There are a number of important issues that will be deliberated this week at various board and committee meetings. On Wednesday the School Committee will receive a presentation of metrics related to the French Immersion and English programs. In recent years French Immersion has seen an increase in popularity with over 60% of families opting to enter their 1st graders in French Immersion.
This demand has imposed logistical challenges on the administration. They have introduced the concept of auxiliary classrooms that float depending on which schools have the space to accommodate an additional class. The incoming English class for the Glover 1st grade has 11 students at last count. There are 3 French classes; one with 25 students and two with 26. Note, these are not the final enrollment figures s families are still making decisions and more families move to town. However, the school committee did vote to cap French enrollment for the fall of 2012.
In addition to hearing about the data that they had requested, the school committee will also be discussing enrollment for 2013. The issues are related. Parents have voiced concerns that the English program is not properly serving the students enrolled in it. The administration is grappling with whether to impose a quota on the students enrolled in French Immersion. This could require a lottery. If and when a lottery is imposed could rile another group; the families that have moved into Milton in recent years with expectation that their young children would be enrolled in French. Now that could be at risk.
Realtors in Milton cite the quality of the schools and the availability of French Immersion specifically as a significant factor in Milton’s ability to maintain stable housing values.
The Board of Selectmen will be meeting on Thursday. However, they are not expected to take an open vote on the Town Administrator contract until their meeting on the 30th. Mr. Keohane and Mr. Sweeney are the two selectmen who will be present on Thursday. Mr. Hurley is unable to attend. The selectmen recently vote in executive session not to renew the contract of Kevin Mearn, the Town Administrator. In appears that vote was in violation of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. (You can find the 10 purposes for calling executive session as well as other information on the open meeting law here.)Why they took the vote in closed session is not known. It may have been an oversight. None of the current serving members have yet been on the board for a full term.
The effective dismissal of the Town Administrator came as a surprise. Mr. Mearn was a long time employee of the town. A Viet Nam veteran, Mr. Mearn started out at the DPW yard, joined the police force where he became Chief, and was Town Administrator for the past 6 years.
The vote was split. Mr. Hurley opposed the motion not to renew the contract. Mr. Sweeney and r. Keohane supported it. The Ledger reported that Mr. Hurley cited communications issues with the Chief of Police as one of the reasons for the vote. Both Keohane and Sweeney in emails to MyTownMatters expressed the desire to provide a “fresh” start (please see earlier post here). While the selectmen will not take a vote on Thursday it is reasonable to expect that they may make statements regarding the decision.
The Planning Board is also meeting Thursday. The agenda for the session has not yet been posted but the board is expected to continue the hearing on 131 Eliot Street. They should have reviewed a petition received that contained ~ 165 signatures. The petition took issue with the building proposal. As a general rule the board places some emphasis on neighborhood input as it relates to local developments (Milton Hill house, and Hillside Street developments are two other current examples). The board had encouraged that the developer, Connelly Construction, meet with the neighbors. There was a small session on July 11th that Connelly and their architect attended. However, they did not attend a larger gathering hosted by the Columbine Cliffs Association. It is expected that an update on these sessions will be provided. If the board will finally vote on the permit for the development is unclear. Key to the issue is the granting of a bonus. The bonus relates to the size of the building assuming a natural feature has been preserved or replaced “in kind” and a public amenity provided. Connelly removed an old black oak that had been on the property citing its poor health and safety concerns stemming from that, The oak was viewed as an important natural feature. How that will be replaced “in kind” is not understood from the board’s point of view. The board may vote on bonus or may get an update and defer any decisions to a future date.
The issues are significant and impact a great number of residents. Whether there will be progress in terms of decisions being made and what the rationale for those decisions is will be interesting to watch.
Agendas for the Selectmen and Planning Board meetings to take place on Thursday, July 26th have not been posted as of the time of this writing. Town meeting agendas can be found here.