To the Editor:
On April 27 at the Tri-Town Selectmen’s Meeting, we may finally get to the bottom of the ongoing saga regarding the ORCTV takeover of the education function of the media program at ORR, vs. the Superintendent of ORR School District. The Superintendent was notified late last year that the ORCTV would no longer fund the media program. The present contract would not be renewed and will cease on 30 June 2017. This program covers about 130 students encompassing all the schools in the district. Who authorized ORCTV to make such a bold move?
What does ORCTV have to offer the schools? Where are the lesson plans? Where are the qualified teachers? What certification and qualifications does ORCTV have to offer? When did you notify the School Committees, or were they in the dark on this process? Why should the Superintendent go before the ORCTV Board of Directors and beg for the program funds, which they should provide in the first place?
ORCTV needs to fully explain their position and seek guidance from the Tri-Town Selectmen. It is my understanding, the ORCTV organization was established to collect funds from the cable companies and then administer the funds to various PEG programs (i.e., Public, Education, Government). ORCTV has collected those funds, and to date has accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in CDs at Eastern Bank. The school district has always had a difficult time funding the program and hasn’t seen a change in the funding for many years. The funds squirreled away at Eastern Bank should be available to fund some portion of the media program. Why should we be capitalizing Eastern Bank?
Everyone involved in this saga need to get together and work on a solution, or, the media program is going to blow up and everyone will be highly embarrassed. This includes the Selectmen, the School Superintendent, the three town School Committees, and the citizens of the three towns.
ORCTV needs new leadership and it needs it now. There are solutions to the problem.
Colonel Arnold Briggs, Concerned Citizen, West Wareham
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