In a discussion of oaths and pledges, Sanjay Vakil of Arlington posted the following thoughts to the Arlington e-mail list July 26.

The oath to which he refers is the one taken to become a citizen. The Pledge is the Pledge of Allegiance, in the news recently because of the efforts of Arlington High School student Sean Harrington.

Vakil's comments are posted here with his permission:

Being an immigrant myself -- and a happy one! -- I took the oath. I thought about it beforehand and decided that it was important to me to pledge my loyalty to this country. I still have the flag that was given to me that day.

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The following letter to the public from the Arlington School Committee was written by committee Chairman Joseph Curro Jr. and appoved by the committee May 25:

The past months have been truly excruciating as we and the rest of the community have come to grips with the enormity of the hole that has been blown in our school budget. As most know, we face a gap of over $4 million, which is largely a result of the nation's financial crisis and other factors beyond our control.

To this point, most of the painful cuts and revenue increases that we must implement have been a matter of talk and speculation. Reality is setting in, though, as we begin the process of laying off staff and deciding on potential fee increases. 

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"I was not directly involved with this case," he wrote in an e-mail from his home in San Antonio, "but my colleagues were. Our team picked up the remains, returned them to HI [the Army lab in Hawaii] and identified them."

Tom declined to say more, and he directed me to the official source on the matter, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, at www.jpac.pacom.mil/. The site does not address this case, but it gives you a glimpses of the work my brother did.

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I hear about tales of attacks at Menotomy Rocks. Tales? I can wag you a few. Sure, there are some bad actors out there -- jumping and biting when they shouldn't. When people do that, we put 'em away for a while.

Because a few pooches do it, should Arlington ban the whole class of us? Nope, and finally Town Meeting saw the wisdom of giving this off-leash thing an official try. 

Hey, off-leash has gone on unofficially since the Pilgrims. I used to get some exercise on the grassy field near the playground at Stratton School -- I'd tear about in huge circles, running break-neck, striking no humans, my ears flapping back, jet-pilot-style.

 

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The April 29 edition of The Advocate published a letter from Stephen Harrington titled "Keep Public Documents Public."  In it, Harrington said he was "disappointed to learn that Town Meeting members are being urged to conduct official business ... on a privately owned mailing list that is not widely available to the general public." He urged members not to conduct business there and wrote that "the town should set up its own mail lists using the arlingtonma.gov domain name to insure public documents remain public."

Town Meeting Moderator John Leone provides his response: 

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the Mr. Harrington's letter to the editor last week, "Keep Public Documents Public."  While it is true that I did encourage the Town Meeting Member to join the Town Meeting list, Mr. Harrington, quoted only a portion of the passage from my letter.

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State Rep. Will Brownsberger, Democrat of Belmont and East Arlington, asks for your thoughts about casinos. He writes:

"Speaker DeLeo has announced his casino plan. I definitely oppose introduction of casinos in Massachusetts and will vote against the bill. I nonetheless welcome your perspectives and would especially welcome your thoughts on amendments to the bill.

"I've posted all of the documents released by Speaker DeLeo at willbrownsberger.com." 

I am writing to proudly endorse Arlington's own Kevin Greeley, the distinguished chairman of the Board of Selectmen for re-election.  

In challenging times, in many instances, people seek change.  Certainly, with respect to the School Committee, there is a call for new leadership and a new direction.  On the Board of Selectmen however, Kevin Greeley has already brought about change to our town.

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The following statement was written by Teresa Bottoni, a candidate for the School Committee. It is posted here with the author's permission.

You ask why am I running for School Committee, and I say, “Why  not!”

Running for School Committee is not new for me. I did it once before. I had cold feet and did not want to go to the debate for fear of not knowing the issues.

I am still not familiar with the issues, but I am confident that I will pick them up quickly. I am a frightfully honest person, and I tell it like I see it.  I feel I am a good judge of right and wrong. I won almost 1,000 votes without going to the debate last time. This time by going to the debate, I hope I will get more votes.

I love my town, and my family has been living here for three generations. I do not want to see Arlington change. It should stay like it was in the good old days.

Arlington has high standards and good morals. It is the individual that matters. With understanding of individuals and their feelings everything else falls in place. When red tape gets too thick we can’t see the forest for the trees.

I’m afraid that when we try too hard to be like the rest of the world, we lose our identity. I want Arlington to keep its wonderful identity.

"The function of a school is not to help kids do well in school.

"The function of a school is to help kids do well in life."

-- Elliott Eisner

by David Ardito and Pasquale Tassone

As two arts educators with over 60 years of combined teaching/administrative experience, we are deeply concerned about the Arlington Public Schools’ financial picture for the next academic year. As longtime residents of Arlington, we are aware of the potential impact that such a bleak scenario has for public education in general, the arts in particular and the quality of life in our community.

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The following statement was written by Jud Pierce, a candidate for the School Committee. It is posted here with the author's permission.

by Jud Pierce

My name is Jud Pierce. I write to announce my candidacy for School Committee and tell you why I am running.

I am married to a wonderful woman named Laura and together we are happily raising two young children ages 5 and 2.  Laura and I moved to Arlington seven years ago. We chose this town because of all of its positive traits including, more specifically, its great school system for when we were ready to start a family. 

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The following statement was written by Nathan Bosdet, a candidate for the Board of Selectmen. It is posted here with the author's permission.

by Nathan Bosdet

The primary reason I'm running for selectman is to really work to bring the voice of Arlington into the Board of Selectmen. Not just to provide a monologue out from the selectmen to the community, but to create a stronger dialogue and transparency between the selectmen and the community.

My personal background is in economics, in which I hold both bachelor's and master's degrees. I feel this gives me a no-nonsense approach to budgetary issues that we face and that we are sure to work with over the next three years.

Currently, I work as an economic analyst for a Cambridge consulting firm that works with many large multinational corporations, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] foreign and domestic government agencies.

The following statement was written by Kurt Fusaris, a candidate for School Committee. It is posted here with the author's permission.

by Kurt Fusaris

My name is Kurt Fusaris, and I am running for the Arlington School Committee in this year's Annual Town Election on April 10.

I am running because I want to continue my commitment to Arlington's students. I bring a unique perspective as the only candidate who has taught in the Arlington school system.

As a result, I can appreciate what works and what needs to be improved. I have worked cooperatively with many parents, students, and other educators in the district to help meet the educational needs of all our students. As a school-based speech-language pathologist for 12 years, I understand how to address the challenges in special education.

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The following updated statement was written by Maria A. Romano, candidate for the Board of Selectmen. It is posted here with the author's permission.

By Maria A. Romano

Dear Friends:

I'm running for Selectman because our town needs and deserves a positive leader for our community.  As an Arlington resident for 31 years and owner of a residential remodeling business for over 25 years, I bring in jobs on budget, on time and always practice fiscal responsibility.  My skills and experience will bring the needed change to the Board of Selectmen and to our town.

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By Kirsi Allison-Ampe

I’m Kirsi Allison-AmpeKirsi Allison-Ampe and I’m running for Arlington School Committee because I am a concerned parent.

I’m concerned for my youngest daughter, starting kindergarten next year. I’m concerned for my older daughter and her classmates, whose love of PE, art and music gives sparkle to their days. Most of all, I’m concerned for the future of the students in Arlington Public Schools.

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John D. Leone, Town Meeting member representing Precinct 8, has announced he is seeking reelection as Town Moderator. His statement follows:

Our spring election for Town offices is several weeks away, however I wish to announce that I am seeking reelection as your Town Meeting Moderator.  I respectfully ask for your support and vote.

The responsibility of Town Moderator is to oversee and manage our Town Meetings.  I believe that I am uniquely qualified to hold the Moderators offices.  I pride myself on my honesty, directness and fairness. Upon being reelected I will run a fair, efficient and well balanced Town Meeting.

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Selectwoman Diane Mahon launched the latest skirmish in Arlington’s "perpetual war" on Feb. 18, when she filed a public-records request for information about the draft school budget for 2011. Her plea went to interim Superintendent Kathleen Bodie, who was on vacation at the time. Mahon's goal: accurate data about forecast school deficits.

I agree with the aim, but filing a records request to reach the goal was grandstanding. The desired information has been available in School Committee presentations and on the schools' Web site, as each new forecast was made, since December.

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When William Weld was elected governor in 1990, he famously promised to end the “Beacon Hill shenanigans” of questionable contracts and patronage appointments, subjecting all deals to “the smell test.” Since then, the phrase “to pass the smell test” has lived on in political discussions to mean meeting a threshold level of decent, honest, ethical behavior.

The matter of appointing an interim town clerk to succeed Corinne Rainville raises some decidedly malodorous questions. Read more

The following opinion was written by Olivia Munson, a senior at Arlington High School. It is published with her permission.

Since our presentation at the selectmen meeting on Feb. 1, there has been much discussion in various sources regarding the event. For us students, it’s an education in itself to see how simply voicing one’s concerns can be interpreted and can resonate in a town. This letter is an attempt to clarify the organization behind the presentation, and the intentions of the students who participated.

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The following letter was written by Jeanie Tietjen and Andrew Bengtson, Arlington residents and parents of a 4-year-old entering kindergarten in the Arlington public schools in fall 2010. It was sent Jan. 23 to Arlington's State House delegation -- Reps. Sean Garballey, Jay Kaufman and Will Brownsberger, as well as Sen. Ken Donnelly. The letter is published with the authors' permission.

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As parents and voting members of the Town of Arlington and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we submit this letter as formal expression of concern for how the current fiscal crisis affects our public school system. We are very concerned that the gap between revenue and costs forces Arlington Public Schools to drastically cut back resources, affecting not only the types of programming available, but teacher to student ratio and class size.  

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On behalf of the Arlington Republican Town Committee, thank you to the 6,485 Arlingtonians who voted for Scott Brown on January 19. We were happy to get out amongst our neighbors, be they Independents, Democrats, or Republicans, to spread Senator Brown’s message of fiscal responsibility and electing an independent voice for Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate.

 We were excited to have citizens of all different ages and political stripes join us in holding signs at polling places, door knocking, and making phone calls. We look forward to Senator-elect Brown’s swearing-in during the coming week, and to supporting his agenda to bring common sense reform to Washington.

We would also like to thank the town’s Martha Coakley and Joe Kennedy supporters for waging a strong campaign that helped illustrate the differences among the three candidates in a passionate but respectful way.  I hope that in the future we can have campaigns that contribute to civil discourse about the issues, not the negative and personal attacks that often infiltrate our debates.

As a political group, but first and foremost a community organization, the Arlington Republican Town Committee welcomes those of all or no political affiliations at our meetings. Please consult the ARTC’s web site at http://www.arlington-gop.com or our blog for details on our next meeting. You can also sign up to be our friend on Facebook or connection on LinkedIn for the most up-to-date information.

Cheers,

Jim Dolan
Chairman
Arlington GOP