The intern concept is a good one when bright young people are used to supplement the work of their professional mentors. If they are exploited , that is to say, used as free help, and not given training and supervision by people who take their mentor roles seriously, the project will fail.

If Alan Slavin  is going  to stay on top of the intern project and see that each one  has a qualified mentor, the interns  will have a good experience , the town will benefit, and we all should be grateful to him for this initiative.


Having said this, if I were  the person at UMass  Dartmouth responsible  for placing interns, I would be wary about placing them in a town with our stresses . If these interns have to work alongside  people who feel beaten down,  the bad morale is guaranteed to rub off on the interns.  I am not a Town Hall insider,  but the bickering at the top,and  the critical positions left unfilled for months, could make this very good idea turn into a giant boondoggle.

"OK kids, welcome to the Selectmen's Intern Program!  Repeat after me, "If you don't like it, sue us!"  "If you don't get caught, it's not illegal!"  "Do you know who I am?"