Woodstock CT Café

Communicate by email to “woodstock @woodstockctcafe.com” or leave a comment

Many people are asking, “Who is running this site?�

This site runs itself off of a server that has a perpetual supply of electricity. No articles or comments submitted to this server have been ever been turned down. The ‘moderation’ process for comments and articles exists simply to avoid obscenities, bad punctuation, and obvious grammatical errors – it is not used to eliminate opposing points of view.

It is not important who owns the server or who has programmed it. The server simply runs by itself like a perpetual motion machine 24/7. The landlord of the server has no interest at all in Woodstock. The server doesn’t care about Ahmad in Woodstockistan, Debunker, and some guy named Rapoport, or any of the others that have spoken up at this site. The only thing of importance here is the words of those who have taken a chance and posted articles and comments. These words have no gender or affectation other than what is revealed by the way in which the words are strung together. If only there were more of you who had something important to say about the Town, and who had the courage to express your views and learn how others respond to them. This is especially needed given the seriousness of the issues that the Town is dealing with today. Read the rest of this entry »

…that’s what is really wrong with the world…

The only answer of interest is “How much are my taxes going to be?� That really is the sole function of Proposition 46.

It has absolutely nothing to do with what we need or how much anything actually costs. It is used solely as a device to predict one’s tax bill and ensure that it will only increase incrementally. It is irrelevant as to where the money actually goes or for what endeavor as long as personal costs remain certain and predictable. Read the rest of this entry »

In statewide comparisons of education spending, Woodstock ranks very poorly in its expenditures in terms of dollars per pupil. Out of 169 towns, Woodstock is 152nd in its teacher salary expenditure, and 158th in spending on instructional supplies.

This Thursday, March 2nd, the BOE will meet for the last time to discuss the Education Budget. And on March 14th there will be a referendum to repeal Prop 46.

The Education Budget deficit is enormous this year. The short list of proposed cuts for the 2006-2007 School Budget includes the following program and staff reductions: Athletics: Coaches, Referees, Athletic Trips, Instrumental/Band Instruction, Woodstock Elementary Gifted and Talented (Spice), and a Woodstock Middle School Gifted and Talented (Spice) teacher. Also in the cut are Coordinators for Language Arts, Math and one General classroom teacher. Read the rest of this entry »