And while I'm at it...the essence of Moms

Recently, as many of you may have heard, a few City Councillors were heard disparaging the PAC, Waltham Citizens for Education; these elected officials referred to the leaders of that group as "Mad Moms," "Mean Moms," "Mom Police," and, my personal favorite, "Mom Bullies."  While I haven't had an opportunity to speak with the men who are on the Board of WCE, it's been hard for me to shake this contemptuous, sexist, and vile characterization.

This weekend, I was reminded of it during an overall very cordial conversation with City Council President, Diane LeBlanc.  Since my younger son was with me and I made a point that we were on our way to my older son's basketball game after our meeting, Ms. LeBlanc remarked that I was "busy."  And, while that's a fair assessment, it felt condescending: I'm "busy" with my kids' activities. I'm "busy" posting on social media. I'm busy with my family and my friends.  There was a real disconnect in what Ms. LeBlanc seemed to understand about my professional life and what she understands about women who are full time household managers.

For the purposes of this blog, I will spare you my resume, other than to say that I am proud of my career: I worked my way through a two-year degree in an aspect of healthcare in order to complete my four-year degree.  After college, I was fortunate to have been recognized and picked out of the crowd for certain skills (who knew that talking a lot is a useful skill set) and I enjoyed a career in sales, marketing, business development, sales training, product launch, and sales management. When my husband and I found ourselves navigating parenthood without any nanas or pop-pops or tias or uncles or cousins around, it was so fortunate that I could count on my clinical training and return to direct patient care for almost seven years.  It was even more fortunate that, when I decided I could return to a business development role, my former and current employers took a chance on someone who had been out of the market for 7 years.  It's a source of pride that I worked up until the day before each of my sons were born and that I returned to work eight weeks after delivering my second baby.

That's my story and every woman has her own: we build networks of friends and relatives and neighbors for support.  I remember discovering with relief when Jack went to kindergarten that there were two moms who were home with their kids and on whom I could rely when I was running late.  All these years later, I owe so much to the women who carved out a way to be home with their kids and ended up picking up loose ends for those of us working outside the home. Shout out to Jo and Ashley, if you're reading.

When I explained to Ms. LeBlanc when we met for coffee this weekend that I currently work at the Alzheimer's Association, it seemed to me that she took that information to round out her narrative of me: a mom with two kids who does some squishy non-profit thing.  Ms. LeBlanc informed me about her career with the federal government and the region that she managed (Maryland to Maine, if I recall.)  What galled me was that Ms. LeBlanc spent several minutes detailing her professional career without asking me my role at the Alzheimer's Association (which is business development with health systems to implement Association-developed programs to make them dementia-capable.)

Allow me to return to my main thesis: when you decide to use "mom" as an epithet or a condemnation or a denigration, you lose.  The Waltham Citizens for Education are constituents, and taxpayers, and parents.  Maybe you disagree with them.  Keep in mind, though, that moms everywhere don't like name-calling.

Coffee with Diane

Imagine, if you will, my surprise at receiving a message in my inbox from City Council President, Diane LeBlanc, asking if I'd like to meet for coffee.  After thinking about the invitation, I accepted, partly out of curiosity and partly because I was impressed with her moxie.

We met on Saturday at Cafe on the Common.  I brought by 11 year old as back-up.  Ms. LeBlanc was on the charm offensive from the outset, making the most of her twinkling blue eyes and ready smile.  She started by telling me that, contrary to popular belief, she wasn't born in Waltham; I recognized this from my many years in sales as a way to establish common ground.  Showing that she had prepared for the meeting, Ms. LeBlanc complimented my "quick wit" and confessed that she sometimes didn't get my (dated) pop-culture references (specifically when I used the phrase "jumped the shark", a la Fonzie in Happy Days.)

Then she sat back and said, "I'm sure that you have questions.  Go ahead and ask me anything you like!"  Surprised, I reminded her that she had requested the meeting and that, therefore, she may have questions for me.  She asked what I had thought of the joint School Committee/City Council meeting last week; I replied that, while I was pleased to see that the meeting had finally happened and that both sides remained respectful, that I am disappointed that so many City Councillors remain uninformed regarding the extensive work of the School Building Committee and that the insistence on recommending "other sites for consideration" completely disregarded the methodical and detailed analysis of available sites that the School Building Committee, along with the architectural consulting firm, has completed.  She asked if I understood the difference between a "hostile taking" and "eminent domain." I replied that, although I'm not an attorney, I believe I do.

The rest of our conversation was, for me, fairly predictable.  The group of City Councillors who are opposed to using the Stigmatine Brothers site for a new high school have developed a series of talking points that they employ as needed: whether it's Carlos Vidal or Robert Logan, the messaging is the same.  The main points of our conversation were:

1. The Stigmatine Brothers site was never for sale; the only reason that they engaged with property management firms was for assistance with management of the property and with an accurate appraisal of the property.  This fable, of course, started with my favorite would-be Shakespearean actor, Stigmatine's Attorney Adam Paton.  The property was for sale: the mayor's office has documents proving that it was and, today, during a cleaning at my dentist, the hygienist, who used to live on Lexington Street, told me about neighborhood meetings regarding a potential sale.  
2. The 190 acres at Fernald can be redistributed in any way the city likes, as long as there are two parcels: 140 acres purchased with Community Preservation Act funds and 50 acres purchased with city funds.  It seems to me that that is a flight of fancy and that the Commonwealth Attorney General's office would, indeed, have an issue if the city decided to take 50 acres that can be restored and then push 140 acres into the contaminated swamp next to the former power plant, that floods onto Waverley Oaks Road every time there is heavy rain.  Additionally, there are many competing interests, including the veterans, for the Fernald land.  As an aside, I did ask the City Council President why nothing had been done to assess the property and get a bid for restoring the wetlands and cleaning the property.  Her response was another Waltham classic: whenever a City Councillor is asked why something isn't done, it is because the mayor has not requested it.  Whenever the mayor is asked, it's because the City Council won't bring it up.  Pot: meet the kettle.
3. Apparently, there was a part of the meeting that I missed last week (which is highly likely, since I am doing things like folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, yelling at kids, and drinking wine while I watch): Mayor McCarthy, according to Ms. LeBlanc, can annex 13 acres of Storer Conservation Land, which would then make the current site a buildable site.  Unless the mayor has been amassing an army to take the Storer land, I don't see that happening.  However, I nodded politely.
4. What about, I asked, the use of the current site for a new K-8 school to house the students in our growing city?  Ms. LeBlanc smiled again and informed me that, first of all, the population projections are probably wrong (much like Mr. Vidal did at the joint meeting last week) and that, if the city did need a new K-8 school, it could just be on the soccer field at the McDevitt.  Ms. LeBlanc's ability to posit completely baseless ideas as good ideas has, I am certain, served her well throughout her long career in the federal government and in her more recent political career.  If you haven't been at the McDevitt Middle School (or any of the nine schools in the Waltham Public School District) during drop off or pick up, do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY. The scene is chaotic at its best.  Additionally, the McDevitt is situated on a very small tract of land; the soccer field, which is down a slope from the school building, is ALL of the land that the school has.
5. Another solution for a K-8 school, according the the City Council President, is the Fitch School. The Fitch, with its historical preservation art-deco facade, has been brought up in every conversation about school sites that I can remember since we started complaining about overcrowding at the Fitzgerald six years ago.  Here's the deal with the Fitch: the School Committee "gave" it to the City Council.  The City Council didn't do anything with the building.  CC may have "given" it back to SC at some point in time -- I confess that I can't keep up.  In any case, the architectural consultants, including my hero Lorraine Finnegan, looked at the building: the heat had been turned off, causing extensive internal damage; the building is loaded with asbestos; the site is small.  The cost to gut the building while keeping the facade is more than construction of a brand new building.  Apparently, it's only mean moms and mom bullies like me who pay attention to any of these silly details.

At one point in our conversation, Ms. LeBlanc stated that the School Committee should request air conditioning for the existing high school, even if it's only there for four years.  I thought to myself how I believed that my older son, who starts 9th grade in the fall, would have been in the first graduating class at the new high school and, realizing that he won't ever set foot in it, and that his younger brother probably won't either, leads me to believe that maybe we should install air conditioning.  Pig: meet lipstick.

It's my nature to be skeptical and my writing style is sarcastic: having said that, please note that I am genuinely impressed that Ms. LeBlanc reached out and took the time to meet with me.  As an at-large councillor, that's her job; it's nice to see someone doing it.  Nothing that we discussed changed my mind and I fervently wish that we could stop chasing boondoggles and make a decision and break ground and build a school.  A situation where the Stigmatine Brothers can continue their mission and house their aged next door to a state of the art campus that supports our model education plan is the ideal.

Like the Phoenix from the Flames

Yes, I know I've been uncharacteristically silent for some time.  And I am grateful to those of you who still bother to check in on the Twitter or the Facebook.  And here we are, nearly four years after the search began for a site for the new Waltham High School.  Back then, I had hoped that my oldest son, Jack, might be in the first graduating class from the new building.  Now, I realize that my younger son, Finn, will likely never have the opportunity to learn in it and will, instead, spend his high school years in a substandard building, without certified science laboratory space, with asbestos, without reliable wifi, with a football field that can't be accessed safely as a pedestrian, and entirely unable to support the Education Plan.

As the City Council, led by Council President Diane LeBlanc and Council Vice President Robert Logan have again and again ignored the advice of the architectural consulting firm with whom the city has worked for five years, SMMA, and have chose instead to recommend a variety of spaces that are unavailable or impossible to build on, I would like to offer the following.  These recommendations are based on an intensive tour of Waltham by me.  They are not based on any input from architectural consultants, who would know if the recommended site is buildable for the needs of the high school.  Additionally, like LeBlanc and Logan, I have not taken into consideration the more than 5000 Waltham Public School students.  Because really: what do they know?  Or deserve?

1. Prospect Hill: I propose that we take Prospect Hill and flatten it and build a high school on it.  Who needs old growth forests, views of Boston, good facilities, a wonderful campsite when you can just pay extra taxpayer dollars to flatten the whole darned thing and build a high school on it.  Apologies in advance to my Monday night walking crew.
2. Mount Feake Cemetery: With 85 acres, the dearly departed are surely taking up too much space that could be afforded to the living.  
3. Takeover of Costco or BJ's: This was a one-warehouse store town before BJ's moved in.  We could have jousting or a price war or somesuch to see who survives.  The loser donates the land to the new high school.
4. Lyman, Stonehurst, Gore: Really?!  Old dead white guys are so last millennium.  Just raze those lovely structures and the protected properties surrounding them and build up a new high school.
5. Waltham Fields: This insanely popular community supported agriculture on Beaver Street is ripe for the picking (pardon the pun): who needs farmland when a high school can be built and completely and entirely forever and ever make traffic on Beaver Street unbearable (as well as positioning the high school far from the center of our fair city).
6. The MBTA Commuter Rail Tracks: Surely the architects could come up with a sustainable and affordable solution along 25 vertical acres of land along the railroad tracks that run through the city.  Of note, we will need to house displaced vagrants living in lean-tos along the tracks.
7. Weston: As an adjacent town with a lot of open land, we should be able to work out something.
8. My backyard: As it happens, our tiny house is situated on nearly 1 acre of land.  As the education plan and new high school recommendation is written, it requires 25 acres.  I am very close with many of my neighbors and I am certain that I can convince them to donate their homes to the greater good.  Since I have ~1 acre, I only need about 25 neighbors.
9. Pizzi Farms: Rick Pizzi is an all-around good guy who never says no when asked to make a donation.  So, let's just ask him to give us his business and land.  And we can build the high school there.  I have no idea where we will get ice cream or subs, however, we will have the building.

As a citizen of Waltham, I demand that these recommendations are given as much debate as the ludicrous idea of siting the high school on Veterans' Field and Chesterbrook Woods were.  

If you are interested in a cogent and reasoned argument, the best one comes from Michael Barnett, and you can read it here.  

If you haven't been paying attention (like most of our city Councillors) for the last three years, the education plan is here.

All of this is True [except for the editorial comments in brackets, which may be hyperbole]

As I sat at my desk on Tuesday, in the corner of our living room that is my office on the days when I am not traveling for work, I heard an escalating cacophony of sirens up and down Beaver Street.  My curiosity piqued, I went to the most reliable source for breaking news that I know of, the Twitters.  My Tweep, @mattredsoxfan2, let me know that the fire department was responding to a forklift that drove into a gas main on Clematis (or something.)  That was when a WPD cruiser screamed down the Bumpy Road and I knew that something was up at the Fitz.  That was confirmed a few Tweets and Facebook posts later when the call came from the WPS Superintendent's office called to say that there was a bomb threat at the Fitzgerald School and our kids were being evacuated to our evacuation location (more about that in a moment.) And then my phone started exploding with texts, Tweets, posts, calls [hyperbole alert: it did not actually explode] from friends and other parents.

I pulled on my coat, hat, ski gloves, and boots and headed there.  I may, in fact, have gone screaming down the bumpy road myself.  On the two minute drive, I remember feeling oddly relieved that it was "just" a bomb threat and not an "active shooter."

I got to the evacuation site, which is where the kids go for fire drills, and [God help me] "active shooter drills".  The location was announced in the Reverse 911 notification, which went to all WPS parents.  I identified the location in a Facebook post because there was a whole lot of confusion and misinformation and I wanted to try to be factual:

Liz Humphreys McCarthyJanuary 19 at 10:29am · Waltham · 

Bomb threat at Fitz. Police on site. Kids evacuated to St. Jude's and will be bused back if/when all clear given.

I know that the Facebook and its so-called 'privacy' settings are a joke and that anyone, really, could see the not-so-secret hiding place to which the kids were taken.  I also know that locations are kept confidential in large part because of the risk of a parent or relative who has been denied custody of or contact with a child (often because of domestic violence, child abuse, custody battles, divorce, or similar) would come in contact with the child.  I know, from ALICE training, and my obsession with school shootings, that the shooters in these cases want to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible and then, typically, commit suicide (or "suicide by cop"); that is, the mass shooters aren't going to stalk kids being evacuated.  Also, in the case of the truly cowardly, spineless loser who sat in his Mom's basement and put together automated calls about a bomb threat and sent it to more than 10 schools on Tuesday, that kind of guy isn't going to have the cajones or sophistication to identify the evacuation plan of each school, get the school evacuated, and then plant an actual bomb at the evacuation site.  This is Loserville, not Mission:Impossible.  Finally, long before I was posting about evacuation sites, the principal of the Fitzgerald, Jennifer Santillo, had called 911 and there were about a gazillion cops at the Fitz and at the evacuation location [hyperbole alert.]  

What do you think, Gentle Reader?  And how many 'evacuation sites' are available that 550 kids, all ages 5-10, could walk to in 18* weather?  I think of some of our elementary schools that are in an even more residential area than the Fitz: where are you going to take them? 

So, back to Tuesday: I get to the Site and find concerned and (understandably) anxious parents queuing to get their kids.  Because I am obnoxious and overbearing, I pushed my way to the front and asked Mrs. Santillo how I could help and went out in front of the Site to help direct parents (much to the relief of two teachers who had not come to school dressed to stand outside in frigid weather for an hour.)  The kids, BTW, were well behaved, excited, and, from the sound of it, happy.

In my new station, I directed parents to the queue and then, after being told by a Waltham police officer that the kids would be taken by bus to the McDevitt Middle School, I directed the parents to go there for their kids.  Another officer, who was responding to about a bazillion directions and was probably pulled to the Site from where he should have been actually doing his job, came out and told parents to go to the Fitzgerald.  No, I said, the McDevitt.  He looked confused and then concurred and I hope that no one actually went to the Fitz, because those people wouldn't have gotten anywhere near it, as all access was closed off.

So, I'm telling my friends and neighbors and parents I don't know that their kids are safe, that they cannot go into the Site to get their kids because, in order to ensure the safety of the kids, they were being transported by bus to the McDevitt.  I watched the kids board the buses in an orderly way, telling them that their brains were too big for the Fitz, so they were being taken to Middle School.  I watched the last bus pull away and heard Mrs. Santillo say something about the Kennedy School, because there was a fire drill at the McDevitt.  Who does a fire drill in the middle of January?  I checked the Facebook, where there was information about a bomb threat now at the McDevitt.

Actually, the McDevitt Middle School decided to burst into flame [hyperbole alert: there was reported smoke in the elevator mechanical room] just as the buses full of Fitz kids were heading there.  The buses were rerouted to the Kennedy Middle School [this, btw, would have been a diversionary tactic even the US Special Forces would have been proud of!  Spontaneous combustion at the evacuation site to cover up the ACTUAL SECRET SQUIRREL evacuation site!]  

Eventually, still unable to feel my feet [no hyperbole there], I arrived at the Kennedy and assigned myself to another job to assist with the processing of the rest of the kids, who were now in the auditorium.  Meanwhile, my middle schooler was walking, coatless, back to the McDevitt after the all-clear was given there.  When I finally dismissed my third grader, he was disappointed because the movie had just started (Shrek) and they were about to be served lunch (grilled cheese and bacon on Texas toast whatisbetterthanthatnothing.)

Fact: the principal, assistant principal, staff, and teachers at the Fitzgerald ROCK and did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do and there was not a second that I didn't think my kids were safe.

Fact: Assistant Superintendent, Paul Maiorano, did an excellent job of Mission Control.

Fact: The Waltham PD and Waltham Fire were fantastic and did exactly what they were supposed to do (and then some.)

Fact: I am so relieved that my friends who I told to go to the McDevitt are still speaking to me.

After School Woes

If you weren't aware, tonight is the Waltham School Committee meeting and the schools will be presenting Quality Improvement Plans addressing specifics on how to address inequities and gaps in education at each school.  As a member of the McDevitt School Council, I have been privy to that school's plan, as well as the plan at the Fitzgerald.  I'm very excited to drink wine and fold laundry and watch the SC on the teevee tonight.

Quality Improvement Plans, however, are not what I want to write about today; rather, I'm going to whine about my predicament with my newly minted Middle Schooler.  It seems that, as soon as one enters 6th grade, regardless of age or background or ability or any sort of measurement of readiness, one is considered ready to come home by oneself.  The YMCA had a program for teens, in which 'tweens' were allowed to participate, however, that program has been left in the lurch and the Y has no plans to revisit it.  The Boys and Girls Club has a space for teens and tweens to hang out, however, there is no transportation.  And yes, the B&G Club is walking distance from the McDevitt, and doesn't require crossing Main Street, however, it's still a lot to ask of an 11 year old boy who can't find his socks in the morning.

I know what you're thinking: when you were in 6th grade, you walked home from school with no shoes and came in and started cooking dinner and finished the ironing.  And I get that, because I truly did come home from school and cared for an aging grandmother and an infant brother.  Times have changed, though, and the expectations are different.

That is, Jack spent the first 6 years of school going to the Y after-school program on site at the Fitz. We don't have the luxury of having family in the area, so there are no abuelas or peperes or aunties or uncles who can pop by and see how he's doing. He does have a phone, although, at times, he goes outside to shoot baskets in our driveway and leaves the phone inside, causing his dad to have a heart attack.  I can live with the two hours that Jack spends alone most days, from 3 until a little after 5 when my husband gets home.  The real issue arises when there is a school day off that isn't a holiday for most people, early dismissal days, and vacation weeks.  What are we going to do in February and again in April?  And it's not just knowing that he's safe, it's having him engaged and doing something other than watching Sponge Bob or Uncle Grandpa or Dude Perfect.

When I wrote to the Y to ask about programming for teens, I received a reply stating that they can't have the middle-schoolers on site because the Y is not "a licensed day care."  And yet, there will be about 200 elementary school kids on site for December break and again in February and again in April.  Additionally, the kids will be back for camp in June.  So, I'm not sure that I understand that premise.  Really, Y?  Is there an age cut-off during the school year that magically disappears when I'm spending thousands of dollars each summer for camp?

The Y also, helpfully, told me that, as a member, Jack can come in and use the facility.  Except, since he's 11, he can't use the cardio equipment or go into the weight room and I don't think that he can be in the pool unless I'm there, although I could be wrong about that.  Also, I would be extremely concerned about him walking to the Y and crossing at the intersection of Beaver and Lexington. Finally, though he may not require constant supervision, he does need some structure.

The Y has provided safe and effective after-school care at the Fitzgerald for both of my kids for the last six years, as well as camp that works with a working-person's schedule (is open before nine and stays open after 4.)  I have to think, though, that between the Y and the BGC and Waltham Public Schools, something could be done to address after-school programming, especially for grades 6 and 7 on a more pro-active basis.

A long time ago, a group of parents at the Fitz had after-school programming in which we brought in outside teachers and experts in various subjects, like art, dance, tennis, woodworking, outdoors exploration, 'mad' science (pouring Coke over Mentos, etc.), gardening at Waltham Fields, stagecraft, games with an avant-garde group from Cambridge, etc.  The cost for the programs were quite low and there were scholarships for any student who couldn't pay.  Is it time to look at something like this, run by the district, for our Middle Schoolers?

Or, who wants a well-behaved, somewhat disorganized, cute 11 year-old for a week in February and again in April?

Weighing In on the Final Four: Do the Right Thing

Last week, I attended one of the Parent Forums to hear about the four proposals to address the enrollment inequity at Waltham's six elementary schools.  There is one more chance for parents to give their input next Tuesday, 12/1. As usual, I have nothing but praise for the way that Dr. Echelson has handled the entire process, from identifying four possible solutions, to establishing a timeline (unheard of!), to soliciting parent and staff input at four meetings, etc.  He said, at the meeting that I attended (and I paraphrase), "I have a lot of big plans for this district, so we need to get this issue resolved and move on."  Oh, AND he even has a list of FAQs (and all of this stuff is on a Google drive, so that it can actually be accessed.)

My friend, the Watch City Wonder, blogged about the proposals and gave her opinion here today.  The News Tribune ran an editorial.  Both of them, at the end, ask the School Committee to reflect on what they've heard from staff and parents, and to make a decision.  Both make clear that not making a decision is unacceptable.  While I have a few disagreements with both opinion pieces, I wholeheartedly agree with that summary.  Inaction is untenable.

At the meeting at the McDevitt last week (which I live-Tweeted @lizhmccarthy btw), I was greeted by a parent who I know, whose son is a classmate of my youngest.  She looked surprised, and asked me, "What are you doing here?"  I was, in turn, surprised at her reaction, and I got all defensive, which is kind of what I do when I'm taken off guard, and said something like "I have been the Poster Mom for complaining about enrollment inequity since the Dark Ages!"  She thought about that for a second and said, "Yes, but you won't be included in redistricting."  And then I felt really terrible because I got her point.  As parent after parent walked to the microphone, a majority (and I didn't count, so this is subjective) identified as parents whose kids would not be affected by redistricting.  Another parent I know who would be included in the redistricting plan was also there.  Neither of them spoke.  And I get that I don't really have 'skin in the game' when it comes to redistricting.

One of the areas most impacted by redistricting is the Garden Crest apartment complex; both of my kids have many friends who live there and I didn't see any of their parents at the meeting.  That is concerning because, at an earlier meeting (at which I was not present), a parent made comments that seemed to some to be culturally insensitive at best and racist at their worst.  I really would have liked to hear from someone representative of the Garden Crest community and I do hope that some parents were at the other parent meetings or will go next Tuesday and make their thoughts known.

In general, the meeting that I attended at the McDevitt was made up of parents who were concerned, reasoned, and well-informed.  And I learned a lot from them.

Proposal A, which has kids changing schools every two years, was hammered by these parents because of the logistics: start times, end times, lunch times, after-school programming, bus routes, etc, etc.  I travel frequently for work, and I can't imagine have two or three kids under age 10 at two or three different schools and thinking that everything would go smoothly.  Especially if I imagine myself as a single parent, or as a parent who works off-shifts (like nurses and other medical personnel, police officers, EMT's and fire fighters.)  I now have a middle schooler and a third grader, and so, for me, the logistics remain the same: I have a kid in elementary and one in middle school.  The parents of multiple elementary school students who spoke out about this plan taught me a lot.

Proposal B is, of course, the redistricting plan, and the questioning here was gentle and respectful. See the FAQ's that I linked to above for information on grandfathering: in brief, there will be some limited grandfathering to the capacity that the district can bear.  This is a sensitive issue because it impacts so much more than where your kid goes to elementary school: it may impact property values and may even change the DESE designation of Level 1, 2, or 3 schools in the district.  Moving district lines is politically charged and it's emotionally charged: parents with more than one child have a relationship with administration and staff at a particular school; they have friends whose phone numbers are in their phones; they socialize with other parents nearby.  But it's only for the next one to two year of transition: after that, you're part of the new community and you have more numbers in your phone and when your kids get to middle school and to high school, they will know more people.  And I am saying all of this as someone without skin in the game.

My favorite is Proposal C: even knowing that in 3-4 years, we will outgrow the Middle Schools as they currently exist, there's the possibility that a new school building, which may house grades K-8 and/or some combination of special programs, would be completed in that timeframe or shortly after.  Of course, I'm the parent of two boys, and when I heard a parent's concerns about her 5th grade daughter riding the bus with 8th grade boys, again, it gave me another perspective.  I still think that one middle school for grades 5-6 and another for grades 7-8 will take care of the immediate issue without redistricting, allowing some breathing room as we initiate the inevitable Proposal D (build a new school, in addition to the high school) and get a better handle on where the new kids in the district are coming from (despite the mayor's insistence that new Waltham residents with kids are all buying houses for $600,000 in Warrendale and Cedarwood, because of course none of them are in any of the condos, multi-families, or apartments springing up like weeds around the city without any thought of traffic impact or student population.  But I digress.)  Of course, a change like that will move some kids who are currently in Middle School, however, I don't think that they will really care.  In fact, they may not even notice.

If you are reading this and you live in the Garden Crest area, or in another area that may potentially be moved to another elementary school, please, if you haven't gone to a meeting, plan to go to the one next Tuesday.  If you can't go to the meeting, then please get in touch with a School Committee member or with Dr. Echelson.  If you are a parent who has strong feelings about the four proposals who hasn't yet attended a forum, then you need to make your opinion known, too.

In the end, it's up to the School Committee members to do the right thing and to do it now.  No more can-kicking.  This is the right superintendent to bring change. The situation, especially at the Stanley and the Fitzgerald, is critical.  John, Margy, Kaytie, John, Teddy, Steve: collaborate and get it done.  Our kids are depending on you.  #OneWaltham

This Just Happened

Allow me, first, to wholeheartedly confess that I drive like a highly-skilled, tightly-wound maniac. Think Jason Bourne in Paris.  Almost every job I've had since 1988 has required me to drive: in the city, in New England (including Maine, which is a very large state), in New York City (all boroughs), in Montreal, in Toronto, in Rochester (in the snow), etc.  Additionally, since my family of origin lives in Pennsylvania, I have made frequent 5-hour trips to see them, driving through some of the worst traffic anywhere ever.  And I can do all of this while eating a Panera flatbread and drinking iced tea and participating on a conference call and passing an eighteen-wheeler at a speed exactly 14 miles above the limit (usually 79) (except on Route 128, where there doesn't appear to be a speed limit and so I just go with the flow.)  I have mad driving skills.

And yet!  When I am driving through someone's neighborhood, I slow down.  I go at or under the speed limit, depending on conditions.  I stop at red lights and stop signs.  I pay attention to street signs.  I really do drive "as if my kids lived here."

The reason for this bipolar driving model is that, on a highway, with lots of lanes, people are all going in one direction (generally straight ahead, unless you are on Storrow Drive or the Schuylkill Expressway, in which case all bets are off), and there aren't things like kids and pedestrians and cyclists and trash cans and landscapers and utility trucks and school buses and old people and letter carriers, etc.  And DOGS!  Because of all of those things that are on roads which are not interstate highways, it is a good idea to slow the flock down.  Also: police officers.  Just a few months ago, there was road work at the corner of Beaver and Warren streets and my friend, who is a police officer, was directing traffic.  I gave him a wave and he tried to stop oncoming traffic to allow me (and some other cars) to turn left onto Warren (which can be hypertension inducing even when there isn't construction and a police detail.)  My friend was all decked out in the screaming acid yellow traffic gear that makes cops and runners highly visible.  There were about five trucks with flashing lights.  My friend raised his hands to get the oncoming traffic to stop.  A car didn't stop.  He shouted, whistled, and waved his hands.  The car kept moving.  Right at the point where my friend was about to become a hood ornament, the car stopped.  Now, if I had been a police officer, I would have ARRESTED that person on the SPOT  for being STUPID, which is why I am not a police officer (because there is not enough room in all the jails for all of the stupid people whom I would arrest every day.)  My friend shrugged his shoulders and then directed me to turn left.  "Happens all the time," he said.  GAH!

Which brings me to today.  I was able to walk Finn to school at the Fitz at 8:20AM.  The bell rings at, I think, 8:42.  That is, we were early.  There was no need to rush.  I noted that there weren't many cars there today and that the drop-off was more calm than on most mornings.  And then!  A mom in an SUV (I will not give more identifying factors so as not to shame her, in hopes that she will read this and repent her ways and adopt the bipolar method of driving) made a right turn from Beal Road onto the bus driveway next to the school.  Yes, the one with the huge DO NOT ENTER sign and the menacing gate, which is open for buses to exit after dropping the kids at school.  Yes, the driveway that is next to the 'small' playground where, on nice days, many younger siblings hang out with their parents for a time after drop-off.  Yes, the driveway next to the door which many teachers use to enter the school with their armloads of things (and elementary school teachers bring in things by the armload every day.)  WHY WOULD ANYONE EVEN DO THIS?  The risk, at the very least, of having a head-on collision with a school bus or van would be a deterrent.  The idea that, while speeding down the driveway, there is potential of running over a pre-schooler or running into a teacher with armloads of stuff who isn't looking for a speeding SUV going the WRONG WAY would be enough for me to reconsider just how late for work I am and what the trade-off is.

Street signs are not suggestions: they are commands.  Laws.  If it says "Do Not Enter", it's not optional if you're late for work.  If it says "Stop for Pedestrian in Crosswalk", it's not referring to the guy behind you (and, in fact, a car was rear-ended on Warren Street on Monday when it stopped to allow four students and a parent to cross.)  If the light is yellow, it does not mean "speed up."  If the sign says "Stop", it does not mean "pause."

Traffic everywhere is bad; in Waltham, it's reaching epic proportions and, very concerning in the recent Traffic Study, is that only a few of the worst traffic nightmares in the city were included.  So, it's going to be up to us to drive as if our children live here.  Because they do.