GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK
SPRINGFIELD – Outgoing Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick made a visit to Springfield yesterday afternoon to announce a $1.3 million investment from the state to improve Riverfront Park in that city’s North End.
Following the announcement and some words from State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and former Westfield Mayor, Rick Sullivan, Patrick addressed the media, answering questions on the current situation embroiling the Department of Children and Families and MGM’s ongoing application for a casino in Springfield.
Patrick also spoke of the ongoing controversy regarding the home rule legislation filed on behalf of the Town of Worthington, which passed both the House and Senate earlier this week, and would allow the town to unilaterally withdraw from the Gateway Regional School District.
Long a proponent of charter schools and regional school districts, Patrick has less than 10 days to either sign it into law, send it back to the legislature, or veto it.
“I don’t know much about that one. I tend to support most home rule petitions,” Patrick said. “Frankly, it still surprises me the number of things that have to come through the legislature for a home rule blessing. I’ll look at that one but I don’t anticipate any problems.”
That is bad news for the remaining six towns in the Gateway Regional School District, who will now be left to pick up Worthington’s piece of the budget pie should the school venture to another nearby regional district.
“His (Governor Patrick’s) staff has told us that they have been inundated with calls (about the situation),” said Derrick Mason of Gateway’s GTAC (Gateway to Ag Careers) Committee today. “They’ve said that their legal department is looking into it and consulting with the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Whether his staff has his ear or not, I don’t know.”
“You never know what’s going on in Boston, but we’re doing the best we can to have our voices heard,” he said.
The GTAC Committee will be holding a special informational meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Stanton Hall in Huntington to discuss the current status of the bill.
