Leominster Teacher Fired for Challenging State Policy Requiring Lying to Parents
By Scott Smyers In the spring of 2023, a public school teacher in Leominster was fired for refusing to lie to a students’ parents about […]
Responsible Zoning
Submitted by an Anonymous, but confirmed voter The Town is proposing SIGNIFICANT rezoning proposals May 7th (Articles 11, 12 & 13). The town has refused […]
VOTE NO ON ARTICLE 7
By Corinne Hogseth Many folks have asked me for a summary of what happened over the last couple months, which resulted in the passage of […]
Inflation?
By Corinne Hogseth The pro-override contingent keeps insisting an override is necessary because municipal and school expenses cannot possibly grow at only 2.5% annually over […]
$132M for Fiscal 2025 – it’s your money
By Bob Hertz You are asked to vote on April 30 for an override of $6.6M, most of which supports Acton Leadership Groups (ALG) Fiscal […]
Against the Override
By Tom Beals Introduction An override vote is pending at the upcoming April 30, 2024 town election. If the override is passed, the town’s maximum […]
Level Services, Level Funding or Simply an Uphill Plod
By Bob Hertz Management (ALG) suggests fiscal 2025 budgets represent “level services”. Level compared to what benchmark? Are all services level or does the label […]
Responses to the PRO OVERRIDE Mailer
By Corinne Hogseth Keep Acton Affordable By now, you’ve probably seen the big mailer that The Other Side had sent to households throughout Acton. One […]
To all Acton Residents
By Bob Hertz Acton Leadership Group (ALG) (1), our town’s power brokers or their emissaries, tell you how much money they want and how they […]
Gender Inclusive Pre-K & Elementary Schools
The images below are part of presentation material provided to Acton Forum by a local resident who received a printed version from an anonymous teacher […]
School Committee March 2024 Meetings
By Diane Baume Originally posted at Acton Exchange on March 28, 2024. New Boardwalk Campus Wins Award for Excellence in Energy Design Boston- based architecture […]
Keep Acton Affordable Vote NO at Town Elections on April 30
By Keep Acton Affordable At Acton’s 2016 Annual Town Meeting, there was an article to approve funding to repaint Town Hall. The Finance Committee refused […]
2023 Earnings for Acton-Boxborough School District
The public employees earnings are now available for 2023. Six staff earned over $150,000. Please follow this link to a searchable spreadsheet.
Not All Costs Can be Calculated in Dollars: DEI vs. Patriotism at Acton-Boxborough High School
By Scott Smyers and Dave Lunger When the COVID pandemic resulted in remote learning, it made sense that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was not […]
Acton-Boxborough School Committee February News Update
By Diane Baum This article was first published in Acton Exchange. After a day-long “Budget Saturday” workshop on February 10 and a subsequent budget discussion […]
There is a Severe Conflict within the Acton Voter Registrars
By Dave Lunger The following statement was delivered to the Acton Select Board on February 26, 2024. I want to raise a matter involving Acton […]
A Contested Primary Race for March 5
By Dave Lunger Candidate for State Committeeman and Chair of the Acton Republican Town Committee With the Presidential part of the upcoming primary all but […]
Ready for an Override? – Part 2 The Sky is Not Falling
By Corinne Hogseth The point of Part 1 of this discussion was to raise awareness of a pending override that will dwarf even the debt […]
Point of Order! More Restrictions on Free Speech in Acton?
By Marty Benson The following statement was read at the Select Board Meeting on January 8, 2024. First, there seems to be a misunderstanding amongst […]
School Committee January News Update
By Diane Baum This article was originally published in the Acton Exchange (www.actonexchange.org) with the following modifications by the author: moved section on the budget […]
Coming Soon – Large Increase in Your Property Tax Bill – How Large Depends on FinCom Diligence and Your Vote
By Bob Hertz An average homeowner in Acton currently pays roughly 18% of their family income to real estate taxes (based on the average house […]
The FIRST Black Person to Graduate from College in the United States was from Acton
Introduction by Scott Smyers with Original Research by Dominic Carpio and Mario Valdes In February 2021, Acton Forum posted a summary of information from a […]
Ready for an Override? – Part 1
By Corinne Hogseth Acton taxpayers should be aware of ongoing discussions regarding a massive property tax override being pushed by the schools for the 2024/2025 […]
SELECT BOARD FRUSTRATES ALL: No Menorah, No Discussion on Leaf Blowers, Limited Response to Records Release, & No Respect for Open Meeting Process
By Scott Smyers At the November 20, 2023 Select Board meeting, a citizen requested placing a Menorah somewhere on Town Property. This preliminary discussion was […]
Halloween Officially Cancelled in All Elementary Schools: Has the School Committee Finally Gone too Far?
By Scott Smyers On November 2, 2023 the Student Representative from the High School provided an update to the School Committee. She was frustrated that […]
More Withheld Records Have Been Released Revealing the Real Story of the Zoombomber
By Marty Benson After almost three years of delay, the truth is finally being exposed. On Monday, November 6, 2023 the following statement was read […]
AB School Committee Faces HUGE Budget Shortfall and Acton Forced to Open Emergency Migrant Shelter
By Scott Smyers There was a presentation about the upcoming school budget by the School Administration to The Finance Committee on October 10, 2023. At […]
School Administration Struggles with Transparency Despite Commitment to Do So
By Marty Benson The following statement was read at the School Committee meeting on May 18, 2023. This is an ongoing process exposing records of […]
Payroll and Salaries for Acton Town Employees – 2022
The annual salaries to Acton Town Employees is now available here. Note: Click Tab at bottom for 2022 Earnings For comparison to previous years, click […]
MA Prosecutor Targets Anti-VAX Protestor from the Acton Discovery Museum Incident. Wasn’t He Already Beaten Enough?
By Scott Smyers It has been over a year since another day that will live in infamy in Acton. On July 8, 2022, Fred Smith […]
Payroll and Salaries for Acton Boxborough School Employees – 2022
The annual salaries to Acton Boxborough School Employees is now available here. For comparison to previous years, click 2021 and 2020. To receive email notifications […]
Public Comments at School Committee Meeting Challenge Ongoing Behavior: 1. Civility Rules in Public Meetings are Illegal 2. Textin’ Tessa Deletes the Evidence
By Marty Benson The following statement was read at the School Committee meeting on May 4, 2023. First, the behavior of the previous Chair at […]
SAVE CITIZENS’ LIBRARY!
Nestled in the heart of historic West Acton Village at 21 Windsor Avenue, Citizens’ is Acton’s first & oldest Town Library! If you love this […]
Acton Man Who Beat Someone with a Pipe Avoids Criminal Charges (14 min listen)
By Scott Smyers Last summer, Fred Smith was caught on video at the Acton Discovery Museum arguing with non-violent protestors. He destroyed their property and […]
Supreme Judicial Court Decision Exposes Acton’s Repeated Violations of the Constitution of Massachusetts
By Marty Benson The statement below was read at the Acton Select Board Meeting from March 20, 2023. This past week, the Supreme Judicial Court […]
Acton Select Board Decision Establishes Dangerous Precedent
By Marty Benson The following statement is from the January 23, 2023 Select Board meeting. Tonight, I will address the Select Board’s December 19, 2023 […]
Senator Eldridge Blocks Law: Revenge Porn Remains Legal in Massachusetts
By Scott Smyers Revenge Porn is self explanatory. When two consenting adults (Persons A and B) take photos or video of themselves nude for their […]
Happy MLK Day and other thoughts
By Allen Nitschelm Someone famous* once said, “you won’t have [me] to kick around anymore.” Yes, I will finally be leaving Acton and Massachusetts for […]
The Voldemort Holiday
By Nijan Datar As we go about our season of good cheer, it is hard to miss everyone wishing each other a Happy Holiday. In […]
Democracy Or Tyranny
By Bob Hertz During the Acton Select Board meeting of December 5, 2022, a vote was taken to allow for reduction of citizen debate, a […]
Obscene or Educational? An Open Letter to the Acton Boxborough Regional School Committee
By Corinne Hogseth At the December 1st meeting of the School Committee, members of the community spoke regarding some highly questionable materials in our junior […]
Tenth Annual Veterans Breakfast
By Acton-Boxborough Regional High School National Honor Society Dear Friends & Families in the Acton and Boxborough Community, On Friday, November 11th, the National Honor […]
UPDATE: Senator Eldridge’s Election Interference Organization Suffers Another Loss
By Scott Smyers As reported in Acton Forum on August 15, Senator Eldridge actively interfered with citizens collecting signatures for a ballot question over the […]
What is Deception? A Review of One Example from the Acton Select Board
By Bob Hertz I believe we got a dose of it on October 18, 2021. Fabrications, silence, and distortions by several members of the Select […]
Eldridge Coordinates Election Interference and is Now a Defendant in State AND Federal Lawsuits
By Dave Lunger A group of concerned citizens are collecting signatures to include an item regarding illegal immigrants and Massachusetts driver’s licenses. Governor Baker was […]
Acton Resident Arrested at Children’s Discovery Museum. Pepper spray, Swinging PVC Pipe, Protestors and more.
By Scott Smyers On July 8 there was a group of medical freedom protestors gathered at the Acton Discovery Museum, a local business focused on […]
A Chronological Look at the Texts and Emails Regarding the Retirement of the Colonial Mascot
Organized and Introduced by Several Anonymous Concerned Citizens In the summer of 2020, COVID-19 was in our country for about three months causing sickness and death. […]
Payroll and Salaries for Acton Boxborough School Employees – 2021
The annual salaries to Acton Town Employees is now available here. At the 2021 Acton Town Meeting, the School Committee provided a list of cuts […]
Payroll and Salaries for Acton Town Employees 2021
The annual salaries to Acton Town Employees is now available here as a complete spreadsheet. Fourteen earn over $150,000. For a comparison to past years, […]
That’s NOT leadership, Mr. Chairman
By Marty Benson Statement from the Select Board May 9, 2022 Mr. Martin your dismissive remarks toward Fred Smith’s “Nazi Contingent” Facebook comments and the […]
Unacceptable Omissions of Acton Select Board
By Bob Hertz Getting basic answers to simple questions should not be as hard as the Select Board (SB) seems to want it to be. […]
Revolution vs. Colonials: A Distinction Without a Difference! Was it all worth it?
By Corinne Hogseth An open letter to the School Committee You folks must be feeling pretty silly. You ignored district naming and technology policies, violating […]
Update on Records Requests from the ABRSD School Committee
From the latest Public Records Release: Text messages between Krishnamurthy and Cook on Oct. 15, 2020. At the top of this post, the thread starts […]
Superintendent Light Should Resign from the Mascot Naming Committee
The following statement was read at the ABRSD School Committee Meeting on April 7, 2022. By Marty Benson It is now clear that the recent […]
Let the Students’ Voices Be Heard!
By Christine Marlow and Christine Casebolt In the fall of 2020, when most of us were distracted learning to navigate the early weeks of the […]
The Colonial Mascot & Poor Process: The School Committee Doubles-Down
By Corinne Hogseth As many are aware, a subcommittee of the School Committee has been working on renaming the AB mascot after the Colonial was […]
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Lowell) is our Socialist Congresswoman, “proudly” elected to serve the citizens of Massachusetts.
By Allen Nitschelm Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Lowell) is our Socialist Congresswoman, “proudly” elected to serve the citizens of Massachusetts. Democrats didn’t used to embrace Socialism, […]
Endorsement: Re-elect Dean Charter for Acton Select Board
By Mike Majors Mike is A 40-year resident of the Town of Acton, a member of the Finance Committee, Economic Development Committee, and the Minuteman […]
Ukrainian Resistance Reflects Acton’s Past: The Silenced Story of America’s First Disabled Soldier
By Marty Benson The following statement was read at the March 3, 2022 AB School Committee meeting. Tonight, I request the committee to pause the […]
Stop Supporting Facebook and Twitter
By Allen Nitschelm President Biden stole the 2020 election, thanks to Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Dorsey, and Biden’s mainstream media allies. It turns out the […]
Time To Put the Record Straight
By Bob Hertz and Charlie Kadlec Tenant claims discrimination and other issues against the Acton Housing Authority Acton residents listening to the citizens’ concerns portion […]
Acton Police Place Two Officers on Administrative Leave After Recent Allegations
On Saturday March 12, 2022, a former student from ABRHS posted allegations about the Acton Police on social media. Some of these statements were removed […]
Responding to Racist Accusations, Questioning the Colonials Retirement Process and Releasing the Records
A Citizen’s Rebuttal to Comments at Previous School Committee Meeting (12/2 and 12/16) The following statement was submitted by the author who read this at […]
An AB Student Speaks Out AGAIN
Colonial Mascot Supporters are Called White Supremacists by White Members of Our Community The following two statements were submitted and read aloud at the AB […]
Economic Development Committee’s Response to “Policy Encouraging Building with Clean Energy”
By Dan Malloy This document summarizes the Economic Development Committee’s (EDC) discussion and recommendation from the meeting held on 12/2/21. The Economic Development Committee is […]
Not all debt is created equally
By Allen Nitschelm Today’s Democrats argue for Joe Biden’s new spending bill by minimizing its cost, misrepresenting its funding, and ignoring the future added debt. […]
The DEIC Report: a Solution in Search of a Problem
By Terence Lindgren Acton Forum Introduction By Charlie Kadlec This Article is a copy of a letter written to the Acton Select Board by Terry […]
Colonials: Fighting Hatred & Injustice Since 1775
Rebuttal to School Board’s 11/2 Statement By Christine Marlow The following statement was read at the School Committee meeting on November 18, 2021. On Nov. […]
An AB Student Speaks Out
AB Colonial Mascot Supporters Were Silenced The following two statements were submitted and read aloud at the AB School Committee meeting on November 18,2021. By […]
Yes – Privilege Checklists are now part of Acton “training”
By Bob Hertz In a June 2021 Acton Forum article, I asked if White-Privilege checklists are a part of Acton. Unfortunately, I have my answer. Yes, […]
Press Pause: A Review of the Flawed Process of the Colonial Mascot Retirement. Part 3
The AB School Committee has adopted the practice of allowing public comments, but ignoring any topics or direct questions they do not want to address. […]
Press Pause: A Review of the Flawed Process of the Colonial Mascot Retirement: Part 2
The AB School Committee has adopted the practice of allowing public comments but ignoring any topics or direct questions they do not want to address. […]
Press Pause: A Review of the Flawed Process of the Colonial Mascot Retirement
The AB School Committee has adopted the practice of allowing public comments, but ignoring any topics or direct questions they do not want to address. […]
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission Issues Their REPORT and Recommendations Include Acton’s Own Political Commisar
By Simon Li After leaving the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission (DEIC) in April, like other Asian neighbors interested in this topic, we finally found […]
THOUGHTS ON TEACHER VACCINE MANDATES
By Corinne Hogseth Employee unions were originally established to allow employees to collectively bargain with their employers for better wages and safer working conditions. Oddly, […]
The School Committee Wants Your Input Prior to Thursday Evening’s Zoom Meeting
By Scott Smyers, Corinne Hogseth and Two Anonymous Parents The Acton-Boxborough School Committee is meeting Thursday August 19 and they will be discussing masks in […]
The Diversity Racket– What Next?
By Nijan Datar Now that Town Meeting has effectively given the green light to add a Diversity Officer for the Town (in addition to the […]
Shrewsbury Puts on a Clinic for Acton & Boxborough
By Corinne Hogseth Most in Acton and Boxborough are by now aware of the damage inflicted on the community when the Acton Boxborough Regional School […]
Are White-Privilege Checklists Now Part of Acton?
By Bob Hertz Rumor has it that Acton central leadership is exploring, to some degree, White-Privilege checklists, a spin-off of Critical Race Theory (CRT). These […]
Still Saving Our Colonial
By Corinne Hogseth Thank you to the members of the community who participated in the Braver Angels “debate” on Sunday, May 2 (click here to […]
Payroll and Salaries for Town Employees 2020
Twelve make $150,000 or more, 23 earn more than $130,000. A complete spreadsheet of the payroll and salaries for all Town employees is below. Complete […]
Payroll and Salaries for School Employees 2020
Seven make $150,000 or more, 22 earn more than $130,000. A complete spreadsheet of the payroll and salaries for all School employees is below. Complete […]
Double-Top-Secret Meetings
By Corinne Hogseth Tonight (April 28, 2021) is the first of two planned workshops to be run by Visions, Inc. Visions is part of the […]
Simon Li Resigns from Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Commission (Acton): “My professional training does not allow me to make the judgment just based on one sided story and condemn the other side.”
From: Simon LiSent: Friday, April 23, 2021 1:03 PMTo: David Martin; Select BoardCc: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion CommissionSubject: Resignation to DEIC and an open letter […]
The Power of Words
By Allen Nitschelm “The pen is mightier than the sword” is a quote from Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and it is one of the tools the Left is […]
A Disease Called Happiness
By Ken Silva This is the first in a series about wellness. Individuals can eat well, sleep and exercise but if they hold anger; it […]
Dear Candidate for Board of Selectmen, Please answer these questions: Benson
By Jon Benson with Introduction and questions by Scott Smyers On behalf of Acton Forum, I contacted Jon Benson and his challenger Fran Arsenault and […]
President Biden plans to violate his tax pledge
By Allen Nitschelm Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made a startling announcement during her briefing: the White House was going to renege […]
Culprit Admits Role in “Zoom bombings” of Two AB School Committee meetings
By Charlie Kadlec and Scott Smyers The first “Zoom bombing” incident happened on 17 December 2020 when insulting, vulgar and racist comments were posted on […]
The Long Struggle for Freedom in Massachusetts
By Scott Smyers The struggle for fair treatment of all races, under both the law and in society at large, began in Massachusetts well before […]
Two** Black Patriots Served in the Revolutionary War and Lived in Acton
By Scott Smyers When many of us learn about local history, we enjoy learning about individuals, their personalities, their participation in historical events, and even […]
Lying by Omission: A Lesson in Choosing the Wrong Way & Dividing a Community
By Corinne Hogseth In a recent statement, the Chair of the School Committee claimed that “a few members of the community have persisted in presenting […]
Understanding the Colonial Issue Calls for Patience and Communication
By Elliott Donald Ladies and Gentlemen, Last week I watched the Acton Boxborough Regional School District School Committee’s chair read a statement on the issue […]
Acton Leaders are Quick to Accuse, Slow to Apologize
Response to Hate Incident and Acton Police Investigation Shows Bias By Scott Smyers and Charlie Kadlec Immediately after the December 17, 2020 hateful, racist and […]
The AB School Committee has More Problems with “Virtual Zoom” Meetings
By Charlie Kadlec and Scott Smyers As many Acton and Boxborough residents already know, two recent ABRSD School Committee (SC) “Virtual Zoom” meetings were interrupted […]
Repairing Our Democracy Starts Locally – and Immediately
By Corinne Hogseth Civil discourse is an essential ingredient in a functioning democracy. We should all be able to agree on that. Participants in a […]
Colonial Pride
By Bill – ABRHS 1981 Colonial Graduating from the Acton-Boxborough school systems back in the 1980s, I am proud to call myself a Colonial. As […]
Payroll and Salaries for 2019 School Employees
See link below for detailed spreadsheet. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ETQKeJT9xaXM7Sx8-0L6imQyn2LlFy0l/view?usp=sharing
The Colonial Was Voted Down, but was the Process Fair?
By Scott Smyers The AB School Committee last met on November 19, 2020. The Colonial was NOT on the agenda except for an issue related […]
Ranked Choice Voting – Simply Complicated
By Dave Lunger Proponents tell us Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is simple – simply fill in ovals according to your candidate rankings; opponents tell us […]
A Case to Save the Colonial: An Open Letter to the School Committee
By Elliott Donald, Captain (Retired), US Navy; Acton Boxborough Regional High School ‘89 Ladies and Gentlemen of the Acton School Committee, It has been over […]
Local data show a steep increase in Mental Health Problems and Substance Abuse in the Suburbs of Boston. A case against restrictive lockdowns.
By Scott Smyers The government mandated shutdowns of businesses and institutions have many obvious and some not-so-obvious consequences. I contacted the Acton Police Department and […]