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Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Methuen mayor, School Committee divided over district budget
The city council is expected to vote on the budget on Advertisement The impasse prompted the committee to seek an emergency injunction in Essex Superior Court Thursday to stop the mayor from consolidating the school district's IT department with the city's, one of his cost-cutting measures. School Committee members said the district needs its own department to support student and staff devices, and that Beauregard doesn't have the authority to unilaterally combine the two departments. Beauregard, however said, he is just seeking such cuts to prevent further teacher layoffs. 'My mission here is to ensure that we limit the number of teacher layoffs to the maximum step possible,' Beauregard said. 'We simply cannot be reducing mission critical student-facing classroom positions.' The mayor's proposed budget has also rankled parents, teachers, and students, who gathered at a recent City Hall meeting, demanding the councilors reconsider the proposed budget. Advertisement Beauregard said his proposed budget ensures that other essential city departments, like fire and police, aren't cut. The Methuen Education Association said the city should prioritize school funding. 'What we are doing now is just going backwards in time again, and the mayor wants to move forward, well this isn't it,' said Kara Blatt, co-president of the Methuen Education Association. Like Methuen, school districts across Massachusetts — including Brookline, Milton, and Newton — have been Related : The Methuen school district serves about 6,500 students, about two-thirds of whom are classified as high needs, meaning they are low income, English learners, or have disabilities, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 'I think my son's social development and his behavioral development is a huge part of his education as well. So I don't think any position is expendable by any means,' said John Drew, a Methuen parent who spoke out at last week's city council meeting. Drew has a son who benefited from a district special needs program for two years before integrating into the Comprehensive Grammar School. The mayor also has proposed freezing contractual teacher raises to free up cash. While the district has seen a declining student enrollment, losing nearly 500 students in the past decade, new students who have been added to attendance rolls are largely high needs and require additional services that cost more, said Laurie Keegan, School Committee co-chair. Keegan said the per-student cost rose by about 25 percent from 2020 to 2023. Despite cuts to some staff positions, including 40 last year, staffing increased during the last five years to about 540 as of last school year. Advertisement 'The students that we're losing are not the students that we're gaining, all of these populations cost a lot more money to educate. So while our actual enrollment may look like it's slightly down, the per-pupil cost is actually much higher because the needs of the kids are much greater,' Keegan said. Merging the city's IT department and other school utilities, would free up more than $800,000, Beauregard said, and would be enough to save more than 20 teaching positions. Parent Nicole Pereira said she is open to the idea of consolidating the IT department if it means saving staff positions and limiting class sizes. However, she added the current IT department is already overwhelmed, and that it took months for IT to fix her fourth grade son's Chromebook. 'I just don't know how a teacher is supposed to teach all 20 plus students effectively while making sure half of those students are receiving all of their accommodations,' Pereira said. Keegan raised doubts over how equipped the city is to handle the 7,000 plus devices in the students' one-to-one technology program. The mayor has also proposed consolidating the district's legal department, but Keegan said the district needs specialized legal counsel in working with students in special education that she believes the city cannot provide. State lawmakers five years ago Advertisement Parents and teachers said there needs to be changes to the way aid is distributed, like raising the minimum funding requirement of Chapter 70, the primary state funding program for Massachusetts public schools. 'When you hear that Massachusetts has the best schools in the United States, I would really be just shocked to see what happens in other states and other schools,' Pereira said, 'because I just feel really let down with the way that people talk about what we can offer at school and how much we can be willing to take away from our schools.' Maria Probert can be reached at
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man indicted in connection with deaths of men found near Salem Walmart
A 30-year-old man accused of killing two men who were found behind a Walmart in Salem was indicted this week, court records show. Jay Blodget, a homeless man who lived in a wooded area behind the store, was indicted on two counts of murder. The indictment is a procedural step moving Blodget's case from Salem District Court to Essex Superior Court. A superior court arraignment has not been set for Blodget. Few details have been revealed about the killings, but prosecutors have said the two men were found hidden under dirt and other 'materials.' Both had been stabbed and died of blunt force trauma, a prosecutor said during Blodget's arraignment in district court. The men killed have since been identified as Andrew Ross Guempel, 41, of Arizona, and Jonathan Thompson, 42, of Oregon. One of the men was found by a man walking his dog on April 23. Responding officers found the other man's body the same day. Prosecutors say Blodget 'made statements implicating himself in the two murders' after he was taken into police custody. Michael Phelan, an attorney representing Blodget, said he was 'cordial' and 'polite' in initial conversations. Blodget 'asked intelligent questions,' Phelan said, adding he planned to 'definitely explore whether there's [a] mental health issue.' About a week before Guempel and Thomspon were found, Blodget was arrested on a breaking and entering charge, after police say he used a hacksaw to enter a storage container near the Walmart. The woman who owned the container called Salem Police around 7:30 p.m. on April 17. She told police she was at the container to get some items, but heard a noise inside. Blodget then walked out of the container and offered money to the woman and her husband, but they refused and called police, according to court filings. Though he had a hacksaw and was therefore considered 'dangerous,' Blodget had no other weapons on him and apologized to the officers as he was put into handcuffs at the scene. 'Blodget stated that he got kicked out of the woods near Walmart and had no place to go,' the documents read. He had found the storage container while looking for somewhere to sleep, bought a hacksaw and cut off the locks, then brought a mattress in and started 'tossing things out' to make space, the documents read. Some jewelry was also missing from the container, which Blodget denied taking and said he had thrown it outside. During Blodget's arrest, police seized a green bicycle and all of the panhandling money Blodget earned, which totaled over $6,700, documents showed. Reading police ask for public's help after 12 cars were broken into, 2 stolen Dorchester teen accused of ramming Boston Police officer with moped Man found guilty of killing Mass. couple in drunken driving crash from 2021 Mass. couple to plead guilty to Ponzi scheme that netted more than $3.2 million Agreement reached in lawsuit over Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center assault Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
14-02-2025
- Boston Globe
ICE arrested a migrant accused of child rape, two years after he was placed on home arrest by state
Fernando-Perez was charged with child rape in Feb. 28, 2022, after an investigation by Lynn police, records show. He is accused of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a child known to him when she was between the ages of 5 and 7 years old, according to prosecutors. He pleaded not guilty in Essex Superior Court on Aug. 10, 2022, where bail was set at $7,500. At the request of Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker's office, Fernando-Perez was placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring on Sept. 16, 2022, records show. Advertisement In a statement Thursday, ICE cited Fernando-Perez as an example of the agency's policy of detaining the 'worst first' as it pursues the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. 'He is exactly the type of alien we are targeting with our 'worst first' policy. He posed a significant danger to the children of Massachusetts, and we will not tolerate such a threat to our community. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by arresting and removing egregious alien offenders from our New England communities.' ICE did not say why it had not previously sought to detain Fernando-Perez while he was living in Framingham. A spokesman said by email on Friday that the agency was reviewing its records. The agency said it had twice lodged civil immigration detainers with Massachusetts officials. On May 16, 2022, it filed a request with Essex Sheriff Kevin F. Coppinger's office. It filed a second request with Essex Superior Court on Oct. 6, 2022. Advertisement 'The Essex County Superior Court ignored the immigration detainer against Fernando and released him on pre-trial conditions Oct. 6, 2022,' ICE said in its statement. But by that point, Fernando-Perez was already wearing the GPS monitoring bracelet and living in Framingham at an address listed in court records. ICE makes detainer requests to police departments, courts, or sheriff's offices to hold someone they intend to release for up to two days. The agency lodges such civil requests — they are not criminal warrants — when it suspects someone of being in the country illegally and eligible for deportation. Immigration officials have regularly criticized the court system and local police departments for not honoring such detention requests, but Massachusetts' highest court ruled in 2017 that court officials and local law enforcement officials cannot hold a person who is wanted solely for civil immigration violations. 'Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody,' the court ruled. The SJC said it would be up to the Legislature to decide whether to change state law. John R. Ellement can be reached at
