Sunday, April 19, 2009

Creative Thinking In Education

Another website that I enjoy frequenting is TED. It is part of that wealth of knowledge available to us on the web. I view TED as being able to attend a lecture series of some of the most creative and brilliant minds of our time - and it is free. (As all knowledge should be.)

With all the current debate on education in Manchester, specifically education spending, this recent lecture that I watched struck a chord. I ask you to spend twenty minutes and watch this:


I'm not implying that we need to scrap our entire education system in Manchester, nor that we should build a bunch of Montessori or charter schools. The fact is that most of our public education system is set at the state and federal levels, and this can be frustrating when dealing at the local level with the cards our children are dealt. Maybe we do need to think differently about the challenges that seem to recur year after year around budget discussions.

The chord that this lecture struck for me is that I am concerned that the very programs that our children will need to creatively compete with this quickly changing world will be moved to the bottom tiers of educational spending. We have some serious challenges facing us in both the near and long term. Now is the time for some creative thinking.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Thank you MFRE Union


You continued sacrifice shows your commitment to our town. Thank you for pitching your hats into the ring. It is appreciated.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Thank You MPD Union


On top of doing your job each and every day, thank you for making an extra sacrifice this year. Your decision shows integrity, compassion and fairness.
_

Sunday, April 5, 2009

2009 Hockanum River Race

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Thank You For Meeting Me Half-Way

Four unions have stepped up to the plate so far, and I want to say thank you to them.

JI: Manchester town workers offer to skip raises, saving $350,000
HC: Manchester Town Workers Agree to Forego Wage Hikes

I hope to see the other unions follow the example set by these four. (Ahem... BOE unions, Police, Fire). We are all in this together.

Based on the majority of the opinions I was listening to all night at the budget hearing, most taxpayers are willing to accept a modest tax increase to keep town services at current levels. It appears that the town employees and unions are coming on board to share in our sacrifice. Now it is up to the BOD and BOE to do their part. Do not use these concessions to further reduce my tax increase for this year. Keep services at current levels.

To be absolutely clear on my opinion, I am not endorsing carte blanche any inefficiencies in the system. I always expect to get the best bang for my buck. These are times that bring much needed citizen focus on the "business" of town government.

"The purse of the people is the real seat of sensibility. Let it be drawn upon largely, and they will then listen to truths which could not excite them through any other organ."
~Thomas Jefferson

"I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

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