Let's provide free housing for our new Superintendent

Tue, 2017-06-13 06:54 — AllenN

If anyone had any illusions about how unimportant having the right Superintendent for our school system is, those have been dashed by recent developments. I'll bet everyone now knows that we need a top candidate to lead our system and "second best" won't do.

Unfortunately, the recent abrupt departure of Glenn Brand, without any believable public explanation, has cast a cloud over our District. Maybe, one day, the public will learn what happened and maybe it is nothing bad.

School building: assumptions and repurposing

Mon, 2017-06-12 08:45 — AllenN

Last article, I wrote about my disappointment that the "recommendations" that came out of the School's elementary-school-building process didn't include any estimate of costs or potential impact on our taxes.

Hidden costs and pseudo-science

Fri, 2017-06-09 12:13 — AllenN

I attended the School Committee meeting last night (6/8/17) to continue to follow the issue of the resignation of Superintendent Brand, which had a couple of pertinent items on the agenda. For those looking to get involved in the next Superintendent search, please attend this Tuesday's (6/13) School Committee meeting. The meeting is currently scheduled to start at 7:30 in the Junior High library.

I stayed a little longer for the discussion of the new elementary schools that the School District wants to build, and I'm glad I did.

I made a mistake

Wed, 2017-06-07 07:17 — AllenN

Blog Post by Allen Nitschelm

The website is fixed, for now!

Today's article picks up the issue of the imminent departure of AB Superintendent Glenn Brand, who most people (at least parents in the community) think was doing a very good job. Having a change in leadership now is, at best, very inconvenient with a lot of complicated stuff on the School Committee's (SC) upcoming calendar.

People say that I never admit mistakes, and there is a very good reason for this misperception. It is because I so rarely make them.

Let go of your anger

Tue, 2017-06-06 12:35 — AllenN

[Acton Forum website continues to experience technical difficulties. You can read the article below online at this link: https://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/gmoo9--chldo-br0tmx3 ]

Yesterday, our "Facebook" group met to discuss next steps in our attempt to get a great Superintendent for Acton.

You are invited to attend tonight's School Committee meeting!

Tue, 2017-06-06 12:32 — AllenN

A community group, started online with a petition and then a Facebook page by Susri Anuradha, has met to compile a list of requests which it has sent to the AB Regional School Committee. The School Committee is holding a meeting tonight, Tuesday, May 30, at the R.J. Grey JHS auditorium, to discuss how it plans to move forward and the public is invited to attend. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm.

The agenda has several items and the School Committee policy is to allow public comment near the end of each agenda item for issues pertinent to that topic.

Time to move on in Superintendent search

Tue, 2017-06-06 12:25 — AllenN

[NOTE: The Acton Forum website is experiencing technical difficulties. Please forward this message or you can read it online at the link here: https://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/glos4--chg9k-br0tmx9 ]

It has been a tumultuous ten days since the abrupt announcement of Superintendent Dr.

What is "disparagement"?

Tue, 2017-06-06 12:23 — AllenN

[NOTE: The Acton Forum website is experiencing technical difficulties, so we are emailing articles in their entirety for now, until things get fixed. If you wish to share the article, please forward, or you can try sending this link: https://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/gic8k--cgmou-br0tmx9 ]

The School Committee released its Separation Agreement with Dr. Brand and as promised, there were few surprises, except for one.

My concerns validated over full regionalization of Schools

Tue, 2017-06-06 12:18 — AllenN

By Allen Nitschelm
Publisher, Acton Forum

[NOTE ONE: There is a critical meeting of the School Committee tonight at 7:30 pm in the High School auditorium. If you are concerned about the recent resignation of the Superintendent, please attend this meeting and demand answers from our elected officials.]

[NOTE TWO: Acton Forum website is experiencing some technical difficulties. So this article will be sent out in its entirety with no link to the website.

Questions the School refuses to hear, let alone answer

Mon, 2017-05-22 06:15 — AllenN

The Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee (SC) is stonewalling Acton Forum and members of the public about the recently announced resignation of School Superintendent Glenn Brand. For a town whose residents, children, and tax dollars revolve around the school system, Brand's sudden departure is big news.

The School now says they will have a public meeting this Wednesday night at the R.J. Grey library. They may want to move that meeting to the auditorium and plan on several hours of questions.