Southbridge Town Council Meeting - July 11, 2016

Southbridge Town Council Meeting - May 9, 2016

Southbridge Town Council Meeting - April 25, 2016

Southbridge Town Council of the Whole Meeting - March 31, 2016

Southbridge Town Council Meeting - July 6, 2015

Southbridge School Committee Meeting - May 27, 2015

The first fourteen minutes of this video contain a concert by the Southbridge High School Jazz Rock Band.

Southbridge School Committee Meeting - February 10, 2015

Southbridge Superintendent Reports On MCAS

Ken O’Brien

So now we have confirmation of what has been reported on this blog for a while. In 2013, 38 out of 105 students failed all or a portion of the MCAS. That’s over 1/3 of this year’s seniors.

Worse than that, these students went the whole of their junior year without being offered the opportunity to retake the test.

The fact is that this has never happened here before. I have to wonder if this has ever happened anywhere before. 

Second or Third Best Practices

Ken O’Brien

Bent Abrahamson

At the last meeting of the Southbridge School Committee on May 13, Southbridge School Committee candidate Brent Abrahamson praised the current administration.

He waxed poetic about the wonders of the Principal Search Committee. The extent to which the public’s input was sought and heeded was, one had to be convinced, a marvel of inclusiveness and populist democracy.

And the constant critics and naysayers, he was quick to remind all, were nowhere to be seen.

Putting Lipstick On A Pig

Ken O’Brien

When I saw this morning’s headline in the Worcester Telegram regarding last night’s meeting of the Southbridge School Committee I had to wonder if Brian Lee and I had watched the same meeting. The banner on the T&G article read, “State official cites progress by Southbridge schools”.

My reading of the presentation by Dr. Nadine Bonda, the monitor from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, was that the district has been marking time since last August at least.

Southbridge Town Council Decides (?) On Town Meeting Petition (Video)

Text of this agenda item follows:

Reminder: National Teachers Day is May 6 (A Video Message)

A Public Service Greeting On Behalf Of 

National Teachers Day 

From

 The Catherine Nikolla Academy of Teaching And Social Graces

Southbridge Struck By Two Fires Overnight

UPDATE: A total of five fires are now being reported. The fires were all set intentionally in close proximity to one another. Police, fire and the State Fire Marshal are investigating. Video of the Cohasse Street fire below.

Two fires at opposite ends of Oak Ridge Cemetery took place in Southbridge during the early morning hours. Pictured is a fire that took place at the intersection of Laurel Hill Road and Cohasse Street. The unoccupied building had recently had the water shut off by the town. The four alarm fire is under investigation.

A second fire took place at approximately the same time on Oak Ridge Ave near the cemetery entrance.

Doin' The Duck Guy Nasty

Ken O'Brien

Phil Robertson

December 23 - Happy Festivus (Video)

                                           Ken O’Brien

Are you feeling a little left out!? Are you put off by the crass commercialism of Christmas?  You don't celebrate Chanukah. Kwanzaa just isn't your thing. And, you don't even know what Divali or Ramadan is.

Then, come and experience the joy and the miracle of Festivus. One might say that the Festivus holiday is a miracle in itself.

Still not sure if Festivus is for you? It's non-denominational. So, everyone can partake. The Festivus slogan is "A Festivus for the rest of us!" And, that means you, too. So........... 

Brian's Back

Merry Christmas!

What A Wonderful School Committee

by Pim Stewert 

HD Video of Mars Rover's Descent

Ken O’Brien

The Mars Curiosity Rover’s nail-biting plunge to the surface of the Red Planet on August 6 can now be seen — from the perspective of the rover itself — in ultra high-definition video.

The video opens with the base of the re-entry vehicle falling away to the Martian surface. In the course of the descent one can hear the sounds of the parachute in the atmosphere and the firing of the descent engine.

Independent video producer Bard Canning spent four weeks painstakingly reprocessing imagery released earlier by NASA showing the rover’s near-perfect descent as captured by its onboard Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), a downward facing camera.

Here’s the video: