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Dr. Ormsby Has it
Wrong
on N. Andover United
Sandy Gleed (NAU)
(08/03/07)
As Chair of North Andover
United, I’d like to thank Dr. Chuck Ormsby for
demonstrating with his “Snookered” article the
need for North Andover United to continue its important
work to provide the citizens of North Andover with
accurate, verifiable information, in a positive, unifying
manner.
Check out our website at www.northandover.org;
there’s a wealth of information there to help
citizens distinguish the difference between the plain
truth and political distortions of North Andover’s
often very complex issues.
You don’t need a doctorate from MIT to know
that statistics are merely used to show relationships,
not causality. 
It’s up to you to decide which relationships make
the most sense to you. For instance, you could use
statistics to show that as the temperature rises, the
Gleed family eats less pizza. The statistics may be true,
but they prove nothing; the temperature has nothing to do
with our dinner choices. We eat more pizza in the
colder months because we’re busier attending evening
meetings.
If you were to chart Gleed pizza consumption against the
months of the year, you’d show a more direct
relationship to reality. But you’d need to
talk to me about our dinner preferences in order to know
which statistical relationship had meaning.
The mathematical gibberish presented in Chuck’s
article does not refute our basic conclusion that home
values in North Andover have suffered. North
Andover United does not cherry-pick its data and does not
tailor the data to fit an agenda – we used data from
reputable, professional sources. We consulted with
several real estate professionals and drew our
conclusions from the data and their real-life sales
experience. And our mailer encouraged citizens to
“get the facts, consult your realtor or go to
zillow.com and see for yourself”.
There’s no formula you can use to show a direct
correlation between taxes and home values, other than the
obvious, that the higher the home values, the higher the
taxes. People will pay more for homes that meet
their value criteria, but it’s a very complicated
emotional decision. The National Association of
Realtors’ 2006 profile of home buyers and sellers in
Massachusetts reported that important factors for
purchase decisions included the quality of the
neighborhood/town, convenience of commute, convenience of
being near family and friends, and the quality of
schools.
Our North Andover United mailer plainly stated:
“Under-funded schools and highly publicized
conflicts are costing everyone.” The reality
is that for the past few years, realtors have had trouble
getting prospective buyers to even look at North Andover
homes. Yes, the declining reputation of our schools
was a factor, but even more so, the political
polarization of our citizens had earned us a negative
reputation that extended far beyond our borders.
People know us as an angry town now; seventeen years ago
when I bought my home, outsiders knew us by our nice
rural character and reputation for good schools…
Why does Chuck think that reports of declining real
estate values at a time when High School AP enrollment
has increased is odd? As a School Committeeman, I
find it odd that he can ignore the impact of the
significant reduction of electives at the High School,
the absence of state-mandated technology curriculum at
the middle school, the lack of related arts and foreign
language at the middle school, and the lack of English
language and science curriculum, not to mention severely
overcrowded classrooms, at the elementary level.
Unlike Chuck, I am not cynical about politics
[yet].
I do not “expect lies, distortions and outright
misrepresentations”. Call me naïve, but I
still expect honesty and accountability. And,
with the help of North Andover United and its supporters,
I’m willing to work for that.
Our entire philosophy is based on the premise that if we
provide honest answers to honest questions, our fellow
citizens will draw reasonable conclusions that will help
our town move forward in a positive direction for us all.
Our efforts this spring were the driving force that
inspired the creation of the Joint Resolution, signed by
the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee and the
Finance Committee. This is a living document by
which we can now measure the effectiveness of our elected
leadership. And passage of this modest override,
which restores critical services in both the municipal
and school departments, will give outsiders confidence in
our citizenry and restore our pride in a community that
deserves our support.
Chuck, the election is over.
Rather than slinging unfounded accusations at North
Andover United, I think your time would be much better
spent working to improve academic standards in a positive
way. You were elected to the School Committee to
support and improve our schools; stick to the job at
hand.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The August 2007 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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