This headline originates from the conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” written by Lewis Carroll. It implies that if you lack a clear destination or purpose, any path you choose will likely lead you to aimless wandering. Any regular reader of my columns knows that I will be talking about our stumbling, bumbling School Committee (SC). But I will also bring our equally adept Select Board (SB) into this discussion.
The question is whether these two “executive” bodies have strategic initiatives (SI) aligned with real critical issues facing the town? Do they have goals for these initiatives? Do they have schedules? As a backdrop to these questions, Town Administrator Kezar in his February State of the Half of the Town address identified humongous budget deficits in the years FY 2027 to FY 2030 – a cumulative deficit of $35.4M.
So, the number one strategic issue facing the town must be MONEY. But what are the SB and SC doing about it? Their continued focus has been wandering and wading through administrative B.S. ranging from approving ill-conceived week-long street sweeping parking restrictions to the flagging flag policy which still is not “operationalized.”
The SC has recently surfaced SIs. In fact, on three beautifully formatted pages there are four statements regarding mission, vision, core values and theory of action. There are also 29 SIs in five objective areas: 1. Teaching and learning 2. Professional culture 3. DEI 4. Technology and 5. Facilities and operations. But there are just 14 objectives across the 29 SIs. And all 14 objectives are goaled to be completed by exactly June 30, 2026. Are you dizzy now? But there are zero action plans. Who is going to make all 14 happen?
The SC can’t even get a simple flag policy implemented over nearly two years. None of the SIs deal with real strategic issues like funding, comparing our cost per student to comparable towns and understanding the curriculum used by the best performing schools in the state.
If you went looking on the old or new Marblehead website for SB goals you will find nothing. In the 2024 Town Report (BTW, it is missing on the new website), there is nothing. There is only a narrative describing a bunch of activities. However, maybe there is hope. I recently stumbled across a July 18th SB agenda which listed two items – “Review of FY 2025 Goals and FY 2026 Goal Setting.” Whoa! Who knew they had goals for FY 25?
Not to be outdone by the SC, the SB in their Aug. 13 meeting approved not five, but seven “goal areas.” One problem is that you can’t use one hand to remember them. Another is the framework and terminology used by the SC and SB are different. The seven areas are: 1. Good governance 2. Communications and public engagement 3. Finance and budgeting 4. Capital planning and investment 5. Community quality of life 6. Workforce and human resources and 7. Community development and economic growth.
Laudable but not sure what specific goals are behind these areas. What’s missing is focus – a laser focus on a very small set of high priority SIs that address our most critical issues. Each SI must have an Action Plan (AP) with an owner, an outline of the actions or steps that the plan will pursue and a schedule. Progress reports should be published quarterly. Our municipal service organization and schools are both hamstrung by very modest property tax revenue increases of 2.5% and escalating operational costs well above this percentage. Consequently, both the SB and SC should each have SIs related to 1. Increasing revenue and 2. Controlling/reducing costs. And since student academic performance/testing may be viewed as below peers, the SC should have an SI related to curriculum. And how about an SI related to increasing Town Meeting participation? That’s a total of six. Doable?
Hope so!
My next column, “New revenue opportunities – are there any that really make a difference?” will review new potential recurring income streams. What are they? Are there any that make a difference? Given our dire financial situation, the town needs to be relentless in pursuing and protecting each and every revenue source available. And after that column, I’ll take a look at the cost side of the income statement. If you have ideas for new revenues or reducing costs, please send them to me at marbleheadmusing@gmail.com. I’ll report back.
James (Seamus) Hourihan was born in Marblehead and is a MHS graduate. For 35 years, he worked in finance, marketing and executive management roles at high-tech companies. He has lived here full-time since 2009. He currently sits on the Town Charter Committee.
