The town of Charlemont has a dilemma. Whenever we use numbers, you can almost hear the mental math mutterings. With 50% of our population over age 50 we are hearing different and competing priorities as we develop a town budget. Per the 2020 U.S. Census we have 27 kiddos under age 5 years. At a meeting in December 2021, the Selectboard referenced available data of future students under age 3. A question/comment from the audience asked if we had anything more than anecdotal numbers.
A valid question but it depends!
Yes, there is a federal census but there is also American Community Survey 5. Yep, I can hear the mutterings, but planners feel the multi-year estimates increase the statistical reliability— any terms used may be googled for more detail.
By the 2019 ACS-5-year estimates used in 2020 census we have found 27.25 kids under age 5 years. We have public school enrollment at 77.6%; while another age chart shows Charlemont has 189 students, age 5 to 17. That translates into 145 students in our public schools.
Sheesh, enough with the numbers. At that same December meeting some wondered about Combined Extended Family Covid arrangements. All normal measuring parameters disappeared in the two years of Covid. Doing more continued talking with attendees we have found some school families that have not returned the annual town census or, if they did, only listed adults but no children.
Perhaps the problem lies with us — government at all levels. The Secretary of State’s page on “Inactive Voters” refers to the annual street list, a/k/a town census. The Charlemont website alternately references the same: street list vs census. This may be confusing for folks coming from other states.
For those who want more examples on our ‘numbers’ problem, our town clerk recently had a request from MTRSD Central Office to verify out-of-district school choice students. Please note the request contained NO names, only addresses. Our Town Clerk could verify adults living at an address, but no school age children as listed. As we understand it MTRSD will accept that as verification of students for choice-out payments. However, some towns are now familiar with split custody as respects payments for 0ut-of-district students’ tuition for vocational schooling.
Sometimes it might seem that we are writing comic materials for stand-up comediennes.
But we, small towns, can argue that we are being buried in useless, unreliable and unavailing data — all of which feels like lies, dammed lies and statistics.
So, please, note well: if a voter fails to respond to the annual street list, they shall be placed on an inactive voters list. There is such a warning in bold type on the form. The town clerk’s state hard-wired computer will automatically generate a confirmation letter.
The shaggy dog story continues.
However, if you live on Main Street or Village proper, you must have a post office box for mailing purposes. That’s another can of worms that causes further frustrations on failing systems with online registration or with the RMV. West County is also familiar with zip code problems.
Finally, some good news — if you arrive at the polls to vote to find yourself on an ‘inactive list’, you may still vote subject to submitting: a driver’s license, a license, state issued ID card, a recent utility bill, rent receipt, lease, a copy of voter registration affidavit, or any other printed ID which contains your name and address.
But pending legislation, HB4359 in essence disallows photo ID at polls. Yet, the legislatures are considering allowing anyone to get a driver’s license regardless of immigration status.
This all maybe TMI, way too long and not complete.
The Charlemont Selectboard see small towns as fodder for ‘gotcha’ games. Any questioning is set up as voter suppression. The number of regulations, clear or conflicting, coming over our electronic transom add to the confusion. This Tower of Babel is destructive.
For Rural MA we can say, ‘one size does not fit all.’
Respectfully,
Dan Girard, Marguerite Willis and William Harker are members of the Charlemont Selectboard.