Let see - busing parochial/private school students. Bussing of any and all students is a privilege that is afforded to all children in a community. If a community buses one student it must bus all beyond the walking distance regardless of their school. It is not, nor was it ever, a means to increase parochial school enrollments. If the town elects to charge a fee, the fee will be for all students. If the town decides to not bus certain town student citizens, then it must decline to bus all students.
OK now for plowing church parking lots. As long as the town does this across the board for all non-profit organizations then go for it. But if the town is selective then it should plow all. The town had no problem reaching it's arm into the church doors with regards to no smoking at functions that serve the public. This actually cost the fundraising of bingo for the Temple on Pamela Road, St Tarcisius and the Knights of Columbus. They all lost their "smoking" patrons and eventually had to shut their (bingo) doors. Gee, maybe the Town can use that lost revenue (between $30,000 to $65,000 per year for each of them) as a stipend towards plowing. As far as I can see, churches, temples, etc. still serve the public of this town, including allowing excess vehicles park in their lots and get them off the streets of Framingham. Oh well, the green god of money raises its powerful staff to lead the faithful regardless whether it is snow plowing or education, all the principles are guided by only one almighty - $$$. By the way, the town might wisely look at the operating budget of parochial schools. Now there's a tight run ship based on sound educational mandates. They have yet to abandon education for lack of money. OK, I'm off the soap box. Leslee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich Shapiro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Town Meeting Members" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Framingham Neighbors" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 11:27 AM Subject: RE: Question about plowing the churches. > One other thought. I remember that the reasoning for this was to help the declining enrollments of parocial schools. There is also a trade off: the cost of transporting vs. having a larger puplic school population. > > Richard Shapiro TMM p4
