#wilbraham

Wagon Dr Climb Trail

Climbing starts right away, making this a challenging start to a ride.

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Gender Dysphoria

Ten years ago the term gender dysphoria or transgender were terms most of us never heard, but today there has been an explosion of children identifying as a different gender to the biological sex they were born with.

Transgender rights in Massachusetts are protected by An Act Relative to Gender Identity (Chapter 199 of the Acts of 2011) and it severely restricts the ability of the school committee to make policy that protects the rights of the majority of normal students. 

Students that have gender dysphoria are entitled to use restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, play on sports teams, or they can insist on using a unisex or special restroom. They can insist that pronouns they want be used and suggest disciplinary action taken against students that don’t.

They even offer guidance that says, “School personnel should speak with the student first before discussing a student's gender nonconformity or transgender status with the student's parent or guardian” This is a policy recommendation, generally for students 14 and older.

The election is on Saturday, May 18, 2024. I know at this time of year you may be busy, have other plans, or be out of town so why not vote early by mail? Please use the link below to register to get an early mail-in ballot sent to you so you won't have to worry about getting to the polls on election day. 

This link will also first check to verify that you are eligible to vote in the election and then allow you to order a mail in ballot if you are eligible to vote.

When you fill out your ballot please vote for D. John McCarthy for School Committee, Mary McCarthy for planing board, and Lawrence G. LaBarbera for assessor.

The application must reach your local election office by 5 p.m. on the fifth business day before Election Day. (Monday, May 13, 2024) but you should plan well in advance to make certain you get you ballot in time to vote before Election Day.

One of the few and one of the most important things a school committee can do is approve the district budget. While the administration can write a budget and make a request, the school committee must approve it and then send it to the towns.

Our current committee isn't doing their job. For example they should be setting aside money for long term expenditures that they know will have to be paid for or at least list future large expenses.

One of the big expenses that they neglected is replacing fire alarms in the schools. This item is almost $100,000.00 yet it wasn't addressed until this year.

Another big item is smart white boards. The chalk boards of yesteryear have long since been replaced by white boards, and then they were replaced by "smart" white boards. They are expensive and unlike chalk boards and like any technology have to be replaced when they get old or obsolete. This year all of a sudden there is a request for 250 of them. But, the town budget committee says there are only 150 classrooms? What kind of budgeting is that. Do they need more than one in a classroom? Will they be used in the hall ways?

While the budget committee says that the other departments in town are only going to get a 1.3% budget increase the HWRSD wants a 3.8% increase? That kind of increase is third higher and is unsustainable without raising taxes.

The budget committee tried to negotiate with them buy cutting some items like the extra white boards, but they still need to cut $57,000.00 or .05% of the budget. But, so far they won't budge. If they don't come to an agreement than it will have to go to the town meetings.

The problem is that Wilbraham pays about 80% of the HWRSD budget based upon the number of students from the two towns. Hampden has their town meeting before Wilbraham. It could be a big problem.