And what answer do we get back from our government? Well, its a kind of Alice in Wonderland thing, but we basically get a message that says: “sorry, nobody’s home” and “you’re on your own.” This phenomenon has been repeated over and over again since the financial crisis broke back in 2008 and 2009. I think its well represented, this week, by the MBTA’s just announced proposal to deal with an $161 million operating deficit (PDF) by, basically, demoting itself to a second rate transit system. The cuts proposed will hit Belmont hard and, in one of two scenarios, all but eliminate bus service to the town (excepting the #73 electric bus line along Belmont Street and Trapelo Road.)

Unless the legislature comes through with funding to support the T in its current (already reduced, fared-up) state, the cuts are going to be deep. According to the released document, the T is proposing two alternate plans – both of them bad, and one of them terrible for Belmont.

The plans, dubbed Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 cover the projected deficit by raising fare revenue and cutting service. Scenario 1 is projected to raise annual fare revenue by $123.2 million to $134.6 million, increasing fares by approximately 43.0 percent and saving approximately $38.3 million in operating costs through reduced service($161.5 million to $172.9 million in savings). Scenario 2 raises annual fare revenue by $86.8 million to $104.0 million – increasing fares by approximately 34.7 percent and saving $78.4 million in operating costs through reducing service ($165 million to $184 million in savings.) Scenario 1 is projected to result in a ridership loss of  between 34 and 48 million rides. Scenario 2 by 53 million to 64 million rides.

Both plans anticipate fare increases for both senior citizen and student fares, which are set to 50% of the adult fare. That’s a jump for senior citizen fares from the current 33% of the adult fare. Basically, the big difference is what “adult” fare the student and senior rates are pegged to. In the first scenario, they’re pegged to the fare on the adult CharlieTicket – a higher fare. In the second, they’re pegged to the lower adult CharlieCard rate. Whatever – those tweaks to the reduced fare schedule aren’t great, but they’re kind of besides the point. The majority of the savings in both plans come from two areas: service cuts and changes to The Ride, the T’s service for disabled riders. I won’t even get into the proposed cuts to The Ride, which are just reprehensible. I’ll just say that when you read euphemistic little observations like:

“While no service reductions per se are proposed for THE RIDE, the increase in fares and the institution of a premium-fare zone are estimated to reduce the demand for service under both scenarios, saving the MBTA the cost of serving the trips no longer made.”

You should just read that as “we’re anticipating great savings by pricing disabled people out of our service.” Having seen, first hand, how critical THE RIDE is to a severely disabled and wheelchair bound friend, and how little money most such folks have to live on in the Bay State, these cuts seem particularly heartless – no matter the savings.

But back to those bus route cuts. As the map below indicates, the T plans on reducing service on or outright eliminating routes that fail what it calls the “net cost per passenger” standard. Its complicated, but basically read that as “routes that we have to subsidize too much” where “too much” is a calculation of the subsidy per rider. Suffice it to say that the routes that go through Belmont, including the 72, 74/75 and 78 all are subsidized more than the T would like. In the first scenario, all we lose is the 78 line, with service eliminated on weekdays and weekends. The 78′s been on the block before, so no surprise there. Under what the T calls Scenario 2 – which relies less on fare increases – the cuts are deeper: the 75, 75 and 78 are all eliminated on weekends and weekdays. Needless to say, for the hundreds of commuters in town who rely on those bus routes to get to and from work, well…

Red Lines Indicate Eliminated Routes

I know this must be a mistake, right? I know that when all we hear from Washington D.C. (and our nation’s best and brightest) is about the critical importance of cutting our dependence on imported oil and changing our car bound culture that we, in the most progressive state in the Union, couldn’t possibly be talking about ADDING millions of car trips per year to our already overtaxed roadways, right? And when President Obama talks about the importance of rail and of restoring our once great infrastructure, we can’t really be talking about taking one of the nation’s few solid public transit systems and reducing its size and scope drastically, right? And, finally, when the MBTA itself talks about the huge demand for its services and the rapid increase in its ridership, this stuff about them cutting bus routes and jacking up rates is just a big joke, right? I sure hope so. In the meantime, it might be worth a call to Beacon Hill to voice your opposition to the T’s proposal and to sound the alarm for emergency funding.

“This remarkable new film shines a light on the price our kids pay for this “race to nowhere.” Cheating is commonplace, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and ironically, young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people who have been pushed to the brink and educators who are burned out and worried that students arenʼt developing the skills needed for the global economy, RACE TO NOWHERE points to the silent epidemic running rampant in our schools.”

The film screens in Belmont on May 5

Read more details about the event below.

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The Belmont PTA/PTO’s are proud to present a special screening of the critically acclaimed documentary film:

RACE TO NOWHERE

(Directed by Vicki Abeles)

Thursday, May 5th at 7:00pm at Belmont Studio Cinema

Film will be followed by a discussion with author Alfie Kohn and student success expert Cal Newport.

Tickets are available for $10 online at http://rtnbelmontstudiocinemas55.eventbrite.com/
Or $15 at the door.

Half the price of each ticket sold will be donated to Belmont’s Public Schools.PTO/PTA’s.

Event Information:

There has been a groundswell of interest in this film across the country. 800 people attended the screening at Belmont High School and a recent screening at the Belmont Studio Cinema sold out.  This special one-night event hosted by all the Belmont PTA/PTO’s is a fundraiser for our schools, which are facing dire budget cuts.   The evening includes a post-screening discussion led by noted local authors Alfie Kohn and Cal Newport.  Alfie Kohn is the author of twelve books, including NO GRADES + NO HOMEWORK =BETTER LEARNING.

Cal Newport created Study Hacks, the Internet’s most visited student advice blog and is the author of three books of student advice. His latest, HOW TO BE A HIGH SCHOOL SUPERSTAR, argues that it’s possible to do well in the college process without becoming overloaded or over-stressed.
Film Synopsis:

A concerned mother turned filmmaker aims her camera at the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children’s lives.  Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace; students are disengaged; stress-related illness and depression are rampant; and many young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Race to Nowhere is a call to action for families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens.

For questions about the May 5th Belmont event, contact Benita Gold at benita@benitagoldpr.com or Argelis Roman at roman.argelis@gmail.com.

We hope to see you on May 5th!  This is a great way to come together to support our schools and to join in the national dialogue on student stress and wellbeing.

Oh yeah…and No Freeloader says “Paul Roberts has never seen a Tax he didn’t want to raise to fund his progressive agenda. More money for the teachers’ union naturally, but if he’d go back to Watertown, whence he came, Belmont Taxpayers would save MORE than his parking meter proposal in per pupil costs.”

God, what an ass.

Stay tuned.

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Like all of us who live or work in Belmont, I’m sure you’ve noticed that our Town is facing difficult times: a budget shortfall, a fragmentation of our civil discourse and a waning of trust in local government.  This isn’t the first time this has happened, of course, but in many ways the challenges are new. So, just as New England towns have done for centuries, Belmont is convening a meeting in October to begin to sort out, together, how we can best address those challenges. And we invite you to attend.

MAKING TOUGH CHOICES: A community conversation about Belmont’s future

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2010. 1:00PM – 4:00PM

BEECH STREET CENTER, BELMONT

QUESTIONS, MORE INFO, RSVP: www.envision-belmont.org

While many of our challenges are elements of larger trends, Belmont has a long history of coming together to take responsibility for its own solutions. If there are local solutions to be found, we need to find them, and we want to find them together. Our Selectmen, School Committee and town government are eager to consider responsible recommendations from the public in their efforts to make the tough choices ahead.

THE MEETING

Its goals are simple: engage in a constructive, non-partisan, solution-oriented conversation about the challenges facing our town, and inform our town leaders about what is most important to us. The meeting will be open to the public, and all of Belmont’s stakeholders – and points-of-view – are welcome to attend.

More details on the meeting format are on our website at http://envision-belmont.org/makingtoughchoices.

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND

In a small town like ours, everyone and everything is interconnected. You and your organization play a crucial role in this dialogue, and your absence would leave a void in the conversation.

I truly hope you or someone from your organization will be able to attend – all are invited. Please RSVP by responding to this message or by filling out the signup form at http://envision-belmont.org/makingtoughchoices. Please pass the word on to your members and staff, and feel free to help us get the word out through Facebook and Twitter.

We know that true solutions will take time and that consensus will be hard-won. But we believe that by taking this step we can embark on a new phase of constructive civic dialogue in Belmont.

Kind regards,

Belmont Board of Selectmen

Belmont Vision 21 Implementation Committee

So where has BloggingBelmont been? Not dead, but certainly in a deep hibernation during these short winter days. Obligations at work, home, Temple and on School Committee have kept me from my appointed rounds here on BloggingBelmont. Frankly, I’ve also struggled to balance my dual roles as citizen blogger and elected official — a balancing act that is, I’ll admit, tougher than I anticipated. Readers -notably the cryptic Wayne G. have complained. You’ll just have to forgive me.

That said, the New Year brings a new start. My plans for BloggingBelmont are both to narrow the focus of what I’m writing about and, at the same time, to broaden the discussion and variety of information that readers enjoy with some changes that make it easier for community members to contribute content of their own and share in the discussion. My work with School Committee is focusing more on communications and outreach, so I hope to be able to share with you some of the work we’ll be doing to get information out to the public about goings on with the Committee and the schools as we navigate a challenging 2010 and look ahead to a contentious vote on a Prop 2 1/2 override sometime in the Spring . As always: I’m anxious for contributions from readers and community members. If you’ve got material or thoughts you want to share, email me at paul(at)bloggingbelmont(dot)com!

The school community and the Belmont community are shocked and saddened by the death of one of our seniors at Belmont High School early Thursday afternoon, November 5th, 2009.

Since that time, school representatives have worked closely with Belmont Police and MBTA authorities to more fully understand the details of this very tragic situation.

Significant effort and resources have been directed to addressing the needs of students, staff and parents as they attempt to cope with this loss.

In the days and weeks to come, we will remain attentive and responsive to the needs that emerge from this tragedy.  We are encouraged and heartened by the support of the Belmont community and other neighboring communities.

Dr. George Entwistle
Superintendent of Schools

As things stand now, the MBTA is still investigating the accident and has been making repairs to the fencing along the length of tracks from the High School down to Brighton Street. For those of you who haven’t read it, the Citizen Herald article on the tragedy is here. A link to the press conference is here.

Attendees waiting to sign in

But there were signs from the start that my fears were misplaced. Maybe it was the  long line of attendees –spanning three generations –waiting to sign in. Or maybe it was the inspirational video of the Black Eyed Peas leading a 20,000 person flash mob through a choreographed dance routine that kicked off the Dialog — a video that, as Superintendent Entwistle explained– illustrated the possibilities of what even perfect strangers can accomplish when they let go of their doubts and inhibitions and work together.

Starting off with an inspirational video

Dialog topics getting registered

The big board of topics

From there, frankly, things got even better: Superintendent Entwistle and his staff at BPS, including Director of Technology Steve Mazzola and crew, did a masterful job orchestrating this BPS be-in: there was a clear process by which dialog topics were generated and disseminated to the assembled. A large schedule directed attendees to numbered, color coded tables where their idea of interest was being discussed, while laptops at each table allowed the fruits of the various dialogs to be captured and posted online for further discussion afterwards. (B2 will post a link to the dialogs when they become available within the next day or so.) Details, right down to a hurry up 20 minute dinner break went off without a hitch — no small feat, given the size of the crowd and the fact that nobody in town had ever done something like this before.

One dialog topic

Topic ideas grouped by likeness

Another dialog topic

I sat in on three separate dialogs last night. The first was about introducing early foreign language instruction in the Belmont Public Schools. There were around eight of us gathered around the table, and the breakdown of participants reflected the diversity of voices at last night’s dialog: there were parents of current elementary and high school students, a current BHS sophomore, a retiree and a current foreign language teacher in the BPS. The discussion — much of it led and informed by the student at the table, not the adults, focused on the critical importance of foreign language training to the long term competitiveness of the U.S., the shortcomings of our existing foreign language requirements and curriculum and ways to get students studying earlier, despite budget and scheduling restraints. I took notes and I think some great ideas came out of the discussion.

In the second session, I sat in on a couple dialogs. One, proposed and led by Rep. Will Brownsberger, addressed the idea of online learning and ways that BPS might introduce online coursework as a way to broaden its current curriculum offerings, serve the diverse needs of its students and save money. Again: students, community members, BPS staff and parents filled out the group and the discussion was eye opening and constructive.

Clearly, this isn’t the dawn of some educational Age of Aquarius. There are big, hairy, hard to solve problems and obstacles that surfaced in almost every dialog last night: budget and resource constraints, testing mandates from the state and federal government, the structure of the current school day and school year, which leave little room for innovation. But the success of last night’s Dialog now gives Superintendent Entwistle a great resource with which he can formulate his own 18 month plan for the BPS, and subsequent 18 month plans after that. Namely: a grass-roots, ground-up view of what ideas, hopes and concerns animate our community. Without a doubt, there will be low hanging fruit to pick from last night’s Dialog – small ideas and tweaks that might be implemented without much fuss. There are also bigger, more revolutionary ideas out there that might take years to realize, or that may never get off the ground. But the Superintendent and BPS deserve loads of credit for taking a chance with the Dialog and for showing the community that they’re willing to throw open the doors and their minds to any and all ideas for ways to improve the type and quality of education Belmont offers in its schools. As one high school student –looking somewhat stunned — offered in conclusion last night: “It was just cool to hear that adults and teachers were thinking a lot of the same things that we were!”

One of the requirements for participating in the Dialog was that you had to leave your “baggage” behind — your fears, preconceptions and cynicism. I think that we all dropped a lot of baggage last night and hope that will make the process of moving forward all the easier. Well done, Belmont!

The Dialog, which will run from 4:30PM to 8:00PM Tuesday evening at the BHS Field House is an amazing opportunity for community members and other stake holders to participate in a wide open discussion about the future of both schools and public education in our community. To reserve your space, RSVP to Cathy Grant at 617 993-5401 or by email at cgrant(at)belmont.k12.ma.us.

Town residents, teachers, students, civic leaders (including School Committee members) and administrators will all attend. As you may have heard, there is no set agenda for the meeting. Participants will decide which topics are part of the dialog. However, Superintendent Entwistle has identified two “Big Idea” topics that will get things rolling and (likely) lead to other side discussions. They are:

Big Idea: Round 1: “The Belmont Public School District develops the talents and effectively meets the learning needs of every student.” This discussion may lead to big picture conversations about how best to prepare Belmont’s students to be productive workers in a 21st century economy, how to produced motivated learners and engaged citizens, and so on.

Big Idea: Round 2: “The Belmont Public School District is an adaptable, sustainable organization encouraged by the community to pursue innovation and continuous improvement so as to meet expectations for high performance and organizational excellence.” This topic may lead to discussions about how BPS can best use the resources available to continue its tradition of excellence, how to continue attracting the best and brightest to work and study in Belmont, and so on.

This is a great opportunity to make your voice heard, share your big ideas about how to improve public education in town and to help shape the future direction of our schools! I hope to see you there!!

Attend the Kickoff Meeting for Belmont's new Comprehensive Plan

The Kickoff Summit is an effort to get the public engaged in the process and update everyone on the progress made so far. As many of you know, the Office of Community Development is heading up this process and solicited community feedback last Spring on residents’ feelings about life in town, commercial development and their vision of Belmont’s future.  The results of that survey (to which 500 residents responded) have been collected and analyzed by Larry Koff & Associates. You can review a summary of the findings here (note: PDF document). Reminders have gone out from Jen Fallon, Planning Board Chair to members of the various town committees to encourage attendance. Following the kickoff, there will be a series of meetings this Fall around specific topics (dates to be determined), including: Historic Preservation, Public Facilities/finance, Open Space, Housing, Energy Reduction & Transportation. There will also be three public workshops on plans for the town’s business districts: Belmont Center, Brighton Street, and Concord Ave. A second meeting will focus on the Trapelo Corridor Villages and south Pleasant Street. Finally, a third workshop will focus on Greenbelt Corridors, Concord Ave., neighborhood connections and historic preservation. The plan will be up for final approval in the Spring.

Are libraries still relevant?

Libraries…who needs ‘em? That seems to be the meme that’s floating about the mainstream media today. There’s the front page article in this morning’s Boston Globe about Cushing Academy’s (rather hasty) decision to give away its book collection in favor of laptops, Amazon.com Kindles and..well..the Internet. Then there’s this article from CNN.com about “Library 2.0″ –a more orderly transformation of libraries from places to get books to community knowledge centers and forums where citizens can learn, debate and generally inform themselves — through hardcopy, digital media, whatever.

Its hard to argue with the CNN piece, which talks about the inevitable mission creep for public and private libraries, as more and more print information goes online through Google Books and publishers of all stripes skip hardcopy altogether and shift to e-books and digital publishing as a way to reach their audience.

It’s harder to make sense of Cushing academy’s decision to just ditch its 20,000 volume collection in favor of a hodge podge of digital alternatives. According to the Globe article by David Abel, the Ashburnham private school will be replacing the collection with a $500,000 “learning center,’’including “$42,000 for three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet, and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels.” The school will spend  $50,000 to build a coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine. Frankly, Cushing Academy’s plans sound like the frothings of some dizzy Starbucks or Borders marketing executive let off his leash. “Let them eat scones!” if you will. The idea of stacks of reference books and literature replaced with plasma TVs and an cappuccino bar just seems ditsy.  Let’s put it this way, if visionaries like Andrew Carnegie thought that American society would be advanced by the construction of coffee bars, rather than libraries, then he would have put his money into building them.

Cushing Academy’s plans sound like the frothings of some dizzy Starbucks or Borders marketing executive let off his leash. “Let them eat scones!” if you will.

I also take a dim view of the headmaster James Tracy’s comment that libraries and their stacks are ““outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ which sounds remarkably like the arguments civic leaders across the country used to justify things like the willy-nilly dismantling of street car lines in favor of “new technology” like automobiles –only to run into problems like urban decay, suburban sprawl, traffic and pollution.  As for his statement that “we’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology” — am I alone in wondering what the heck “shaping emerging trends and optimize technology” means? As if tiny Cushing Academy is somehow going to shape global technology adoption trends! Abel does a good job throwing cold water on Headmaster Tracy’s vision — wondering about the cost and durability of devices like the Kindle compared to paper books which – last time I checked –  can run for 3,000 years without requiring new batteries.

A question for Cushing Academy is “What are you throwing away, exactly?” Is the information that’s being discarded freely available online? Is it true that a student researching a given topic can find the same depth and quality of information on that topic through Google that was available in your stacks? Its a difficult question to answer, which is probably why nobody’s bothering to ask it.

A larger question for Cushing and other communities/institutions like it is “What are you throwing away, exactly?” Do you actually know whether the information you’re getting rid of is available online? Is it true that a student researching a given topic can find the same depth and quality of information on that topic through Google that was available in your stacks? Its a difficult question to answer, which is probably why nobody’s bothering to ask it. In the end, I’m not convinced by Tracy’s assurance that “this isn’t Fahrenheit 451.” In fact, Cushing’s decision to do away with printed works and replace them with huge plasma screens and mindless entertainment (a coffee bar) is eerily like Ray Bradbury’s dystopian vision of the future. It’s all the more poignent given Bradbury’s staunch defense of the (old fashioned) libraries in his local community.  Its funny, in my work as a technology reporter and analyst, I’ve noticed that the people who know the least about technology are often those who are the most enthused about its ability to transform institutions and behaviors. In this case, I think Cushing Academy may well look back in 10 years and regret the loss of its collection, in the same way that other “onward to the future” organizations and communities have come to regret their failure to look past “newness” and take stock of the inherant value of what they already possessed.