Woodstock CT Café

I agree that it is not all that uncommon (although not required) for towns to spend more dollars per high school student than on K-8 as they think that the monetary requirements for high school students are higher due to differences in program needs. But those towns are not operating under Prop. 46 are they? Certainly, those towns have limitations on resources, that is true everywhere. But Woodstock has a problem where it artificially constrains spending without reference to the needs of its school system and its non-educational governmental needs. There is a balancing in other towns that can not happen in Woodstock because its high school component has a pricing feature that is not accountable to the authority that pays its bill and that authority has no ability to adjust the price. The only other towns in Connecticut that operate with that problem are those who send their students to the Gilbert School, but those towns have another regional high school who accepts some of their students, and those who send students to Norwich Free Academy, but NFA’s legitimate endowment ($53 million compared to Woodstock Academy’s $2 million) alleviates much of the financial pressures on those towns. So, I was not clear if I suggested it was a “mere act”. It’s actions within a unique context, i.e. Woodstock’s situation, that give rise to my concern. I fail to see the applicability of other Conn. towns to Woodstock’s situation, Read the rest of this entry »

John,
I certainly agree that the “ugly feature of Woodstock politics” pre-existed this blog. During the 2005 town election campaign, the Citizens for Prudent Spending published a commentary about the various non CPS candidates (Republican and Democrat) that included unfounded and personal attacks on the candidates. That rant was not signed. I was able to have a direct and honest confrontation with three members of CPS who were campaigning at the transfer station over this piece, and they recognized that the attacks were uncalled for. Interestingly, the content and style of that CPS rant was a mirror image of much of what appears on this blog. There are masters of innuendo on all sides.
No, I see no value in anonymous attacks,on the motives of people involved in the civic life of the town – it serves no purpose, it is destructive, it is dishonest and it is cowardly.
Once again, if you want to question my motives, (or the motives of anyone else) give me or that person a call. I do not understand why you would say it anonymously, and not to my face. We may not agree, but I am not that scarey.
I won’t respond to the snipers on this blog.

Jim Kaeding

See Bowman’s comment on ad hominem attacks.

Jim,
Thanks for your thoughts. I certainly can understand your point of view expressed above. I think you would probably agree that the “ugly feature of Woodstock politicsâ€? existed long before the 2005 election. As a witness of their harassment in the parking lot of the Town Hall, your conversation with the CPS contingent at the Transfer Station apparently had no impact on their behavior on election day. Read the rest of this entry »

Woodstock Academy’s power to set tuition rates and commit its sending towns to major capital projects of unknown cost without meaningful input by the taxpayers who foot the bill is a function of state law. This unique structure was created and has been kept in place, including recent efforts, by Trustees closely connected to senior levels of the state government. It is critical for Woodstock’s taxpayers to understand that eight years from now, the statutory requirements for any sending town representation as well as the Academy’s obligation to accept Woodstock students both expire, leaving these functions to the discretion of the self-selected Academy Trustees. This “void� in the Academy’s obligations to the area public education system must be addressed soon.

Woodstock Academy does not belong to its Trustees but to a trust required to provide public education to Woodstock students. The Academy has emphasized expansion of the school over educational quality; illegally defaulted on its primary financing agreements; forced an increasingly inequitable allocation of funds on the Woodstock Public Schools; tolerated scandalous behavior in its senior ranks; failed to initiate any effort to develop a private endowment; engaged in billing practices that penalize Woodstock; publicly misrepresented their true operating costs; and transferred financial benefits from subsidies provided by Woodstock taxpayers to the other sending towns.

Average academic results cannot be deemed “excellentâ€? based on the Academy’s advertisements. The Academy’s negotiating tactics with the Woodstock Board of Education more closely reflect an aggressive syndicator than an educational institution. The presence of the anti-public education extremists of Citizens for Prudent Spending in key positions on the Board of Trustees appears to represent a deliberate political alignment by the Academy against the Woodstock public education system. The response to the recent legislative proposal followed the CPS pattern of obfuscation (“Dissolving the Academyâ€?) and sarcastic, disparaging comments about the administration of the Woodstock Public Schools (the “Education Mafiaâ€?). Trustees’ harsh public demands to identify those working to address this issue carry the menacing inference of retribution. Read the rest of this entry »

Camp Nahaco Volunteer Day: Saturday April 21st 9:00AM – 4:00PM
The Camp Nahaco Park Commission of Woodstock and Eastford is asking for volunteers to help with spring clean-up. The work day will start at 9AM on Saturday, April 21st. There will be jobs for folks who prefer to be indoors, and plenty of outdoor tasks for those who wish to be outside. Tasks vary from washing windows, clearing trails, and performing minor repair on cabins. All skills are welcome.
Please bring a rake, workgloves, and any other hand tools that could be used for cleaning up the camp. Dress in layers. Come for just one hour or all day – we are grateful for all volunteers! Refreshments will be provided. Questions? Please contact the Commission at campnahaco@charter.net or 974-1155. From Judy Alberts

A Taxpayer’s comments (April 11th, 2007, 7:53 pm) have no merit when one considers that the will of the Woodstock electorate, expressed in the most recent local elections with the landslide victory of Democratic candidates Elizabeth Murphy and Joseph Breen (those separated by a mere two votes) over Hosmer, some other Republican and two CPSers, was subverted when Hosmer took Breen’s seat even though he wasn’t even close in the eyes of the majority of the electorate. A substantial majority of Woodstock voters cleary perceived a problem with the Board of Finance and attempted to solve the problem locally by voting in large numbers for Breen. They went to the polls and participated in the public opinion poll and the results of that poll were ignored. A Taxpayer can not cite any real evidence of his/her unsubstantiated claim that the will of the people is against seeking a real solution to the problem, not only locally, but in other forums (state legislature, judicially etc.) as well. Except for those in the repetitive echo chamber of the Woodstock Academy public relations machine (a group of 50 people repeating and publishing the same lies, myths and nonsense to one another, over and over and over again, and failing in their attempt to create “the will of the peopleâ€?), most informed people agree that there is no local solution that will achieve alignment, equity and accountability between Woodstock Academy and the K-8 school system. Let’s hope that the large numbers of voters whose last vote was ignored, Read the rest of this entry »

But first the disinformation

There was an anonymous Letter to the Editor (Sound Off Section, page A12) in the Villager last Friday (4/6/07) entitled “Constant Fighting Must Stop.� One of the messages from this ignoramus was that Woodstock is the laughing stock of the surrounding towns. This statement is just one more attempt to try to shame citizens from speaking up and expressing their opinion. I doubt that there are more than 20 people in the surrounding towns that even give a damn about what goes on in Woodstock or at the Academy … and I could care less how they feel. To put ignoramus’ nonsense in perspective, just consider the possibility that a fair percentage of people, who live in Woodstock, have little or no information and could care less about important Town issues. Without much work I could name quite a number of such individuals.

The Budget debate in Lisbon
· 2006-07 approved town budget: $2,228,115 (21%).
· Proposed 2007-08 town budget: $2,324,509 (21%).
· Increase: 4.33 percent.
· 2006-07 approved education budget:$8,415,378 (79%).
· Proposed 2007-08 education budget: $9,126,785 (79%).
· Increase: 8.45 percent.

Apparently, on WINY yesterday (Tues.), a member of the Putnam BOE opined about the further budgetary strangulation of their public school system this coming year stating something to the effect that even in Mussolini’s regime at least the lights came on (paraphrase). This was in response to bragging about the low property tax rate in Putnam.

Killingly will move ahead with plans to build a new 1100-student high school for 2010. See the Norwich Bull.

The Griswold BOE has proposed a $24.4 budget for 2007-08, a 6.67 percent increase from the existing $22.9 million budget. Griswold’s tuition per pupil in 2004-05 was $9526 compared with $8587 for Woodstock, average household income was $50,156 compared to $55,313 for Woodstock, and its population in 2005 was 11,254 (2167 K-12 students) compared to 8047 (1464 K-12 students) for Woodstock. Griswold/Woodstock school budget ratio was 1.62 (2006-07) and the G/W student ratio was 1.52 (2005-06). Source of stats.

Read the rest of this entry »

The following letter is posted in the ‘News’ section of our almost operational town website . While not specifically stated in ‘Terms of Use’, under the Townspeople’s Feedback section under the ‘More’ tab, one can find the following: “A .gov website and CT town website can not be used for politics”. It would appear that our First Selectman doesn’t grasp certain basic concepts.

To the Senators and Representatives of our State Legislature:

I do not agree See #1 below with legislating an issue that should be worked out within and by the sending towns and Woodstock Academy. Our towns have systems and a forum See #2 below for working out issues and managing the struggles for power and control See #3 below of our regional high school See #4 below and our sending towns’ Boards of Education. Woodstock Academy has eight representatives from the four primary sending towns’ See #5 below Boards of Education and twenty-two additional Trustees from the sending towns. This makes for wide and deep representation. See #6 below

#1. This openning statement makes this her personal opinion and thus should not be signed as our First Selectman.
#2. Conveniently, Ms. Wholean-Wife-of-Academy-Board-of-Trustee-Jim-Kaeding fails to name these alleged systems and forum.
#3.This statement categorizes the issue in terms that attempt to color the analysis of the reader. It is disingenuous because there currently is no vehicle for the sending towns to gain power.
#4. The Academy, while functioning as a ‘regional high school’ does not acknowledge this fact.
#5. The 8 sending town representatives are the ONLY trustees with the duty of representing the sending town taxpayers and the State of Connecticut’s interests in education. The remaining 22 Trustees, while residing in the sending towns, have no legal/fiducial obligations to those towns. Their responsibility is to the Academy alone.
#6. The representation of the sending town taxpayers is only through the 8 Board of Education representatives on the Academy Board of Trustees. The 22 remaining representatives are nominated by an Academy BOT Nominating Committee and accepted by a vote of the Board of Trustees. The taxpayers of the sending towns have no avenue to elect these representatives.

Read the rest of this entry »

www.woodstockctcoalition.org (CPSacademy) says its mission is: To promote transparency and accountability of our Board of Education and administrators.

So, they open up with proof of bias. Wouldn’t anyone seriously interested in the education problem in Woodstock be also interested in promoting transparency and accountability of Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees and their administrators? If they were, then for example (and there are many of these) why are they not complaining about the lack of transparency with the “Warren/Taylor� love affair? How long did this drain on the resources of the Academy, and thus waste Woodstock taxpayers’ money, go on non-transparently? It was buried for at least one year. And if Wetzel and company are so serious about accountability for the taxpayer, how about telling us the financial details connected with the departure of these wonderful examples of administrative ability? Has this fiasco caused a financial loss to the Academy? Or did these two just walk away without a golden handshake?

If CPSAcademy is interested in tranparency then why don’t they post both sets of minutes that are published in connection with the WBOE/WA contract negotiations. The BOE also produces minutes for those negotiations, but I guess putting those out there might put too much balance into the public’s eye. Read the rest of this entry »

Over 350 articles have been published at this site on issues related to Town politics, schools, and management. Writing some, and reading all, of these articles has helped me to understand what is going on in Woodstock, especially the constraints that we face in making improvements in Town and its services. Of course, not every statement or claim put forth at this site has been accurate, but the perceptions of all contributors are very real. Perceptions of individuals are important, and the more we share these perceptions, the better we will understand the issues.

There has been an evolution in thinking as we have progressed through the months and a continual progression of issues. Although there are over 350 visitors to this site, only a small minority of Café visitors has contributed comments or articles. The intent is to collect as many points of view as possible in order to translate perception into reality. Each of us has the freedom to determine, on our own, what IS reality.

In October 2005 we heard about citizens calling the Board of Education and the leadership of Woodstock Academy together to discuss the impasse in negotiations of the contract between the Town and the Academy. In this meeting we observed a sharp contrast in the behavior of the participants. Much to our chagrin, we were left with the impression that while Academy officials were acting in a professional manner to seek an appropriate contract with the Town, our BOE was working hard, with much subterfuge, to justify new high school options for Woodstock students. Consequently, the composition and leadership of the BOE changed for the better and this new BOE embarked on a bold path to defend the interests of the Woodstock Public School system. At the same time, members of the Town citizenry were working tirelessly to support the inauguration of the Academy football team in its first season because of their genuine belief that the football program would help the Academy achieve its goals. Read the rest of this entry »

In the Norwich Bull today “…legislators said they want to see the issue (Breen’s initiative) go to a public hearing in Hartford before any action is taken on it.”

We mentioned a few days ago that the Academy has been compelled to set up their own blog site because they and their agents do not feel that they have a voice at the Cafe. We encourage all of our visitors to visit their site and read their commentary. We have long wondered why other Woodstock blog sites have not popped up following the emergence of the Cafe. Welcome to the blogosphere CPS Academy. As with articles and commentary at the Cafe, just draw your own conclusions. The Cafe promisses to never have propagandistic pictures.

So there are no surprises, please read our article on tracking of Internet traffic at blog sites. Admin

NO, this will not stop until the Education Mafia in Woodstock faces up to certain truths. First, the Citizens of Woodstock support Prop 46 and keep voting to keep it. Why can’t you get that through your head? Second, there is plenty of money being spent on the K-8 school system in Woodstock. The Citizens have allowed these budgets to just keep going up and up. How do you super intelligent people explain 10.6% budget increase with declining enrollment in the K-8 system? How do you justify adding more administrative staff to a school system of less than 1,000 children in the K-8 system. How do you justify your heroes on the BOE spending almost $300,000 , by the end of this budget year,over the past three years on legal expenses? How do you justify a school system with a self-funded insurance program that has money flowing in and out of it? If you ask anyone in Connecticut if the Woodstock Academy is a good price for a quality product they will all say yes it is. What we have in Woodstock is a bunch of liberals who want to spend money without asking any questions, who are currently in office. Read the rest of this entry »

Talk about aggravation! This has to stop! Will our elected officials please step up to the plate? PLEASE! The reason we have these constant ‘battles’ is because there is no overall plan for this town. There isn’t a mechanism for everybody to understand what direction we are going in. Nobody wants to challenge Prop 46, the third rail of Woodstock politics. More importantly, nobody wants to live within its constraints.

Let’s face the source of this situation once and for all. Let’s start to actually develop budgets with a realistic eye toward what we can afford. Affording something doesn’t mean that the town can just look at the price tag. We have to actually prioritize things in terms of requirements and mandates. If by some stroke of luck we can afford all the things we are mandated and required to provide, then and only then should the discussion proceed to the other things we would like to provide. Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Foye sent a letter to the Academy Board of Trustees on Friday announcing his resignation as Headmaster of Woodstock Academy. Mr. Foye expressed his unhappiness at the dissention in Woodstock regarding tuition rates at the Academy and his decision to start a varsity football program. Jerry Musemeci, Chairman of the Academy Board of Trustees, expressed her regret for Mr. Foye’s decision but wished him the best of success in his search for a new position in secondary school academia. Read the rest of this entry »