school committee

By Rosalie Tirella

Re: Worcester Public Schools Committe “Vice Chair” Tracy O’Connell Novick: we’ve heard this from John Monfredo, fellow Worcester School Committee member: This will be the last time Novick is VICE CHAIRMAN of the Worcester Public Schools Committee.

Monfredo is head of the Worcester Public Schools Committee rules subcommittee, and he is working to make it a committee rule that after each municipal election, second-place vote getters get the vice chair of the Worcester School Committee – not people who do backroom deals with folks like Novick did. Monfredo told me he was not planning to vote for Novick getting the vice chair slot, but Mayor Joe Petty (the Chairman of the Worcester School Committee – like all Worcester mayors Petty heads the school committee) went to him and told him to do so, to make the WPSC seem cohesive and positive.

Monfredo told Petty he was againt Novick as Vice Chair because she had alientated so many minority parents of Worcester Public School students with her Dr. Boone witch-hunt. Novick tried to destroy Dr. Boone, Worcester’s first black female school superintendent. The minority community had had it with Novick. Monfredo told Petty if Novick became Vice Chair of the school committee, it would send the wrong message to so many city parents and kids.

Petty didn’t listen – and Novick doesn’t care who she offends as long as she gets all the free publicity that comes with comes with the Vice Chair slot. She gets to “speak for” the Worcester School Committee via the papers, TV, etc.

So now the City of Worcester must live with this mistake – a slap in the face to minority WPSchools students and their families. Remember, Worcester is a majority minority school district, meaning there are more minority kids than white kids in our public schools.

But, thanks to John Monfredo, the WPSC rules will soon be changed – he is having a meeting of his subcommittee soon – to make this Novick’s first and last stint as Vice Chair. The process will be fair – the vice chair slot will be awarded to the second highest vote getter – just like the way it’s done with the Worcester City Council. Top vote getter mayor, second top vote getter City Council vice-chair.

By Rosalie Tirella

It’s interesting: Years and years ago when Mary Mullaney was first elected to the Worcester School Committee there was talk that she was a Religious Right “stealth candidate.” Back then that was the term for Catholic/Culturally Conservative political candiates who, through the local Catholic churches and the Ralph Reed brigade, got their names in voter guides that were distrubuted to local Catholic churches. You got an “endorsement” if you were Pro Life, which Mullaney was/is.

It was a national movement. Mullany was the local example of the movement.

When Mullaney won election to the Worcester Public School Committee – a non-Worcesterite with no Worcester ties whatsoever (utterly important in a place like Wormtown), local political observers were nonplussed. They said to themselves: How did this woman – a gal with the personality of a speed bump – win a seat on the Worcester School Committee? What were her issues? Where was her appeal? Hell, where were her campaign signs? No one knew.

Sure, Mullaney’s Irish surname helped, and it was also the same surname as one of Worcester’s most beloved Irish mayors – Mayor Mulaney, dad to Elizabeth Mullaney (maybe some older folks thought they were voting for Liz when they were casting their ballots for Mary?). But Mary Mullaney’s win seemed too BIG. She came out of nowhere.

In the end, political observers credited the Pro Life/Catholic churches in Worcester County (as well as the Irish stuff).

Now Donna Colorio is on the Worcester Public School Committee – winning her seat by ousting Mullaney. She beat out Mullaney by a few votes. But she won a lot of votes and it was only her first time running for office. She had no Irish surname, no connections … but …

Could this be the equation? Donna Colorio = Religious Right Wing Nut Stealth Candidate #2? The new Mary Mullaney?

Maybe.

After all, Colorio was backed by the Tea Party of Worcester – a brigade loaded with cultural conservatives – people who were passionate about Colorio and VOTED FOR HER. Why? Maybe because she was as dangerously culturally conservative as a lot of the Tea Baggers are. After Colorio’s win, I bumped into a Christian conservative Pro Life pal of mine. He thanked me for not going after Colorio – she was his candidate, he told me! He said the local Tea Partiers loved Colorio! She was their candidate, too.

During the campaign, Colorio seemed racist when she said she would NOT renew WPSchools Superintendent Melinda Boone’s contract – even though she never worked with Boone – an African American from Norfolk, VA, and knew little about her. Most likely that got Colorio a ton of votes from the many racist/old boys network Worcster voters who can’t handle the idea of Dr. Boone – a black, woman from outside Worcester – leading the Worcester Public Schools. AND I am sure the Tea Party brigade liked the move. (After she was elected, Colorio did meet with Dr. Boone – hopefully to apologize to her/kiss up.)

Now recently (a few weeks ago) Colorio was outed at a local seafood restaurant for being at a fund-raiser held by the Woburn-based Coalition for Marriage and Family. These folks are against gay marriage/civil unions – believing marriage can only be between a guy and a gal. They have made it there mission to get a state-wide vote on the definition of marriage. It was intimated that Colorio was a member of the group – had a long history with it – “a long-time pro-marriage activist,” according to a CMF congratulatory Tweet after Colorio won a seat on the WPschool committee. So Colorio is also a homophobe. This would draw voters from the same Religious Right Cultural Conservative pool from which Mary Mullaney drew years ago.

Yup. A racist, homophobic woman now sits on a school committee that oversees policy for a majority-minority public school system, where there are gay/transgender kids just beginning to come out to parents/friends/society. Scary stuff.

“Meet the new boss/same as the old boss … ”

- The Who

But seriously (public info)…

The swearing in of our new mayor, city council and school committee

Free!

Come one, come all to the Inaugural Exercises of the City of Worcester!

Mon., Jan. 2, 3 p.m.

North High School – auditorium
140 Harrington Way
Worcester

- R. Tirella

By Rosalie Tirella

We will see if this bullshit continues at tonight’s Worcester City Council meeting: the not-so-latent attempt to pull the rug out from under the sturdy feet of Dr. Melinda Boone, Worcester’s new school superintendent.

We know that City Counilor Frederick Rushton was a big fan of “connected” school superintendent candidate Steve Mills (now working in some Boston suburb), and that he wanted his boy to get the superintendent job big time. Infact, last year Rushton was the city council member who was most vocal in his opposition to Boone. And he pushed for Mills, who thought he was a shoe in because he worked on Tim Murray’s first political campaign and all that crap.

But, hey, Rushton was powerless and then Worcester Mayor konnie Lukes wasn’t. As then-chair of the Worcester School Committee (as is for all of Wormtown’s mayors), Konnie created a professional search committee comprised of community intelligent non-biased community folks who would look at all super candidates. The search committee recommended the best candidate – Dr. Melinda Boone, a female, Black educator from Norfolk, Virginia. Our school committee OK’d the recommendation and – voila! Worcester actually looked smart, cool and progressive. … Click to continue »

City of Worcester – final election results – November 2009

Total registered voters – 90,729
Total ballots cast – 20,904

Mayor:

Joseph O’Brien – 10,210
Konstantina Lukes – 5,662
Kate Toomey – 3,721
E. Tsitsilianos – 595

City Councilors at Large:

Joseph O’Brien – 12,200
Kate Toomey – 10,359
Joseph Petty – 9,187
Frederick (“Ric”) Rushton – 8,065
Konstantina Lukes – 7,326 Click to continue »

By Rosalie Tirella

… with respect, deference, etc.

Why must the T & G’s Clive McFarlane trash a Konnie Lukes or a Dorothy Hargrove – both strong, smart, articulate women – and give free rides to bumblers and idiots like City Councilors Ric Rushton and Mike Germain?

Listen to the boy pols and you hear: dopes.

Listen to the girl pols and you hear: complete sentences, clear ideas, plans … Click to continue »