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Things are not always what they appear to be
DID YOU KNOW…
You may have
seen the recent Canton Citizen headline and article telling us
the sad story: “The
Canton Public Schools budget shortfall could exceed $1 million
in 2011.” Much of the shortfall has to do with the
expensive cost of out-of-district services for special needs
students that are mandated by state law. The story related that
there is a net deficit of $360,000 for this current school year,
which caused the School Committee to seek financial relief from
the town’s cash reserves; and if that wasn’t bad enough, next
year’s projected deficit is approaching $1 million, which is
more than twice this year’s shortfall.
That being
said, MAC saw the notice in the
Citizen from
the Canton School Administration seeking Canton
parents of children between the ages of 3 and 22 who possibly
have learning disabilities and thus are entitled to a free
special educational evaluation through the Canton Public
Schools. The ad also said the “child is not required to attend a
Canton public school to be eligible for this service.” Since
then, MAC has heard from residents who don’t understand why the
school system is seeking children when special education costs
have skyrocketed. So MAC investigated and learned that because
of Director of Student Services Alan Dewey, Canton offers
special education programs not provided by all towns, so some
towns pay us
to educate their students --— which helps offset some of
our
out-of-district placement costs. Another case of things not
always being what they appear to be.
American
Airlines has announced they
will raise its check-bag fees next month to match those of its
rivals, including Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Continental
Airlines, and U.S. Airways. Starting February 1, American
Airlines will raise the fee for a passenger’s first check bag to
$25 from $20, and to $35 from $30 for the second bag. The new
fees apply to flights within and between the United States, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada and Puerto Rico. Select passengers,
including first- and business-class travelers and members of the
armed services, will remain exempt from checked bag fees.
St. John’s
is holding its annual father-daughter-someone special dance
tomorrow evening (Friday, February 5)
from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the St. John’s Parish
Center. All community girls are invited to attend. A limited
number of tickets will be available at the door and cost $15 for
adults and $10 per child. If you have any questions, call St.
John’s School at 781-828-2130 or e-mail Mandy Hayes at
paragon29@verizon.net.
Now that the
special U.S. Senate
election is thankfully over, some people say they are
upset with the number of recorded political telephone calls they
received seeking support. MAC agrees there were far too many of
these unwanted calls, but will concede that it was only for a
relatively short time, and it allowed candidates and their
supporters the opportunity to reach voters with their recurring
messages. The solution is simple, just hang up when you get one
of these annoying calls and go back to doing whatever you were
doing before you were disturbed.
Incidentally,
did you notice that the only political lawn signs used in Canton
were for Scott Brown?
What happened to our so-called “gentlemen’s agreement”
concerning such signs?
While the
Canton selectmen’s meetings may seem boring to many observers,
it recently woke up the
Town Hall’s resident bat.
The meeting was interrupted for about ten minutes when the bat
decided to come out of its ceiling home. After flying around
the meeting room to check out what was going on, the bat decided
it wasn’t interesting enough for him, so he flew out the open
door to the corridor, apparently intending to see if the
Planning Board was holding one of its famous meetings.
Times are
really changing. A recent news report said
Burger King is opening its first U.S. restaurant that
will serve alcohol in Miami Beach, Florida. A whopper, fries,
and cold Budweiser combo will run you $7.99. MAC wonders how
long it will take for McDonald’s to become a copy cat and offer
suds to go along with a Big Mac?
Finally, the
Canton High School
Alumni Association held a winter social on Saturday,
January 23, at the American Legion Hall. The fun-filled
evening, which included a delicious Italian-style dinner and
alumni recalling memories of their long ago CHS days, was an
entertaining affair. Kudos go out to
Stephen Hagan (Class of
1958), Ann Galvin (Class of 1959) and their committee
for organizing the event.
People are lonely because they
build walls instead of bridges.
This is all
for now folks; see you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at
manaboutcanton@aol.com
February 4, 2010
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