Angry towns-people come together to make a difference

Because I know you are all terribly interested, the meeting with the school board last night was overwhelming. I have been attending these kinds of meetings for three years and I have never seen anything even close to the turnout we had last night. There were 200 people who signed up to address the school board and close to 2000 who attended the meeting.

Fortunately I was the 5th person to speak to the school board which was very exciting, what a rush! Although the meeting lasted until after 1 am, we were able to say our piece and get home at a decent hour and put the kids to bed.

I am hopeful that the turnout will make a huge difference and save us all a lot of money. They didn't make a decision last night like they intended. They will hold another meeting again Aug 11th to make the decision.

It was apparent last night that the school board have not made the hard decisions and have not had the hard conversations before coming to the taxpayer to ask for more money.

It was clear that the tone at the top, meaning Superintendent Newbold, who is appointed by the school board,who makes more than $237,000 a year, is a big part of the reason we are in this mess in the first place. For $237,000 a year, I expect a lot more. For that kind of money he should have crafted a way to avoid this whole mess in the first place. I don't mind paying effective leaders what they are worth, but clearly, he is not worth what we have been paying him.

For your information, he makes more than double what most other superintendents in our state make, more than Peter Coroon who runs the entire county and more than the Governor of our state. Something is very wrong with that. The JSD administration needs to be drastically cut before they ask us for any more money.

Superintendent Newbold stated last night that he has no intentions of taking a pay cut. So....I don't know what planet he is living on but it's time for a reality check. I propose he be fired or take a drastic 50 percent pay cut. That's what would happen/is happening in the real world. His 20 year reign should be over right about now.

I appreciate the school board for stepping up to serve at a very difficult time, but I don’t think they realized what they have gotten themselves into until last night. I wish them well in their most difficult endeavor and am keeping them in my prayers.

I am certain that we will have a tax increase, but my fingers are crossed that it will be much more modest than the 40 percent they originally proposed.

To be continued...August 11th.