Kingston School Board Votes to Close the Meagher School

This is Evidence of why School Board member elections should move from May to Election Day in November.  Everybody knows a small group of school district voters continues to sponsor and vote for board members who are ultimately elected and control the board independent of the wishes of the local taxpayers and parents. My observation is that a majority of local Kingston taxpayers would want to close an outlying school such as Zena School before closing the inner city Meagher School. Also, a majority of taxpayers want to revert to elementary schools aligned by grades K to 6 instead of K to 5.  Also, a majority of taxpayers want the school board to eliminate teacher step increases for longevity and coursework, as a means to counteract the Triborough Amendment and prevent local school tax increases. Let's move the school board member elections from May to November so the majority of school district citizens will have the time and opportunity to vote for people who will give us true representation.

Cuomo needs Wisconsin-like union relief policy or his 2% tax cap will fail

It is a myth that public service unions are the only way to build a middle class.  What about IBM, ToyotaUSA, and our local banks?  They have middle class employees without unions.  Public service unions, forced union dues,  union contributions to local politicians and finally unions negotiating with these same local politicians for higher and more benefits produces an unsustainable tax burden that is destoying the school districts and municipalities in NY State and all across our country. Governor Walker's position on public service unions may be our only way out of this unsustainable tax nightmare.  If Governor Cuomo does not come up with a similar mandate and union relief policy as Wisconsin's Governor Walker, Cuomo's 2% property tax cap policy and NY State's future is doomed to failure.

The Triborough Amendment is on a sinking ship

Anyone who is in favor of the Triborough Amendment is on a sinking ship. This amendment gives municipal & teacher unions a huge advantage by allowing them to continue operating under the old expired contract, which may include longevity step increases, until school districts and municipalities agree to a new "better" contract.  This amendment has destroyed the financial viability of school districts and municipalities in NY State.  Have you seen the financial numbers lately? Governor Cuomo is faced with a massive deficit and is pushing a 2% property tax cap for school districts and municipalities. However, in NY State unlike Wisconsin, Cuomo has not given schools and municipalities any mandate relief. I believe the Triborough Amendment will have to be repealed. Private sector jobs are now going to flock to Wisconsin away from Triborough Amendment states such as NY.

Get rid of the union-led school systems which rely on unfair group rewards

Unfortunately, our very important teachers are under the thumb of "aggressive" union leaders whose #1 objective is to collect union dues and spend the dues to elect politicians favorable to the union.  Please let me convince you that this #1 priority of union leaders interferes and eventually destroys educational excellence.  The individual teachers will not stick their neck out to work with administrators to better education with this union-led system.  The solution is to get rid of the union-led system which relies on unfair "group rewards" where all teachers get the same raises and step increases.  We need a competitive educational system which encourages the public, private and parochial schools to compete for students who will pay for their schooling with government issued school vouchers.  If we had true educational competition as the colleges do, you would see a tremendous resurgence and improvement in the education of our youth.

Closing Kingston elementary school buildings is Drastic!

Closing school buildings is Drastic!


Let's do a 2-step process with a checkpoint in between!

STEP 1-- Keep elementary schools open for now. Move 6th grade back to elementary schools. Make Middle schools 7, 8, 9th grades again. Make KHS 10, 11, 12 grades again (more room in closed cafeteria).

STEP 2-- If school population decreases further, look at closing an elementary school.

This type of go-slow logic must be used to lessen the impact on our children, their neighborhoods and the fabric of our city and towns.

In May, let's let the voters decide between moving 6th grade back to elementary schools and closing 2 elementary schools. If anyone out there knows how to get this on the May ballot please let me know. You can post it here on this blog.

Kingston Politics based on popularity. Let's post the issues here on this blog.

Kingston Politics has been mostly popularity-based, especially the aldermanic and Ulster legislative races. For me, the biggest issue is finding out where aldermanic and legislative candidates stand on issues. Can we come up with 4 or 5 city issues on which we can poll and document all 2011 aldermanic, legislative and mayoral candidates?  These 5 issues need to be specific, such as No tax or fee increases for 3 years, annual property tax assessment updates as promised previously, 10 per cent reduction in police, fire, dpw, city hall  budgets.  Please help to come up with 5 issues and to conduct this poll for the education and benefit of Kingston taxpayers and voters.

Before we close Kingston Schools, Let us vote whether to realign grades.

Before we close any schools, let's realign the grades back to K through 6 for elementary school, 7 to 9 for middle school and 10 to 12 for high school.  Why?  Because a majority of taxpayers and parents want that.  Do you want to prove it?  During this May's school election, let's vote on whether to close 2 schools or do the above realignment.  This sounds reasonable.  Doesn't it?  This is what the Kingston School voters want.  Let's vote.