Talking about priorities

If you asked most residents of Marblehead if they’d ever live in Everett they’d reply with a no.

Marblehead and Everett are two places essentially different from one another in many, many ways.

But when it comes to the kids – the public school kids – Everett comes out on top in the spending department.

Last week, Marblehead voters voted down ten override initiatives, which included one override seeking to replace a 100 year old outdated and crumbling elementary school.

Another of the initiatives voted down was the installation of an all weather, all season artificial turf surface for a major town field which would have expanded the time available for the city’s burgeoning soccer, Lacrosse and football sporting venues for Marblehead kids.

Ten overrides were voted down by Marblehead people saying they had no interest in spending money for their kids.

They should come to Everett where the city spent money to build new elementary schools.

They should come to Everett to Memorial Stadium where a $1 million plus artificial field has just been installed to allow for hundreds of young Everett kids to play their sport of choice on a field that can be used 20 hours a day.

In Marblehead, taxpayers are all slapping one another on the back and telling one another that the rejected new elementary school was great stuff. So too was the rejection of a new playing field.

Marblehead shows itself to be a town without vision.

Everett comes in as wanting to pay to do the right thing.

Marbleheaders will say that Everett has lower reading scores – and it does.

But that’s just a matter of demographics.

If Everett had the same demographic, its scores would be much higher.

Bottom line – taxpayers are cheap in Marblehead at the expense of the public school children.

It may cost Everett taxpayers a bit more for the public school children to have newer schools and better playing fields but at least the right thing is being done here.

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