The Opposite Of Progress Is...

There's an old joke about how, "if pro is the opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?...Congress".  There is no doubt relevance to that joke as congressional approval rates often hover near single digits regardless it seems of which major political party currently has it's hands on the reigns.  

In truth there is a far greater enemy to progress, whether progress to you is to mean the progressive terms of sliding society into a more managed by experts form of so called democracy, or whether your definition of progress is more of a libertarian mindset of increased freedom bringing about progress as defined by liberty. The name of that enemy is procrastination.

As I've been getting ready to take a swing at my first run for a local elected office, (school committee in Falmouth), I have been paying close attention to the actions taken by the current members of the committee and the reactions of the parents and public to those decisions.

What I have found has triggered some alarming familiar feelings, a sort of deja vu, showcasing the feeling that I've seen this pattern before.  One we often see in congress.  

It is no surprise that accountability has long been in decline in our country, especially as it relates to elected officials.  Unfortunately, this has transcended into the public as well.  While we expect this to a large degree from children, whose natural immaturity, especially with younger boys, is expected.  To see this come to the forefront more and more with our adult population is alarming even if not completely surprising.

It's easy to sit on the outside and criticize every political decision made by our elected officials.  The useful cancer that is social media has turned everyone into an expert on everything from history and education to landscaping and fashion.  There is a delicate balance to maintain.

As a self educated man, raised by a nurse and an accountant, both with masters degrees.  I watched firsthand as the child of a teen mom working her butt off at multiple low level jobs to help take care of me and my brother.  It was through that example and an old school belief that success requires hard work and that society owes me nothing, we have to become our own success stories, that gave me the work ethic required to get where I am today.

As time went on and my stepfather came into the picture.  An accountant with a masters degree in finance.  He taught me, even to some degree unrealized by myself at the time, the importance of maintaining good credit, and not only living within your means, but if possible to live below it.

Like the rest of us, I have made my share of mistakes.  However, if not for the base of hard work and responsible finance given to me by my parents there is no way I would be surviving in a state like Massachusetts with a family the size of mine.

Now let's pull this back into why I bring this up and how it relates to education in Massachusetts.  As I pointed out earlier in this post I am running for the local school committee here in Falmouth and I have no idea as to what my chances are.  While I am well educated and have likely read more history and economics books in the last few months than the average person has in the last few years my relevance as a candidate doesn't come measured in how many PTO meetings or Farmers market's I've attended.  

It comes from simply watching and listening to the state of education and the concerns of parents in my community with regards to the results we are getting from our current school committee.

Back in October there was a discussion about how to consolidate the grades and whether or not they should close the Morse Pond Elementary School.  There has been division on this decision with some members not only of the committee but also the public as to whether or not this was a good idea.

Those in favor say the school costs too much to maintain and requires maintenance that doesn't make fiscal sense.  This is a 5th and 6th grade school and like most of the schools, (with one exception), it is under capacity due to the declining enrollment overall. 

What is in question, and as of this writing the most recent school committee meeting, is how to configure the grades in the consolidated schools.  If you watch the meeting you will see that for months there has been disagreement as to whose responsibility it is to take the next steps required by the state to apply for the federal funds to expand and consolidate the schools with the new proposed grade configurations.

The school committee, (split 5-4), blames the superintendent.  The superintendent, blames the committee.  Now they are approaching the point where these decisions are supposed to not only be made but also proposed to both the residents and the government for the same reasons, allocation of funding.  This will require millions of dollars from the town of falmouth, (starting with $2 million from town for a "feasibility study").

Beyond that there is the much larger expense of the actual build of the school expected to take several years.  Here is a detailed article regarding some of these issues from the Enterprise Newspaper back on October 30, 2025.

Morse Pond Fate Decided

 

"After that, the committee will need to make a decision on grade configuration before moving on to the proposals on the elementary schools.

A decision from the MSBA is expected in December. If accepted, the school will request $2 million at April Town Meeting to begin the feasibility study. Dart said knowing the grade configuration of Lawrence will help “build the case with the town” so taxpayers will know what they are paying for.

Medeiros said MSBA can be asked to provide assistance and consultation to the district to help decide grade configuration. She said she was in favor of collecting more community input."

We are now days away from the town meeting where the $2 million will be requested.  With the premature decision to close the Morse Pond School there is little chance that the 2 million will not be approved.  If, however, the money isn't approved then the whole project is threatened and the funding becomes unavailable.  

The current projected costs of the Lawrence renovation is about $150 million with an opening set for the 2032-2033 school year.  Like most government projects they will likely fall short on both calculations.  The timeline will likely have to be extended and the likelihood of it costing more than projected is all but guaranteed.

This raised several questions from me.  The first is wondering if the town would have in fact saved money had they instead tried to repair and update both schools.  The town could have a much more accurate figure of repair costs than it can from a multi-year mainly government funded school renovation.

Another question regards my suspicion of other motives.  Several months ago I asked a member of the school committee what the plan was for the Morse Pond School after it's closed.  The answer I received was that it would be given back to the town.

Now think of this.  A major issue dividing communities all across the cape is housing and affordability.  Unfortunately, the prevailing and likely to be successful plans given our current legislative ideological dominance will be and is becoming the massive expansion of subsidized housing.  Basically, grow the welfare state on Cape Cod to create the illusion of affordability.

Whether or not you agree is irrelevant as it relates to the schools but does create a potential massive, thus far unseen and not discussed issue.  I mentioned previously that there is currently an issue with declining enrollment in our local schools.

What happens if the expansion of low income housing causes a vast increase in student enrollment from those housing developments?  

We are playing a very delicate balance here.  If we decline capacity in our schools over the next few years and at the same time develop housing projects for low income residents then we will need somewhere for their children to attend school.

If we decline capacity too much we face a risk of going from under capacity which threatens the funding and rationale for having so many schools in the first place to a problem with surpassing max capacity leading to large class sizes and a whole new set of problems to address for a community already paralyzed by a lack of communication and a propensity for procrastination....the true enemy of progress.

Let us hope the mistakes made in recent decisions all around regarding these issues serve as lessons for us to do better in the future.

When A Bridge Is Silent, The Serfs Stay In The Shadows

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” - Thomas Jefferson

I start this article with that quote for this reason.  Back on December 16 of 2025 I was at a school committee meeting and saw the first signs of a fractured committee on the basis of public outreach.  A majority of the committee here in Falmouth seemed to think that being elected to the school board meant the elimination of engaging the public on major decisions.

It's true that in our constitutional republic, our system requires us to pick representatives across many levels of government, with routine elections and short terms allowing us to correct course often when we feel that the representation fails to live up to our expectations.  With that said I bring you back to the Jefferson quote.  While his message was meant for all of us it is especially important for our elected officials to keep this in mind.  

When a member of the public attends a town meeting, or in the case of the personal experience I had, a public-school committee meeting, anyone who wishes to speak freely is given 2 minutes with which to do so.  As this is protected free speech there is little that can be done to interfere provided you don't violate some obvious rules, (no violence or throwing things etc. for example).  

The issue is that 2 minutes is not a lot of time and, at least in my own personal experience, reading a script that has been designed to be delivered in less than 2 minutes doesn't hit quite as genuinely as speaking freely does.  

However, I figured I'd give it a shot relative to my feelings on what I've seen from our local school committee here in Falmouth these last few months.  Therefore, I delivered the following message during my 2 minutes on February 10, 2026:

"There are few issues that unite people when it comes to politics, from the highest levels of the federal government to the lowest levels of local elected office.  However, one of the easiest uniting issues with the public at large is transparency.  Even a common goal of wanting to educate our children properly has its differences as to how that can best be achieved based on various approaches supported overall by one side or another.

On January 9, The Falmouth Enterprise published an article about this committee violating the open meeting law.  However, just 4 days later, in the last meeting on January 13 there was essentially an argument between members of this committee about going into executive session, likely unnecessarily and potentially illegally, again.

It seems some members of this committee, including those with many years on it, learned nothing from this article, and apparently are used to a status quo in which the public is on a need to know basis determined by committee members whom apparently are not used to an informed and engaged public and who therefore do not seem to think they, as elected officials, are accountable to that public.  One member of this committee, and not one you'd expect given recent controversial events, even stated that this committee currently has "poor functionality", as well as the obvious failure of public transparency which made the Enterprise article necessary in the first place.

It is my hope, for the sake of our children, parents, teachers, schools, and even this committee itself, that these recent controversial events are opening everyone's eyes and with any luck, exposing the importance of not only the responsibility of this committee and the officials with which it deals to better engage the public at large, but also to showcase the responsibility the public has at staying informed and engaged in the matters with which we elect you to address.  Hopefully, we start to see some new faces on this committee in the coming years.  Thank you." - Brandon Edsall

Now let's circle back to the reason for title of this article and the point of my use of Thomas Jeffersons quote.  During this school committee meeting back on February 10 there was actually some very good presentations given to the committee and any members of the public in attendance or watching online as the public meetings are broadcast live.  The problem was there were no questions from the committee.  With the public unable to do so itself during meetings that quote popped into my head.  Question with boldness, let me explain.

While the blizzard of 2026 had not yet hit us there was some snow on the ground and one innovative idea that one of the schools had was to take the elementary kids outside to do art projects in the snow among other similar things.  Given the low temperatures they limited the program to only a short time but everyone in attendance, myself included, thought it was a good idea and enjoyed the presentation.  I snuck a question in, (which apparently is against the rules), about how much of the class time was being used to go outside for this and got an adequate answer.  The committee praised the program, as the rest of us did, but had no follow up questions, only praise for the program.

However, there was another presentation and the lack of questions regarding this next program from the committee provided the inspiration for the title of this post.  One of the concerns Falmouth has, as well as other local school systems, (Mashpee for example), is the declining enrollment in the schools themselves.

There are many factors for this of course, such as Massachusetts high cost of living driving middle class families with children to other states.  More directly though, we have to tech schools, upper and lower cape, where trades are taught in a biweekly schedule with academics.  The availability, through school choice, (which I am fully in favor of), to attend the tech schools has caused many Falmouth students to choose not to attend the local high school.

School funding is in part tied to the number of children attending the schools.  What this means is that the more children from Falmouth that choose to attend the tech schools, the more Falmouth has to contribute to the funding of those trade schools to the detriment of the towns funding of its own school system.

The presentation I alluded to from the school committee meeting regarded one program where I think the local high school is in fact competing well with the tech schools.  It is a business/marketing program about financial literacy.  The program was presented by the Volunteer In Public service program, (VIPS).

I have long been an advocate for the reality that children need to learn basic finance, especially as they get into their teenage years.  Nothing fancy, but the basic information regarding things such as balancing a checkbook, paying bills and especially loans on time, and in general building a healthy credit profile as they approach adulthood.  The financial literacy program seems to focus on that type of education so what's the problem?

"When a bridge is silent, the serfs stay in the shadows"

At the end of the presentation one of the VIPS representatives said, "interest exceeds capacity", in regard to the financial literacy program.  She then went on to say to the school committee, "any questions?"

I just about leaped out of my chair when the school committee just sat there with absolutely nothing to ask.  I said, "I have one", but was told by the chair of the school committee that the public is not allowed to ask questions.  I respected decorum but couldn't believe that on a 9-person committee, not to mention a DEIB representative, (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging), more on that in a future post perhaps, no one had any questions just basic praise for the program.

If the school committee is supposed to be a bridge between the public and the school system, then it is their responsibility to ask questions on behalf of the public which as I pointed out, I was not allowed to do when they didn't.  My obvious question, had I been given the opportunity to ask would have been this.

Since we all seem to agree that this program sounds exciting and necessary, not to mention the kids are excited to join the program then what is being done to address the problem of interest exceeding capacity?

That would have been my question, and it was so sad to see a committee of 9 members, a superintendent of schools, and a DEI representative miss the opportunity to ask such a question.  My experience cemented a decision I was already considering.

If the only way to ask important questions is to get a seat on an otherwise dysfunctional school committee, then so be it.  

2 weeks later I filed papers to officially run for the school committee as a candidate.  This current school committee isn't a bridge connecting information to the public.  It is a castle keeping the drawbridge up to hide and disconnect as much as possible from the public interest at large.

I suppose my initial message for the public regarding my decision to run for the committee myself is simply this, it is time to lower the bridge and storm the castle.  Let the fun begin.