GilfordGrok

Dear Editor:

I recently read an article where Paul DeMinico [Superintendent, Gilford, NH SAU  -Skip] argued in favor of adopting the International Baccalaureate Program.  He seemed to be arguing against the many controversial issues that plague this program.  It's as if he simply cannot admit that this program comes with baggage.  Cost being one of those obstacles.

In these tough economic time, it's wise for taxpayers to look closely at any spending program.  This one should not be excluded from scrutiny.
 
This program does come at a hefty cost to taxpayers.  This is one of the main reasons Bow residents refused to allow the program in that district.

On top of the costs is the agenda of this program.  All one has to do is visit the IB web site to see that they promote a United Nations agenda within the program.  This isn't a conspiracy, they happily tell you this at their web site.
 
If Dr. DeMinico visits this site, he will read where IB states:

"The new syllabus, for which students will first sit exams in 2011, is designed to encompass the United Nations' millennium development goals, particularly those concerning poverty reduction, gender equality, improvements in health and education, and environmental sustainability." 

"Students must evaluate progress towards UN goals and take a close look at major global issues including population migration, global warming, biodiversity and resource availability."

Clearly the IB program does not shy away from using the classroom to advance the political agenda of the United Nations.

Given the fact that the IB was developed by individuals who promote a leftist agenda and given the fact that the UN is considered to be a leftist political organization, does anyone actually think that this program will refrain from politically indoctrinating students?

The NAEP (National Assessment) recently showed about half of our 4th and 8th grade students were NOT proficient in basic math.  The NECAP science proficiency scores were also recently released and the findings were troublesome.

The last thing we need to do is shift more education to indoctrination.  In fact, instead of promoting expensive political indoctrination programs, it would seem logical to instead use that money on the students who are failing in the core academic subjects.  
 
It is through education that our students will be able to compete in a global market, not through more political indoctrination.
 
Sincerely,
Ann Marie

Ann Marie Banfield is a mathematics expert and education standards activist residing in New Hampshire

(cross posted at GraniteGrok)

Posted by Skip at 08:31 AM | Permalink

Here is the recording of the Budget Committee (before, during, and after):

Here is Doug Lambert's resignation letter:

Addressed to Richard Hickok, Chair, Gilford Budget Committee:

Please accept this letter as official notice of my resignation from the Municipal Budget Committee effective immediately. Given my recent inappropriate and hurtful remark directed at Mr. Ray Buckley, I feel that it would no longer be in the best interests of the good people that elected me to serve them to remain as their representative. Any and all actions made by me in a continued public capacity will be forever marked with the stain of my regrettable words, and it is not fair to those who had nothing to do with them. After abusing the powerful voice I was so generously provided, I feel I must forfeit all of the pieces, and this is the final part. I am retiring fully to a private life and ask that you all respect my choice in doing so. Let my last words be that of my sincerest apology to Mr Buckley, again, and to all others that have been hurt by the words I freely admit I said, and will forever own.

Douglas Lambert 

Posted by Skip at 09:22 PM | Permalink

This Bud Comm meeting tonite may have a few more attendees than normal - hopefully is will not turn into a circus.  For that reason, I'll be live video streaming (provided the Town Hall WiFi system is up) as I have the last few meetings.

There has certainly been a lot of outrage over what Doug said, and for what he has apologized (here, here, and here; comments included).  For some, it does not seem to be sufficient (as I said in my remarks)

There have been some that have started to ask that the Board of Selectmen and / or the Budget Committee kick Doug off the BudComm; for the record, a Mr. Emond took the action of emailing a number of folks directly (see bottom-most) without giving Doug the courtesy of being included - as you can see, Terry Stewart added him into the conversation and commented (I believe, rightfully), on Mr. Emond's email.

Oh yes, I forgot - I asked that all emails in this matter be included in the formal record and forwarded the string for that purpose, as you can see below..

I also included a comment left over at GraniteGrok from someone claiming to live in Gilford condemning Doug - I would ask "is his/her opening sentence much better" (emphasis mine)?  If you look over at GraniteGrok (see the links above), there are a number of comments that I have deleted for foul language far in excess of what would be permissible in general society, even in a mostly private gathering.

A couple of points:

• Does anyone here in Gilford recognize that email address:  volklman17@hotmail.com

I think I have seen it before but cannot remember who it might belong to - in any case, it is a "dead" one.

• It is not entirely clear that it is the remarks are really concerned with Doug's outburst - rather, it is more politically oriented in that Doug has been effective in limiting spending and keeping taxpayers' bills low these last few years.

If this person is so hot and bothered that the town is not spending enough by not taxing enough, why has he/she not taking a check down to Town Hall, loaded with a number of zeros to the left of the decimal point, loudly proclaim he/she has done so, and use that "leading by example" to persuade others to simply give money to the Town?

I think I know why, and almost always comes down to this - People are willing to raise other peoples' taxes to pay for their "good ideas" as it costs them little in proportion.  It takes leadership to step forward the way I describe above; something that someone who starts a diatribe on a public forum with the word a*****e seems to be lacking.

I hope that whoever the owner of volklman17@hotmail.com is/was shows up tonite - it might be an interesting conversation.

========================================

On 11/18/2009 4:57 PM, Skip Murphy wrote:

At least Mr. Emond was polite - others from Gilford have not been as they left comments about Doug on GraniteGrok.  I do not know who belongs to this email address, so I do not know who this is, but certainly retribution (not reconciliation) is on his mind - certainly this person's tone is not that of a polite manner.  I will be posting this up at GilfordGrok - it may be indicative of the kind of meeting that might happen if control is not kept; perhaps by doing so, it may serve to keep some of the rhetoric down:

     IP Address: 207.121.66.26
     Name: Anonymous
     Email Address: volklman17@hotmail.com
     URL:
     Comments:

     This guy is an asswipe.  Thats being generous. How could you ever publicly
     humiliate gays like that? I'm not gay and I live in Gilford and listen to
     me - it is the best thing for this town for Doug Lambert to go down in
       flames.  All we need now is him out of the budget committee so the town
     might actually be able to spend some money improving itself.  I was so
     happy when this article came about in the Laconia Daily Sun, because I knew
     I would not have to listen to his petty complaints that he puts in the
     paper everyday anymore.  So if there was ever a time to thank Doug Lambert,
     it is today, after he said the remarks he said online to Ray Buckley

Terry, just as you added Doug to this email thread, I have added this email address to this as well for full and complete disclosure.

Sandy, as always, I believe these emails should be entered into the official minutes, if you would.

-Skip

=======================================================


To: 'David Emond'; 'rhickok@myfairpoint.net'
Cc: 'mgw@metrocast.net'; 'sue@lambsearyarns.com'; 'skip@granitegrok.com'; 'mcorry@nsscorp.com'; 'kpr57@live.com'; 'daledormody@gilfordbudget.com'; 'jtojto@aol.com'; 'reltubderf@hotmail.com'; 'pdeminico@gilford.k12.nh.us'
Subject: RE: Doug Lambert Article

 
Dear folks,

I have been out of town during this event and have simply the benefit of the news media for information.

I would like to comment on Mr. Emond’s concerns.

1)      Who's the next target for Mr. Lambert; perhaps the elderly, or those who migrated here from other countries to seek freedom from such acts? As I understand it. Mr. Lambert has been very contrite in this matter. He has expressed apology for his hurtful words. He has been punished (appropriately) in a number of ways. As I understand it, his radio program and his column were his life’s work and very special to him. Those things have been completely reduced to ash with Mr. Lambert’s complete understanding and apologies. Is there any room in the communities heart for forgiveness? How much punishment will be enough? Will he be allowed to continue living in the community?

2)      Mr. Lambert has created a hostile environment for our entire community and he needs to GO. If a child attending our schools conducted themselves in this manner they would be expelled. Places of employment terminate employees for such actions so why would we allow Mr. Lambert to remain in his position?   Schools and businesses DO NOT seek suspension as a first step to these kinds of offensive behaviors because that is NOT the solution. And to be clear, Mr. Emond is requesting an expulsion not a suspension. Businesses take immediate action with required counseling and appropriate reprimands. If the offender is unwilling to recognize the offensive behavior and repeats those offenses then suspensions and expulsions are the next step, not the first.

3)      Mr. Lambert is in a position to influence major decisions within our community. How can we trust that any future decisions he makes (or influences) will be in any way objective?  Mr Lambert is in a position to influence major decisions within our community. How can we trust that any future decisions he makes (or influences) will be in any way objective? Dick always accurately describes the Budget Committee as a body of many different opinions. Even if Mr. Lambert harbored bigoted intentions in his budget decisions, which is absurd, he would clearly be a lone minority.

I would caution the Budget Committee from making moves to remove Mr. Lambert from office unless he chooses to resign. Mr. Lambert will need to reconcile his own demons and I could think of NO BETTER lesson to our children than witness this community helping him through this process and NOT run him out of town on a rail. He has expressed more than a willingness to change from every public news piece I’ve read. Would it be wise to teach our children to be angry and hate Bigots that have expressed a willingness to change?

Let’s please try and not over react.

 

Terry

 

================================================= 

From: David Emond [mailto:DavidE@lrcs.org] Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 2:27 PM To: rhickok@myfairpoint.net Cc: mgw@metrocast.net; sue@lambsearyarns.com; tstewart@lr.net; skip@granitegrok.com; mcorry@nsscorp.com; kpr57@live.com; daledormody@gilfordbudget.com; jtojto@aol.com; reltubderf@hotmail.com; pdeminico@gilford.k12.nh.us Subject: Doug Lambert Article

Like many people in the Town of Gilford my wife and I have two young children in the Gilford middle and high schools. Both our children have been taught to be respectful towards one another and respect the beliefs of others, how they choose to live their lives, their religious beliefs and se*ual orientation. We moved to Gilford and chose to raise our children here because we felt it was a safe community that values diversity and embraces change.

How can we expect our children to respect and accept diversity, challenge bigotry, stand up for those being discriminated against and bullied if we have an elected official acting in this manner? What kind of role models will our children see of our government officials, and how will they trust our political system, if we continue to allow this type of (for lack of a better word) crap? How will other minorities be viewed? Who's the next target for Mr. Lambert; perhaps the elderly, or those who migrated here from other countries to seek freedom from such acts?

To have an elected member of our town government act in this manner is embarrassing to me as a resident of Gilford and should not be tolerated. As a member of this community I would hope that the Town of Gilford Board of Selectmen and Budget Committee quickly address this issue and remove Mr. Lambert from office immediately. Mr. Lambert will hide behind his right of free speech; what about the rights of those he has violated.

David Emond 

Posted by Skip at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I believe that the Selectmen have done the correct thing in no longer plowing the Community Church parking lot for free.  It is unfair for any town service be applied to any non-profit on a regular basis "just because it is there" or "we've always done it that way".  It could be ruled illegal if someone had taken the Town to court.

I still believe that any town program (especially those of the Parks and Recs) should be conducted on Town property - not someone else's.  Special trip?  Special program?  Sure.  But on a regular basis?  

Nope.

Posted by Skip at 08:50 PM | Permalink

  The main philosophical engine of the International Baccalaureate  program that results in a total deconstruction and questioning everything (and of questionable value) over learning and mastering the basics?  One of the programs that has caused other School system from around the country to toss the IB program out the door?

Sorry, this is not a basic and NOT worth the $30,000 in the budget.  Toss it.

You know, I've been posting the Gilford standardized testing results for a few years now.  Tell you know, Dr. DiMinico - get the scores and show that our kids are mastering the basics, THEN graduate to the more advanced stuff. 

Or do we have to go down this rathole again?  Look, you've been invited multiple times onto Meet The New Press multiple times and have always come up with one excuse after another.  C'mon in - we'll be nice!  Give us and the listening audience the reasons as to why teaching kids to adopt nihilism is such a great thing!

Posted by Skip at 08:39 PM | Permalink

I ended my last post this way:

Now add in the $103,000 rise in health insurance that we just learned about, and I start getting antsy.  Sure, the Town Administrator has assured us that no change to the bottom line of the budget will happen - that's nice to hear....but I think it is time to change to another post.

The Dr. Obvious question to be asked is this:

if $103,000 can be found in the existing budget so that the overall budget does not go up, does that mean that there was fluff in there to begin with?

So, this means two more questions:

• Were even tougher decisions made, and will we find out about them?
• Are we (the BudComm) just not doing the job right?  We think we're going to the basics - maybe we're not?

Margo Weeks, who is the School Board representative to the BudComm AND the Chair of said School Board, said that their increase is roughly $800,000 - and said that they TOO would not be altering their final budget number.

So, I can be comforted by one thing - constraining resources ALWAYS forces a rethinking of and a refocusing of priorities - departments, sub-departments, and programs / projects.

What will remain and what will go? I actually have no problem in programs being dropped - it always seems that once started, eternal life springs from within them - they never die....

=============

Update: this was written before last week's BudComm meeting - am posting this up now

Posted by Skip at 08:20 PM | Permalink

From the Gilford Steamer (10/29/09) "Committee weighs where to spend and save":

Committee member Skip Murphy described this fund as “self-sustaining” and said that no town money has been placed in the fund since it was established.

I think my intent here was really to mean "and we have no visibility into the fund" - thus, it is "off-budget".  While it isn't a problem for the budget, we cannot see if the activity described by it is going to lead to a request for more staff.

I've said it lately and will continue to say it "I don't want to see programs expanding during this economic time."  We have no clue what the future holds - but I am thinking that we are going to see the Carter years come back with a vengence AND on steroids.  With the massive amount of debt being incurred by the Feds (thank you very much, President Bush for starting it and President Obama for accelerating it to warp speed!), the need to service that debt is going to rise dramatically.  Add to that fact that the Federal Bank is "minting" just HUGE numbers of dollars, I do expect inflation to hit sometime soon.

Add to the above, the fact that the State is broke too!  TOO much is being spent, and the Democrat budget writers (as the Democrats do hold all of the levers of power in this state right now) grossly overstated revenues, you can be sure that the revenue sharing will be as small as possible from the State.  Ditto from the County.

Sidebar: It seems that the County is about to drive it's portion of our property taxes up 7%!!!  The BudComm has voted to ask both our House Reps, Alida Milham and Bill Johnson, to come to our meeting to explain why!  Alida is the Chair of the County Convention - with respect to the County budget - and the buck stops with her.

When we know when she is coming, you all ought to come and ask (we do have "public input")!

Thus, this is NO time to be doing anything that is "project based", IMHO.  We fund the basics and make sure that what we have is taken care of - but no expansions.  The GIS project has been shelved, I tried to put off the new phone system (was out voted), et al. 

Yeah, I hear the old excuse - but that will cause a spike later on!!  Yes, I get that, but when people are losing their jobs, this is no time to be doing extras (and that's why I agree with Terry's thoughts on reviewing Merit pay, dues, books and the like).

That's why the decision that was made at the beginning of the year to offer dental benefits to part time employees is so troubling - it's not like the bad times weren't known then.

Now add in the $103,000 rise in health insurance that we just learned about, and I start getting antsy.  Sure, the Town Administrator has assured us that no change to the bottom line of the budget will happen - that's nice to hear....but I think it is time to change to another post.

Posted by Skip at 07:46 PM | Permalink

Well, if you've been watching, you know that I've been live streaming the Budget Committee main meetings on Thursday here on GilfordGrok.  No, the quality may not be of this highest, but given that it is just a $100 webcam that's 3 years old, I'm not complaining.   At some point, I'll do an upgrade - I'd really prefer something with a much better set of optics and a more sensitive mic, but this works for now. 

I'm also recording it and given time, I'll re-post it here. Please also note that while I will try to swivel the camera around, I am also checking my spreadsheet(s), the formal BudComm book, and paying attention to what is going on. Thus, if you hear talking and the lips of the people you CAN see aren't moving, it's just me.

From this past week (11/5/09), where we discuss the Conservation Committee, the Police Dept, and the Cemeteries:

Oh yeah, the previous week (10/29/09):

Posted by Skip at 06:58 PM | Permalink