7/10/08
People say the future of communications is on the Internet.
We happen to agree, although we remain extraordinarily fond of our print newspaper. Anyway, 11 years ago we registered our name on the web and began what was a very static site.
We’ve gone through many changes with our website over the years. There was a time when the webmaster was a fifth grader related to the publisher. There was another time when we placed all the information from the weekly print edition on the web. Different outside companies have worked with us over the years to help us maintain the site.
Our latest site, which changes from week to week, is the design of Times production manager William Curry III. While we continue to work to refine the site, the material already posted is searchable. The website went live in late April, but the design had been under construction for more than six months. During the design phase, we listened to our readers’ feedback.
From our site, you can subscribe to the newspaper. We have tried several payment options in the past few years and, with increasing federal regulation of credit card transactions on the web, we have switched to Paypal for processing our forms.
There is a photo gallery that can be reached by double clicking the blue and yellow button on the lower right of the site that says “Photos are periodically removed.” We try to post photos there that didn’t find space in the paper, as well as those that did. The only photos posted on the site are those the Milton Times owns. Freelance photographers have their own sites.
From our website you can find information about advertising in the Times. You can even get a glimpse of our staff.
Our goal is to make the website easy to use.
We are planning to add more information. Perhaps more information about the history of the town. Perhaps more information about current events.
We are not planning to place all our news on the site. So if you want to find out what is happening in the area next weekend, keep buying the actual paper. It is where we place those details.
In response to our readers’ feedback, we have decided that the “With the Athletes” column will be included each week. The rest of the site is a sampling. We remain open to suggestions.
Our site is supported by a half dozen local businesses that pay for a link from our site to sites of their own. We expect the number of paid links from our news site will grow in time.
In the transition our old archives have been placed in storage.
We are working on developing a plan for a paid subscription website to hold our archives. We don’t think there is much interest in a paid site, but we expect this is within the realm of possibility at some future time.
The Milton Times also maintains another website, www.miltonconnection.com. A year ago we experimented with a free advertiser called the Milton Connection. It was mailed several times to all the homes in town that do not subscribe to the Times. But the economy slowed and we put the Connection on hold due to a lack of advertiser interest.
The website www.miltonconnection.com is a portal to the rest of Milton on the web. You can use it to find websites for churches, town government, schools, nonprofits and even a neighborhood group.
We expect we will find more information and add it to the portal. There are a few photos and stories from the Times on the Connection site because we want people to understand something about the community as they browse the site. We refer visitors back to the Times site for news.
One of the reasons behind the creation of the portal site came from a community focus group that identified the need for a community website. Town officials were part of the focus group and, having heard the feedback, the Selectmen directed an upgrading of the town’s website. We think the new town site is easier to navigate.
The town site moves a visitor through the various departments and adds much useful information, including the latest benchmark study of town finances developed by Municipal Benchmarking LLC.
We suggest browsing our sites and all the links that are available through both www.miltontimes.com and www.miltonconnection.com. They can make for an interesting evening.
If you have ideas for additions to the site, drop us an e-mail at miltonwebsite@comcast.net.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

7/10/08
Two weeks ago we published a Readers’ Survey looking for information on what people are looking for in our newspaper.
We have to say we haven’t been deluged with responses. So far the responses have indicated people understand what the Milton Times should be and they do not want to see the direction of the paper changing.
People who have taken the time to reply want to see more town government coverage. And that fits with the vision we have of our newspaper.
The wonderful truth of a weekly newspaper is that everything changes. People working in our newspaper office are constantly working to make sure we gather information about the most important events in the community in a way that provides the most accurate possible information.
The less desirable side of that truth is that we
can only be as accurate as our sources and there
are times when details change more quickly than we can report.
We often wish we could wait until we found absolute truth. But absolutes are seldom found in this world. What we usually find is a version of the story that will change in a day or in a week.
At the Times we try to let our readers know where we found the information.
You can still find the survey at our website
www.miltontimes.com. We hope to gather more
information from our readers in our ongoing effort
to improve.
Admittedly the online survey has its problems. Some have had to print it out to be able to answer the questions. Technology is improving but not everyone has the ability to make all the bells and whistles work. We hoped the form could be downloaded, answered and e-mailed back to us.
So far the responses we have received have come in the mail.
When the results of the survey are tallied, we will talk about those results at some length.
We want our readers to know we constantly attempt to improve our product.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

7/3/08
Independence Day is said to be the only holiday that celebrates our nation. As all Americans know its observance goes back to our founding as a nation and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 by members of the Continental Congress that had convened in Philadelphia.
The first marking of Independence Day came in 1777, and the various communities and states celebrated the occasion in a similar fashion. There were 13 gun salutes, speeches, prayers, parades, music, fireworks and troop reviews.
More than 200 years later we celebrate the occasion in much the same way, although now we’ve added picnics, barbecues and baseball games.
In Milton the Kiwanis Club is conducting its Independence Day celebration at Kelly Field on Brook Road. The festivities are scheduled to last from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Among the activities will be family foot races and free ice cream and flags.
The Kiwanis Club says that all children will receive a ribbon for participating in the family races.
Additionally, the Milton Fire Department will bring along its vintage fire truck, which is always a favorite for children.
While there are no official fireworks in Milton, many towns along the South Shore have scheduled them. The biggest among those is along the Charles River in Boston, which includes the Boston Pops and rousing and patriotic music. This event draws hundreds of thousands of people.
Please remember that fireworks are illegal in our state, and they are also dangerous.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/26/08
We publish a story on this week’s front page that is of particular concern to parents of children in the public schools, especially parents whose children are interested in high school sports.
The story by Nate Leskovic focuses on the struggles of school officials to maintain a viable sports program at a time of budget shortfalls, belt tightening and an uncertain national economy.
The story outlines the costs associated with operating an effective sports program, the need for an even higher level of community philanthropy to keep the program going at current levels and the impact of student fees that discourage some children from trying out for sports. Parents whose children are currently on one or more sports teams know how much this involvement can cost them as the fees and related expenses add up.
The story is not simply about sports, however, or about the growing number of young people whose families can’t afford the fees, which now stand at $200 per sport, but on how important sports are to helping to assure that students do well in academic programs.
This is why these sports programs are important. The programs are not a luxury for the schools or for student athletes. They are one more way to engage students.
We’ve argued the same can be said about art programs. We’ve published several stories on cuts to these programs recently and outlined studies that show the importance of the arts on academic achievement and success in life. The similarities between arts and sports are striking.
Incoming Superintendent Mary Gormley and incoming Assistant Superintendent John Phelan point out how students involved in high school sports are less likely to fall through the cracks and more likely to do better academically and to succeed educationally and in life.
Not mincing words, Gormley is convinced
that students are falling through the cracks, and
she calls the sports fees “abhorrent.” She worries
about losing the safety net provided by sports programming.
The entire sports program this coming school year will cost $540,000. Less than half of that total, or $191,000, will come from tax dollars. This is down from $350,000 a couple of years ago. The schools expect to raise approximately $190,000 in student fees, about the same level as comes from taxpayers. $20,000 is expected from gate receipts. Last year $46,000 was earmarked for sports from the Copeland Foundation’s land purchase, but that money may not be available this year. All of this means that nearly $150,000 may be needed from community philanthropy, about twice the level of the last school year. Last school year the Boosters raised a whopping $73,500 from the community for the sports programs and another $5,500 from efforts with student athletes. More will be required this year.
Boosters President Jerry Cahalane says the Boosters have no cushion of money this year as they did last year, but he is convinced that the organization will raise the money needed, although he admits it will take some creative thinking and a whole lot of work.
Meanwhile, Gormley says that sports fees, if they need to exist, should be no more than $75 or $100.
We believe it is time for an open and thorough debate on the part of school officials and residents about the matter of sports fees. These decisions should not be left to the whims of annual budgeting and budget cutting.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/19/08
We met recently with soon-to-be school Superintendent Mary Gormley. Current Superintendent Magdalene Giffune leaves the system at the end of the month and Gormley then takes over.
We welcome Gormley’s appointment as a step forward for the school system and for the people of Milton. We believe her appointment means a much more open school administration, and this will help everyone but especially parents and students.
We are convinced that Gormley will be a wonderful superintendent. We believe her time has come, although we do not envy her the immensely challenging task she faces in this era of budget cuts, increasing mandates and rising costs. But if anyone can pull the schools through it and rally support from the community, we think it is probably her.
She knows Milton well, and she understands what parents need from her. They are looking for a superintendent who will return their calls and who will engage them and interact with them. We think they want a superintendent who is willing to be flexible in those issues that arise on a daily basis and involve one child and a concerned or anxious parent.
There is every indication that Gormley is not “bureaucratic” in her approach to things. We’ll wager that she will seek solutions that are highlighted by their common sense.
It is clear that Gormley loves the Milton school system, the people who work there, the children who learn there and the community that has supported the system with both its tax money and its expansive philanthropic efforts on behalf of athletics, teachers and the arts.
Gormley will be a refreshing change.
She readily admits where things may have gone wrong. She understands that impressions are everything. If the schools are to put together a successful override effort, they need to show people that the district is spending money wisely. We think Gormley will get the word out and that we can rely on what she says.
She deserves the support of all residents in town and a helping hand when she needs one.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/12/08
We think the town has not communicated very well about the construction going on in East Milton Square. Even though we actively seek to keep on top of things, we are as confused as everyone else trying to figure out what’s going on.
Recently the town unveiled a plan to slow traffic down on Granite Avenue starting at Wood Avenue near the Fruit Center in order to protect pedestrians.
It is clear to us that the public process was incomplete. We were unaware about a recent public meeting held on the matter, as were many residents.
Residents are concerned that this attempt to slow traffic on Granite Avenue will force traffic into residential areas. DPW Director Walter Heller says there is no indication that this is happening.
We are struck by the basic wisdom of one of our readers, Christine Quinones, in a letter published today. Her description of what it takes to navigate the square by car at rush hour is very cogent. She says the lights are poorly timed and the pedestrian crossings are dangerous. We agree, and we do so based on first-hand knowledge.
But what delights us about Quinones’ letter is her challenge to the engineers in Milton to try to be a pedestrian for a few months during rush hour.
“When they have tried it for a few months they will understand the pedestrian problems, then we can seriously talk as a community about how to fix those problems,” she says.
She challenges those engineers to drive through the town during those same rush hours. She points out that people who actually live in Milton struggle with these problems daily.
“Where do these traffic engineers and consultants live,” she asks? “Are their lives affected by the recommendations and decisions they make for Milton?”
We support our reader’s challenges. She makes
a lot of sense. A look around East Milton Square reveals this.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/5/08
We publish today approximately 240 photographs of Milton High School seniors who graduated
this past week. These photographs are more than just faces and names. Each one is an individual with
goals and aspirations. Some come from wealthy families and others from families that struggle to make ends meet. Some are white, while others are young people of color.
We ask that you take a look at them and imagine their individuality, their propensities. Some come out of the French Immersion program, while others do not. Some are musically inclined. Maybe they play musical instruments or have wonderful voices, while others found achievement in athletics or mathematics or with paint and an easel.
They are the reason why residents in town work
so hard to try to assure that the school system is
the best that it can be. It is why parents attend
School Committee meetings to complain about
the latest issue or debate the amount of money needed to fund the school system. It is why passions can run so high.
These young faces are why the School Committee, made up of volunteers, works so selflessly, to try to get it right, and why they’re willing to take the heat when some residents think they got it wrong.
These are the faces that move teachers and administrators alike who want to make sure that the children in their care have an opportunity, despite the setbacks, the quirky funding, to get an education that will serve them as a decent beginning in a world that is anything but forgiving and easy.
We wish these students well. We hope that if their plans are to go to college that they are going to the school of their choice. We hope they’ll come back someday to make Milton their homes, and that they, too, will continue the fight to assure a good education for their children.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/29/08
We asked for your Letters to the Editor and you sent us so many that we decided not to run an editorial and a cartoon this week, 5/29/08 but to run your letters instead. Your voices add immeasurably to the newspaper. We hope you enjoy them. Next week we’ll run an editorial and a cartoon

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/22/08
The office of Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating is investigating whether certain closed-door “ad hoc” budget meetings in April involving then Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick, School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely, Warrant Committee Chair Katie Conlon, and perhaps others, were a violation of the letter and spirit of the state’s open meeting law.
We asked for the investigation in a May 7 letter to Keating, who subsequently assigned Assistant District Attorney Varsha Kukafka to investigate the matter. Kukafka has sent letters to the town officials involved asking them to provide “all relevant information this Office might use to assess whether an Open Meeting Law violation occurred.”
We contend in our letter that, “a provision listed in Section 23B of Chapter 39 likely prohibits such ‘ad-hoc’ meetings of town officials, if they are held to discuss official town business and those discussions lead to public policy decisions...”
While we understand that no quorum of a particular governmental body was involved in these meetings, “we believe the ad-hoc meetings have shaped public policy decisions in closed and private sessions,” our letter says.
“While Selectman McEttrick told us on the record that no decisions were made at the meetings, she went on to explain the purpose of the gatherings: ‘It’s to get frank feedback. It might be better that it’s not in a public forum. We might be able to resolve a problem before it even becomes a problem. It could be harder to resolve once it gets out in public,’” according to our letter.
We go on to say that “This statement makes it clear that the meetings alter public policy.”
Our letter continues: “Additionally, these ad-hoc committee meetings have sparked the concern of one of the three selectmen, John Shields. He says that he is being left out of decision-making. He said on the record that the meetings are ‘setting up a quasi-official committee that no one asked to be set up. It’s a committee that meets outside the light of day...’”
We believe that the citizens of Milton have a right to know how decisions are reached, especially those that involve issues as complex and important as budgets. Budget development and the strategies that guide them are crucial to the future of the community.
Some public officials believe that the ad-hoc meetings were not a violation of the letter of the law because the law focuses on governmental bodies that meet where a quorum exists. No quorum existed for any of the governmental bodies represented by the officials involved in these meetings, namely the Warrant Committee, Selectmen and School Committee.
That seems like a parsing of the spirit of the law to us. The real issue, from our vantage, is whether the meetings had an impact on subsequent public decision-making, and the public comments of Selectman McEttrick strongly indicates that they did.
We’ll see.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/15/08
As a result of the School Committee’s threat a few weeks ago to eliminate art and music in the grammar schools, we thought we’d take a closer look at the current state of these programs.
We asked Contributor Julie Fay to look at the music program. Fay is a pianist with a passion for music and seemed perfect for the assignment. She has extensive contacts in the music community. Her report is published on page 1 of the newspaper today, and it is an eye-opener.
The music program in the public schools had already been cut and a latest round of cuts could well eliminate what remains of the program’s vitality. Music teachers had previously been slashed by 30 percent and more cuts are expected, according to Fay’s account.
We understand the town faces budget shortfalls, and we offer no solutions here as to how the town might fund the music program it once had, but we do believe that residents need to consider what it means to their children to gut such a program, especially in Milton.
What makes Milton so special? As a newspaper editor new to the community, the number of musically gifted students in town strikes me as extraordinary. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t publish an article about a public school student who has gone off to college somewhere and is giving a recital, performing in a quartet, an orchestra, or giving a solo performance at some musical event.
We published an account on March 27 by Pierce Principal John Phelan congratulating students at his school for a string of musical performances involving sixth, seventh and eighth graders. In this first-person account, Phelan spoke glowingly of three performances involving the school’s band, string orchestra and choral group. He listed the names of all the students involved to try to provide them with community recognition. By our quick count approximately 300 names of students were listed. Perhaps more. What an amazing statement and gauge of a community.
The principal told us that many parents attended these performances and, in fact, the students performed to standing-room-only crowds. He was very proud of them and perhaps awed by the creative impulses he saw gathered together.
Clearly many parents in town encourage and support their children’s interest in music.
And there are some good reasons why this makes sense.
Fay tells us that the No Child Left Behind Act defines the arts (including music) as a “core academic subject.” That means that it stands on the level of English, French, geography, or math, at least theoretically if not in reality.
Fay informs us of a range of studies that show the value of music to a student’s life and wellbeing. One of those students says that secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).
Now that’s something to think about.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/8/08
So, the School Committee has decided for the moment that it doesn’t want an override this year. The committee says it doesn’t want to chance a defeat by voters in June. Instead, we’re now told, if the school system can find a mere $150,000 to $200,000 somewhere in its budget, the schools will survive intact until next year: tragedy would be averted. The sky will not fall.
Committee members have no idea where this money would come from. They say, however, if they can find the money somewhere in the budget, the system will only have to lay off 24 people, mostly teachers, rather than the projected 28.
Committee Chair Beirne Lovely blames a lack of community involvement for the committee’s decision not to seek an override (note news story on page 24 of our May 8 edition).
We have other thoughts on why things have gotten to this point, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with an apathetic community that shows little concern about its schools, which is the rationale beneath Lovely’s comment. In other words, you’re to blame for this debacle.
It was only about a month ago that the committee considered eliminating a program already decimated by previous cuts: art and music in the grammar schools to make up, in part, a so-called $2 million budget shortfall. At that March meeting, the committee also threatened to layoff 35 positions, mostly teachers.
A number of town residents attended that meeting and several others to speak out against the elimination of art and music programs and to express their concerns about their school system. We receive letters from residents nearly every edition of this newspaper offering their solutions to the budget shortfalls. To blame them for the dismal effort of the School Committee to put together a campaign for an override is a bit disingenuous, to say the least.
While all of this will have been worked out one way or the other by the Town Meeting this week, there’s one part of this issue, which meeting members and the Warrant Committee cannot do.
Maybe the problem is that the School Committee has lost its credibility with residents because of its shrill cries of catastrophe. Maybe the School Committee has done this one time too often.
The committee’s newest member, Kristan Bagley-Jones, who attended her first meeting last week, brought an outsider’s perspective to the override discussions.
She said a lack of transparency has garnered distrust from residents, and that the credibility of the committee is not where it needs to be to successfully pass an override.
There you go. We agree.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/1/08
For many weeks now the School Committee, Selectmen and the Warrant Committee have tried to hammer out a town budget. If the budget process confuses you this year, you are not alone.
The people in town responsible for building the budget and determining whether to ask for an override petition also appear confused. Even reporting on this year’s effort has been a bit like grabbing smoke: just when you think you have a handful of it, you look and see nothing in your hand but air.
It was only several weeks ago that the School
Committee was telling us that without an override
and an influx of money teachers would be cut and programs would be curtailed. Neighborhood schools, we were told, were in jeopardy. The inference was
that your child could be bused to some distant school on the other side of town without an override.
Parents were told that the art and music programs would be eliminated. Parents rallied to the defense of these programs. Last week the school committee apparently decided an override might not be the answer, after all, which was a surprise to the Warrant Committee, and some of the cuts earlier predicted would not be necessary.
Meanwhile Selectmen instructed department heads to come up with draconian budgets, now there is rumbling among some of them that they may not be able to live within those self-imposed bounds.
We publish two stories on our front page today that report on the latest efforts to develop a budget in preparation for the Town Meeting, beginning on Monday, May 5. But as you can see these stories do not offer the kind of clarity we think you have a right to expect.
What is clear from the stories is that the budget process is frustrating town leaders, and this has led to some confusion.
We’ve said it before: it will take Town Meeting and its members to sort through this mess. We can’t wait.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/24/08
Some of you will go to the polls next Tuesday to vote for certain of your neighbors to represent you at Town Meeting and on various town committees and commissions. Many of you, however, will stay home. Although there are only a handful of contested races, we urge you to vote.
We’d like to focus on why it’s so important for you to vote, even if you vote for candidates who are running unopposed: It’s crucial that all candidates know that you are watching what’s going on. Voting makes it clear that you’re paying attention and have a voice.
If you don’t vote you can’t really complain about what happens in town. Your stake in your community diminishes. Your views become invisible.
Consider this: In 1964 the Supreme Court ruled that, “Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.” With this the concept of “one man, one vote” was born.
Before this case, disparities in the value of a vote existed, depending on where you lived. Urban counties were vastly underrepresented in state legislatures, for example. This case said that all votes should be equal and no votes should be devalued. If you don’t vote, you’ve tossed aside this most basic ideal.
It was less than 150 years ago that the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave voting rights to all men, regardless of race, and only 90 years ago that women were given the right to vote. In 1925 Native Americans were given the right to vote, and in 1971 the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18.
Nearly every important change made to voting rights expanded those rights and made them more fair, and nearly all of these changes were preceded by battles and confrontations on the part of groups who felt excluded from our system.
Since our founding, Americans have fought for the right of their neighbors to represent them and for the right to vote. Many have died to affirm these rights. Voting is the only way to really honor them.
Let’s face it; voting is a thrill. Choosing who will run your town and who will represent you at Town Meeting, who will stand in for you in the commonwealth, and who will represent you in Washington is the true mark of a patriot.
Don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t make a difference whether or not you vote. Bear in mind that there are forces in our nation that are better off when you don’t vote and when you don’t pay attention.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/17/08
It is an odd world that requires parents to plea to their school committee to maintain art and music education, as though these subjects were frills and not cornerstones in the development of children.
We have watched this debate unfold in town now for several weeks as parents testify before the School Committee and write heartfelt letters to this newspaper in support of art and music education. School officials warn, however, that without a budget override art and music programs for children in kindergarten through eighth grade could be eliminated. We’re told that cutting art and music could save the schools approximately $350,000 by eliminating seven teaching positions.
Even if we accept the School Committee and school administrators at their word that cuts are needed without an override, we wonder if cuts in art and music are not shortsighted and don’t reveal just how uninspired school officials have been in finding solutions to these budget difficulties. While town residents have been generous in the past with their willingness to support overrides for the schools, and school officials are counting on that generosity again, this year may be different. Residents are concerned about a national economy seemingly in recession and hemorrhaging jobs. They are concerned about their homes. This is not a time for big increases in property taxes. A successful override this year may not be possible. We need town leaders to step up and find better and more innovative solutions.
We are reminded of a story we published in the March 27 edition of this newspaper that was sent
to us by John Phelan, principal of Pierce Middle School, that focused on musical performances at
his school that had gone unnoticed by everyone but the Pierce community. These performances included the school’s band, strings orchestra and chorus.
Hundreds of children were involved, and the principal sent us the name of every one of them with the
hopes that we’d publish them, so they could be recognized. He praised them for their achievements, and we did publish every name. Will the Pierce bands
be eliminated? Will the chorus of young voices
be silenced? Will the teachers who taught them
find themselves on an unemployment line? Will
these several hundred students have to do without something that is apparently profoundly meaningful in their lives?
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led our troops during the Gulf War is quoted as saying how what he learned from a third grade music appreciation course changed his life and better prepared him to face difficult and complex challenges.
“During the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to music, and it brought me great peace of mind,” he is quoted as saying. Perhaps it also made him a better general.
Arts are an essential part of public education. They provide children with a unique means of expression, and they pull from children their own creativity, their sense of uniqueness, individuality and humanity. The arts help students to understand the world around them as much as do language and mathematics. The arts integrate life and touch the development of the whole person.
Maybe it is time that parents, administrators and town leaders come together to look at other ways to come up with the money to assure that school children remain immersed in arts and music so that their futures can remain rich and their entire minds can be developed.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/10/08
No matter how you slice it this is a difficult budget year for the town and for the school system. The one consolation is that Milton is not alone. Most towns throughout the region are considering overrides or dramatic cuts because of shortfalls. As many as 50 towns across the state are considering overrides this year, last we heard.
Selectmen report that residents seem split on whether there should be an override. An override would mean even higher property tax increases at a time when the national economy appears to have entered a recession, perhaps a bad one, and some people are losing their homes or might lose them in the future because of the mortgage meltdown.
Even without an override, the average property owner in town with a valuation of $549,313 is facing a tax increase of $230. An override would increase taxes on that same home by at least $537.
Milton faced its first budget override in 1989, approximately seven years after Proposition 2 1/2 came into being. Of the approximately seven budget overrides in town, voters have approved five of them, so town residents have been historically generous and understanding of the needs and mandates of the town and the school system.
Residents are generous and proud of their school system and of their town. They know how important it is for their children to receive a topnotch education. They have made this clear with their support of French Immersion and robust early language programs.
We learned recently that the national economy lost more than 80,000 jobs last month and more job losses are expected. Business sales are slumping and home values are dropping. William O’Donnell, Norfolk County Register of Deeds reports this week that the total dollar value of real estate sales countywide this past quarter has dropped by more than 38 percent. He also reports that the average sale price of residential and commercial properties has dropped by 12 percent over the same period last year. These sorts of figures spell trouble, although O’Donnell does report that there is some indication that the worst is over. We hope he’s right.
It appears that the Warrant Committee will present Town Meeting with two budgets, one requiring an override and the other avoiding one. Town Meeting Members, all 279 of them, will then make a decision as to whether to recommend Selectmen bring the matter to voters in the form of an override. We can’t think of a better group to make this determination about an override, especially this year, and the voter will have the final say.
While Selectmen have made an effort to determine the will of the community as to whether people are ready to support an override, we believe that Town Meeting Members are closest to the people and closer to their struggles than any other public officials.
The founders of this representational town-meeting form of government recognized this, and the governments they established reveal their wisdom.

Jon Prestage
Editor