Category Archives: POSTS, COMMENTS, VIDEO AND AUDIO
North Canaan BOE Budget Workshop June 21, 2017 Reply
OMG! They met! A.B.C. Meeting June 14, 2017 Reply
Wow, I think they met three times the whole year….so glad they worked for two years to get more power over the Superintendent. (Oh, by the way, they cancelled their last two meetings of the year!)
Region One Board Of Education Meeting June 5, 2017 Reply
Salisbury Board Of Education Meeting May 22 Reply
Reply
Stephanie L. Magyar Appointed by the Salisbury Board of Education as Principal of Salisbury Central School
SALISBURY—On Monday, May 22, 2017, the Salisbury Board of Education formally selected Stephanie L. Magyar as its new principal, effective July 1, 2017.
Mrs. Magyar has been a teacher and a teacher leader in Region One since 2013 at Cornwall Consolidated
School. She began her teaching career as an English teacher at Wamogo Regional High School before
transitioning to the Region One School District. During her tenure at Cornwall Consolidated School, she
was the acting Administrator when the Principal was away from the building, was a member of numerous
regional committees, and was the middle school team coordinator. Further, Stephanie has been a strong
voice as part of the Region One Professional Development and Teacher Evaluation Committee.
Prior to her successful career at Cornwall Consolidated School, Mrs. Magyar was employed by Wamogo
Regional High School where she taught English to students in grades 7-12. At Wamogo, she was a
member of numerous committees, served as the co-leader of the middle school, was involved in
scheduling all middle school activities and programs, and was in charge of ordering supplies and
maintaining inventory within budget constraints.
Mrs. Magyar’s experiences as a leader in her prior positions have prepared her well for the administration
of Salisbury Central School. Her proven leadership skills and her background in Human Resources have
served her well throughout her career.
Mrs. Magyar grew up in Region One, having attended both Salisbury Central School (class of 1994) and
Housatonic Valley Regional High School (class of 1998). From these experiences and her work at
Cornwall Consolidated School, she has an solid understanding of the Region One School District as well
as the community it serves.
Mrs. Magyar holds a B.A. in General Studies from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. She holds a
Master’s in Education, and her Sixth Year Certification in Educational Leadership, both from the
University of Bridgeport.
Why is there an All Boards Chairmen Committee when they hardly EVER meet? Reply
5/24/2017 ABC Meeting CANCELLED
4/26/2017 ABC Committee Meeting CANCELLED
3/6/2017 Joint Meeting between ABC Committee and REG 1 BOE: Meeting Held
2/22/2017 ABC Committee Meeting CANCELLED
1/25/2017 ABC Committee Meeting CANCELLED
The A.B.C. fought long and hard to wrestle away control of the superintendent from the Region One Board Of Education..spending way to much time in the process and way to much money only to then, this school year, cancel four out of five meetings!
The only meeting so far this year was a joint meeting with the Region One BOE! What could they have possibly talked about when the rest of this year they never even met!
This is disgraceful, why run for the board of education, then become chairmen of the local board, and then continually NOT SHOW UP FOR ANY MEETINGS?
As the old saying goes, “is this anyway to run a railroad?”
So now, the superintendent has NO OVERSIGHT from a group of people who wanted oversight. So let me remind the A.B.C. what the meaning of OVERSIGHT is:
o·ver·sight
noun: the action of overseeing something.
With what has been going on with the administration of Region One, it is no wonder the administration does what they want, when they want…..there is no oversight of the superintendent by the A.B.C.
Please save us time and money….if you can not fulfill your required tasks then resign and let people who will commit to do ALL the aspect s of the job. Thank you for volunteering, but you volunteered to do the whole job..and not skip out on one of the most important aspects of your job. Overseeing the administration of Region One.
A.B.C. members..get it together, or get off the board and let people who will commit the time and energy to do all of the job.
Falls Village Board Of Education May 2, 2017 Reply
2+2 Does Not Equal 4 In The Level 3 Grievance Against Pam Vogel…. 1
The Region One Report broke the news of the Region One Board Of Education denying the Level 3 Grievance against Pam Vogel. In response to that news story, Marshall Miles received two responses from Region One Board Of Education members.
Comment one was from past Chairman, and current Kent member of the board Jonathan Moore, his condescending comment:Babble, babble.
Comment two from Sharon representative to the board Bob Whelan, his comment:
Bob Whelan’s response to my story: If one reviews all the documents presented, it is clear that:
1- The complainant did not present any evidence other than hearsay from ostensibly a witness that was not even in the room.
2- The witness, a person who ‘overheard’ the conversation did not even present an affidavit to validate the claim.
3 – Describing that someone is or was out on ‘medical leave’ is not a HIPAA violation – the attorney for the Union admitted as much in the hearing, and apparently there is nothing in John/Jane Doe’s personnel file that even speaks to the circumstances around the original request for medical leave, and John/Jane Doe makes it clear in their statement they have never had any direct interaction with Dr. Vogel.
4 – There is no language in the Teacher contract regarding reasons for the prosecution of grievances that had anything to do with this type of circumstance. The next possible step would be for the Union to bring the grievance to mediation/arbitration, but it is not likely that would change the outcome for all the reasons above. The decision of the Region One Board was unanimous to deny the grievance.
After reviewing the comments from Sharon Region One Board Of Education member Bob Whelan, I decided to contact the HVRFA and ask them about the points Mr. Whelan raised in response to my story on the Region One Board Of Education denying the Level 3 Grievance against Pam Vogel.
The Association provided me with the following response to Mr. Whelan’s post:
1) Mr. Whelan has no idea what is in the teacher’s personnel file as he does not have access to it.
2) Had he access to the teacher’s personnel file, Mr. Whelan would know that there exists a note, composed on physician’s letterhead, indicating that physician’s specialty and that leave was medically necessary.
3) While we cannot state definitively how Ms. Vogel might have known about the teacher’s leave, the fact that she discussed it indicates that she did know.
4) An affidavit was not presented because it would need to be signed; based on past behavior, it was CEA’s opinion that there was cause for concern about retaliation against the witness.
5) Dr. Vogel acknowledged that she spoke about the teacher’s leave with her consultant, claiming that what she said was not as specific. The Board appears to have ignored this fact.
In my eyes(Marshall Miles) this raises even more questions!
1) How does he (Mr.Whelan)know about the file if he does not have access to it?
2) Did he have access to it?
3) When Pam Vogel admitted that she spoke about the teacher’s leave,then that item should have opened an additional investigation by the board to find out exactly what she said, when she said it, and WHY she said it at all.
This should not become another series of events by a Region One
administration official that should be swept under the rug, and put into a dark room. It is the boards responsibility to oversee the administration…lets see some of that oversight.
As to Mr. Moore’s comments, the board Chairman should have Mr.Moore apologize for being rude, condescending, and not acting in the best interests of the board.
With public questions arising about Assistant Superintendent Pam Vogel’s role and handling of the scheduling conflicts at H.V.R.H.S., it’s teachers and lack of transparancy with the public, we found this information particularly pertinent to the current administrative situation in Region One, and as we have been asked to inform the public of this ongoing process by the HVRFA, we are making this serious complaint public: Reply
On Wednesday evening, we received this email and attachments from the Housatonic Valley regional Faculty Association:
This evening the HVRFA met with the Region 1 BOE to present a Level 3 Grievance. The grievance was filed on behalf of a teacher identified as Jane/John Doe, and based on the sensitive nature of the contents of this grievance, the teacher’s name and a course name that might be attached to that teacher was redacted.
The grievance was based on a witness hearing Pam Vogel tell the scheduling consultant that “[Teacher’s name] is going to flip out if [course name] does not run. She/he has emotional issues, in fact she/he has had a leave for it before.”
The Association finds it important to share the materials that we presented in public session, and I am attaching them, on behalf of the HVRFA, here. They include our initial statement of the grievance, the Superintendent’s Level 2 response and Association response, and an impact statement from the aggrieved.
We have learned that the BOE denied the Level 3 Grievance tonight from some members of the public who were on hand at the meeting before and after the executive session. So now it appears that it is up to the HVRFA to decide wether to take it to the next step..which would probably involve serious legal fees for the HVRFA and Region One.
Please see attachments provided to us.
