October 10, 2006
Dear Woodstock Community:
On April 4, 2006, the Woodstock Board of Education submitted to the Board of Finance a budget totaling $14,566,120, which was required to maintain the level of programs that existed in the 2005-2006 school year. On May 9, 2006, the Woodstock Board of Finance directed the Woodstock Board of Education to reduce its budget by $426,896. The final education budget of $14,139,224 represents an increase of 4.35% ($588,881) over last year’s budget of $13,550,343.
The Board was faced with difficult decisions. We requested the Board of Finance reconsider its allocation to the education budget, and requested Woodstock Academy reduce the tuition rates for our 9-12 students. Neither request was granted. In addition, the Board offered an early retirement incentive to its certified staff.
The following have been eliminated in order to comply with the reductions requested by the Board of Finance:
• Cut Gifted/Talented Program at WMS (eliminating one teaching position),
• Cut Gifted/Talented Program at WES (eliminating one teaching position),
• Reduced total number of certified staff by one Grade 1 Teacher,
• Reduced total number of certified staff by one Grade 5 Teacher,
• Cut Athletic Program Funding (the program exists as pay to participate),
• Did not purchase Educational Testing Software,
• Did not purchase needed equipment, classroom supplies, textbooks, workbooks, and technology supplies.
The reduction in staff listed above has resulted in the following class sizes:
Elementary School
…………..Academic
Grade /Class Size Range
PreK…13-14
K…..10-16
1…..16-19
2…..19-20
Multi 1/2…..20-21
3…..19-22
4…..19-21
Middle School
…….Home…..Academic
…….Room…..Class Size
5…..22-25…..18-25
6…..20-22…..18-24
7…..23-24…..18-29
8…..23-24…..17-29
The system experienced a number of changes that were able to reduce the impact of the reductions on our class sizes. Changes include two senior teachers requesting a one-year leave of absence (eliminating the need to lay off two of our newest teachers), one early retirement (services are now being privately contracted), and an increase in our special education grant allocation, which allowed us to cover two teacher assistants. In addition, special education tuition accounts were reduced due to re-evaluation and assignments.
Our current budget does not include the purchase of two new buses. Based on communications with the Board of Finance, they intend to bring a short term financing proposal for capital expenditures to the Town of Woodstock, which would include the purchase of buses.
A detailed 2006-2007 Education Budget is available in the Superintendent’s Office or the Town Hall, which includes a complete list of reductions. The Woodstock Board of Education welcomes the community to join them in discussions during preparations for the 2007-2008 Budget. The Board meets the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month. Minutes of each meeting are posted on the school’s website: www.woodstockschools.net under District Information/Board of Education.
Sincerely,
Dr. Francis A. Baran
If the Woodstock Board of Finance directed the Board of Education to cut its budget by $426,826, why didn’t Woodstock Academy have to take a cut? Why was it all put on the K-8 system? Why didn’t the Academy at least level fund its budget? Was this the year for the Academy to add staff and expand its program when the K-8 system contracted its program. Is this why the Academy Headmaster received a bonus in addition to his salary this year? I guess he deserves it if he can get more for the Academy from Woodstock while the lower grades get less.
30,000′ View- Right or Wrong?
Relationships are sour. Motives are wrong. Boards are rendered ineffective. Factions don’t compromise or negotiate intelligently- (you know, give and take to the same end). Plenty of finger pointing and ‘tit for tat’ mentality, not to mention everyone trying to out think everyone else. I am assuming that everyone wants basically the same thing; a town with decent infrastructure, schools to be proud of and a sense of community that costs as little as reasonably possible. In 15 years I’ve seen very little willingness to promote an atmosphere of cooperation here. This town is going to grow whether everyone likes it or not. The posted CIP is inflated based on the needs of the town for the foreseeable future and we can’t buy textbooks. Way up here it seems that everyone has taken their eye off the prize. Shame on all of us.
Why dont we ask Mr.Wetzel about this. He has NEVER ONCE come up with any examples EVER of “foolish spending” on the part of the BOE for K-8- just his pounding rant.He has continually turned his head to the wild spending and examples put forth for the General Government side of the budget.
What people need to realize, is that no matter what Frank Baran or the BOE say, the Ernie-ites will always come back with “its a lie”. It doesnt matter wether you have real evidence to the contrary, just for the sake of showmanship and the “win”- these clowns will always stir it up good, and people that are not so smart will believe it. Its up to us to spread the word and keep on educating the tired and clue-less parents about these guys.
I’m open to response from anyone. From this viewpoint there seems to be no innocent parties on any side. Is the posting from Mr. Baran an effort to ‘take his case to the people’? Or an attempt to lay blame or simply posturing in an enviroment he cannot control or attempt to change? Until the braintrust decides to solve the problems together in a spirit of cooperation and trust, nothing good will happen. Period.
Jasper, what planet have you come from to Woodstock. I have been pointing out foolishness for 8 years. I have been very vocal about the spending problems and cut much spending myself on the Town side of the budget. I know you like being anonymous but if you ever get the guts, call me and I would be glad to discuss this foolishness with you.
Lilith, the same can be said of Mr. Baran and the BOE. Just ask the Powers. I have. I’ve seen the letters and the evidence. They’re in the book and anything but “clue-less”.
I agree that it’s up to us to spread the word and keep on educating, but it’s not about “these guys” or those guys. We are they, we is us- we ALL are the losers as long as the win/lose mentality prevails, whatever the reason or platform.
Win/win works on all levels- win/lose does not.
Jasper, Apparently you don’t read at this site much and it’s obvious you’ve never listened or read much of what Mr Wetzel has said in the past. I suspect that you’re a “tax and spender bee” like many at this site who try to bully and intimidate anyone who doesn’t agree with what they say. They buzz around here in a closely allied chatting circle bitching about how the “poor” kids in town are being robbed. At the same time, they simply do not listen or choose to ignore opposing views shouting them out with their own opinions. However, that’s what liberals do and I guess it’ll get worse as more of them escape the dreadful messes they’ve helped to make in their previous home towns. I’m just thankful that we have people like Wetzel, Livernois and Shultz to greet them with the news that “It ain’t happening here.”
Joe, You don’t seem to know the difference between ‘disagreeing’ with you and ‘ignoring’ you. We can’t ignore you but we can disagree with you.
You also undermine the credibility of your statements by creating false labels and false accusations for the people who don’t agree with you.
Yet another misses the point. Woodstock is as “dreadful” a mess as any I’ve seen- absolutely nothing to brag about here. The bottom line will continue to be “ain’tâ€? nothing happening here until you ALL put the swords away. The kids are being “robbed” because the adults won’t grow up. (Notice, no labels). Unfortunately, you make Lilith’s case with this sort of rhetoric.
Enough! Mr. Wetzel – I have my BOE budget in front of me. Please refer me to the page and detail of the infamous ‘foolishness’. Thank you.
I have something else to say. I propose to the factions that we quit pissing in the wind and get on with the debate. Mr. Klusek, I assume that either you or one of the gentlemen on your list will be running for something. Do you care to open?
Please enlighten the crowd with your current view of the landscape and how to fix it from here forward without name calling, labels or snide remarks. I have no doubt that someone from each faction will follow with something from their perspective. If we’re lucky and stay on track we might have something worthwhile at the end, otherwise we’ll just continue to be damp.
Betty, Why not start with “Guidance Councelor” at the Woodstock Elementary School. ARE YOU KIDDING Me? Think about that $63,000+ going to a person to guide your 5 or 6 year old child. Whatever happened to parental guidance? There’s a bunch of money right there that could be used for 2 new teachers. If I’m the parent of a 5 year old, I don’t want someone talking to my kid with values that may be far off what I think the mark is.
There’s just one little item (one that really gets stuck in my craw)of many.
The guidance counselor at the elementary school works with children that may not have adequate parental guidance or may be anxious or depressed due to divorce, family illness etc. Some of these children may need her help to act appropriately and not hit your child. To me her time helping maintain 50+/- children in a public school setting is money well spent. If even one of those children were placed in a specialized school for their problems it would cost the district more than $63,000 ( a figure that sounds inflated. She has not been there long enough to be at the top of the scale.)
Joe
Good point, but the next question is what should our community response be to parents that fail to feed their kids breakfast, provide them inadequate sleep, verbal/physical abuse or offer an alchohol-chemical dependent climate in which to grow? certainly-the Guidance Councelor is simply a “finger in the dike” topical solution- a “feel good”- throw the shit up against the wall, and see what sticks- maybe even remove some guilt from those living a more fortunate life. What i would like to see is marriage licenses based on IQ, or some level of compentence before allowing marriage- or worse- letting everyone pro-create! Every state(independently) regulates who cleans our teeth, writes our contracts, wires our house or fixes our plumbing, and about every other activity…so why do we let people have children who don’t take the full responsibility of raising their children? Guidance Councelors are band-aids we attempt to affix to major human tragedy- 3000 taxpayers each contribute $20+ per year- to feel better about the problem-and not address the root cause issues.
Mr. Klusek,
It’s probably been a while since you’ve been in school. A ‘guidance counselor’ in the Elementary school is not what a ‘guidance counselor’ was in the mid part of this century. Counselors do not guide 5 year olds on what courses to take to get into a good college, and they certainly do not provide a value system discussion with a 5 year old. In fact, a counselor today is far different than what you might remember.
So, what does a counselor do? To answer that question, lets first consider some realities of the popular culture in which we all live. For example, consider the divorce rate in this country – it is about 50%- something relatively unheard of in the 1950′s. The traditional family unit where problems were solved in the past is just not as prevalent today. Consider how many children in this country come to school without a healthy breakfast and are not ready to learn; consider the social ills that are publicly recognized today, and although they might have existed in the past, they were never discussed and swept under the rug. These issues include alchoholism, depression, drug abuse, high suicide rates, even higher cancer rates, unemployment, job instability- just to name a few. Every single one of these issues affect Woodstock families in various degrees.
I think you would be quite surprised to know how many kids in Woodstock come from families who do their best, but may not be able to send their children emotionally ready to learn. There are fractured families in Woodstock and many kids need help reading the compass. There are many families who experience intermittent job loss and suffer the economic and social consequences, all of which unfortunately are often carried as a heavy burden by a child. Alternatively 2-parent homes may have both parents working just to eke out a basic living. They may not be able to be the first to recognize developmental issues in a child. Therefor, like it or not, the public schools have evolved to help all children who walk through their doors every day who for one reason or another are not prepared to learn.
There is a large body of research that demonstrates that schools with children ready to learn outperform those who do not address the readiness issue. The widespread success of the federally-funded program Head Start speaks to this.
The one counselor in the Elementary school touches a majority of the students directly or indirectly. Her work allows prepared students to learn in the classroom by helping to eliminate the many distractions brought into classrooms by those who are not ready to learn. Additionally, she helps kids put problems in context so they WANT to learn. Her toolkit is deep and wide because all children are different and unique. I have first hand knowlege of what a school counselor does everyday and I believe a counselor’s economic value to Woodstock exceeds a 60K-paying profession. (Please note that the compensation provided to a person who has met the educational level required to obtain this certification is actually below the compensation of other professions with similar levels of education attainment.) Our administrators know that removing a counselor is certainly not wise- its simply short sighted.
I knew I’d get a bunch of liberal-namby- pamby baloney for responses. The only one that makes any sense is “namelessblameless”. He pretty much hit the nail on the head. In any event, I don’t think $63,000 band aids are appropriate in Woodstock.
Joe, You did so well and then back to the labels, I found Trixie’s comment informative and without rancor. Your suggesstion is worth talking about- considering the teacher cuts, sports cuts, not being able to afford basics- Shouldn’t everything be on the table including administration cuts? Is there anything creative being considered to possibly combine some of the duties of administrators to ease the pain? Or are they untouchable? Joe, what we’re trying to accomplish here is to come up with talking points that can be presented to the BOE in a rational manner. We have one, do we have more?
As we are clearly in crisis, let’s take a look at crisis management. Imagine the school system as a company and the BOE as the Board of Directors and us as shareholders. The company does not have the operating capital to turn out properly formed widgets. The management goes to the Board and outlines the problem. The Board and shareholders say ‘no more money’.
It is then the job of the management to take a hard look at productivity, INCLUDING that of middle management. Hard choices, sure, but in situations like this everything goes on the table and cuts are made, happens everyday and changes people’s lives, but the reorganized company moves forward.
Current posturing may suggest that the Board of this company has decided to try to scare the shareholders into beleiving that the company and their investment won’t survive the fallout. Most investors don’t stand for this sort of thing and start looking for creative and different management styles to lead them through the crisis.
I now see why Joe Klusek was named superintendent of Woodstock’s new High School in 2010. Remember “My son’s Vallydictorian Speech from da First Graduating Class of Woodstock High – 2010�
Motto – “We does da teachin ourselves and it ain’t costing too much�
Mascot – Swamp Pig
Nickname – Swamp Yankees
High School colors – brown, yellow, & green
see
http://www.woodstockctcafe.com/2006/04/14/my-son%e2%80%99s-valleydictorian-speech-from-da-first-graduating-class-of-woodstock-high-2010/
The Guidance Counselor to student ratio average in Connecticut public schools is 435 (see the link below).
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:3Yezt_L6zvQJ:www.nacacnet.org/NR/rdonlyres/3456C303-C55B-45A5-9D15-684455EC69FA/0/06SOCA_Chapter5pdf.pdf+Connecticut+recommended+%22public+schools%22+%22guidance+counselors%22+student+ratio&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
The recommended Connecticut Student-to-Counselor Ratio: There is no specific state policy on ratios, but districts are encouraged to meet the ASCA guideline of 250:1.
http://www.nasbe.org/HealthySchools/States/Topics.asp?Category=B&Topic=6#Connecticut
The Woodstock public school system has two guidance counselors (one per school) serving approximately 1000 students, a average ratio of 1:500 per school.
In addition to their standard roles guidance counselors are mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect.
“Mandated reporters are required to report or cause a report to be made when, in the ordinary course of their employment or profession, they have reasonable cause to suspect or believe that a child under the age of 18 has been abused, neglected or is placed in imminent risk of serious harm. (Connecticut General Statutes §17a-101a)
Child abuse occurs where a child has had physical injury inflicted upon him or her other than by accidental means, has injuries at variance with history given of them, or is in a condition resulting in maltreatment, such as, but not limited to, malnutrition, sexual molestation or exploitation, deprivation of necessities, emotional maltreatment or cruel punishment. (Connecticut General Statutes §46b-120)”
Cain, Is that a … (statement deleted by Admin)? First paragraph unproductive. The rest informative. Thank you.
I am in support of Joe and nameless blameless. My kids are in the school system. They work hard, they play by all the rules, and they get punished by the elimination of SPICE and the sport’s program. But God forbid we lay off social workers and guidance counselors who provide services the majority of kids, including my own, do not need or utilize. If those positions are state mandated then I cannot blame our BOE, however, I do blame the liberals at the state level. Referee, if the school system was run like a business, these unfair, socially biased mandates that punish the productive and rewards the unproductive would never happen. The guidance counselor is taking over the role of parent and enabling lazy parents to sit back and continue not doing what they should. Nameless and Blameless offered the best suggestions for creative and different management styles.
I do not think for a moment it is enabling lazy parents to sit back and continue not to do what they should. The counselor, especially at the elementary school, is there to help those children that aren’t ‘ready to learn’ for whatever reason. Those not ready to learn, generally don’t know how to be still, listen or even focus on the task at hand. Those who are not ready to learn left unaddressed would make your child’s experience in the classroom decidely negative. Children who are not ready to learn clearly interfere with the classroom experience of those that ARE ready to learn. In the larger picture, there has to be room for those who are ready to learn and for those that are at less than ideal preparedness. Counselors are an important and integral component in the overall educational structure. Your kids may not need them, but the impact couselors have (by working with the unprepared) contribute to a better classroom environment for your kids.
Crunchy, I have enjoyed your other writings. I think you have missed the point of my business analogy. Let’s agree that it is a business, complete with politics, powerplays, lawyers and all because, well, it is. I never said a well run one. Let’s also assume that NCLB and ‘state mandates’ are the equivalent of Sarbanes-Oxley. Businesses found a way to comply. I’m sure there was some whining about spending the money to comply but CEO’s probably decided it was better than going to jail. Sarb-Ox has at least created the appearance of accountability. Can the same be said of our $14M business? Maybe a better analogy of what I was trying to convey would be when a sports team fails who gets the axe, the players (teachers)? Or the manager(s)?
Good point, however “Not ready to learn” is a nice way of saying “behavioral problem” in many cases. As NB said, we never get to the root of the problem. We create PC labels and continue to fund them, but is the problem really proven to be resolved? By eliminating SPICE programs, those children who want to learn and had an opportunity to be in a classroom where distraction was minimal are now being punished because despite having a guidance counselor and teacher’s aides, there is still much distraction. Your point is that if there were no guidance counselors it would be worse. I can appreciate that, but when we start to undermine children who excell and support those who distract, we set up an environment where mediocrity is the standard. We settle for less with those who are capable of more. We reward bad behavior and punish good. The responsibility for a child’s behavior must fall on the parent. Unfortunately, a child may not have a parent who is capable. I understand this, but am very frustrated by it. Thanks practical.
What we need is higher standards of parental accountability.
CC,
No Child Left Behind requires all students to improve. Unfortunately, one of the major flaws of that narrow minded legislation was that it forces school boards to allocate more resources to those who are below proficiency. With limited resources, such as in Woodstock where Board of Finance fails to understand that reality, the more proficient students will continue to see less resources devoted to them.
Crunchy Con, You paint a very narrow picture of the world. Your statement “we reward bad behavior and punish the goodâ€? suggests to me that you see under-performance by students in the classroom as “bad behaviorâ€? or “behavioral problemsâ€? dragging down the “goodâ€? kids. And, further above you blame the parents without recognizing the myriad of circumstances that might be beyond their control. I can think of one 10-year old daughter (not in a Woodstock school) with a single mother who works full time to support them. This child is also the daughter of her mother’s father. This child is not responsible for the circumstance that she was born into or the mother’s abuse by her father and resulting confused emotional state. Although the child is very bright, there are problems for this child in the classroom which require insight by a guidance counselor. Admittedly this is an extreme example, but there are infinite reasons why learning disabilities may arise stemming from family circumstances that are beyond the control or understanding of the child. Yet, these circumstances do affect the emotional state and learning style of the child. In addition there are well recognized learning disabilities that do not reflect the intelligence of the child – just learning in the environment of the standardized method of teaching. The teacher must deal with all of the kids in the class while guidance counselors can address individual kids’ behaviors and needs. One guidance counselor per 500 children (per Cain’s comment) seems not to be enough, but Woodstock should be able to live with this.
One additional point. The notion that kids with emotional problems or learning disabilities should not be addressed in the schools with the help of professional guidance counselors because of the false perception that these children ARE NOT “children who want to learn� is alien to me. There are many examples of “visual thinkers� who later in life went on to do great things after struggling and barely surviving ‘institutionalized’ public schools where there was only one recognized method of teaching as valid. Perhaps the relatively recent recognition of the value of professional guidance of these children and those in between might have given the world even greater benefits years ago.
I’ll never forget the Town meeting a couple of years back- that was the result of a petition by Jay Livernois, among other things , to “separate” the education and General Government budgets. It was found by the Town attorneys- that the item in the petition to vote upon the “separation” wasnt even LEGAL. And thats the long and short of a lot of what the CPS high command do. NO RESEARCH, NO BASIS IN FACT, just their ego and their opinion. Just like the HOGwash that they are spewing in Margaret Wholean’s office about too many “empty” school buses and too many teachers per student. They are the wizards that have checked out the state law and the state criteria I’m sure. BULL. And our Selectman is a silly and vain enough woman to go along with this. God help our town. I cant WAIT till the next election. Wholean and her advisory counsel should get the boot.
Citizen w/Child- you are right on- you’ve articulated some very good points. Crunchy – Expecting higher standards of parental responsibility is all fine and good but outside the discussion of funding education in Woodstock or elsewhere. We are not able to tell a subset of people in our society that they can’t send their children to our public schools because another subset of people think their parenting skills are not up to some standard. So dismissing the need for counselors based on expecting higher parental standards in not a solution.
Additionally, business people like to draw analogies between running a business and running a public school system. This is not realistic…the market forces that allow businesses to be succesful are not present in public education. Public education does not create a product or service that is sold yielding a profit. Yes, you can see similarities in how business and educational systems are structured and how decisions are made. Ex: A child is like the raw material needed in manufacuturing. Except that is not really true because public schools must take the good apples and the bad apples. A business would never purchase inferior raw materials if their goal was to build and sell quality goods. Yes, the federal government places mandates on businesses as well as public education, but businesses can simply find ways to increases their profits to cover the costs of mandates- schools can only ask their towns for more funding to meet the mandates, or make cuts elsewhere. In Woodstock the largest ‘expenditure’ IS a mandate- paying a tuition fee to Woodstock Acadmey that the public has no say in determining! Ergo, that is the sad predicament in Woodstock. The Board of Ed must cut, cut and cut because the lionshare of the budget either supports state or federally mandated programs or requirements, goes to the Academy (another mandate since there is no school choice in Woodstock), or tied to a workers contract. Most folks don’t understand that there are very few areas for cutting costs. By the way, it might be interesting to all readers to note that when surrounding towns like Pomfret and Brooklyn need additinal funds to meet mandates, they have Boards of Finances that can allocate the movement of funds from general government to education to avoid the degradation of their school systems. Woodstock has a limited-capacity B of F due to its make up and the antiquated ordinance know as Prop 46. So Crunchy, when your kids do not receive the enrichment they deserve, I suggest you and other parents become more active in the budgeting process in this town – and very carefully scrutinize who you vote for to take seats on the Board of Finance.
Excellent post Trixie and I have little argument with your description regarding 46 and BOF issues. However,(along the lines of the sports analogy), I feel I must continue to ask about the competency of the ‘management’. Has not Mr. Baran received a no-confidence vote from the teachers in the past? There is also perception that Mr. Baran is a ‘politician’, rather than a roll up his sleeves and address the issues sort of administrator- True or False? I’ll leave the rest to the discussion.
Referee – Am I to understand you equate a no confidence vote of the supervised to the incompetence of the supervisor? I don’t think one can throw around accusations of incompetent management fairly when Dr. Baran has for the most part had his hands tied behind his back by the absolute crisis financing. What is it that you expect he should have accomplished? With barely adequate finances to cover mandated and expected expenses, uncontrolled increased expenses, unexpected legal suits, and a never-ending line of FOI demands, I have to admire his stamina. I wouldn’t classify his style as a ‘politician’ rather than a roll up his sleeves and address the issues sort of administrator. So to your question, I would say False.
Referee posted this on another thread in case you haven’t seen it. I think it should make one ponder his/her question of accountability. If the Powers suit is successful, what will be the excuse then if in fact our money wasn’t spent on meeting mandates?
referee said on September 30th, 2006 at 8:57 am
“they would get off Frank Baran’s tail and let him do his work for our kids!�
Lilith, Who’s on First?
I became intrigued by the Powers case with the BOE and decided to delve a little deeper, here is a look at what I found- (The rest of this comment was published under a previous article to which it pertained by Admin as it seemed not to be relevant to this thread).
Terrific question….I am not a teacher in the schools or privy to the position of the teachers association…my observation is that criticism of Dr. Baran is due more around his people skills and communication skills, not financial or traditional school management skills. I don’t see the man as a politician – he rarely shares his thoughts outside of a B of E meeting and opines only when requests are made of him to address the public at large. My guess is that he knows that making headway is a long arduous process. I’m also giving him some credit here when I say that there are plenty of political animals here and I don’t think he wants to compete in the cockfights. He appears to me to be highly competent in his understanding of his job and like all of us, he’s imperfect. I think the major point for this discussion is that he is directed by and answers to the Board of Ed. Painting an evil picture of Dr. Baran just doesn’t seem relevant – he has been given no political capital except to try and partner with the Academy. Now how can a Superintendant stand tall with pride when Woodstock is at the bottom of the barrel in spending per student, we continually whittle away at the amount, quality and quantiy of our programs, we lay off teachers nearly every year, the school buildings are in need of repair and modernizing, AND the town can not plan a budget systemically? I’m sure the teachers are looking for someone to take it on the chin: their boss!
Trixie, Discussing higher standards of parenting is essential and crucial to the discussion of funding education. It is the only solution, otherwise we spin our wheels, spend more money, and never get to the root of the problem as nameless blameless suggests. As NB said, we are otherwise just putting a bandaid on the problem.
Citizen with a child. No, not all children with learning disabilities are behavioral problems. My suggestion is, however, that a majority of them are. Whatever the circumstances involved that lead to this behavioral problem should not be the my responsibility and my children should not be punished because of it. Working with the public for many years, I have learned that most “circumstances ” are the results of bad decisions and poor judgement. Listen, in a utopic world all these wonderful services and support are all well intentioned. I would love to erase all poverty, all child abuse, and have all children be given all the opportunities we can offer. However, as it stands now, that is not reality. Sometimes reality really does bite. When we are working with a limited amount of money, hard choices have to be made. This is really what it comes down to. If we keep sacrificing the benefits and rewards for the higher achievers and funnel our money into lower achievers, where does this ultimately lead us? Look at the biiger picture. Look at the outome of that philosophy in inner city schools. They get tons of money and they continue to fail…all at the cost of the children in small towns such as Woodstock who get cheated of the funding.
Crunchy I am willing to accept much of what you have said (but not all). Therefore, I accept the fact of 1 guidance counselor per 500 students until we can afford better. But we should set as a goal 1 per 250 and somehow raise the money to adequately fund our schools.
OK. But keep in mind that 500 kids are not utilizing the guidance counselor. Probably, only 1% actually use the counselor on a regular basis, but sports and SPICE were providing services for much, much more. Anyhow, thanks for the argument and yes, I agree with you, we do need to ensure adequate funding for schools. This is America, we could and should always strive for better. Its a shame when finances pit guidance counselors against SPICE against sports isn’t it?
Crunchy, I am not disagreeing with your assertion that there appears to be more parents with inadequate parental skills in America today- I stand by my statement that tackling a counselor position in Woodstock will not help solve Woodstocks education or budget problems. Assuming 1% of kids actually use a counselor on a regular basis is unfounded and quite frankly, old fashion. The focus in not always on one child, its on ALL children. Crunchy, your kids realize the benefit of counselors even if they don’t ‘use a counselor’- your words not mine. I do appreciate your agreement with Cit/w/child….because the B of E doesn’t want to make the choices between cutting Spice or Sports. The crux of the issue is the B of F. And after reading some other postings on the blog and reading summaries of what happens at B of Selectmen’s meetings (see Fridays article in the Villager), we have miserable leadership who choose to avoid, or just can’t grasp the seriousness of education funding in Woodstock. Have a great weekend!
Why doesn’t the Town of Woodstock vote to have the Woodstock Academy take over the operation of the Woodstock pre-K through grade 8 Public Schools? You laugh? Check out the Boston University – Chelsea School Partnership (www.bu.edu/chelsea). A private university took over the operation of a public school system that was on the brink of insolvency. Seems to be doing much better.
This would be the solution to the Prop 46 problem. The state mandated program of education would then be fully funded irrespective of the local ordinance. That’s how it is now for Woodstock Academy. If they ran the whole system, they could just give a bill to the town as they do now, and Woodstock would have to pay it.
For Kicks and Giggles. That is an excellent idea. Then the waste,inside deals and political nonsense would stop.
Good Morning Ernie! Day pass again today? While we’re at it, why doesn’t the Academy just take over the entire town government? I mean, there are other things they need from various town agencies – Highway Department to keep all their roads in first clas condition; Planning Commission approval for the new Olympic Stadium complex; Wetlands Commission approvals to pave over their recently acquired swamp; and of course, control over the town budget through the First Selectman’s office! Then you won’t have to ask the taxpayers for anything or answer to anyone… (last two sentences deleted by Admin).
My apologies to all Cafe readers! I have just been notified that my suggestion is too late! The Academy has already taken over the town’s government! Here are a few:
Margie Wholean – First Selectman; spouse of James Kaeding, former WABOT Chair!
Sandy Rotival – Planning Commission; Former and Current WABOT Member!
Ernie Wetzel – Former First Selectman, WABOT Member!
Beth Murphy – Bd of Finance Member; Spouse of Tom Stokes, WABOT Member!
Christine Lessig – Bd of Ed member; sibling of Kevin Johnston, WABOT Member!
Kirsten Rigney – Bd of Ed member; daughter of Phillipa Paquette, WABOT Member!
My God – And I thought our town government was a democracy! No wonder they always get what they want!
Maybe someting worth exploring. Two problems however. The Academy is no BU & and a rational condition would have be to remove Wetzel, Livernois & Lynn from the BOT. Would UCONN be interested in this sort of arrangement?
[...] On the Value of Guidence Counseling in Woodstock Schools A previous article “The Woodsstock BOE Releases…” seen on the lower right received 44 comments many of which either questioned or supported the need for guidence counselors in our schools. The Café asked Dr. Baran for information about the role of guidence counselors in our school system. Dr. Baran kindly provided the letter below in an email to the Café. Discussion and approval of this decision by the BOE can be viewed in a front page article on the last BOE meeting in the Villager, Oct. 20th issue. [...]