The 2013 winner of the National Association of Agricultural Educators’ Advocacy Video Contest? Housatonic Valley Regional High School FFA!!! 1
CONGRATULATIONS TO HOUSATONIC VALLEY REGIONAL FFA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What happens in agricultural education classes? How do they get students ready for what comes after high school? Students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School answer that in this video – the 2013 winner of the National Association of Agricultural Educators’ Advocacy Video Contest.
Region One Budget Hearing Part Three April 3 2
Due to the length of the Region One Budget Hearing (almost 4 hours) it has been split into 3 segments….
Region One Budget Hearing Part Two April 3 Reply
Due to the length of the hearing on the Region One Budget, and the special board meeting after (almost 4 hours) we have split it into three segments for video playback..
Region One Budget Hearing Part One April 3 Reply
Due to the length of the hearing on the Region One Budget, and the special board meeting after (almost 4 hours) we have split it into three segments for video playback..
Look what arrived in our mailbox this morning….. Reply
Dear Region One Report:
The layoffs ARE about money. $194,000 for iPads!
The original argument was that the school could offset the cost of iPads because they could eliminate textbooks. That has turned out to be false. It turns out that it is more expensive to buy textbooks for iPads, and the school did know this when they started because publishers and retailers hadn’t decided how they would do it yet. They now have decided and it is way too expensive.
Some kids have no wi-fi at home. Without wi-fi, the iPads are attractive paperweights.
Most, maybe even all, of the faculty have reportedly failed to find any real benefit to using iPads over the traditional school laptops.
Our take on the fiasco “budget hearing” last night Reply
The Region One Report view on the Region One Boards failure to listen to the public last night at the Budget “hearing” or “Non-Hearing”! Cuts could have been made in the budget and teaching staff with all the cuts in over three to five years with retirements, in the meantime, cut other expenses, don’t give raises where you have the discretion not to give raises, if there is not enough money in the budget, put off the iPad revolution for a year or two (who knows, something better might come along with the advancement in today’s technology), and, in a budget year when you are looking to cut expenses, don’t add more administrative positions (that adds to the bottom line). In a successful business, when you do not have the cash, or your customers don’t have the cash to spend, you have to make decisions not as a knee jerk reaction, but planning over the long haul. This Region One Board has approved EVERY spending measure that has been put in front of it over the past four years..now they want to reverse trend in one year…on the backs of teachers? Is that planning? I think EVERYONE knows that teachers, administrative, and spending cuts must be made. Lets just make them with a long range plan, and not just teachers (the engine that drives this education train), but evenly split thru the whole budget. There is just no excuse as to the way its being done, or to the limited area the cuts are being made in. If you can honestly tell me there is not more fat in that budget that can not be cut, or if you can honestly tell me that the Region One Board is as responsive to the taxpayers that fund that school, and to the teachers who teach at the High School, as they are to the administrations request. Slash and burn reactions over thought out plans will backfire in the end.
The public comes, voices opinions, to no effect…… 2
No, thanks for coming, thanks for your input, but there are countless other sources of information, letters and emails telling the board other things. So the budget will go to referendum as penned by the Region One Board, the Region One Administration, with endorsements for raises from the ABC, along with teachers cuts and additional administrative hires from the board….a recipe for rejection. The Region One Budget hearing will be posted here and on the CATV 6 YouTube page later today or this evening…please watch it, and pass it along when it is posted.
April Fools (The Movie) Region One Board Of education Board Meeting April 1 Reply
April Fools! The Main Story out of The Region One BOE Meeting April 1 1
It was no April fools joke. The main item last night was the announcement of the ABC recommending to the Region One BOE three-year contracts to the top administrators with a 2% raise each year of the contract, opening up new contract talks in 2015.
Well, I am happy with the three-year contract(with no opener until 2015) if the current contract that the administration has stays in effect for its full length.
But, with our economy in the condition it is in, with Sharon’s budget up by over 17% this year, with North Canaan paying about $390,000 more to Region One this year, with declining enrollment in the Region, with Region One adding three positions while laying off 4 teaching positions, etc…etc…
Is it really the time for the ABC to recommend to the Region One Board to offer a 2% raise every year for three years?
Really?
And Chairman Phil a request….please stop your useless, lengthy, comments (thinly disguised attacks) on board members that happen not to agree with you. It is very unbecoming.
*****The meeting will be posted on the CATV 6/Robin Hood Radio Tv YouTube site later this evening, and on-air on CATV 6 tomorrow evening, and here on this website by tomorrow morning.