Category Archives: POSTS, COMMENTS, VIDEO AND AUDIO

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By ALEXIS HARRISON, alharrison@ctnow.com FOX CT

 
GROTON—Superintendent of Schools Paul Kadri has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation connected to his past “interactions with and treatment of district employees,” according to a motion approved by the board of education Monday.
The motion, approved by unanimously at a special board meeting, bars Kadri from school grounds during the probe and also from contacting district employees or board members.
It also authorized the board chairman, with the district attorney, to hire an investigator.

The investigation could take several weeks, said Kirsten Hoyt, board chairwoman. She said that because the issue pertained to a personnel matter, she couldn’t elaborate on the cause of Kadri’s leave.

A veteran educator, Kadri has been head of the school district since 2008.
Mary Ann Butler, assistant superintendent of curriculum and education, has been named acting superintendent.
Under his contract with the school district, Kadri earns $167,475 annually.
 

Region One employees told to vote YES on the budget…or if the budget gets defeated you will lose your job!! Intimidation rears it’s ugly head in Region One again (this time it is the director of Pupil Services Carl Gross according to reports to regiononereport.com) 12

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Andrea Downs,  of Falls Village spoke this evening at The Region One Board Of Education Meeting during the public session. Andrea pointed out to the board that she was informed that an “administrator” of Region One said to Region One employees to vote YES on the budget..or they could loose their jobs. She asked the board to make sure that this does not happen, and IF the budget gets defeated, to just keep the current contract for administrators. The reaction from the board chair….NONE.

regiononereport.com can now confirm that over the past 36 hours reports came to us with similar information, a threat that if the budget lost, they would lose their jobs. But these people gave us the administrator’s name..CARL GROSS REGION ONE DISTRICT WIDE DIRECTOR OF PUPIL SERVICES.

If true, and right now, with what we hear tonight, and what has been told to us over the past 36 hours,  we have no reason to doubt the validity of the charges. This is but another reason to stand up and say NO MORE! If the past few weeks, here is what members of the Region One School Board, the administration, and ABC have said….

1) The administrative raises are FREE they cost taxpayers nothing (FALSE)

2) The Region One Superintendent has not has a pay raise for several years (FALSE)

3) The Region One Superintendent said  ”if the budget is defeated, the first place the regional board will turn to is making re­ductions in the high school budget. “I’m hoping we’ll resolve the issues on the contracts, what I consider unimportant issues,”

4)  And now intimidation of loss of employment to employees of The Region One School District by Carl Gross, Region One District Wide Director Of Pupil Service.

Enough is enough…tell your friends and neighbors it’s time to draw a line in the sand….VOTE NO on the Region One Budget tomorrow in the referendum. We urge you to vote YES on the much-needed roof repair, and ADA projects!Image

Read the last line of this story in the Republican American…. Superintendent Patricia Cham­berlain is more interested in not honoring her three-year contract already signed than educating the children in the region 1

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Read the last line of this story in the Republican American…. SuperintendentImage Patricia Cham­berlain is more interested in not honoring her three-year contract already signed than educating the children in the region

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2012/05/04/news/local/639418.txt

(link to Republican American story)

 

Ex-principal to vote against Region 1 budget Tuesday

BY LYNN MELLIS WORTHINGTON

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

KENT — A former elemen­tary school principal warned the local Board of Education that the regional school budget may be defeated on Tuesday due to unhappiness over admin­istrative contracts.

Edward Epstein said Thurs­day that he is planning to vote against the Region 1 education­al budget that will be decided by referendum in all six towns Tuesday.

“I am totally supportive of the high school,” said Epstein, who served as the Kent Center School principal for several decades.

“I am not supportive of ex­tending contracts until the year 2015 when there is no immedi­ate need to do so.”

He asked the local school offi­cials to not cut from the budget of Housatonic Valley Regional High School but rather examine the central office budget.

The Region 1 budget is com­posed of three sections, HVRHS, Pupil Services (which is the cost for special education) and the Regional School Service Center (RSSC) also referred to as the Central Office.

Epstein warned that a num­ber of people in the region are unhappy that four of the six members of the Region 1 Board of Ed are not listening to the concerns of residents.

He singled out Kent’s repre­sentative Jonathan Moore as one of those who was not listen­ing. Moore contested this, say­ing that he had spent more than an hour meeting with Epstein after a recent meeting.

The Region 1 Board of Edu­cation approved extending the contracts an additional year for the region’s administrators that included Superintendent Patri­cia Chamberlain, Assistant Su­perintendent Diane Goncalves, Business Manager Samuel Her­rick, Pupil Services Director Carl Gross and Supervisor of Special Education Martha Schwaikert.

This was based on the recom­mendation from the All Boards Committee, which is composed of the chairmen of the seven Boards of Education in the re­gion.

Each administrator was granted a 2 percent or 3 percent raise and a contract through 2015. Some residents also ob­jected to a similar extension last year.

Tracy Horosky, Kent Board of Education chairman, said that ABC Committee has heard the concerns and is asking for authorization to conduct a study of how administrator contracts are handled by other school dis­tricts.

She said the research would not be available for this budget season but the group is trying to be responsive.

“I’d ask you to reconsider your position,” Horosky said to Epstein.

“The message that you send is a severe one. It holds bad repercussions for the kids.” Su­perintendent Patricia Cham­berlain said later in the meeting that if the budget is defeated, the first place the regional board will turn to is making re­ductions in the high school budget. She urged support for the $15.4 million budget, which shows a 1.7 percent increase.

“I’m hoping we’ll resolve the issues on the contracts, what I consider unimportant issues,” Chamberlain said. She pointed out that the regional board could try to renegotiate con­tracts. 

“I AM TOTALLY SUPPORTIVE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL. I AM NOT SUPPORTIVE OF EXTENDING CONTRACTS UNTIL THE YEAR 2015 WHEN THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE NEED TO DO SO.” 

EDWARD EPSTEIN, FORMER KENT CENTER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

Think students don’t care…think again, here are three posts from H.V.R.H.S students over the past week…. 5

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The concerned Housy students comments over the past week…

 

1) What happened to Dr. Foster and Dr. Buchanan won’t happen to Mr. Harnett and Mr. Striever, they are very strong, brilliant people who are great for Housy. They connect with the students and they have the interest of the students at heart, not the politics. I will say however, that what did happen to Dr. Foster and Dr. Buchanan is still happening to teachers within the building and even to students. This needs to stop. I am a concerned student at Housy and the politics need to stop. This is an educational system for the STUDENTS, not for power hungry “teachers” who only care about themselves and their so called authority. Trust me, the students have noticed what actually goes on within the Housy walls and we are tired of it. Its such a shame that just those few faculty members within the building have given our school such a negative reputation. I do not represent any particular group or organization, I am just a concerned student who thinks that thsese political games within Housy and Region One need to stop.

 

2) I am also an upperclassman at Housy and I completely agree with the statement about the political nonsense at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Many things in the “great” Northwest Corner are kept in closets because almost everyone is afraid to talk about them. The problems here in regards to the department chairs is something that needs to be adressed. Obviously since they are deeply rooted in the walls here at HVRHS it would be an interesting process to say the least. However for the future of the school’s students this issue needs to be tackled head on. Many teachers here feel that from the moment we walk in, we owe them something. Please let it be known that schools in general are for the students and teachers just work at them.

3) ImageAs well as the two above responses, I am also an upperclassmen at Housy. I completely agree with the above statements. The political nonsense and political games that go on within that school are ridiculous. The students are paying attention to it and we have had enough. It is not fair to the teachers who actually do care about the students and it certainly isn’t fair to the students. Teachers should be teachers so they can have a positive impact on students and their lives. They should be preparing us for the future, and most of the teachers at Housy are great and they truly do care about the students but those few teachers who care just about their power trips make the students not like Housy that much at all. It is a shame that the few teachers who don’t seem to care about the students are the ones who have a lot of “authority” within the school. The fact that they are focusing more on politics than actual education is a complete disgrace towards the entire educational profession and community and they should be deeply ashamed of themselves for acting like immature little children. Housy belongs to us the students, the teachers are there to teach US, not belittle us like those few teachers have been to not only us but other teachers in the building as well. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of the teachers at Housy are great and they want nothing to do with the politics that have consumed our school. In fact, there are even teachers at Housy who care enough to try and fight the politics at the school and I am very appreciative of those teachers, but those teachers also get bullied and shut down by those teachers who simply don’t care about doing the right thing for the school and for the students. This issue needs to be brought more to the public, because maybe then, this problem will finally be fixed.