Thank you to the Teacher's Union for coming out and telling what you observed. I would like to know who the "Multiple Witnesses" are that are claiming Dr. Ural did what he was accused of. Is that something that the public can be told?

@lowertaxes I was just about to ask the same thing. Maybe "multiple witnesses" are the other SC members who are wrapped around Rizzi's finger? If the SC is lying about this, what else are they lying about, or hiding? Thank you to the STA for speaking up!

In bargaining over the way teachers will be evaluated, what bargaining strategies need to be kept private? What do they want to trick teachers into accepting? In fact, why is it necessary for the school committee to have secret bargaining strategies for any negotiation? Are they not supposed to bargain with the STA in "good faith"?

It looks like the SC is more interested in teaching the children to be folowers, than to be independent thinkers. Children sit back, don't make waves, don't speak out for what you believe or you will be censured. The message is "to get along, go along" which is wrong, wrong, wrong. Speak your mind, be heard, read the Constitution, see what your rights are. Some where in there there is something called ,Freedom of Speech, the school committee does not like that. So sit back and don't question anything, don't complain about losing your rights. The schools tell your kids what they can eat, now what they can say. What's next what church they can go to?

To, DJ and DB, I'm sorry that I offend you two, I'm 85 and rember when we could talk and disagree. I guess that's not PC now. If you check you will see that I said "censure" never used the word "censor". Interested to know what has been misrepresented.

I never had the teacher's union rep Andrea Pires return my numerous calls. Doesn't say much for them, does it? I pride myself in presenting both sides of every issue in this town. Sue Cogliano made the same mistake initially. Picking and choosing media outlets--without sending releases to ALL--is an issue in itself. I have taken no sides in the censure issue, but I have written that I think it could backfire on the SC. My full opinions, with comments from the players, is on www.snydersstoughton.com/news.htm. I'm enjoying reading this great conversation under Jeff's great article.

As an educator, I find it very sad that the SC does not seem to put the schools and education at the forefront of their decsion making. Although the union and our contract are in place to protect educators, teachers spend their own money and work after hours with no pay because we do whats in the best interest of our students. If not for the union, our schools would be in far worse condition. The students are sufferring on a daily basis due to budget cuts and the SC determining which positions are disposable, all while sitting behind a desk.
Try being evaluated on professional development when there are no "funds" to attend conferences and the "workshops" offerred by the schools are in disciplines not related to your area. Try working effectively when pieces of ceiling are falling on your head and there is no paper to make copies. How about being evaluated on student performance when the students don't attend school, refuse to complete the work, or have no support at home. Is that fair? How about we evaluate the school committee on fulfillment of educator/school needs which directly impacts our effectiveness as teachers. Maybe if educators were paid more, many wouldn't have to work other jobs, which would allow more time to focus on teaching.
Town "politics", or personal agendas, are directly and negatively impacting our schools and teachers and we wonder why our youth demonstrate less respect for adults and education.

According to DJ, I'm just a stupid old man, so will some one explaint what "a rogue evaluation of the Superentendent" means to the school committee? I know what "rogue" and 'evaluation" mean. Have trouble putting them together.

There were debates?

DJ: If I recall ... one recent Town manager resigned because Supt. Rizzi bullied her way out of complying with town supervision of her budget with legal threats and wrangling. Be on the receiving end of Stoughton School District retaliatory actions and you won't take for granted that Rizzi and the SC are concerned with submitting to the oversight of town government, or anyone else for that matter.

Interesting fact that just came out in the Sunday Enterprise today - Dr. Rizzi is the highest paid town employee, making $154,250.02 in 2012! Unbelievable!

Dear Robin: If I recall the history I've read correctly, one reason for the high salary is that we've allowed the SC engage in the closed door evaluations and dealings with Rizzi regarding compensation and contract. But let's digress from the not-so-relevant point DJ and OldTimer have focused on. ** We get what we pay for. ** metaphorically speaking. We can whine and complain on the patch board all we want. But, until we V-O-T-E our frustration, legally and peacefully protest by writing the SC and attending meetins, EN MASSE, nothing will be done. The written objections on Patch forum don't mean diddly-squat to the SC or Rizzi, because they carry no consequences, and they allow those people to continue without accountability. Of those writing, who is showing up at meetings (been there), voiced concerns to the SC and candidates (done that), and I have something important to lose if Rizzi, district personnel or the SC decide to retaliate for my involvement. And that, my friends, is not outside the realm of very real possibility, as I have painfully found out.

What is your problem with Rizzi's pay? Crimmins was paid more even back in 2010, and even though the schools employ more then double the personnel then the municipal side and have more buildings and footage to maintain, not to mention her salary is in keeping with area peer pay. The SP Chief is just $1K behind with a fraction of the operating budget or personnel.

Too your prior post JDTwo, You can turn a blind eye as to the reason's that support Rizzi's pay; consistency with job rating/pay for area, the majority wanting to retain her, consistency with similar bargaining contracts, but you can't pretend those facts do not exist. I'm not here to defend Rizzi and I won't defend some of her actions, but just as I noted prior, Rizzi does not dictate budget, it is voted on by 160 plus town meeting member.

Robin, stop personalizing everything. JD2 meant we all need to vote, not you in particular.

Dear Robin,
I was sorry to see your comments, because of all the posters, I admire your comments the most. What irked me was what I saw as a digression into personal back-and-forth that didn't contribute. I realize there are some that have engaged in the process. However, at the last SC meeting I attended I was the only parent. Due to an prior appointment, I could not attend the censure meeting, but I heard there were 15 members of the community. We need -- quite frankly -- higher numbers.
The room needs to be SRO. I'm trying to start an anonymous Change.org petition (if anyone wants to beat me to it, be my guest) for the SC to rescind the censure. My only point was to put a little heat under all of us (myself included) to act, and wasn't directed at you personally.
To respond to DJ: Respectfully, I submit that your arguments support the high pay for the **position**. My opinion is that Rizzi does not earn that salary based on her performance.

I'd also like to respectfully suggest that we use this forum to explore ideas for legal, peaceful action leveraging our democratic process so we can achieve what I believe is our common goal: School district leadership that values the welfare of our children: their safety, their education and their development above all else.

April 30th is around the corner. We have an opportunity to vote in 2 SC members, but it's up to us to decide who they will be. I think the idea of a change.org petition is good, but Stoughton is not that big: b/w sports, clubs, and local "hangouts" we should be able to gather the support from parents needed to show we care, expect to be heard, and aren’t looking for leaders with an agenda that puts our children last (or even 2nd to their own). I don’t believe parents and town members are apathetic. Many parents don't know “HOW” to be involved or more importantly “WHY” to be involved. If the handful of folks on here really want a better Stoughton, a SPS system that is competitive, so much so that folks in neighboring towns are looking at Stoughton property, than the answer to “WHY be involved” needs to be explicitly laid out so that actionable “HOW” steps can be carried out. As an SPS parent, I would love to see a SPS system that is a Level 1 top performing, w/high graduation rate, low achievement gap, producing high achieving and college/career ready students. Unfortunately in my case, SPS system has about 2 years to move aggressively in that direction (yes, I am willing to be a part of that movement), or I will have to dig deeper into my pockets and seek alternative schooling. Lastly, to those complaining about town or school meeting attendance- When was the last time you invited 3 neighbors or town friends to attend the meeting?

I'd very much like to understand why so many parents and teachers would ever have personal experience and contact with the Superintendent of Schools (SoS)? I mean there is such thing as proper protocol. You've got the teacher, department head, guidance, special needs coordinator, assistant principal, principal, The School Committee, assistant superintendent all before you get the the SoS.

Perhaps the SoS has an open door policy? Even then, do that many people ignore protocol? How would you feel if that happened to you where you work? Perhaps the SoS office should be located in a separate building like it is in most communities. All I know is that with four kids through the system, I've never approached the SoS directly. Problems or concerns were addressed by the lower chain of command and almost always that was the teacher. My knowledge of the SoS comes from municipal meetings, aired meetings and social functions. I too have spoken to numerous parents and teachers and their experience is not unlike mine. They have nothing negative to say less the rumors they've heard or read, teachers included.

The SC should be the voice of the people so it is crucial to have an open mic opportunity at meetings and I'm glad that has been instituted.

Heather, you've written excessively of your dislike of Rizzi and the SC claiming personal experience, but above you note the censure was the first meeting you attended. What is wrong with that picture?

Ms Acuminus,
Give me to the end of the week to see if I can do a change.org petition (anonymously), and I will work with you on your ideas of working with people face-to-face to organize some advocacy for your children.

I'm not trying to sound defensive, but acknowledge that your idea of inviting neighbors is a good one. I did invite one neighbor to a meeting more than once, but she has found reasons not to attend each time. I aimed, but missed the mark. I don't know many parents, but I'm working on it. I haven't quit trying that yet.

Dear Jane doe two - I would also be willing to help in any way with this. I would like to go a step farther and fight to have Rizzi removed, but as Ms A pointed out, some parents, including me, don't know how to go about organizing a movement. I thought letters to the SC etc would bring about the conversation, but not with the current SC. I would like us to get beyond the scandals brought on by Rizzi and have a superintendent who genuinely cares about our children and schools.

Robin and Heather,
I just wrote up a list of ideas that was 5 characters short of the limit, only to have it obliterated by the login page. I'm going to boil it down to one important item this time.

To communicate with each other:
Do we want to meet, or remain online for a while?
I've run a wordpress blog before, and for our purposes, a wordpress page would be free. Should I look into that as a means for us to communicate with each other and form strategies and plans, and also to present ourselves to the public? I also know people who are very adept at web design, etc., so I can look into us trying to have a forum like this to keep in touch and up to date. Your thoughts, please.

Also, I don't want to clog The Patch forum with the other suggestions I had for a plan, so let's work on a way to discuss them either online or in person first.

I agree we should take the discussion elsewhere. I would have no problem giving you my email address, I'm just contimplating if its wise to give it on here. It sounds like you are experienced with this sort of thing, so I am open to what you suggest.

Hey Robin, let's absolutely protect our privacy here - so I agree posting an email here is a not good idea. I'm pretty sure I'm going to set up an anonymous email for interested people. Today is a very hectic day, so I'll get more done on a website/blog page tomorrow. I can also get with a geek I know and see what some other options are. If you know other interested parents, by all means invite them to participate with us.

What about a Facebook page just to get us started and help us connect? This all sounds great! I look forward to hearing more when you get more info!

Robin, I thought about that, and I'm not all that great at Facebook pages because I don't use them socially. That said, I think it's a great idea. I think we could/should use that to communicate. Should we then also do a wordpress page to put ourselves and the information (past documentation of issues with the SC and/or Rizzi) out there? A two-pronged approach? And also, not to sound silly, but do we call ourselves anything yet? A group name?

Heather, what are your thoughts?

I can set up a Facebook page - we just have to think of a group name. I don't know much about Wordpress.

Great ideas Jane, Robin and Heather. I like the idea of a Facebook page also. I would like to keep our purpose focused on the positives so that there isn't a fear of joining the page. I'll think of ideas for a page name and check back in later. Also the Fb page is easy to share information and spread the word in Stoughton.

Heather, Jane doe 2, and Miss A - are you all still interesting in connecting thru a Facebook page?

I created a Facebook page called Concerned Parents for Stoughton Schools, if anyone wants to connect there.

Thanks Heather!

I have posted to facebook. I apologize that it's taken me some time to follow up.