03/15/03

Mr. Anderson,

Please tell me why you have wages and benefits posted for all school personnel, but none for the town personnel. I find your information on the schools very biased and sometimes quite inaccurate. Obviously, you get your information from Dick & Money McGibbon, John DiCentes and Carmen Brigalli and everything you have stated on this website reflects their opinions and the information that they request from the schools every year.

You complain about administrative and support personnel salaries --- who do you think keeps the schools running?! The teachers teach, but there are people needed to run the schools. How do you expect the bills to get paid, the teachers to get paychecks, the grants to get applied for and disbursed, to deal with the troubled kids and parents, to feed the kids, to clean the schools,etc, etc, etc. You don't have a clue about what you are talking about! Also, if you check your facts, the school budget is not some $8 million as you have stated, but just barely over $7 million. That's over a million dollar error. Check your facts, Mr. Anderson, before you make these public comments, don't rely on the local "senior citizens" for your information, as they are well known for misquoting facts and figures!!!

As far as the track and field is concerned, that has been put on temporary hold. But I might add, that NO MONIES were to come from the local school budget. This is a capital campaign to raise money from grants and donations. What's so wrong with that?!

Mr. Colbry will be leaving in July, so you people will have to find someone else to bash!! He has taken alot of crap from people like you over the years. I know him personally and he is a wonderful, caring man. He is extremely intelligent, knows school finance like the back of his hand and always has the kids interests first. Skowhegan's gain is certainly Millinocket's loss! People will miss him when he is gone. He has exceptional leadership skills that will be hard to find in another Superintendent. (That's why Skowhegan has hired him at $91,000 year plus benefits).

You also complain about money spent on books. Do you realize how much new textbooks cost? Obviously not! There are over 340 kids at Granite Street -- that's alot of textbooks!

I challenge you to be more accurate when reporting on school stories and salaries. You can get all the info you need from the Superintendent's Office. Be brave enough to ask and not get secondhand information!

I find many stories on this website very disturbing and inaccurate and will certainly spread that word to everyone I know!

John McLaughlin

Editor’s Reply:

Mr. McLaughlin, thanks for writing. If I don’t get complaints, I know that no one is reading it.

I hope you don’t mind if I reply to a few of your points.

First, of the people you mention as my sources of information, I’ve met Mrs. McGibbon at a town council meeting, and spoke to her for a few minutes. I think I know who John DiCentes is, but I’ve had no prolonged conversations with him. I don’t think I’ve met any of the others, at least not so that I would know them by name.

As for administrative and support personnel, certainly they’re necessary, but do you really think we need to spend a half million dollars on one superintendent and four principals for two school buildings?

The figures relating to the school budget were provided by the school department. If they are inaccurate, you really need to take that up with them.

A new track is an unnecessary expense, regardless of who pays for it. At a time when funds are being solicited for the purpose of helping people pay their bills, buy heating oil, and put food on their tables, asking for money for a new track is akin to driving up in a Jaguar and asking for a handout. Let’s get the economy on track before we worry about a track.

I am quite certain that Mr. Colbry is every bit as intelligent as you say he is. I cannot argue but that he has done very well for himself. With him gone, perhaps we can get someone we can afford.

I have not complained about money spent on books. My entire point in mentioning the minuscule amount of money spent on book is to compare it with the much more extravagant amount of money spent on less necessary expenses.

In order to provide balance to this news site, I invite you to submit news or opinion columns to the Magic City Morning Star. You write very well, and I am confident that my readers would appreciate hearing what you have to say.

-- Ken Anderson