Why is Lyons Leaving?

Kudos to the Daily News for getting an article out today. I was actually surprised they didn't send someone to Hudson for the vote. But I suppose they'd have a difficult time filing a story in time for the deadline.

Quick thoughts, I know the school committee members are reluctant to share details although the minutes from the executive session--assuming there are some--need to be made public per open meeting law now the Lyons is leaving.

But I hope Kevin Lyons opens up and explains why he's leaving. No doubt, the salary came into play. But if there's more to the story--including shortcomings here in Newburyport--than he should offer them up.

Parents put a great deal of faith into their educational leaders, definitely more so than any other department heads. I think this level of support needs to be rewarded with a higher degree of candor than we might get from other city leaders.

Update: Perhaps we'll learn more. Gillian Swart says she's talked with him.

Solar Stamp

I respectfully disagree with the school committee's backseat positioning on the solar panel deal. Daily News article here.

I can't say for sure whether or not this is a good deal for the city. The concerns over the roof seem legitimate. In any case, I can't fathom how school committee members could base their decision only on the matters Mayor Moak placed before them.

"We're not voting on rates or anything else in that contract," Menin said. "I'm going to vote to support this because I think I have a clear idea of my role in this."

Menin added that while questions of price and terms are valid issues, in his view those decisions were the sole right of the mayor to make, per his interpretation of Section 34 of the city charter.

"While (contract terms) are interesting and germane to me as a citizen, I'm not here as a citizen," Menin said. "Some people believe we're the court of last resort. I don't believe I have the option of doing that."

Moak repeatedly tried to clarify for members that their interest in the contract was limited to the one paragraph motion in front of them.

"The responsibility is on me," Moak said. "Your responsibility is what's stated."

Legally, the Mayor's interpretation is probably correct. Politically, however, these solar panels now belong to the schools. If they become an economic burden to the city in five or ten years, the school committee members at the time--not the mayor--will be held responsible.

And the school budget at the time will be tapped to make up for any dollars lost through the deal.

If school committee members feel the mayor is signing a good deal, fine. But if they truly have concerns about the term of the deal, they should have held onto the rubber stamp.

Just a shame

I obviously was disappointed this weekend when I read the Daily News article that Kevin Lyons was a finalist for a job in Hudson. I never met the man, and I doubt I'd recognize him if he stood next to me in line for coffee. But his considerable reputation more than made up for the lack of personal contact. (Scratch that, I found the photo.) In short, I felt lucky to have him.

That reputation clearly took a hit this weekend, at least in my eyes. 
I am not one of those people who confuses civil servants with indentured servants. I truly believe every professional has the right to follow their career onward and upward at some point in time.

But is this that point in time? Lyons and the school committee just took some TNT to the school system by closing the Kelley School. In my eyes, and I think in the eyes of many parents I talk to, the dust is still settling from the explosion. Folks don't seem entirely satisfied with the Rock Band like tour students will be making on their way to High School graduations. (Brown-Brez-Molin-Nock-HS, I can see the T-shirt sales now.)

I'm not sure Lyons had any plans--or saw any need--to iron those or any other wrinkles out. But it seems to me that he hasn't finished his business here. Yet, he saw fit to toss his name into consideration for another job.

Yes, I believe him when he says he didn't seek the job, but he still gave the go ahead and presumably interviewed for the position. He can't be drafted to serve as the Hudson School Superintendent.

He could have said thanks for the consideration but my work here isn't done yet. But he didn't, so now we're left with a lesser leader no matter what the Hudson School Committee decides tomorrow.

Or what our school committee decides tonight. Gillian Swart reporting that the school committee is now in executive session for the purpose of contract negotiation with Lyons. I don't the school's overall cause will be helped at all if Lyons pursuit of the new job leads to a sudden pay raise for the superintendent. His graceful rejection of earlier raises will be forgotten. Perhaps all this also will be if he stays for a raise.

But I doubt it.

UPDATE: Here is the Daily News' account.

Took Three Minutes

Got this email from School Committee member Stephanie Weaver

Hope all is well. I'm writing to let you know that the School Committee is conducting a community survey as part of its annual self-evaluation. So far we have good response from school parents, but we haven't had a strong participation rate from the rest of the community.

If you haven’t taken the survey yourself, and want to take a look at it, it can be found at www.newburyport.k12.ma.us/scsurvey. If folks do not have access to a computer, hard copies of the survey can be found at City Hall and the Newburyport Public Library.

We welcome participation and comments from all members of the Newburyport community.

It literally took less than three minutes. And it doesn't cost a dime.

Back to the Detour

Bruce Menin followed up to one of the spirited posts I cited earlier. Here it is.

A slight detour...

This won't turn into a political blog. Afterall, we already have one in this town.

But there will be time when politics intersect with my general interests--schools, the waterfront and, of course, blogging.

So I'll just take a brief detour from our regularly scheduled blog matter to steer you toward Bruce Menin's spirited posts on his Newburyport Schools blog.

I certainly need to do my homework on the entire field of candidates, but Bruce is a likely recipient of one of my votes.

Give a read if you haven't already. Check this one out also.

As always, you're free to comment here but it might be better to do so on Bruce's blog.

And I've got a partial answer to the question I asked earlier. I'll be posting on that soon.

Go Sox.