Here's an idea: Mr. Ed, after his torch and pitchfork crew are finished with their "kill all the lawyers" crusade against the school committee, should throw his hat into the ring to be the District's new superintendent. He has all the answers. Need a dollar figure? As an individual routinely unencumbered by fact, he can pluck one out of thin air in nanoseconds. And all those years he vociferously opposed every single initiative the District supported to improve the education of the region's children, like decent schools, small class sizes, teacher training, literacy improvement, the study of humanities, etc.? Why, that never happened. In this new Orwellian universe, up is down, the sky is green, school committee members are child-hating psychopaths, school administrators are the devil incarnate, and--wait for it--Mr. Ed thinks children are a treasure worth investing in. Mr. Ed? Doubleplusungood. View Comment

Renzoni: This person is charged with the oversight of our tax dollars and she apparently has attended the budget hearing and still has no clue what is happening with these errors. Then you need to stop listening to "a school committee member" who clearly can't seem to comprehend what she hears at budget meetings. The rest of us know what happened here. Perhaps that "committee member" should spend less time playing a forensic accountant on TV and spend more time paying attention at meetings. Your enumerated list only reveals more of your ignorance of school finance. I strongly suggest if you are truly interested in knowing how school finance works that you spend less time with your friend on the school committee and more time with a school finance professional. I'm sure your professional organization can connect you with someone who can help you sort it out. The fact is: 1. Multiple audits will be done, some routine, and one non-routine in light of the erroneous use of an unreconciled planning document. 2. There is no suggestion whatsoever--except in the fevered imaginations of a few school committee members--that any criminality has occurred. There is no "missing money"; the checkbook, if you will, was overdrawn, to put it in layman's terms, to pay bills before other expenses were booked. 3. All accounting documents in the district are public, and the close-out must be certified--and has always been certified. Perhaps you should volunteer to be on the audit subcommittee so that you can educate yourself re school finance processes? As for your wife, she made herself "public" by circulating an email filled with errors, innuendo, and mischaracterizations that was passed around far and wide. She is entitled to her opinion, but when her opinion is ill-informed, it's perfectly reasonable that the email be publicly challenged. Or does she enjoy some sort of privileged position because she's your wife? View Comment

If Mr. Renzoni's constituency had claimed that the earth was flat, would he "only verbalize the sentiments" without any critical thinking? I'm thinking the answer to that is yes, if what you say is true. The first phase of the audit will result in "FULL and COMPLETE DISCLOSURE"--thanks for the big letters--and a plan to correct the processes that lead to these egregious errors. An audit takes time. The glee with which the Holden select-board members have greeted this debacle is telling, indeed. The giggling on the sidelines of Monday's meeting was cool to watch, certainly. All the political rhetoric about listening to all sides, considering the needs of the larger community over ideology, serving ALL the citizens of Holden, bla, bla, bla, is just that--self-serving political rhetoric. But it'll get them votes, so that's all that matters. View Comment

Mr. Renzoni's comments are reckless and ill-informed. Saying things like, "It's only further proof that they have no idea where the $80 million dollars are going each year" makes a great political soundbite but to anyone who understands how a school budget works, it's just plain silly. Did he not attend the budget hearing? (Actually, no he didn't.) Does he (like his wife, given her email to "moms") not understand the nature of this accounting error? Apparently not. Well, at least ignorant comments like this are likely to get Mr. Meyer off his back. View Comment

My god. The IQ of every individual--including Mr. Ed--in the five-town district just dropped about 50 points. Seriously, this comment is so error-filled that it would take a century to straighten out the mess you've posted here. Remember the aphorism attributed to Ted Williams about thinking too good? Probably not. View Comment

Haha!! Best. Comment. Ever. Thank you. View Comment

OMG. I certainly hope you are not on the school committee. You're irrational, and your ignorance in matters of school finance is serious. Not cool. View Comment

Your ignorance of school budgeting and appropriation is appalling. Do you not understand that there must be a number floated, a budget proposed by law? If you think the School Committee should not have approved the budget based on the process, that's one thing; but the Brennan thing is no reason not to support a budget. If you can't see that, well, something's dreadfully wrong. "Information needed to make such a decision" --what does that even mean?? Despite the accounting error by Mr. Brennan, the District needs to reduce its budget to a number that either demands another vote or meets Rutland's number. The District has people to pay and kids to educate. This isn't a TV show or a beauty pageant. The only rational reason to vote against the budget is that the process was tainted, not the Brennan mess; they're not essentially related. Get an education if not a grip. View Comment

Indeed. The chorus of hateful, neurotic, ignorant adults who have and will comment here (and whose kids don't even go to the schools in the District--if they have any) has already begun. No doubt they call themselves Christians, as well, attend church regularly, and send their kids to "Christian" schools. Their pathology runs quite deep. View Comment

Thank you, Mr. White, for an informative, cogent, and reasoned comment. The Mountview Building Committee, under the capable leadership of Paul Challenger, will do the best possible job for the students of Holden. The Forces of NO in this town, however, will continue to whine, misrepresent, confabulate, and bully, irrespective of the facts placed before them. These Forces of NO "humbots" (human-robot hybrids) are impervious to facts or experiential learning. They are simply hardwired to bellow "NO!!!!" when confronted with pre-programmed stimuli, which then precipitates a cascade of follow-up "honks," which sound suspiciously like "We can't afford it" or "Taj Mahal" or "Tutella." These "honks," if you will, will continue to occur until their "NO!!!!" buttons reset. Glad I could be of some help. View Comment

What's all this about running for office? Since when? Since never, that's when, at least not in this democracy. People needn't run for or hold office in order to legitimize the articulation of their views and opinions. Or is that not the case in your town? And I must say, as an aside, that your heartwarming defense of Joe the Plumber, that universal laboring Everyman whom you characterize as "just a simple, hard working soul just trying to make a living" would be touching if it weren't so shockingly hypocritical. Recall this: such a person served on the select board in this town for years, having run for office just as you claim people with opinions must do in order to legitimize their thinking, and a certain select board member subjected that individual to a constant barrage of dismissive condescension and disrespect that bordered on the pathologic. He even went so far as to try to change the town bylaws to have that person recalled. Vendetta and hatred personified. Definitely not cool. And one more thing. Do us all a favor, one that will make you look clever in the actual execution: stick to your nom de plume. Trying to bully the people who participate here by "outing" them may be second nature to you, but try to control yourself. Calling maximus "Maureen" while you hide behind JustTheFacts is not irony of a very gratifying sort; rather, it's just sort of, well, creepy. Play by the rules or the playground monitor will be notified, 'kay? View Comment

Even Joe the Plumber can see the fatal flaw in this comment. Ms. Watson has done a nice job in pointing it out, but I can't help piling on because even the average Joe knows that Ms. Watson and Ms. Bazinet were elected by the voters of Holden, not the voters of Paxton and Rutland. The voters in Holden passed the proposed budget without difficulty because they value the education of their children. Watson and Bazinet--as well as the other Holden reps--are elected in Holden by Holden voters to represent Holden students on a regional school committee, and it is their responsibility to advocate for the best possible budget for Holden students. Note how many times the word "Holden" appears in that sentence. A budget that satisfies Paxton or Rutland is not a budget that best serves the students of Holden. Moreover, it is not in the best interests of Holden students to endure future reduced or limited services because Paxton and Rutland refuse to pay. Rocket science, I know, but there it is. Glad I could help clear that little bit of confusion up for you. View Comment

Irony died at 6/22/2012 at 8:52 am when Name Withheld posted a garbled, incoherent, and error-filled crie de coeur, exhorting citizens to categorically reject what may well be the cheapest educational solution for Mountview's students because of the nation's collective pension fund crisis. View Comment

"Cat calling," "reasonableness," "carnival entertainers," and "chest thumping" -- the ludicrous content of your characterizations aside, one can only surmise from this solipsistic comment that you have the self-awareness of a gnat. If we all lived in the Land of False Equivalencies, you might have a point, but we don't. Top it off with an absolutely eye-watering level of sanctimony, and you've managed to pen the most entertaining comment so far today. Huzzah! View Comment

Full, rich reading, that. Between that exhausting resume and your countless acts of selfless sacrifice, I don't know where you find the time to perform the truly civic-minded activities you're so famous for in Holden, like aiding folks with their curbside appeal by driving, slowly, by their houses on a regular basis or helping families document the growth of their children by snapping photographs of their kids from afar or coaching speakers at town meetings by standing so close to them they can smell your Hai Karate. You're just the kind of guy Holden needs right now, Mr. Ed. What say you? View Comment

Mr. Ed, when are you going to run for office? Don't be discouraged by that write-in campaign for school committee that ended up in your getting only about six votes six or seven years ago. Buck up! There must be a seat at the table for you on either the school committee or the select board (or both!) given your fervent desire to serve your community. Just think of it! You'd be on camera, too, so that all the anti-social shut-ins who admire you can see you "speak truth to power" almost clearly and nearly in living color through the dense bank of cigarette smoke that doubtless hangs in their panelled living rooms. Wait, what's that your mumbling? Can't run for office? Listen, don't be such a sad sack. No one cares about the skeletons in your closet or your longstanding propensity for stalking. Indeed, your anti-social psychopathy isn't a disadvantage in this town because we clearly value diversity. After all, your buddy just got elected to the select board with those same exact qualifications. Things are looking up! View Comment

Outstanding letter, Ms. Watson. Thank you for a clear and rational explication of the facts. Sadly, however, the anti-education nutz who post here will be entirely immune. View Comment

Mr. McWaters, you better familiarize himself with the actual role of a school committee member. School committee members are elected to advocate for students. In Massachusetts, we have separate entities to advocate for "community" needs, like finance committees, select boards, planning boards, etc. State law has erected a system whereby adults from a community are elected to represent the best interests of children because a) children cannot advocate for themselves and b) adults with competing or opposing interests are given to exploiting this inability. If advocating for children is not your priority, then you need to seek an alternative office. You don't get to redefine the roles and responsibilities of an elected school committee representative in Massachusetts; that role is defined by law and by oath. Good grief. It's not too late to pull out. View Comment

Pat Henry says: "Ms. Watson: I'll bet Ms. Watson backs out of a one-on one-debate with Mr. Meyer by claiming the school committee wouldn't let her participate. That will be her only out because she certainly cannot refute my facts. C'mon Maggie. Step up to the plate. Bring Maximus along to feed you your lines...." Only Ms. Watson never agreed to debate you, but facts don't seem to factor into your calculus. I am, however, rather amused to see, Eddie-Pat Henry-Meyer, that you've blown your cover. Spot the slip up in the above text.... View Comment

In defence of Mr. Meyer, it may well be that, given his obsession with school district personnel and town politicians to the exclusion of gainful employment, he is in such straits that he simply must protect the handsome taxpayer-funded $105,000 his wife makes or go bust. After all, any increased funding from the state to educate Holden's taxpayer's kids might jeopardize his wife's taxpayer-funded job security. Anti-tax watchdog? Hardly. World-class hypocrite is more like it. View Comment