In a letter to his department members, Chief Richardson has asked them to submit to polygraph analysis. He has not required it, and has offered to be the first to be tested.

Chief Kevin Richardson summarized the situation in his letter to the members of the Dracut Police Department:
I am asking you to go beyond the [...]

 

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“Homeward Bound”, a highly successful program based in Brewster (Nickerson Park) which continues the programs and experiences of the historic “Outward Bound” program has been cut in the latest state budget.
From this morning’s Boston Globe:
According to a Homeward Bound survey of 190 probation officers and state Department of Youth Services caseworkers, 68 percent of [...]

I missed our own selectman’s meeting last night, but did catch a report on Stoneham’s in the Boston Globe this morning.
Last week, the town voters had rejected a Proposition 2-1/2 override, after being warned of the large number of cuts that would be required if it had failed. These cuts included school sports.
Now, after the [...]

The Lowell Sun listed not only the 5 members of the Superintendent’s Selection committee, as we did last week, but also got the list of all people who showed interest in the position.
In an article in yesterday’s Lowell Sun, it was good to see some of the usual suspects (Bonnie, Donna, Hank… all good people [...]

Ok, so it’s a quiet week.
The email circuit is reminding people to attend the Monday School Committee meeting, but so far there is nothing posted on the school website or in the Lowell Sun community meetings announcements.
I’m assuming there is a meeting, until I can get over to the town hall tomorrow to check the [...]

Ron Mercier has announced his selection of the members of the “Superintendent Selection” committee this week:
Ken Martin—Community Rep and Chairperson (DHA)
Leon Grande—Teacher Rep (Music Director)
Frank D’Addario—Administrator Rep (Lakeview JHS VP)
Denah Toupin—Parent Rep
Jacqueline Epstein—Parent Rep (Pop Warner)
There seems to be a lot of Martin family influence here (in that [...]

And who has been most vocal against supporting Special Education spending for the last two years?
At last week’s meeting of the Dracut School Committee, I noted that long time member Nancy Mendonca voted against the cutting of athletic fees when the committee was voting to approve budget adjustments recommended by the finance subcommittee.
At the time, [...]

A note, and request, from Library Trustee, Dracut Photographer and all around good-guy, John Dyer:

As some of you may already know, my nephew, Justin Brace suffers from ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a terrible, debilitating disease which over the last two years has attacked his nervous system and [...]

When I first heard about the proposed changes to the CPA (allowing fund use for “recreational” purposes… ie, end-around of prop 2-1/2), I forwarded the info over to Barbara at CLT. She has obviously followed through on this and is sharing her views now (as she did when it was first created).
Beware those who control [...]