsider our commitment to the METCO program.

Residents need to understand they are being violated by the people we employ. They work for us! No one should be intimidated by the people we employ and the employees should be grateful for what they have.

(The End)

What a weird headline. Hello double negative!

Why do any residents care what Scott Carpenter thinks, he is unhappy with the position he's holding now, the only thing I want is for Mr Carpenter to be shown the door.

The town of Sudbury is famous for wasting money on frivolous items, they bought 3 sidewalk plows at least 1 of which was destroyed by an employee who ignored the warning lamp telling him/her the engine was over heating, these plows can only perform 1 function clearing side walks of snow the better choice would have been Bobcats w/ a sno thrower attachment, these tractors can be used all year round by simply switching attachments, a hybrid Ford Escape that the police readily admit can't pursue if a car goes past them at 50mph, a Ford F250 pick up truck for the police department because the price was so good they couldn't say no yet its always parked behind the police station, the street signs that probably cost us $100,000 to upgrade instead of having the sign department make a single sign that could have been attached to the existing signs that said Sudbury Ma, the sidewalk leading to the old Fort Devens Annex that the town was given federal money to install but didn't until they were questioned by the feds as to where the side walks were and then they hired outside contactors who worked 17 days including weekends to get them constructed at who knows the cost, these are just a few examples of recent wastes of OUR tax dollars.

This self proclaimed "special place" called LS is no longer affordable or sustainable. It is time to clean house there. We keep slipping in rankings while the tab keeps increasing every year. Meanwhile the teachers are enjoying teaching 4 classes per day instead of 5. It is a sad state of affairs in Sudbury.

What a well run town.

If the commentor above has all the right answers and solutions, why haven't you run for school committee? Do any of you know Sudbury was a top tier school system until about fiv years ago when all of this name calling etc. started. From 4 classes to 5 seems reasonable until you heard Mr.C say in the better schools in MA, they teach 4. Do the parents in the schools hear how poorly the school is doing? Its up to them to either change things or stop complaining. How come nobody ran for L/S this year? In another five years you will hear parents wailing about why their kids didn't get in to a great college, and try to blame L/S- you can't send your kids through school again, you get one shot, so make it count!

I agree with some of "Karoles" points. If everyone is so concerned about what's going on at LS, why didn't anyone step up and run? Rada is a great guy and has been a great volunteer over the years but he's been on the committee a little too long. New blood is a good thing. That being said when nobody steps up and runs, new people with new ideas will never be a reality.