[Local-Maine-Schools] Fwd: MPBN/School Consolidation Reporting

[egrover at u98.k12.me.us]

Gail,
I remain in awe of the personal committment and intelligence of those  
like you who are so dedicated to preserving the quality of education  
here on the island.  Remarkable rebuttal.  I will be interested in the  
response it generates.
Thanks for your seemingly endless vigilance,
Ellen



Quoting Gail Marshall <gmarshall at wildmoo.net>:

> A letter I sent to Maine Public Radio after hearing the report I link
> to in the article. The comments I refer to are towards the end of the
> clip.
> I hope you find it useful.
> Thank you,
> Gail
> (BTW, Like many of you, I am a long-time dues-paying member of the  station.)
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Gail Marshall <gmarshall at wildmoo.net>
>> Date: February 28, 2008 9:54:24 PM EST
>> To: cbeck at mpbn.net, kshortall at mpbn.net
>> Cc: Hannah Pingree <hannah at pingree.com>, Dennis Damon    
>> <dsdamon at panax.com>, Ted Koffman <koffman at coa.edu>
>> Subject: MPBN/School Consolidation Reporting
>>
>> Mr. Beck and Mr. Shortall,
>>
>> I am disappointed by AJ Higgins' decision to include in his Maine    
>> Things Considered February 28th report of the Kids Count study,    
>> Governor Baldacci's unsubstantiated assertion that the school union  
>>   amendment to the school consolidation repair bill furthers the    
>> interests of only superintendents and school administrators and    
>> stands in the way of providing children "scholarships and    
>> technology to compete in a global economy."   
>> http://www.mpbn.net/asx/ 080228kids.asx
>> Has anyone in your organization investigated whether or not there    
>> is any factual basis to the 'oft-repeated assertion by this    
>> administration that school unions cost more than other forms of    
>> governance? If you have found any data that goes beyond bald    
>> assertions, I would appreciate seeing it. The Department of    
>> Education's inveterate statistician, David Silvernail, testified to  
>>   the Education Committee that there is no ability to establish a    
>> causal relationship between governance structure and cost. Gordon    
>> Donaldson, professor of Education at UMO, has repeatedly studied    
>> this issue and found no correlation.  IF there are higher costs in   
>>  a school union, Dr. Silvernail opined it is more likely because a   
>>  higher percentage of Unions are in more prosperous regions of the   
>>  state and they spend more money on instruction. In the elementary   
>>  school in my town of Mount Desert we are fortunate to be able to    
>> appropriate and spend far more than the wholly inadequate EPS    
>> system prescribes. We spend it on  French for K-8, special    
>> education, gifted and talented programs, counseling, art, music,    
>> physical education, sports, technology, including laptops down to    
>> 4th grade, small class sizes and so much more. Further, it is our    
>> municipal taxpayers, not the state, who tax themselves and pay for   
>>  it all.
>> Last year this same administration asserted that the consolidation   
>>  bill would save $32 million dollars in the first year. Their    
>> assertions were never adequately vetted. There are no savings on    
>> the horizon.
>> They said there would be no "cost-shifting" between towns forced to  
>>   consolidated. It was demonstrably false at the time of the    
>> utterance. Circumstances everywhere have borne that out.
>> They said combining disparate teacher contracts would not be very    
>> problematic. Having already done that in a collegial, not a forced   
>>  setting, I know better.  But really, anyone without a rocket    
>> science degree could have correctly guessed "false".
>> They said there would be no loss of local control and yet they    
>> attempt to supplant local decision-makers with advisory boards and   
>>  then declare "regional' the new "local."
>> They said bigger systems can manage money better, and yet the State  
>>   is bleeding red ink which will soon precipitate cutbacks in state  
>>   education aid staff members of DOE call "brutal". That will  
>> really   leave Maine's kids disadvantaged unless we inefficient  
>> little towns   can bail them out by picking up the tab (again). And  
>> the biggest   school system in the state, Portland, shocked its  
>> citizens with   major overspending last year.
>> Wouldn't you think that by now a reasonably prudent news    
>> organization would take what they say on this subject with a grain   
>>  of salt?
>> I have been very disappointed by the caliber of reporting on this    
>> issue by MPBN from the beginning. Rarely have I  heard more than    
>> drive-by reporting that usually highly correlates to Department of   
>>  Education press releases or Governor Baldacci's pronouncements.  I  
>>   have an independent perspective because I have been involved in    
>> this debate since the beginning. But the broader implications of    
>> this for my trust in MPBN's reporting is troubling. How nuanced and  
>>   vetted is the rest of the reporting I hear on issues about which  
>> I   have no independent knowledge? How can I maintain confidence  
>> that   it is any less superficial and slanted?
>> Before MPBN further prejudices your listeners against school Unions  
>>   with quick and dirty sound bites, I invite you to do a little    
>> investigative journalism. Visit us in Union 98 on Mount Desert    
>> Island, the home of the proponents of the amendment. Our school    
>> Union already functions the way we are proposing the Legislature    
>> permit us and others to coalesce. You might learn that we and our    
>> colleagues in other Unions are not the reckless spendthrifts we    
>> have been made out to be, that with our superintendents and    
>> administrators we have the best interests of our children at the    
>> center of or work, and that we do a pretty fair job of it.
>> Thank you,
>> Gail Marshall
>> PS: Before you come to visit, you might check out our website that   
>>  is a reliable clearinghouse of news and information about school    
>> consolidation. http://mdischools.net/
>>
>>