The following letter was sent to the Arlington School Committee by Gunnar Trumbull, a professor at the Harvard Business School and a political scientist by training. It is published with his permission:

I am an Arlington resident living at 152 Pleasant St., and I am writing as an advocate on behalf of my community to preserve our neighborhood.  We are at risk of being divided into two parts, to the point that even the five kindergartners at our bus stop are being pulled apart.

Concerns about our neighborhood led me to look in more detail at the data that were presented at the last school [Redistricting Committee] meeting. I am writing mainly to clarify what those numbers imply about future planning for school district sizes. My own analysis of the data suggests two conclusions that raise questions about the broader redistricting strategy.

I favor speaking up for the voiceless, but public words defending others who would remain off-stage have to tell a more complete story than they do in the case of paying $3,000 in annual fees for all-day kindergarten.

Arlington resident Stephen Harrington, who has spoken persistently in the past in a successful effort to reduce fees for high school athletics, uses similar arguments about kindergarten fees, but the math stands up only because the tale is incomplete.

During public participation Jan. 26, he told the School Committee that the cost of full-day kindergarten is "ludicrous," should be lower, amounts to an illegal tax and efforts to collect it are "heavy-handed." His comments, to which committee members made no response, as per their policy, came as parents who have not paid the fee face having their children dismissed at 11 a.m. starting Jan. 30. 

Harrington concludes that parents have overpaid more than $400,000 in each of the past two years for such fees. I wanted to learn how he reached that number, so I requested a copy of his comments Jan. 27. He has not responded. If he does, I will add a link to the response to this opinion column.

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.

by Bob Sprague

The School Committee took two right steps out of three at its Sept. 8 meeting in an effort to improve the process involved in the 2009-2010 superintendent search. The two correct moves were reconsidering its July 27 vote by urging wider public participation and seeking a full search. That includes encouraging Kathy Bodie, the interim superintendent, to apply.

The misstep lies in seeking a consultant to aid in the search, though the School Committee voted only to request proposals from potential companies. It doesn't have to agree to hire any of them. Given the continued budget woes and more expected bad news from the state, the committee should be leery of spending much for a consultant, if it chooses to have one.