Kris Olson - Marblehead Current

School Committee, acting super ordered to try to retrieve deleted texts

20Sep

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Education, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Top Stories

School Committee, acting super ordered to try to retrieve deleted texts

The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office has given the school district 10 days to seek to retrieve text messages initially reported as having been deleted in response to a public records request from the Marblehead Current. Manza Arthur, the supervisor of records in the secretary’s office, wrote in a letter dated Sept. 19 to the schools’ records access officer, Lisa Dimier, that it was Arthur’s “understanding” that “the School intends on providing a further response to [the Current’s Leigh] Blander to address her records request.” “Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Ms. Blander with said response in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days,” Arthur wrote, requiring that the schools provide a copy of any such respo...

Net positive: Marblehead Youth Basketball to see changing of guard

6Sep

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Local News, Nonprofit corner, Sports

Net positive: Marblehead Youth Basketball to see changing of guard

The Marblehead Youth Basketball Association will begin its 20th season this fall with a changing of the guard, but not a change in its underlying philosophy. In 2004, Paul “Mitch” Mitchell co-founded the league and has led it ever since. Mitchell started when his son was playing and remained active long enough to see a grandchild participate. Action from the 2022-23 Marblehead Youth Basketball Association season. MYBA will be back for its 20th season under new leadership this fall. COURTESY PHOTO/VICTORIA DOSCH But now — after two decades of scheduling gym time with the local schools, balancing the teams’ rosters, coordinating the officials, purchasing equipment, and even washing the uniforms at season's end — Mitchell is stepping away from the program. He has handed the reins...

VF double… you. It’s not just for veterans

6Sep

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Community resources, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Top Stories

VF double… you. It’s not just for veterans

Have you lived in Marblehead a while but never set foot inside Chaplain Lyman Rollins VFW Post 2005? You are not alone. But if Ron Knight, Jim Full and the rest of the VFW’s board have their way, that will change soon. The sandwich board outside 321 West Shore Drive reads in part, “Public welcome.” ‘Public welcome,’ reads part of the sign outside the Chaplain Lyman Rollins VFW Post 2005 on West Shore Drive. But for many, that message has yet to sink in, say members of the VFW board. CURRENT PHOTO / KRIS OLSON But Knight said the perception persists that the facility is “just for veterans.” Not so, Knight assures. Annual “auxiliary” memberships — available to one and all — are just $15. One need not even ring the doorbell to enter anymore. Just come down the r...

Deleted School Committee texts leave gap in trove of communications about former superintendent

1Sep

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Education, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Top Stories

Deleted School Committee texts leave gap in trove of communications about former superintendent

More than 275 pages of just-released text messages and emails between School Committee members, attorneys and Acting Superintendent Michelle Cresta show that in the days leading up to former superintendent John Buckey’s departure, the School Committee discussed a bullying investigation of the now-former MHS girls soccer coach and one other parent complaint about administrators. (The released texts and emails can be viewed HERE.) More than 275 pages of text messages and emails released to the Current after a public records request. CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER However, there may be some missing information about what led the committee to move to oust Buckey. “With respect to the text messages from Michelle Cresta, Alison Taylor and Jennifer Schaeffner; those messages were e...

WELCOME TO TOWN: Tower School Head of School Todd Eveleth

23Aug

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Education, Local News, Top Stories, Uncategorized

WELCOME TO TOWN: Tower School Head of School Todd Eveleth

As far as he knows, Todd Eveleth is not related to Dr. Samuel Chester Eveleth, the man for whom the Eveleth School, now serving as the Abbot Library’s temporary quarters, is named. New Tower School Head of School Todd Eveleth stands on the rail trail next to the school’s athletic field. Arriving from The Nantucket New School, Eveleth began his new job July 1. COURTESY PHOTO But the 12th head of school in the 111-year-history of Tower School does have a connection with the town and the school he now leads. His father lived on West Shore Drive and attended Tower in the late 1940s while his grandfather was working at the General Electric plant in Lynn. The family lived in Marblehead for six years. As for Eveleth himself, he has landed in Marblehead after serving as head of school...

Write place, write time: State grant funds workshops for young creative minds

16Aug

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Local News, Top Stories

Write place, write time: State grant funds workshops for young creative minds

When poet and educator Katie Naoum Rogers relocated from New York City to Marblehead, it also marked a move away from the classroom. After several years as a seventh-grade English language arts teacher at South Bronx Preparatory School, Rogers’ professional life took a turn towards curriculum development. But during the pandemic, Rogers realized she was missing being with students. “And I really started to miss my own writing practice,” said the busy mom of two preschoolers, one who will start kindergarten in the fall. A friend suggested that perhaps her void could be filled by leading workshops, the kind Rogers wished had been available to her when she started to write around the age of 13. Rogers made a trial run at the Salem Public Library in the spring of 2022 then foun...

School Committee’s failure to ratify settlement may have violated Open Meeting Law

7Aug

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Education, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Top Stories

School Committee’s failure to ratify settlement may have violated Open Meeting Law

The Marblehead School Committee may have violated the state’s Open Meeting Law by not reconvening in open session to ratify the settlement agreement reached with Superintendent John Buckey. That agreement was announced by a “joint press release” distributed by email by Chair Sarah Fox on Aug. 2, two days after the board had met in executive session to continue strategizing over its intent to exercise a buyout clause in Buckey’s contract. The state’s open meeting law, G.L.c. 30A, § 21, sets out 10 permissible reasons for entering executive session, and the board entered its July 31 executive session — and another such session 10 days earlier — citing the second of those reasons, “to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct ...

NEW: Another delay in officer’s disciplinary ruling, case costing taxpayers $5K a month

1Aug

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Local News, Municipal Matters, Public safety, Top Stories

NEW: Another delay in officer’s disciplinary ruling, case costing taxpayers $5K a month

The attorneys for the town and for Police Officer Christopher Gallo are both asking for another extension to submit closing briefs in the officer's disciplinary hearing. The first extension expired on July 31. The protracted disciplinary process involving Officer Christopher Gallo costs Marblehead taxpayers approximately $5,400 monthly. CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER "I have told both attorneys that this is the last extension," Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer told the Current. "I have asked them to inform me of how much time they need before I set a date." Kezer said the attorneys need more time to "transcribe all of the audio recordings." The delay prolongs Gallo's paid administrative leave, which has cost Marblehead taxpayers approximately $214,800 to $220,000 since ...

Investigator finds unintentional ‘bullying’ by former MHS coach

26Jul

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Local News, Marblehead Public Schools, Sports, Top Stories

Investigator finds unintentional ‘bullying’ by former MHS coach

“Although not intentional,” now-former Marblehead High girls soccer coach John Dormer engaged in what constitutes “bullying” under state law, an investigator concluded. The Current received a redacted copy of the 18-page confidential investigation report, authored by Winchester attorney Katie A. Meinelt, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Members of the School Committee have shown a recent interest in learning more about the circumstances that led to the report’s creation. At the School Committee’s July 6 “workshop” meeting, School Committee Chair Sarah Fox proposed convening an executive (private) session of the board to discuss the report, which she said cost the district $26,000. Part of her concern, she said, was whether there was “lag time” in bringing c...

With OK from AG, gas leaf blower ban now in full effect

20Jul

By Kris OlsonNo Comments

Local News, Top Stories

With OK from AG, gas leaf blower ban now in full effect

Marblehead residents can begin reporting violations of the town's summer ban on gas leaf blowers to the police and health departments, according to a joint letter issued by Police Chief Dennis King, Health Agent Andrew Petty and Town Administrator Thatcher W. Kezer III July 20. The letter was issued after the state attorney general approved the ban, which runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Before the ban could take full effect, the town clerk needed to post the bylaw in each of the town's six precincts. That has been done, confirmed administrative aide Kyle Wiley, who added that the required notice about the bylaw is also posted on the town website. Under the new bylaw, the use of electric leaf blowers is still permissible. When the police or Health Department respond to a...