From West Hartford News:
Lib Brassil Spinella, Clare Kindall, Elin Katz and Noagan Ma were welcomed to the board as newly-elected members and voted with the rest of the board on a chairman shortly thereafter. The two Republicans sitting on the board, Spinella and Mudge, ended up clashing over the nomination of Kindall with the rest of the members.
"She opted to put her son in a private school and that sends a wrong message to the community," said Mudge, who feels Kindall putting her son in a private school shows a lack of faith on her part in West Hartford's public school system.
Kindall shot back by saying she was "appalled" that her child was brought up and defended herself by saying she has worked hard for West Hartford schools. The rest of the board echoed the same sentiment and Kindall was voted as the new chairperson.
The nays came from Spinella and Mudge. Former chairperson Terry Schmitt will now be vice chair and two spots for financial examiner went to Mudge and Katz.
OK - As much as we might like her spunk, Clare Kindall needs to seriously chill out. She shouldn't be so "appalled" that her decision to remove her child from West Hartford's illustrious school system could possibly be taken as a rejection of the very system she cheer leads for. It looks like she sees that the school system is failing her child in some way; so much so, that she has taken very serious steps to look for and obtain a different educational experience. Hey, that's her family's choice. But seriously, how could she have expected any other reaction from people, not only on the Board, but in the community as well? Ok, one must do what one must do for the betterment of the child, but let's not get all indignant over it. Accept that there will be some raised eyebrows, and deal with it calmly.
Perhaps the "real" thing to do would have been to admit that the West Hartford school system has some serious shortcomings for her child (as well as many many others out there) and not take the whole issue as if it should be ignored and not questioned by other Board members or by folks in the community at large. As far as Ms. Kendall's reaction: "Methinks the lady doth protesteth too much". It does look strange though, and somewhat of an act of condemnation, that the new BOE chair has a kid in private school. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see someone on the Board who has the potential to represent the interests of people in the community who have children attending non-public schools. They are taxpayers too, and basically pay twice for education.
But honestly, we should be more concerned about a possible conflict of interest facing the Board should West Hartford ever have to battle the State on ANY issue - and that is having a chairwoman who works for the Attorney General's office. Like it or not, Ms. Kindall and the Board, has handed the town a problem. Potential conflict notwithstanding, there are some rules, and an excellent report by the Office of Legislative Research, that talks about state employees running for and holding office.
...a state employee may not hold municipal office where there is a conflict of interest. Conflicts of interest include, among other things, situations where the employee’s agency can (1) approve the accounts or actions of the municipal office, (2) institute or recommend penalties against the incumbent of the municipal office, or (3) affect state grants and subsidies for which the municipality is eligible. Also included are circumstances where a state statute or local charter or ordinance prohibit the state employee from holding local office or where the state employee's job includes assisting himself as a municipal office holder.The potential of conflict of interest really does need to be further examined.
Moving right along to more fun and games....
The first order of business was voting on setting a timetable to discuss the board's response to the Racial Imbalance Statute. Spinella and Mudge proposed setting the timetable and complained there is no date set for the report. Schmitt said they already asked the corporation counsel responsible for the report and said he'd like to wait and hear their response before bringing it up at the meeting. The motion failed and no deadline was set.C'mon guys. Get serious and set some concrete goals and deadlines for once. You expect that much from your teachers and staff, so why do you think that it is o.k. for you not to do the same? The racial imbalance issue IS an issue; like it or not. You cannot just ignore it and think that it will go away. It won't.
The board went on to grill Tim Dunn and Chip Ward on their status update for the newly-imposed $25 student fee in secondary schools. Beginning this year, students must pay a $25 fee to participate in certain clubs. Members of the board were first under the impression that the fee was to be levied on all student clubs, but that is not the case. Fees are only paid out to certain clubs.
Both Schmitt and Bruce Putterman questioned the fee, which was met with some protest by a couple of high school seniors.
Concerns expressed included at what point is the fee assessed, as well as what should happen if a student wants to dabble in various school activities - would he or she have to be force to pay the fee multiple times?
The fee was imposed to raise $50,000 to pay out stipends to teachers who run these extracurricular activities, but it could also make students more hesitant to join clubs in the first place, the board members said.
Great idea during one of the deepest recessions (NOT). These kids can little afford this along with other fees they are forced to pay. If the Board believes in extracurriculars so much and really wants them to continue, then why don't they cut some administrators' salaries to pay for them? And by the way, how come money was spent on those idiotic flat screen TV's posted up around the schools (that even the kids think are stupid and wasteful) to announce "news", when money could be put to much better use.... like extracurriculars?
The Board of Education motioned to reduce the 2009-10 general fund appropriation to reflect the receipts of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants. It will reduce teacher salaries account by $2,293,500 and reduce the total 2009-10 appropriation for the fund to $121,388,323.
The Board of Education is receiving two new grants from the state via the ARRA that total the same amount.
Hey guys, this is all well and good, but can anyone explain to us all what will happen to the school budget when the Obama gravy train pulls out of the station and the stimulus money is no more? Will there be massive cuts then, or will taxes skyrocket to compensate? Is anyone seriously thinking about this? Anyone?
2 WH Responses:
You got the questions right.
The papers did not even mention the conflict of Claire working for the State AG's office when the Town may have to sue the State. While she is claiming that there is no conflict nor any reason to recuse herself.
The conflict over her Claire's chil arises from: 1- Claire constantly praising the school system as the Town's Crown Jewel. 2- Claire supporting every program that comes down the pike (ECE and AP courses, keeping undersized classes -due to lack of interest- in high schools, reading program after reading program, bullying programs etc...) and ever increased spending. She is welcome to put her child in any school she wishes, but the inconsistancy here is glaring.
As to the Racial Imbalance problem have the Dems on the Board already forgotten what happened 2 years ago when they wanted redistrict for crowding. It is obvious that they have forgotten about 1994-1995w/ the K thru 2 and 3 thru 5 debacle.
The budget should be interesting this year. The Board made it obvious at the last meeting that they have done precious little to trim the budget and have depended on "Stimulus Money" to keep things going w/out change. Chip has indicated a $3.5-$4 million problem when that money disappears. Of course this figure does not include problems created by the Boards inaction on a complete review of the budget to trim expenses.
I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here about the whole "private school/public office" debate by presenting the argument that Clare Kindall has equal, if not more, right to sit on the BOE than the public school parents. In my view it's clear that for whatever reason WHPS did not provide the necessary services for her child. So Kindall just doesn't give up on the school district but continues to fight for her town's schools. I know it's a different argument but I think it's worth discussing.
As for her potential conflict of interest I have a few questions: 1. Can the AG's office approve the actions of the BOE?
2. Does the AG's office actually affect state grants and subsidies to the WHBOE?
3. Can the AG's office 'institute a penalty' against Kindall? I mean, any employee is subject to penalties-say dismissal for incompetence-but wouldn't that bar all state employees from holding municipal office?
I'm not a lawyer, but that snippet doesn't seem to apply any conflict to Kindall.
But before you guys think that I am Clare Kindall, I'm going to offer some criticism, which should be interpreted as constructive, not hyperpartisanship. The D's dismissal of Spinella's and Mudge's motion was a bad idea; there is no question in my mind that the racial imbalance issue IS an issue. Charter Oak and Smith are imbalanced and there are three more schools that have 'impending' racial imbalance. It should be discussed. I remember the Republicans mentioning that there was a discussion for December that was promised on the imbalance issue in a letter to the state earlier this year. I believe it should happen.
I am thinking about the stimulus money. I remember Captain making some good points about how the budget was looking a few years down the road without the stimulus money.
Here's what I see 2 years from now:
1. Obama money will be gone($2.1 Million);
2. Energy pre-funding will be gone($.5 Million);
3. Administrator contract expires and will have to be renegotiated (thanks to the admins by the way for the 0% wage increase-classy move);
4. Teacher salaries will be up for renegotiation;
5. State budget is up for renewal-said budget was also dependent on some Obama money and that, too, will disappear. ECS funding will come up again, lunch reimbursements, and everything else.
Maybe Andrew Fleischmann can come up with a few dozen more "over funded line items."
As for the extracurriculars I believe that the $25 fee should be repealed. It's applied to clubs inconsistently and is a much higher priority that flat screen TVs.
I want small class sizes, I want QUEST and full day-K. I also want to be able to afford this town.
Post a Comment