Ludwig: Does it anyway
Thanks to revisionist history, fuzzy math, political play ups and an acknowledged disregard for the city’s charter, Manchester’s teachers have a contract. This turn of events can be summed up in this quote from Ward Two Alderman Ron Ludwig, who admitted that every lawyer he spoke to, in addition to the City Solicitor told him he shouldn’t vote on the contract given the language of the charter because his wife is a teacher.
Quote “It’s hard for me to go against the rules of the charter, but I’m going to do it and I’m going to support support you tonight even if I’m called out for doing it.”
Shaw: Redefines integrity to vote on contract
Ward Nine Alderman Barbara Shaw, whose integrity disallowed her to violate the charter not even a month ago, decided she could vote on the contract that covered her daughter because she’s quote “been out of the house for eighteen years.” Add to theirs, the vote of Ward Eleven Alderman Normand Gamache, whose daughter is also a teacher, and the mayor’s second veto of the proposed teacher contract was overridden after it was brought back to life with a reconsideration vote.
Craig: It’s all his fault
Ward One Alderman and mayoral candidate Joyce Craig said the problem wasn’t the city’s tax cap, it was the loss of tuition town revenue, which she blamed on Mayor Ted Gatsas, saying he sicked the district’s lawyers on Hooksett and let them out of their contract with the city, rather than resolving their concerns over class size. I guess Hooksett filing a formal Breach of Contract letter and violating the contract itself by allowing upwards of seventy students to opt out of Manchester schools doesn’t count in Craig-world.
Avard: Misleading numbers
This all came after a presentation by Ward Ten School Committeeman John Avard, the school board’s Negotiations Committee Chairman, who said the tax cap was blown by the loss of tuition revenue and the increase in debt service costs and that it was wrong for the city to try and offset those costs on the teachers’ backs. In his presentation of the numbers, Avard failed to mention that the contract costs he was presenting included one point two million dollars in savings from retirements, which have nothing to do with the contract.
Levasseur: Didnt get a straight answer
Despite several questions from Alderman at-Large Joe Kelly Levasseur, Avard, who trumpeted that teachers will remain on their current step in the first year of the contract, failed to mention that every teacher in the district will receive a seven point two percent raise in his explanation of how the pay scale was increased at the entry level. Avard had Levasseur believing that teachers at the top of the scale, like Ludwig’s wife, were not going to see a pay raise in the first year, which is completely false. (Click here for “the REAL numbers.”)
In vetoing the contract, Gatsas said, quote
Gatsas: This gets paid for how?
It’s clear that it’s an election year.
It’s unfortunate and disappointing that this discussion has become embroiled in election year politics. But, just because it’s an election year doesn’t give me, the Mayor, a free pass to succumb to difficult choices.
Just because there’s an election doesn’t give me, the Mayor, a free pass to make the easy choice – over the right choice.
There’s a word for this, and it’s not leadership.
He went on to detail the nineteen bargaining units that were either without or about to be without a contract and asked quote “how do we afford the contract before us? and “how do we afford the contract before us, and, everything else?”
Only Ward Four Alderman Jim Roy and Ward Seven Alderman Bill Shea supported the mayor’s veto. Levasseur, who voted against the contract, voted to override the veto. Ward Twelve Alderman Keith Hirshmann, who gave an eloquent defense of the mayor and the board in a plea for the teachers and the school board to be fair with all parties, abstained on both votes.
Arnold: “Standing with teachers”
Mayoral candidate Patrick Arnold issued a statement after the vote praising Ludwig and Shaw, who happen to be supporting his mayoral campaign, for quote “exercising political courage in standing up to those who are complacent with the status quo.” He also criticized Gatsas for what he called his continued quote “business as usual rhetoric and political scare tactics tonight.” (All emphasis in the original.)
Needless to say, there will be discussion of this.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Central: Police warn against illegal, unsafe student drop offs
The Manchester Police Department is warning parents who drive their children to Central High School that stopping in a travel lane on Beech or Maple streets is not only dangerous, it’s illegal. In an advisory issued yesterday, and published at Girard at Large dot com, Sergeant Christopher Goodnow of the department’s Traffic Division said such stops place your child, yourself and other motorists in danger. “It only takes one driver who is not paying complete attention and who does not notice that you are stopped to cause a serious collision, which could lead to serious injuries.”
Goodnow advised drivers to pull to the side of the roadway in a safe and legal location to drop your child off. There is a “drop off zone” on the western side of Beech St. between Lowell and Concord streets, but cautioned those using it to not remain stopped for long as others will need to utilize it. The right side of the road is the preferred side so your child can exit on the curb side and not into the roadway. Oh, and tell your kid to use the crosswalks and not to walk out from between parked cars as they are often obscured to oncoming traffic. We’ve linked to the undercover video we shot two years ago after parent complaints around Central High that shows just how dangerous things can be when drivers stop on Beech Street to drop kids off at Central.
Robert: Arrangements and memorial walk announced
Arrangements have been made to lay Denise Robert to rest. Robert was shot and killed while out for a walk in one of Manchester’s North End neighborhoods on Sunday night. Her wake will be tomorrow from three to seven at Lambert’s Funeral Home on Elm Street. The funeral mass will be on Friday morning at ten at Ste. Marie Parish on the West Side.
Also tomorrow, Kristen Farland Cottle, a resident in the neighborhood where Robert was killed, is organizing a candle light walk in Robert’s honor. She wants residents to join together in solidarity. In a Facebook post brought ot our attention by a loyal listener, Cottle writes quote
“We will meet and begin our walk from the Brookside Congregational Church. We will walk up Ray Street, stopping for a moment of silence where her life was tragically taken and return to Brookside Congregational Church. Let us bring our community together, demonstrating that we will not allow evil to take root in our neighborhood. Thank you.”
We’ve linked to the event page she created on Facebook.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next
