Region One Community Forum, Cornwall, CT September 28 Cornwall Library Reply

When you click on the video clip, a message will come up, please click “watch on YouTube! Thanks.

A great turnout, a positive meeting! Great job Ed! As you will see, Phil Hart just does not get it. And, as long as that is the case, the Three Musketeers who almost 100% of the time vote with Phil YES on everything the administration presents, will continue to decide everything BEFORE hearing the public input. Let us hope that will change.

Republican American storu on last nights PUBLIC FORUM on Region One Reply

Here is a link to the Republican American’s story on last nights public forum on Region One

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2012/09/29/news/local/672930.txt

 

About 60-70 people representing every town in the region (except North Canaan) attended the meeting. Video of the meeting will follow on the catv6 YouTube page, adn also be posted here.

 

BY BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

CORNWALL — A forum set up to air concerns over the administration of Region 1 school district didn’t resolve any underlying issues on Friday but it did generate a consensus: Let’s meet again.

Edward Epstein, a resident of Kent and a former longtime principal of Kent Center School, set up the meeting because he feels like dealing with the regional board is like “talking to a wall.”

“You say what you say and somebody says thank you. I never hear another word,” Epstein said.

The meeting was held at Cornwall Library and residents from Region 1 school district — Falls Village, Cornwall, Sharon, North Canaan, Salisbury and Kent — central office adminis­trators and local and regional board of education members packed into a meeting room.

While no future date was set, Friday’s meeting was civil and there was no yelling or shouting but there were loud groans after Philip Hart, chairman of the Region 1 Board of Educa­tion, offered up his opinion on what “code words” to look out for.

“We’re frequently accused of not listening and we don’t understand,” Hart said. “Those are code words. Let me tell you what you mean: ‘We don’t agree with you.’ The fact we don’t agree doesn’t mean we don’t lis­ten.”

 

Catering or Safety? We Agree Safety Is The Correct Choice Here…. Reply

SALISBURY — Salisbury Central School Board of Edu­cation member Jeffrey Lloyd’s effort to change the bus stop at Salisbury School didn’t get much traction from his colleagues Monday. The bus now pulls onto the private school’s property to pick up about 15 to 20 stu­dents. Lloyd said he has watched and the children appear to take their time get­ting on the bus, making the trip longer. He said he would like to see the children assemble on Route 44, ready to get on the bus when it arrives, so the route would not go up on school property. He said the buses rarely go on private property and his proposal would only make it fair.
“I’m not sure we’re acting on a problem or there’s a con­cern for equity,” member Jennifer Weigel said. “I’m not sure what problem we’d really be solving.” “Every other student is not d to,” Lloyd said. Region 1 Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain said keeping the pick-up off the road is safer.
“My question is, where does it stop?” asked Lloyd. “What’s Hotchkiss going to ask for? It lays the ground­work for other requests.”
“It’s not catering,” said member Stephanie Thomas. “We like the kids to be safe.” Weigel said getting the bus off the road allows cars fol­lowing it to move on. “I think this is a good solution.”

The Problem with the Region One Board Of Education? Mr. Moore is one, a BIG One. Reply

Look at this quote from Mr. Moore in this mornings Republican-American….

Jonathan Moore, Kent’s representative to the regional board, said that his own five­ minute interview led him to believe the Pingpank Report was slanted.

“I don’t believe in the Ping­pank Report. That doesn’t mean that I don’t believe some of the problems highlighted in the report don’t exist,” he said.

 

5 minutes! He knew all in five minutes.

Hopefully Kent will now vote to have an elected position on the Region One Board, so Mr. Moore can spend more than five minutes  reading about solving other important problems OTHER than Region One.

We would all be blessed.

Please attend this meeting!

Residents of the Region 1 school district will have an opportunity to have their voices heard at 7 p.m. Friday at the Cornwall Library. A group of concerned residents has organized a forum to discuss district issues that they believe the Region 1 Board of Education has not addressed. 

It’s time for Kent to join the real world, no political appointments, let the people decide Reply

Kent resident Ed Epstein  is petitioning for a town meeting to change the way the town selects its representative to the Region 1 Board of Education.Epstein is now close to gathering the required 50 signatures on a petition to change the town’s representative from an appointed to an elected position, a direction other towns in the region have been going in. Of the six towns in Region 1, with  only Cornwall and Kent appointing their representative. A minimum of 50 signatures is required  for a town meeting in Kent. The current representative  Jonathan Moore,  has served in the role since 2010.

This letter to Phil Hart was sent to regiononereport.com to publish Reply

Dear Phil Hart,

I am in agreement with “Trust” as a goal.  I also think that “Trust” is a good value.  After I watched the videos of the retreat I began typing a memo to you that is a list of what I think are some values and goals that would be appropriate for the tree and branches of Region One.  In the first session when the Consultant asked Gale to suggest values and goals – Gale responded very brightly – “Trust and Transparency” – excellent.  If you get a moment – please watch it – it seemed to me that Patricia could not change the subject away from “Trust” quickly enough.  Laura’s moving the word “honesty” off of its own line and into “Citizenship” was worrisome.  No “Honesty” and no “Trust” for Region One – got it.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear you preach the importance of “trusting” each other at the BOE meeting on Monday evening September 10, 2012.  Trust is a major part of what is missing and what is needed to repair this Board because I certainly do not trust you or Pat or Laura or Jonathan or Scooter.  Even though it took Gale to bring you the thought, you still used it.

But – then I heard about your outrageous crazy rant at the Ag Fair in Cornwall on Saturday.  You made it clear to a trusted friend of yours how you hate Gale. You said she needed to be gotten rid of.  But you got pushed back hard by this man – one of the many with high regard for her.  I am amazed that you did not realize how large Gale’s base of support is. You must miss that kind of respect.  You had a bit of it before you partnered yourself with Patricia Chamberlain who is probably the least trusted Superintendent in the State.  It compares to what you tried to do to Gale in executive session last February.  There is not enough time in any of our lives for you to apologize enough to Gale and all the other women in the world that you have ever spoken to like that.  You lobbied against her then and you are still doing it now – and two days later preaching to us about “trusting one another” at the opening Board Meeting – you ridiculous hypocrite.

I can’t be the first one telling you but – everyone sees this – and you have set “Trust” back at least two years for our Board.  There is nothing I can do to help you except pray that more people like Gale and Marilyn get voted to our regions Boards of Education.

Why don’t you decide what it is time for you to do?  For now – stop your ridiculous songs about moving forward.  I think better of the students and teachers than to saddle them into the future with people like you and Patricia and Diane and Laura and Jonathan.  “Trust ” means nothing to any of you.
Why do you think our teachers want to continue working for anyone who uses a lawyer and lies to create the Teacher evaluations?  You and Pat and Diane and Matt have shown us that merit does not necessarily form an individuals evaluation.  We need you and at least Patricia Chamberlain and Diane Goncalves to go away so we can build what our Teachers and Students deserve now – “Trust”
Lawrence Van Valkenburgh

Some Good News out of Housy on two accounts…. 1

 

From this mornings Republican American ( no links were working to the story this morning, but the full stories are in this mornings edition of The Republican-American

http://rep-am.com

 

1)  Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s accreditation will contin­ue, announced Principal Matthew Harnett at Monday’s meeting of the Board of Educa­tion.
He read from a letter from the New England Association of Schools & Colleges, saying it had voted to accept the submitted five-year progress report.
He recognized Assistant Principal Ian Strever for the numbers of hours he put into the project.

2) Housatonic Valley Regional High School will show students the documentary “Finding Kind,” which deals with bullying and harassment, on Sept. 26.
Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from the region’s six elementary schools will be invited to a showing that day.
Principal Matthew Harnett said he’s been approached by students “who really want to do something about this. This event will start the conversation.” An open showing will be offered Sept. 27 for community members. Harnett is hop­ing the students will find the film so interesting they’ll want their parents to view it.
He said he is working with other organizations in the community, including Women’s Support Services and the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau, on an anti-violence campaign that addresses such issues as domestic abuse and dat­ing violence.
A series of events will be planned to discuss the climate and culture of such behavior.
Following the showing of “Finding Kind,” con­versations can be facilitated.