Dracut Forum

DRACUT — State authorities sided with the Board of Selectmen’s decision to suspend the liquor license of a store allegedly caught selling beer to a minor.

The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission handed down the decision Monday against Dracut Center Convenience at 1388 Bridge St.

Dracut Center Convenience had appealed to the ABCC after selectmen slapped store owners with a 42-day liquor-license suspension in June for selling alcohol to someone under 21 — the shop’s second offense within two years.

“I think it’s a great decision,” Selectmen Chairman George Malliaros said. “I’m thrilled by it. I’m really pleased that the ABCC saw fit to support our judgment. Certainly, the punishment we meted out was more than warranted for such flagrant actions. Serving minors on more than one occasion within that time frame is totally unacceptable.”

Kevin Murphy, the lawyer for Dracut Center Convenience, argued that the suspension should be thrown out because the town needs to have a policy on alcohol sting operations and advertise the sting operations in the same way police often advertise sobriety checkpoints.

A store clerk at Dracut Center Convenience had allegedly been caught selling alcohol to minors after police stings.

“I’m surprised that the ABCC would uphold this,” said Murphy, who also serves at the attorney for Dracut’s School Committee and is a state representative for Lowell.

The store owners have yet to decide whether to appeal the ABCC’s decision to Middlesex Superior Court, according to Murphy.

In 2008, Dracut Center Convenience received a 15-day liquor-license suspension for allegedly selling alcohol to a minor during a police sting operation. The owners only served three days of that suspension with the understanding that the other 12 days would be served in the case of another infraction during the store’s two-year probationary period. Read the rest »

Here’s another great reason why Dracut does so well with so little.

Rebecca Duda, the award-winning (I bet she hates that) teacher from the Lakeview Junior High School, tells me that she recently get a response to a grant request for an interactive teaching system. With additional funding provided by the PTO, the school should receive the equipment at minimal to no cost.

From Smartroom Learning Solutions website:

Beyond Question is an interactive student response system that provides the tools needed to actively engage every student in the classroom. By using wireless response devices, students are eager to participate in class discussions and surveys. Daily quizzes and subject matter reviews can be given to assure that the material is being learned. Automatic grading reduces the teacher’s workload, freeing up valuable time that can be better spent elsewhere.

The grant provides for $6000 worth of hardware to equip each of the 6 teams at the school. With the work of this teacher, school administration and additional funds promised by the PTO of over $2000.00, our school will be using latest technologies to educate our students.

Looking at the equipment, we should see if they sell similar technology for town meetings.. looks like exactly what we need.

Now, I’m sure there’s plenty of administrative process yet to go through to finish up this grant and line up the donation.. but good work on the part of Rebecca and the PTO.

Senator-elect Scott Brown will be making a stop in Dracut this Saturday on a “thank you” tour as he travels around the state to thank those who helped him win the election.

Stop in to see him at Lenzi’s this Saturday, Jan 30th at 3:30 p.m.

Thank you very much for all your support. Together we achieved victory. It has been just over one week since the Election and I’ve been busy working on the transition.

There are so many of you I want to thank and I look forward to representing you in the United States Senate. Every day I hold this office, I will give all that is in me to serve you well and make you proud.

Most of all, I will remember that while the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person and no political party – and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear, it is the people’s seat.

By Erin Smith, Lowell Sun

DRACUT — Selectmen canceled last night’s meeting, citing a “lack of agenda items.”

Before the cancellation, Police Chief Kevin Richardson was scheduled to appear before selectmen to talk about the alcohol policy for off-duty police officers and provide an update on the internal investigation into who stole $80,000 worth of marijuana from a locked police-evidence storage trailer in April 2003.

At least one selectman has called for more oversight after some officers reported Deputy Police Chief David Chartrand had been drinking Sept. 26 when he responded to a domestic incident near a party was attending. Chartrand was almost shot by his own officers during the incident, which involved a shotgun later found to be unloaded.

Selectmen Chairman George Malliaros said Richardson is now scheduled to come to the board’s meeting in two weeks. Aside from speaking with Richardson, the board did not have any other significant business to discuss last night, according to Malliaros.

Malliaros said the extra time before the next meeting would give Richardson time to confer with Alfred Donovan, the retired Tewksbury Police Chief investigating the stolen marijuana.

Donovan’s report on the probe had been expected last month, but Donovan wrote Richardson a letter last month saying he is waiting to release his findings to avoid interfering with a federal investigation.

Michael McNamara, January 27, 2010

Announcement of Candidacy  –  Michael F. McNamara  –  Dracut School Committee

I am today announcing my candidacy for re-election to one of the two open seats on the Dracut School Committee.  Having been appointed by a unanimous vote of the combined Dracut Board of Selectmen and Dracut School Committee last February to fill the seat temporarily due to the resignation of Mary Gail Martin, followed by voter election last May to fill the unexpired one-year term, I believe that I have been an effective member of the Dracut School Committee while serving during uncertain and challenging times.

My approach to serving on the Dracut School Committee has been a simple one: be thoroughly prepared to discuss the issues before the committee, ask questions that clarify the issue for all members, keep the students of Dracut forefront in all decisions and votes, and be available as a resource for parents, teachers, and staff of the Dracut Public Schools.

Having been involved in education at every level has given me a distinct advantage of perspective when dealing with issues confronting the Dracut School Committee.  I served as a teacher and administrator in the Dracut Schools for 29 years, last serving as Principal of the Greenmont Avenue School from 1989 to 1999.  I completed my career in K-12 education in the Salem (MA) Public Schools and also worked in Higher Education at Salem State College where I taught at the Graduate School and also coordinated the Educational Leadership Program at both
the Master’s Level and Post-Master’s Level.

Nothing is more important to a school system than that of a strong, experienced and skilled educational leader.  Appointing the next permanent Superintendent of Schools will be critical to the future success of our school district.  A thorough, open and intelligent search process will result in finding the most qualified individual to lead us in the years ahead.  Recognizing commitment and educational leadership skills along with financial acumen and an ability to work
as a cohesive team will be a characteristic that a School Committee member must possess.  My diverse educational background will be a positive strength to be used in selecting the next Superintendent of Schools.

The fiscal challenges facing the school district are well-known.  What is not as well-known are the appropriate solutions.  As Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee, I have sought to work cooperatively with the school administration and fellow School Committee members to arrive at thoughtful and logical solutions in order to maintain a budget profile that best serves the K-12 population of nearly 4200 students.  With mandated Special Education costs soaring, seeking creative ways to reduce expenses while providing necessary services is not at all an easy task.  Recognizing that the use of short-term Stimulus Funds creates a dependency that is fiscally inappropriate, I continuously recommended minimizing the use of these funds for staffing
salaries.

I believe that I have served the students of Dracut and town residents honorably and seek re-election to the Dracut School Committee in May 2010.

Lack of agenda items according to the town website.

Update: Sun reports re: Richardson?

Approving a Draft Budget for the next fiscal year, the School Committee has approved a proposed budget of $28,610,390.00, an increase over last years budget (after paybacks and transfers back to the town) of 2.77%.

A significant issue, of course, is the stimulus money that cannot be depended upon for the future, as well as increases in transportation of over $100,000.00 and unknown amounts for special education.

Superintendent Mullin informed the School Board that Town Manager Dennis Piendak asked him to target a level funded anticipated appropriation.

“Current overreliance on stimulus spending is dangerous,” Mullin said, after explaining that the budget he was proposing was a “Carry Forward Budget” meant to show the costs as if “all current programs and services will be run, at their 2011 cost.”

He listed a number of budget assumptions, as well as the possible risks.

Stimulus funding now supports 9 full time teachers in our secondary education program, 7 at the elementary, 3 part time and one paraprofessional.  The future of that funding is questionable.

He went on to discuss the issue that Dracut spends one of the lowest per-pupil spending amounts in the state, yet Mike Miles pointed out that we still send students to some of the best colleges and have a high rate of success. “And thats due to the teachers,” he said.

“Our kids are succeeding and doing well, ” Mullin replied, “with a shoestring budget.” The state average per pupil is $12,452 while Dracut spends on $9230 per student (according to Mass DOE reports).

Dr Mike McNamara summed up the key issue..

“If we could keep our special education costs level-funded we would have no problem level funding our entire budget, but that figure continues to rise.”

The Lowell Sun had an article today discussing the issue of using stimulus funds as well. They also reported some enrollment figures that sound questionable.. but the economy may have brought some students back to the district from private schools. that report will come from the state next month.

School Committee member Ron Mercier, the head of the Parker Avenue School subcommittee, indicated tonight during the school budget discussion that he wants to plan another meeting to discuss the issue again with all interested parties.

“After hearing some of this, its probably going to happen,” he said, referring to the closing of the Parker Avenue School. “If some of the numbers don’t come back the way we like.”

He asked Superintendent Mullin to prepare a number of figures for the next meeting such as available space at other schools, number of teachers that would follow the students, numbers of layoffs that would occur, etc.

“I think we should be in front of the ball, instead of catching up,” he said. “Unfortunately, this might happen.” He wants to plan a meeting for around the end of February to inform the community of the facts at hand.

by Erin Smith, Lowell Sun

DRACUT — Evaporating federal funding, budget constraints and struggling test scores are just some of the issues that Dracut’s next schools superintendent will face.