9/11 Longmeadow Remembers Memorial Event

Select Board Chair Criticizes School Committee Actions

At last night's Select Board meeting Chairman Mark Gold criticized the Longmeadow School Committee for their recent and past actions regarding line item transfers for salary increases.

Two previous Buzz posts provide some additional background information regarding the SC's actions mentioned in Mr. Gold's comments.  Click on the links to review them.

Longmeadow Town Manager and School Superintendent Contracts-  10/06/10
Here We Go Again!- 7/03/11

Watch the video below for Mr. Gold's comments.

Those Vexing Links

Here is Alex Grant's latest opinion column "Those Vexing Links" that appeared in last week's edition (8/25/10) of the Longmeadow News (with permission of the author and thanks to the Longmeadow News).

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A little over a year ago, the Select Board made a decision to deliver us from the perils of a volunteer-run town website and bring us to the promised land of a government-run town website.  Now that we are paying for what the prior webmaster was doing for free, how far has Longmeadow come?

On the supposedly big issue of "links" on the town website, the issue that provoked the hasty defrocking of Jim Moran as town webmaster, the answer is: backwards.  Before, there were links on the town website that were, you know, of interest to Longmeadow residents.  Now, they are gone.  Residents interested in the local Boy Scout troop, the Longmeadow Historical Society, the local running club, and community groups in town now can now go to Google if they know what to search for.  If they don't, residents can rely on the pre-internet methods of keeping an ear to the ground and scanning the bulletin board at Big Y.

In other words, the new government-run website is less useful than it used to be.  But then again, that's hardly a surprise.  In the amount of time Apple can engineer a new iPhone, the town of Longmeadow can start to consider how to deliberate on how to create a new content policy.  The Select Board and the Town Manager first saved the town from Mr. Moran's nefarious links and then spent several months forming a task force and having conversations about what the new website should look like.  

The ponderous process of deciding what content goes on the town website included the recent July 5, 2011 Select Board meeting at which the Town Manager presented a linking policy.  The current policy, which can be found on the town website, is wordy and murky.  The policy identifies certain types of websites which the town will not link to, such as those associated with political or advocacy groups or which promote religion, hate, pornography, or defamation.  (A little ironic that religion and pornography have equal footing).  Also verboten are links to individual home pages.

But that still leaves most of the internet.  The policy then turns to what the town website "may" link to.  Everything is done at the "discretion" of the town.  But whose discretion?  That was the nub of the issue last year when certain members of the Select Board decided that a 2.5 year old link to the Longmeadowbuzz blog became intolerable when Mr. Moran expressed an opinion on the blog about the new high school.  Mr. Moran used to decide on the links, which were among the myriad of decisions he had to make to keep the website current and operational.

According to the Town Manager's proposal, it would be the Select Board making the link by link decisions on organizations like the Newcomers Club.  It is clear that the bar is set pretty high for non-governmental sites: "In rare instances, Longmeadow.org links to websites that are not government-owned or government-sponsored if these websites provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website."

The Town Manager would also have an organization wanting a link to submit an application.  Applicants would have to carefully peruse the 13 types of disqualifying factors, such as, "content that a reasonable citizen may not consider to maintain the dignity and decorum appropriate for Longmeadow website."

Wow.  On the one hand, our Select Board members will really earn their stipends as they engage in searching debates about the appropriateness of certain websites.  On the other hand, the linking policy will is so cumbersome that it diminishes the value of the town website.  Websites are constantly changing.  Will the Select Board have to revisit its linking decision every time an organization changes the content to its website?  Will someone be monitoring the linked sites to make sure they do not run afoul of the "appropriate dignity and decorum" the Select Board expects?

There is a much easier and cost-effective way of dealing with the links issue.  Let's just stipulate that a link does not imply endorsement by the town.  Let's also acknowledge that it will be a cold day in Hades when the benign civic organizations in our town, like the Historical Society, would put anything on a website that would be truly disreputable.  And let the webmaster make the day-to-day, common sense decisions on links as Mr. Moran did.

There's just one catch, and it is one that the Select Board created last year.  The Select Board made links a hot-button issue when it ousted Mr. Moran.  No future webmaster, whether a town employee or a volunteer, will dare to link to anything without explicit approval.  One wrong step is apt to be a firing offense.  That's not the way to create a dynamic community website in 2011, but it is apparently, the Longmeadow way.

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Alex J. Grant is a lawyer living in Longmeadow.  
His email address is alex.grant68@yahoo.com .

Upgraded School Websites

 

http://sites.longmeadow.k12.ma.us/lhs/ 

About one year ago in a Buzz post I recommended that the individual Longmeadow school websites be integrated (or upgraded) into the new School Department website using the Google Sites- a free content management program offered by Google.

At that time I had found that there were "stipends"  for webmasters for each school + the school department adding up to $10,815 for FY11.  There were also similar budget items for FY09 and FY10 and for prior years. The current FY12 budget includes a similar amount.  I believe that these budget line items have been in place for at least 5 years so the Longmeadow School Department has spent ~ $50K maintaining the individual schools and school department websites.  The appearance and functionality of our individual school websites certainly did not reflect this level of expenditure.

It is good to see that three of our schools (Longmeadow HS, Glenbrook MS and Williams MS) now have upgraded websites using the Google Sites software that better reflect the quality of education in our schools.  Hopefully, the remaining schools (Wolf Swamp, Center and Blueberry Hill) will be upgraded shortly.

The Town Manager's Website Taskforce (now disbanded) recommended the use of a different CMS software package... Wordpress.. because it was ready to go "right out of the box" and it was FREE.  In addition, the Taskforce recommended that there was no need for a webmaster since this was considered an outdated approach to effective website management.  Town employees could be trained to effectively post information on a daily basis.  Anyone who has visited the town website recently knows that approach has not been working well and our website certainly does not rank very well with websites for many of our surrounding communities.

Question

If our IT department is now responsible for Town Government IT services, why is the appearance and functionality of new Longmeadow High School website so much better than our new town website?

It's beginning to sound like our Select Board should be asking the SC for a MOU (memorandum of understanding) for IT support.... let's hope not!  

At least Town Government can reverse the IT consolidation since it is not mandated by the Town Charter.

911 Memorial Service

Dear Longmeadow Residents,

We are coming up on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th. Throughout the years each of us has been keeping the day in our own way, remembering the friends and family we lost on that day. As a town we should come together this year and remember those we lost, and honor our residents who have entered the services to protect us.

We are planning a meeting this Thursday (August 25) at 12:30 PM at the Longmeadow Adult Center to gather ideas and begin planning. Please join us. If you cannot come and would like to participate please drop me an email or call me and I will include you in all future meetings and plans.

Thank you,
Marie Angelides
marie.angelides@gmail.com
(413) 567-2911

Longmeadow School Committee

will become an appointed (or self appointed) committee.

With the latest resignation of Gwen Bruns there is now a second vacancy on the School Committee. Interested parties should see notice on the Longmeadow Community Bulletin Board.

There were three uncontested races for School Committee seats (Fitzgerald, Clark and Flynn) at the recent June annual town elections. Now with the two vacancies opening up, a total of 5 seats out of 7 will be either appointed (or self appointed) positions.

The School Committee directs the expenditure of over 30 million dollars of taxpayer monies. The upcoming SC appointments by the Select Board/SC are of great importance to our town. At this point there are 6 individuals asking to be appointed for the first vacancy.

Here is a list of the six candidates for the first vacancy (as of 8/24/11):

James Cass, 25 Roseland Terrace 
Rev. Deacon Charles J. Gebron, 432 Wolf Swamp Road

Owen J. Humphries, 1072 Longmeadow St.
Gerard Kiernan, 86 Cobblestone Rd
Jeremy Powers,319 Merriweather Dr.
Daniel Zwirko, 58 Shady Side Dr.

A key question to each of these candidates should be:
Why didn't you run for one of three SC vacancies at the Annual Town Elections in June?

Let's hope that the SC/SB make some good selections- voters will not be able to do so until next June!

Volunteerism in Longmeadow

Select Board member Rob Aseltine provided the best "quote of the week" during the August 15 Select Board meeting.

Speaking about the lack of resolution of the irrigation problems and subsequent damage at Turner Park fields, he made the following statement....

"a situation like this drives a stake through the heart of volunteerism in this town".

Here is the video clip with Mr. Aseltine's comments (courtesy of LCTV)

SBC is Winner in June Elections

Below is an opinion written by Alex Grant which was recently published in the Longmeadow News.  He makes some interesting points about the spending authority of an unelected committee.  It is reposted here with permission of the author.

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            In 2008, Brian Ashe campaigned on the slogan, "if nothing changes, nothing changes."  It's one of the sayings that you have to look at sideways to make sense of, kind of like, "it ain't over til it's over."  I think what our town's foremost politician meant was that unless voters put new blood in government, government does not change.  With no contested races in last month's town elections, and candidates' platforms failing to take issue with anything that has happened in town government recently, town residents can expect nothing to change.

            For residents who might be concerned about the unelected School Building Committee (SBC) spending tens of millions of dollars without oversight by the voters or the elected boards of our town, the message again is, expect more of the same.  Prior to the election, I asked each of the School Committee and Select Board candidates to comment on the issue of the oversight of the SBC.  Marie Angelides and Laurie Flynn declined to make a comment on the record.  Gwen Bruns opted to say nothing more than to stand by the March 2011 statement of the SBC defending its formation and subsequent management.

            Michael Clark and John Fitzgerald, to their credit, did respond, and they offered full-throated defenses of how the SBC was formed and how it has operated.  According to them, all is well with the SBC.  In short, because a minority of the SBC's members were selected by the School Committee and the Select Board some three years ago, and because the two elected boards receive updates on the SBC's doings, there is proper oversight.  Fitzgerald went further in saying that I was wrong to call the SBC "unelected," since it was "elected by the School Committee and the Select Board."  And besides, Fitzgerald added, "any decisions that raise questions would be challenged by the SC, if they deem them worthy of challenge."

            Town residents who might have a different definition of "elected" than Mr. Fitzgerald, as in candidates being, you know, chosen by the voters of the town, and having to prove themselves worthy of re-election every now and again, are out of luck.  With the status quo reigning, SBC members, who have never been chosen by the voters, will continue to hold their positions as long as they want.  If someone resigns, then the SBC, and not its ostensible overseers, will continue to decide on replacement members.  This, I should repeat, is unlike any other board in town.

            At the May Town Meeting, residents voted on a budget and voted on expenditures big and small.  There was the decision on what to do with $5000 from vending machines, and the decisions on windows for the Community House, repairs to one of the town pools, and a fire truck.  We make these decisions at Town Meeting because that is Longmeadow's form of government under its charter.  The voters at Town Meeting are literally the legislature, the law-making body of the town.

            And yet, the SBC makes its own decisions about expenditures for the new high school.  Earlier this year, the SBC voted on "add alternates" (or "add-ons") to the original project scope that totaled $665,000, such as an "exterior environmental gardenscape."  The SBC had kicked around the misbegotten idea of an astroturf field, which would have been resurrected had the various bids come in lower so that the SBC had some more spare cash.  I happen to think the turf field was a horrible idea, but some of these other "add alternates" may be great ideas, and well worth the money.  But then again, my opinion and your opinion did not matter, since the voters never had a chance to vote on these items.

            How is it that Town Meeting voters must approve the budget and some rather detailed spending proposals in the regular town budget, but when it comes to spending proposals for the new high school budget, those same voters have no say?  Even more paradoxical is the fact that the elected Select Board has no power itself to spend money, but the supposedly inferior SBC does.

            These nagging questions are issues that town residents can rely on the newly constituted Select Board and School Committee to ignore.  None of these contradictions were addressed by the prior Select Board and School Committee, and the latest round of elections has placed in power a group of people who will not upset the status quo.

Alex J. Grant is a lawyer living in Longmeadow.   
His email address is alex.grant68@yahoo.com.

Facebook Comes to Longmeadow

Facebook has been around since 2004 starting out as a social network at Harvard University.  Now there are approximately 630 million Facebook users in the world; 95 million users in the United States and an estimated 3500 users in the town of Longmeadow, MA.

Some additional Facebook.com average user figures and facts:

• Average user has 130 friends. 
• Average user spends 15½ hours/ month on FB.
• Average user visits FB 40 times per month.
• Average user spends ~ 23 minutes during each visit.
• 200 million people globally access FB via a mobile device each day.
• More than 30 billion pieces of content are shared each day.
• FB generates a staggering 770 billion page views per month.

Demographics of FB users in the United States

See reference for above data.

Facebook started with people sharing personal information on their personal profile pages….it now has moved to become a much broader communications tool with the introduction of business and organization fanpages.  

At last count Coca Cola had 32.5 million fans on their business fanpage and it was growing by 300,000 every week.  A fan is a Facebook user who has visited the Coca Cola fanpage and clicked the “LIKE” button at the top of the page.  The FB user does not need to revisit the fanpage again since all of the Coca Cola fanpage content will automatically be delivered and posted on their FB profile page.

If the information is interesting, the FB user can simply click the “LIKE” button or add a comment to the post and it is then shared with all of their FB friends.

Consider this… if Coca Cola adds a new entry on their fanpage, immediately this information is displayed on the FB profile pages of their 32.5 million fans.  If only 1% of the Coca Cola fans click the "like" button or add a comment (with the average FB user having 130 friends), this information is then sent to the FB profiles of at least another 40-45 million FB users assuming there are no friend-friend duplications.  That is quite an extraordinary reach.  Since FB relies upon friend-friend interactions, movement of information in this manner can occur with great speed and be of great influence.

This is the power of Facebook- which the world has recently witnessed during the emergence of the freedom initiatives in Egypt and elsewhere.  Facebook is no longer the place where college drinking photos are unintentionally (or intentionally) shared with family, friends and business colleagues.  It has become a medium for social interaction of much greater importance.
 

What can Facebook do for Longmeadow?

From what I have found there are only 2 Facebook fanpages in Longmeadow that have more than 150 fans so at this point there is no effective central point for dissemination of local information.

LongmeadowBiz- 219 fans
LongMeddowe Days- 170 fans- this fanpage is for the annual town celebration

An effective fanpage for Longmeadow will likely require about 1000-2000 fans in order to have a potential reach for the entire town.  Hopefully, as people become more comfortable with Facebook, the number of FB users in town will also grow which is likely given the remarkable growth and favorable publicity that Facebook has received over the past year.

The LongmeadowBiz fanpage was created in November 2010 as an online communications network for Longmeadow residents and town businesses.  If you visit the LongmeadowBiz fanpage you find that it is open for public participation by anyone who has a Facebook account.  Posting of information of interest to Longmeadow town residents (events, town/ school / community items, etc.) is encouraged.

Postings will be monitored and those who post objectionable content will be reported to Facebook and banned from posting in the future.  I am hopeful that this open venue will not be sabotaged and forced to become a closed venue.

For those who are new to Facebook, you can view the LongmeadowBiz fanpage (<-- simply click this link) without becoming a user.  Your privileges will be limited until you create a Facebook account.

I would encourage everyone to take a look at the LongmeadowBiz fanpage and if the content is of interest, please click the "LIKE" button at the top of the page and become a FAN.

What a difference!

A view from our front window.

It was not very long ago that we were complaining about the record amount of snowfall and trying to get the heavy snow removed from our rooftops.  Now we are hoping that there are no power outages that would shut down our air conditioners.  I hope that all of the people affected by the June 1 tornados are doing OK.