Here is the agenda for the Region One Budget Meeting…..instead of opening up, they are locking down…
You get three minutes and NO FOLLOW-UP comments at the end of the meeting….
Category Archives: POSTS, COMMENTS, VIDEO AND AUDIO
Region 1 School Board Takes More Heat as It Moves Toward 3rd Budget Vote Reply
Click on link below for full story…..
Region 1 School Board Takes More Heat as It Moves Toward 3rd Budget Vote
Secretary Suing Housatonic High Supeintendent Put on Paid Leave; Trial Expected 2
Click on link below for full story
Letter on Region 1 board tainted by writer’s anger Reply
From this morning’s Republican-American for full story see link below
Letter on Region 1 board tainted by writer’s anger
Reading John Mauer’s May 31 letter, “Region 1 board is unfairly treating its superintendent,” I was saddened to realize people can age without learning the lessons that bring wisdom.
Mr. Mauer was an angry man when he was chairman of the Region 1 Board of Education about 15 years ago, and an unquestioning, unconditional supporter of the administrators at the time. He’s still an angry man and an unquestioning, unconditional supporter of the administrators.
Maybe Mr. Mauer’s anger clouded his perception, because he was factually wrong on pretty much everything he wrote in his letter regarding the statutory executive authority of the Region 1 Board of Education vs. the limited authority of the ABC Committee — a committee of the Region 1 board — to make recommendations that the board may or may not adopt.
The statutes require the Board of Education to evaluate the superintendent, and the board cannot delegate that authority. I won’t go through Mr. Mauer’s other ill-informed claims point by point, but I’ll give one example: He claimed I made the motion to ask Region 1 administrators to reopen their contracts; I didn’t. But if Mr. Mauer can get such an easily verifiable fact wrong — easily verified by reading the minutes of the meeting — imagine how badly he mangled the truth in his other claims.
That’s the problem with anger; it distorts everything. Fifteen years after Mr. Mauer was chairman of the Region 1 board, he still hasn’t learned the lesson that holding onto anger is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die.
Gale Courey Toensing
Falls Village
The writer serves on the Region 1 Board of Education.
Region One Board Of Education Meeting June 3 2013 / Hart Resigns as Chairman FULL VIDEO 2
Region One Board Of Education Meeting June 3 2013 VIDEO
*****Editors note: Where there is smoke, there is fire…..
The Personal Opinions of Marshall Miles and Jill Goodman This Morning on The Region One Board Of Education Reply
The Personal Opinions of Marshall Miles and Jill Goodman This Morning on The Region One Board Of Education
please click the link below
Comments on the Region One Board Of Education
WHY PHIL HART SHOULD RESIGN FROM THE BOARD COMPLETELY 1
Phil Hart has resigned as Board Chair, the mantle is handed over to Board Co-Chair Moore (see attachment in this post that shows Hart knew of legal action against the district but did not inform his fellow board members, for that alone, he should resign from the board). Please click on link below for the document,read thru it and see when Hart learned about the suit (early in April)…..all this information after Hart said in comments to media in May that he had no prior knowledge of the suit before it became public. This is reason enough
for Hart to resign his position on the Region One Board.
Region One Board Meeting June 3, 2013 a quick take…. 1
Here is our observation of the Region One Board Meeting from Monday, June 3…
1) Over Two hours long
2) Phil Hart resigns as Board Chair, the mantle is handed over to Board Co-Chair Moore (see attachment in next post that shows Hart knew of legal action against the district but did not inform his fellow board members, for that alone, he should resign from the board).
3) Lots of public comments chastising the board for various reasons
4) A letter read into the record by Sharon Representative Yerks from Sharon Resident Karen Dignacco
chastising the board for not getting the “proper” information out to the public on the budget and its
benefits to the region. (Dignacco’s letter went on to imply that information from the newspapers, and radio station
do not reflect the budget accurately. This was an interesting letter, because if the newspapers and radio station do not represent the budget accurately, how does Karen Dignacco get her budget information? In the 4 1/2 years we have been going to board meetings (Region 1), we have NEVER SEEN KAREN AT ANY MEETING, NOT ANY BUDGET WORKSHOPS NO MEETINGS AT ALL.) And by the way, ALL REGION ONE BOE MEETINGS ARE AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC UNEDITED, UNCUT on the CATV 6 YouTube page available thru http://catv6.com.
5) In classic board fashion a rambling, disjointed conversation for almost 40 minutes on where and how to hold budget meetings. This conversation had a motion made, then rescinded, then came up with two dates…They agreed one workshop, 7:30 p.m. June 11 at the high school.
The board will then convene at 4:30 p.m. June 17 to come up with a proposal, which would go before the public at a June 25 referendum.
The full video will be po
posted here and on the CATV 6 YouTube page later this afternoon or evening
States Spending the Most on Education, CONNECTICUT IS NUMBER 6 ON THE LIST, SEE WHAT THE SPENDING AVERAGE IS FOR CONNECTICUT Reply
Region One spending per student is well north of $22,000.00
6. Connecticut
> Spending per pupil: $15,600
> Total education spending: $9.2 billion (20th highest)
> Pct. with high school diploma: 89.1% (20th highest)
> Median household income: $65,753 (4th highest)
While the national spending on education fell in 2011, it grew by 4.7% in the Connecticut school system, more than all but two other states. About 58.6% of funding for Connecticut education came from local sources, a higher percentage than any other state. Connecticut students performed better than students across the country on the NAEP’s standardized tests. As many as 44.7% of eighth-grade students were deemed proficient in reading, a higher percentage than any other state except Massachusetts. More than 36% of the population had at least a bachelor’s degree, a higher percentage than all but three other states.
Read more: States Spending the Most on Education – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2013/05/31/states-that-spend-the-most-on-education/#ixzz2V9aXEQn3
John Mauer’s letter to the editor of The Republican-American, and our response to Mauer’s foggy view… 1
Mauer’s letter:
Region 1 board is unfairly treating its superintendent
The Region 1 Board of Education always seems to put its foot in its mouth. Last week, during the budget meeting, the board voted 4-2 to ask the three top administrators to reopen their contracts. The board does not have the authority to take such an action. And because this action was in response to vicious attacks on Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain, the board’s majority exhibited a complete lack of integrity.
The authority to negotiate the contract for the superintendent lies with the All Boards Chairmen (ABC) committee, made up of all seven chairmen from the seven school districts in Region 1. Ms. Chamberlain is superintendent for all seven districts, not just the high school represented by the Region 1 board. This board can ask the ABC committee to consider its request but cannot take unilateral action.
The three administrators involved would be well advised to inform the Region 1 board of its legal limitations, and refer the action to the ABC committee. Actually, the board would be well advised to just say no, the same way the teachers would respond if asked.
But there is a deeper meaning to this action. The Region 1 board has about 150 employees. When any employee of the board comes under public criticism, the board must respond by protecting that employee, even if subsequent private correction is needed. The board must provide consistent, ethical leadership.
For example, consider the situation when a teacher is criticized in public by a group of parents, the news media, or worse yet, a board member. That teacher rightfully would expect the employer to defend his or her public reputation. If the situation required correction, it would be done through the confidential evaluation process. But the public reputation of the teacher would be maintained. Any board member who does not respect this ethical position should be asked to resign.
The key here is to understand what it means to lead by example. When a public criticism of one employee is allowed, all employees are threatened. This is an intolerable situation.
The position of superintendent is no different. She is an employee of Region 1. She received excellent job evaluations from all seven boards of education. Recently, she has been the subject of a lawsuit by an employee, based on unproven allegations. Any responsible board should stand behind her while the legal process plays out, notwithstanding that it seems without merit. That it did not do so demonstrates a complete lack of integrity. The board failed its test of moral character.
Naturally, the source of the motion was board member Gail Toensing, who should be encouraged to resign before she can do more damage to the board’s reputation.
John Mauer
South Kent
My response:
” Mr. Mauer is wrong in this statement…
The authority to negotiate the contract for the superintendent lies with the All Boards Chairmen (ABC) committee….the ABC has no legal standing..it can only RECOMMEND to the regional board. But that does not surprise me, Mr. Mauer has been wrong on many different facets of this budget process, way to many to print here! As a reminder, the last time Region One had multiple votes (more than 2) on a budget was, you guessed it, when Mr. Mauer was Chair of the Board Of Ed! Whats the old saying? Misery loves company. ”
Please write your responses to the Letters To The Editor of the Republican-American as we can not let dis-information like this go un-rebutted!