Education In Fall River On Brink Of Complete Failure

Cadime voted in as new Fall River School Committee vice chairman

Shawn Cadime was voted in as Fall River School Committee vice chairman at the board's Jan. 11 meeting

By Will Richmond
Herald Hews Staff Reporter
Posted Jan 12, 2010 @ 02:21 PM

FALL RIVER — The new year is also bringing new leadership to the School Committee.
In addition to Mayor Will Flanagan assuming the committee’s chairmanship, the group also voted to elect a new vice chairman in Shawn Cadime.The decision, however, was not smooth with the committee first split among two candidates.
Addressing the selection of a vice chairman at Monday night’s committee meeting, a motion was first made by Marilyn Roderick, and seconded by Richard Pavao, to nominate Cadime. That action was followed by Joseph Martins nomination of Mark Costa for the position, which was seconded by Robert Maynard. Costa has served as the vice chairman for the past two years.
With the sides evenly split, the deciding vote came down to Flanagan, who cast his support behind Cadime.
After realizing he did not have enough votes to capture the nomination, Costa then made a motion to make Cadime’s selection unanimous.
Among the vice chairman’s responsibilities is running the meeting should the chairman not be present. It’s a role that would gain greater importance should Flanagan remove himself as chairman during the next two years.
Cadime is entering his third term on the School Committee after finishing second in November’s City Election.
With the decision finalized, Cadime addressed the committee and said he is looking forward to aiding the committee develop a new focus on improving education.
“I want to thank my colleagues for their vote of confidence,” Cadime said. “I am highly optimistic we can usher in a change, and this committee can potentially accomplish great things for the betterment of our educational system.”
Cadime said the committee needs to ensure a strong partnership with Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown and do a better job building relationships with community partners.
“Together we can overcome some of the obstacles faced not only by the city but this district,” Cadime said.
Cadime is currently employed as a senior program financial analyst for General Dynamics C4 Systems. He is also enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth masters in business administration program.
E-mail Will Richmond at wrichmond@heraldnews.com.

I have grave doubts about this. A split appears to be deep. It also appears to split along the lines of Martins versus Cadime, and that sheds light on the forces pro MMB and anti MMB. Why will this be problematic?
It could augur badly for those who wish more public discussion and say in School Committee policy decisions. I also think it sends the wrong message to those families
of students, teachers and staff's of the School Department that the extraordinary levels of administrators who have proven only that they suck up financial resources like so many SHAMWOWS will remain in place even after subject qualified teachers could face summary layoff as a result of the application for Federal Education Stimulus Funds for underperforming schools.
What all the members of the School Committee, especially the Chairman and Vice Chairman, need to realize and accept is that until the audit of school grant funds are timely completed by a new independant third party audit firm (ie, NOT Hague & Sahady...maybe a firm that advertises in the MMA news bulliten, a Boston firm!), and all horror stories I believe you'll find contained within are revaled in the light of day, the School Committee , and MMB in particular, will not receive public support, from taxpayers, parents OR staff. MMB's past life as the Fall River manager of the Title I Grants program needs to be carefully examined to insure every Fall River taxpayer that during her tenure as grant administrator that none of the fun and games and lies that peppered the administration of the Great Destroyer Correia did not also reach The Title I program. After all, who was appointed Superintendent of Schools by the Great Destroyer? With all we know and have seen  of the reign or Correia, do you think the Title I Grant Program was the only item NOT invaded by the corrupting touch of the Great Destroyer? Neither do I! Public support for this person will remain non-existent until a clean audit is produced!

Eventually, the City's population will reject importation of what are the equivelent of "education hessions" throughout school administration and teaching ranks and demand true control be shared with the community at large. This can be done in such a way to build a stronger, more vibrant and responsive School Administration and program, one supported by the City's citizens. Unless and until that is done, the Schools, who have lost nearly all middle class resident's support, is doomed to fail. The current management track has failed, and failed miserably. And worst of all, it is filled with an ethos, and employees, of the Great Destroyer himself. This collection of failure must be driven from the Schools or we will see the City's School's taken over. And that would be a real shame.