Posts Tagged ‘schools’
March into madness
Out of an abundance of misanthropy, I have decided to self-quarantine until further notice. No, I’m not reacting to the coronavirus. I’m responding to the sheer panic that has overtaken the human population in the last week, including some normally level-headed leaders. I’m in Stop & Shop about every other day under normal circumstances. But […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Boston Marathon, bottled water, cancelations, Charlie Baker, closings, colleges, coronavirus, COVID-19, disease, economy, epidemic, hand-sanitizer, hoarding, Humor, hysteria, illness, Mark Sardella, misanthropy, News, Opinion, pandemic, panic, parks, Politics, quarantine, restaurants, schools, sickness, social distancing, Stop & Shop, supermarket, toilet paper, Town Meeting, virus, WakefieldMA
The cost of learning
If there is one group of individuals about whom a discouraging word must never be uttered, it’s public school teachers. Wakefield teachers have been without a contract since last summer, which you’ve probably heard as their supporters have been using social media and other means to spread the word.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: budget, class size, contract, DPW, education, Galvin Middle School, Greenwood School, Humor, Mark Sardella, negotiations, Norma Rae, Opinion, police, Politics, Public Safety Building, salary, School Committee, School Department, schools, students, taxpayers, teachers, Town Meeting, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Education Association, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Walton School, WEA
The spark of youth
Massachusetts state lawmakers are currently weighing a proposal that would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. In other news this week, the latest viral trend among teenagers involves partially inserting an iPhone charger into a wall outlet and sliding a penny down the wall onto the exposed prongs, causing an explosion of sparks, electrical damage, […]
Filed under: History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ayyanna Pressley, ballot, children, elections, electrical outlet, fires, Harvard, iPhones, Jim Morrison, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, penny, plug, Politics, schools, science, Sen. Jason Lewis, smoking, teachers, teenagers, viral, votong, Wakefield Daily Item
Teachable moment
“Demands on classroom teachers are now laughable,” Wakefield Education Association president Will Karvouniaris told the meeting of the “Tri-Board” last week. If any members of the Town Council, the School Committee or Finance Committee were amused, they didn’t show it. The town’s three top boards were meeting in joint session at the Galvin Auditorium last […]
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Tags: budget, children, class size, Finance Committee, finances, fiscal, History, Humor, Mark Sardella, mythology, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, quid pro quo, School Committee, schools, teachers, Town Council, Tri-Board, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Education Association, Wakefield MA, WEA, William Karvouniaris
Weeding out NIMBYism
Well, well, well. It seems that as the date approaches for the first recreational marijuana shops to open, more and more communities in Massachusetts are getting cold feet – including towns that voted overwhelmingly to legalize the bud. That includes Brookline, where they voted 17,803-11,066 to legalize recreational marijuana statewide. But now, in a community […]
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Tags: accidents, ageism, Brookline MA, bud, car crashes, Colorado, Concord MA, election, hemp, herb, Humor, insurance, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, legalization, loitering, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medicine, Nevada, NIMBY, Opinion, Oregon, plastic bags, Politics, pot, prohibition, schools, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Washington, weed
No win zone
Sometimes, the people in charge of things just can’t win, especially in the age of social media, where everybody’s a pundit. Recently, town officials announced several more initiatives to try to revitalize the downtown. Of course, it’s never enough. Or is it too much? Either way, the town is sure to get slammed for doing […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, business, business district, commercial property, development, Dog Park, Dollar Tree, downtown, economic development, Facebook, Malden, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, merchants, parking, police, pundits, Ralph Waldo Emerson, schools, signs, social media, taxpayers, traffic, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, zoning
Long before it became part of my job, I would attend practically every Town Meeting. It wasn’t out of any sense of civic duty. I’ve always found Town Meeting to be great entertainment. That has led some to suggest that I seek professional help. Last week’s two-part episode did not disappoint. If you’re one of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: budgets, bylaws prohibition, Cannabis Community sea turtles, Chamber of Commerce, Christine DeFelice, Galvin Middle School, herb, local government, Marianne Cohen, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, plastic bags, pot, Rada Boutique, schools, Town Meeting, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Walton School, weed, William Carroll
After the Big Bump
When the Wakefield School Department came out this week and requested a 4.84 percent increase in its FY 2018 budget, they turned a few people into prophets. In 2015, Annual Town Meeting approved a “one-time” 11.4 percent increase in the School Department budget. The Big Bump was supposed to “right size” the School Department by […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: budget, drama, education, funding, Galvin Middle School, marching band, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, music, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools, students sports, theater, Town Meeting, user fees, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
Fine print
Lately, I don’t feel like my week is complete until I’ve been lectured by a millennial about one thing or another. Usually it’s about the evil of plastic bags or how many genders there are or how the Founding Fathers all smoked hemp, dude. The usual venue for these sermons is social media, where I’m […]
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Tags: Baby Boomers, citizenship, civics, education, Facebook, First Amendment, Founding Fathers, Freedom of the Press, Great Depression, Greatest Generation, hippies, Invasion of Normandy, Mark Sardella, media, millenials, mosquito, News, newspapers, Olympics, peace movement, Politics, press, schools, social media, Stephen Colbert, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Zika
Where’s the Money?
Now that July 19 is behind us, can we finally admit that all the hand-wringing over the Special Election had nothing to do with it costing the town $10,000 and everything to do with politics and the person who filed for the Special Election? After Phyllis Hull collected the 200 signatures needed to force the […]
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Tags: Ally Houghton, Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidates, Chris Callanan, Dan Benjamin, election, Galvin Middle School, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mehreen Butt, money, Nate Gayman, Phyllis Hull, Politics, schools, special election, taxes, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
