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November 18th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I think CC Milinazzo will do a very good job in the ceremonial aspect of the job and running the meetings. He’s well spoken, he’s articulate, and will make a good point person.
My only concern, and its a big one, is that he cannot vote nor can he negotiate the teachers contract which is about to expire. His wife is a teacher. It can become a conflict of interest to have your wife as a teacher and sit on the school committee. If this was a year when the contract was not coming up for negotiation I wouldn’t be as concerned.
The first issue is that 6 is an even number and that could cause a deadlock on the school committee during negotiations. It is also a major problem from the city side of the issue. The vice-chair of the Council cannot sit in place of the Mayor. It’s the Mayor or no-one. It’s now left up to the 6 elected members of the school committee. The Mayor is the only voice the Council (i.e. the city) has when negotiating this contract.
This school committee has not had the guts to hold the line against the teachers union in the past. And now it is even more important than ever.
My sense is that if this were someone other than Councilor Milinazzo many people on this blog would be crying foul. A conflict is a conflict regardless of who it is.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:13 am
John Leahy cannot vote on the teachers contract either. Brian Martin served as Mayor when his wife was a teacher.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:28 am
“My sense is that if this were someone other than Councilor Milinazzo many people on this blog would be crying foul. ”
If so, you’re not paying attention. Nobody has ever expressed the opinion here that “If it’s not Milinazzo I’ll be pissed off!”.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:58 am
We can only hope that this time around the School Committe wil not let Paul Geotges hold them hostage with his demands for yet another raise for the teachers. It’s well past time for them to learn how to say no. The city cannot afford any raises for anyone this year.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:04 am
It would be better if the Mayor could participate in negotiations, not because as Sarah writes “the sc has not had the guts to hold the line against the teachers union,” but because it is important and the more voices at the table, the better. Representation from the city is especially critical since the council ultimately votes the bottom line on the budget; however, City Manager Lynch is also a voting member of our negotiating team. I’ve asked the city solicitor for clarification regarding limitations for the mayor on the issue and if the vice-mayor can serve in this capacity. I’ll let you know when I hear back.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I don’t really care which one of them is Mayor but I do care that whomever it is should be able to vote on the teacher’s contract. Let’s face it, it’s the only important thing they have to do and Paul Georges has made mincemeat of them for years.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Mr Lynne you missed my point entirely. I was not referring to who was going to be elected Mayor. I was referring to the obvious conflict.
My point was that if this were another member of the Council, that had the same type of conflict, people on this blog would be sounding off against that person being the Mayor. But since it is Councilor Milinazzo, whom you support, there has been barely a mention of his conflict.
Insert the name of any Councilor that you did not support into this scenario and honestly ask yourself what your position would be. Would it be the same? I think not.
What is John Leahy’s conflict? He must have a family member who is a teacher. If true, which I think you are, that brings it down to five to negotiate. Do any of the others have conflicts?
I would think there would need to be a majority of the committee of seven (4 votes) to approve any contract. That’s cutting it really close. 4 of the 5 able to vote would have to be in favor.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
If I am not mistaken the last Mayor who could not vote on the Teacher’s Contract was Dick Howe Sr. His sister was a teacher.
Is anyone suggesting that the 5 individuals who followed him were a better, more effective Mayor because they could vote on a Teacher’s Contract?
November 18th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
If that’s your point then it should be understood that the sentence you wrote (”My sense is that if this were someone other than Councilor Milinazzo many people on this blog would be crying foul.”) expresses something different.
Personally, I’d be fine with other choices that don’t have conflict. That being said, it also needs to be noted that this is only one factor and that the salary negotiations are only one of the many jobs of the SC, so on balance I’m not sure this is fatal.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Maggie and Sarah - Thanks for the vote of confidence! I absolutely disagree w/you both. The last contract negotiated was three years ago and it took over one and half years to resolve. It resulted in major changes to the health insurance programs,which saved both the taxpayer and the employees monies. At the time of the contract vote the Lowell Sun Editorial actually stated we did a good job….I would ask that you please have some faith in your committee because we are cognizant of the current economic issues. If Jim is the mayor and cannot vote on the contract the total number that are able to negotiate and vote equals six - Dave Conway, Jackie Doherty, Alison Laraba, Jim Leary, Connie Martin and the City Manager. John’s sister is a teacher in Lowell…
November 18th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
sarah, I will reiterate what my husband said, “you’re not paying attention.” I among many others expressed that concern on the thread discussing this. So please, stop attacking people unless you know of which you speak, or you look sort of grossly uninformed.
Fact is, besides that concern, though, there’s not a whole hella lotta folks that are on the docket to take that job. Mercier, Caulfield, and Elliot don’t have the votes (thanks to Miss Change!), and to be honest, I’m not sure Broderick would want the job given its demands and his large young family. Bill Martin was just mayor one term ago, and though I really liked him as mayor, he may not be willing to do it again so soon. That basically leaves Milinazzo. I just don’t see any other choice. (And interesting history of Mayors - it having happened before.)
Broderick as VM appeals to me, though Kevin, you gotta speak up a bit on the mic when you take the podium.
As to teacher contract negotiations being “the only” thing the SC does, if anyone has ever actually gone to a few meetings, then says that, they aren’t paying attention there either. The SC does a lot of pretty big decision-making stuff on curriculum, etc - the “big picture” stuff that determines sweeping directions of our schools.
And just in case people bring it up (they haven’t but I know certain types of people will) the biggest difference between this and with the regional voke SC was that people’s family got hired by Cassin, the voke superintendent, and then subsequently he got ridiculous raises by said committee people. In this case, it’s only a mere conflict of interest (not quid pro quo hiring) so this is a very different case with regards to our current Lowell Superintendent and either Milinazzo or Leahy not being able to vote. That means stepping aside for the negotiations is all that is required for ethical behavior on either of their part.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Just a pet peeve of mine. Unless the charter has been changed it was Rita that began calling the job “Vice Mayor” when she first got it.
The job is Vice Chairman.
If it were Vice Mayor then the Vice Mayor would also chair the School Committee when the Mayor was absent.
That and the Lowell Sun creating a new nickname for the city some years ago that seems to have stuck are a couple of pet peeves of mine!
November 18th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Lynne I couldn’t agree more with you when you say the SC has a lot of the decision making process…in fact I think that the SC is the most difficult position to have. To me the council can be merely a popularity contest….but the SC really tends to bare the brunt of a lot of the hard economic decisions.
As for the issue of the new mayor…all I can say is lord help us if it’s stone faced Milinazzo…the Mayor is a figure head that must be able to “enjoy” the position…I fear Milinazzo would portray the city in a more negative light. One has to crack a smile, especially as mayor…and in my opinion Milinazzo just doesn’t have the personality for it!
November 18th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Big Dog, I hear ya. Let’s all pitch in and buy Milinazzo a pocket flask for his favorite libation. Not a big flask. Just enough to grease the corners of his mouth.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I could give a rat’s ass about personality. Tuesday night is just for show and any nitwit can cut a ribbon. The main task of a mayor is to keep eight other whiners and connivers together in some kind of harmony. Milinazzo will have an easy time of this, he’s in a comfortable majority. Bud presided over a fractured group at best and did a pretty good job of it, not that I’m a big fan of his but give him some credit. The next two years are going to be tough ones, but at least we won’t be distracted by any “Dump the Manager” talk.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Isn’t time to dump this completely ceremonial BS title, “mayor”? You’re a chairman; you don’t “mayor” shit.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:57 am
There you go Lynne shooting your mouth off again before you have all the facts ok My wife is a teacher at Greater Lowell and was hired as a teacher in 1997 and that was two superintendents before Jim Cassin ok
Just setting the facts straight again
Mike Hayden
November 19th, 2009 at 9:12 am
I didn’t name names, but since you want to be rude about “correcting” me, that reflects very poorly on you, frankly.
I know there are family members of committeepersons hired since Cassin got in. Don’t pretend that is not the case. Maybe yours isn’t one of them, but you still voted in a 9.5% raise/year for this guy, and you got booted for that and for your serious lack of judgment when dealing with the minority population of our schools.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I know there are family members of committeepersons hired since Cassin
Lynn, If you know names lets here them. Otherwise your trashing Cassin and the schoold committee without any facts just a broad statement with no proof.
As I have said I worked at the Tech (Under Bill Collins as Supt) and worked for Jim Cassin at the Tavern at the Bridge. Jim was someone who reccommended me for the job at the Voke (I did In House suspension.) almost 20 years ago when he was a Social Studies teacher.
To me if anyone wants to run and can win as long as they don’t vote on issues by law they cannot then there is no conflict. Mike Hayden never voted on a contract for teachers..he couldn’t. I may not agree with some of his stances ( specially the raise and his views on minorities) but he never voted on issues legally that he was not supposed to.
So for the school commitee people like Mike Lenzi, Dave Laferrier, Mike Hayden and George O’Hare who have served to the best of their ability (whether we disagree with that ability or their policy or performance) name names or retract the statement. Fair is fair
As I always say when I post,just show me where what I said is not true and I will apologize. So show us the facts…name the names or edit the statement to I suspect…
November 19th, 2009 at 10:32 am
First of all, to my mind, it’s enough to know that Cassin hired family members of committee members, and then those committee members gave him a horrendously expensive contract that brought him from $112,000 to $180,000+ in less than 5 years. Sorry, but I don’t think we have to drag the family members’ names through the mud in order to find that whole system a bit suspect.
Let me repeat. In four years, Cassin got raises that gave him just under $70,000 dollars in increased salary. That’s more than the cost of two new young teachers. Also, I have been told that as a superintendent, there are some major issues with his tenure. I hear that the teacher moral is pretty low in some departments. I hope that anyone, buddy buddy or not with Cassin, would want to take a hard look at whether or not he is doing a good job. But it appears they just hand him his 9.5% merit raise every year. It seems to me a severe lack of evaluation to have done so. Nevermind giving him that contract in the first place!!
Cassin needs to be let go, he’s too damn expensive, and we need to hire someone at a reasonable cost, preferably someone who actually has some school management experience. Which Cassin did not have when he came on. Sorry, but Cassin’s little cushy run-up of salary means he just priced himself out of a job, or at least, I hope so. Even if he was a stellar superintendent, which is not my understanding, he’s too expensive in these tough times. Try selling a $180+K salary to the taxpayers who are losing their jobs and houses and tell me if you think he really should stay on at that level of salary?
November 19th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
“First of all, to my mind, it’s enough to know that Cassin hired family members of committee members, and then those committee members gave him a horrendously expensive contract I don’t think we have to drag the family members’ names through the mud in order to find that whole system a bit suspect.”
You have not supplied any proof to back up what sounds like allegations of swapping jobs for Salary. A lot of verbage that can be summed up CASSIN BAD- Hayden Bad - need new people.
I may agree that Jim is overpaid (so was Bill Collins) but to accuse school committee people of what boils down to is an illegal activity without any factual evidence is wrong
You want to slam him on his salary, his hiring of Politcal people or former city hall workers (Garibedian, Byrne, McGovern) or things you can back up with facts that’s fine but I think this is what gives blogs and people (including myself) who post a bad name…tossing accusations without any facts to back it up.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
“You have not supplied any proof to back up what sounds like allegations of swapping jobs for Salary.”
Sorry, but if you know supposition A to be true (he hired several family members of school committee members), and supposition B to be true (he got a plum deal in 2005 while no one was paying attention), the appearance of impropriety is enough to warrant further investigation. Are we going to find some sort of recording wherein we have hard proof of quid pro quo? Of course not. It’s far more subtle than that. But that ANYone who gets a 9.5% contractual annual raise in the public sector is damned fishy to me.
I didn’t say anything was illegal. Now you’re putting words in MY mouth. I said it has the high appearance of impropriety. I’d say the same thing if Hayden and the rest were merely BFF’s with Cassin and gave him the same deal because they go over his house for dinner once a month. It’s not necessarily illegal, unless there was collusion, but it’s costing us too much damn money and are we getting the results we need from it? I doubt it highly, from what I’ve heard.
You think you have a high road here, but all I see is a high horse.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
“You think you have a high road here, but all I see is a high horse.”
LOL Not taking any high road just stating what I perceive as the facts
1) You state ” I know there are family members of committeepersons hired since Cassin got in” then “First of all, to my mind, it’s enough to know that Cassin hired family members of committee members, and then those committee members gave him a horrendously expensive contract ”
Yet CANNOT or WILL NOT offer 1 shred of evidence to support those statements. Where’s the proof??? How do you know?
2) You repeat it again “Sorry, but if you know supposition A to be true (he hired several family members of school committee members)
Again No Facts but you admit it is ONLY a SUPPOSITION. ( I DO NOT know that to be trur because I haven’t asked or talked to Jim Cassin since my son graduated two years ago.)
3) supposition B to be true (again ONLY a SUPPOSITION by YOU)
the appearance of impropriety is enough to warrant further investigation
What appearance? You make accusations without offering 1 shred of Fact or Proof.
Ever wonder why some people have issues with this Blog? you make accusations in generalities without backed up facts and people aren’t supposed to get upset?
I’m not on a high horse and have ripped Golden & Kaz on this blog often but I have used FACTS to do so. Just asking why you can’t also. Fair is Fair
November 19th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Gerry, you really are getting on my last nerve.
We know that family members have been hired. We know that a ridiculous raise was given to an unqualified candidate (who had no prior experience in administrating schools as I understand it). Which part of this isn’t true?
Just because this makes your friends look bad in this case doesn’t mean that what I’ve written isn’t true. There are two facts, that put together stink to high heaven. Even without the family member hiring, the RAISE is enough to stink to high heaven. Sorry, but I don’t see why you keep screaming about this. You say I am not using facts but I have done nothing BUT do so. The Voke SC has done a terrible job holding Cassin to his responsibilities, handing out sweetheart deals. Nuff said.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Lynne,
Why your last nerve? Because someone dare ask you to be held accountable the way you want all elected officials to be?
All I am asking for is FACTS!
You keep saying “We know that family members have been hired”
Who is We?..I’ve stated I know nothing of the sort. Mike Hayden already stated his wife started before Cassin was Superintendent.
“We know that a ridiculous raise was given to an unqualified candidate (who had no prior experience in administrating schools as I understand it)”
I beleive there was more than 1 candidate and a majority of the elected committee as a whole hired him. Are you now implying that the Voters of Lowell, Dracut,Tyngsboro and Dunstable elect corrupt, crooked or dumb committe people who hire unqualified people or that every member who voted to give Cassin the job and contract are either corrupt or dumb?
Just because this makes your friends look bad in this case doesn’t mean that what I’ve written isn’t true
Just because you keep saying the same thing over and over and over doesn’t make it true. You have supplied no evidence that Cassin hired family members in return for a fat contract.
I on the other hand did state You want to slam him on his salary, his hiring of Politcal people or former city hall workers (Garibedian, Byrne, McGovern) or things you can back up with facts that’s fine and that I disagreed with Hayden on the contract so I’m not protecting a friend.
I’m pointing out you are slamming Cassin for getting a big raise and insinuating that he received it because he gave school committee family members job. But have been unable/willing to prove it.
Also Facts are that Dracut has 2 voting members and Tyngsboro & Dunstable 1 each making 4 votes. Lowell only has 4 members so are you claiming Cassin gives jobs to ALL the members family’s and that they all need to be investigated?
November 19th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
No, you are getting on my last nerve because you are a broken record saying the same thing over and over again. That’s the only reason I am stating the same thing over and over again. You seem to think that because I was unwilling to drag specific people into this that I didn’t have a list of specific people. You are wrong.
Yes, I think they hired a guy who was not qualified for the job at the time. I do not know what other candidates applied at the time, but Cassin had NO experience in administration. Now, that doesn’t preclude someone from being able to do the job but someone should have principal or other admin experience first, in my opinion, so one knows how they manage people underneath them and how they hire and fire.
You want names? Fine. This is what I know:
Two daughters of committee Chair Dave Tully were hired since 2005, as well as George O’Hare’s two daughters. Also, Hayden’s daughter was hired as security last year.
Now, regardless of quid pro quo, it looks bad. It also looks bad SIMPLY FOR THE FACT of giving this guy a 9.5% raise! JUST THAT FACT alone stinks to high heaven. It stinks of cronyism. Sorry, but NO ONE gets those sorts of raises, not even in the PRIVATE sector. So let’s get one fact straight: THIS. GUY. IS. TOO. EXPENSIVE. Even if he were the best superintendent of a SINGLE SCHOOL ever to exist in the whole goddamned world.