Last week Cumberland Mayor Dan McKee published an opinion piece which ran in the Valley Breeze and GoLocalProv. The following is my thoughts and reaction to the article:

It was only last month, that “Kumbaya” moment when our Mayor, Superintendent, School Committee and Town Council singed the EDUCATION DECLARATION.

“We do hereby sign…that we will work together to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration…for all members of the Cumberland community.”

So what happened? I was shocked to read the Mayor’s statement, “…until voters elect more transformational school committee members to replace status quo thinking members in districts”

Are you kidding? What an insult to every sitting member of the Cumberland School Committee! Some might try to blow this comment off as a generalized statement for the state as a whole, but the letter was published in the Valley Breeze!

Even if it was a general statement, the Mayor makes no attempt to point out or highlight the advancements the Cumberland School Committee has made over the past year. No kudos to the new Superintendent… Just one big pat on the back, one big advertisement for BVP.

Heck it reads like a TV commercial…”One such sign of hope is Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy, a network of three public schools now serving over 500 Rhode Island children ”

The Mayor needs to stop alienating the parents and students of Cumberland, the one’s that don’t believe good education should be a gamble, only made available to lottery winners.

The Mayor likes to point out Massachusetts and how much better their educational system is…well, let’s take a look at the numbers:

1. There are approximately 1M students in Massachusetts
2. Only 3% of those students are enrolled in a Charter School

Again, IN MY OPINION Charter Schools in this state are creating divisiveness in our communities. Our Mayor’s are now more concerned about their image and their schools. I would rather see them sitting down with School Committee’s (collaboratively) and working through the tough issues. If the answers are so apparent, why is the Mayor not working with, and advocating for, the necessary structural changes needed.

NOW, that would be LEVERAGING TRANSFORMATIONAL INOVATION FOR CHANGE and eliminating STATUS QUO THINKING.

Don’t tell me it’s too hard, that it can’t happen, or the union’s are to fault As the Mayor points out, just look at Massachusetts!