The Newton Tab reports that Alderman Ken Parker took a photo of the Newton North High School construction site with his iPhone and sent it along to the Tab. Parker says he didn’t do it surreptitiously, either. Amazing. Earlier item here.
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So much for the city's argument that taking photos on the site wasn't safe. Not only would a professional photographer likely have experience working on a construction site (ours certainly do) but they would have workman's comp.
Sounds to me like Ken Parker is the only city official who wasn't acting like a total idiot.You know, Newton could've gotten a lot of good press out of this tour, if they hadn't screwed it up big time. Even skeptics can feel awe when they are amidst a ginormous edifice…
Maybe photos are a touchy subject because this project is the poster child for an absurd state school construction reimbursement policy that encourage massively expensive public school construction but which is inherently biased in favor of wealthier towns with the cash to leverage these absurdly overpriced educational Taj Mahals. This is a $197-200 million high school whose construction with $46.5 million in state money is predicated on the simple axiom "We're from Newton, therefore we deserve it." The state contribution is absurdly high, even if some residents of Newton are forcing the local share of the expense down the throats of neighbors who can't afford the extravagance of a glass-walled cafeteria. Wellesley is spending $159 million and probably more.And while the subject is schools, can I make a plea to copy desks statewide to stop the practice of referring to public school departments in Massachusetts as "districts." Its a phrase that has entered the vernacular chiefly because of imported superintendents from states where schools are organized in districts. In Massachusetts they are not, schools are run by departments of the municipal government, and except for the occasional amalgamation of very small towns and vocational schools, we don't do districts here — the word district implies an extension beyond municipal political boundaries and that is rare in Massachusetts.
Amused: don't mean to nitpick here, but quite a few school districts in Massachusetts cover more than one municipality…the Silver Lake Regional School District covers three towns…so does North Middlesex Regional…and then you have- Acton-Boxborough – Bridgewater-Raynham – Hamilton-Wenham School District- King Phillip Regional School District- Masconomet Regional School District- Manchester-Essex Regional School District- Whitman-Hanson, etc…You're totally right, the majority of schools in this state are governed by a single municipality….but a decent amount are ruled by regional school boards. So unless the DOE stops using the word 'district' to describe jurisdictional boundaries, you won't see media outlets changing their ways.
Small towns are part of every district named. It matters, since in the overwhelming majority of school systems in the state political authority, and financial responsibility, rests with one community, not in whatever power-sharing arrangement is established by the enabling legislation. Cede not thy style book to the bureaucrats.