By: Brian Genest – 9-26
You’d think a special election in Dracut to decide on a $177 million Campbell School project would mean something.
You’d be wrong.
You’d also think the Board of Selectmen voting against seeking an extension from the Massachusetts School Building Authority for grant funding would mean something.
Wrong again.
And if you think elected officials and project proponents would respect the will of the voters, you’re probably less than impressed with the post-election shenanigans.
When the Campbell School project was rejected by Dracut voters in June, that should have been the end of it. Instead, some past and present members of the School Committee have spent the summer scrambling for ways to keep the failed project alive.
At the top of the “no means yes” list is former School Committee Chairman Renée Young. Young left the committee last May due to health reasons. The voters got sick of her. Young lost all 10 town precincts in her re-election bid and was thrown out of office by challenger Allison Stilian.
If Young wants to understand why voters rejected the school project, she should look in the mirror. Under her lackluster leadership, the School Committee refused to meet with the Board of Selectmen for seven months unless a paid mediator was hired to referee their meetings. When Town Meeting was asked to approve an audit of the School Department last fall, Young tried to dismiss it. Instead, voters dismissed her.
Since Young’s loss, she’s been filing public-records requests. In July alone, Young filed eight requests, beginning with emails between Town Manager Kate Hodges and School Committee Member Allison Stilian, who sent her packing. Sour grapes, anyone?
Among other things, Young has also asked for a copy of the town manager’s contract, a bunch of her communications and the contract for the school audit. In other words, Young’s political temper tantrums have required town employees to spend time and resources responding to them. Such a great example for the kids!
Anyway, Young will apparently be doing a lot of reading. Too bad Young still seems to be having so much trouble reading the electorate.
She’s not the only one who hasn’t gotten the message.
Former School Committee Member Sabrina Heisey is another one who apparently can’t take “no” for an answer. As you may recall, in 2018 — just one year into her three-year school committee term — Heisey decided to run for state representative. Incumbent Colleen Garry crushed her in the Democrat primary, getting 74% of the vote.
Lately, Heisey’s been ranting about the school project at public meetings and on social media, filing open meeting law complaints and requesting mounds of public records from town hall. Another great example for the kids!
Then there’s School Committee Member Allison Volpe, who has suddenly developed an interest in public records, too. She’s requested town communications involving the school audit. The town estimates that it will take about 60 hours to fulfill the request and Volpe must pay $1,525 to get the records.
Here’s the irony: Volpe and her buddies like Young routinely complain about the town’s finances, limited revenue and scarce resources. Then they turn around and create even more work for the same town employees they say don’t have enough time or resources. Everyone remembers the kids are watching, right?
Speaking of which, in August, School Committee Chairman Rob Sheppard and School Committee Member Dr. Rebecca Duda went to Selectmen Chairman Don Plummer’s home to discuss Duda’s “new plan” for bringing the project back for another vote.
Holding a private discussion about reviving a public project was certainly a strange way to begin rebuilding public confidence.
The plan didn’t stay secret for long. Eye On Dracut and other Facebook pages posted details about it the week before the School Committee and Selectmen discussed it publicly.
By the way, when Sheppard and Duda showed up at the Selectmen’s meeting in late August, her plan was essentially the same project voters had rejected — only now she was claiming they could cut nearly $20 million from the price. Which raises an obvious question: Why wasn’t it cut before voters were asked to approve the project? Perhaps more importantly: How much more could — and should — be cut?
After Duda’s presentation, Selectman Kristie Wohlander made the motion to pursue the grant extension with the MSBA. Nobody seconded it.
The voters said no. The Selectmen said no. Yet the summer was spent watching some of the same people who brought us the original failed proposal search for a way to bring it back through the side door.
Forget about the kids. Around here, it’s the adults who need the civics lesson.
— Brian Genest is the producer and host of Eye On Dracut, winner of the Hometown Media Award for news. Follow online: Facebook.com/EyeOnDracut. ◊