Woodstock CT Café

Once again the Villager has placed a derogatory or inappropriate title that undermines the intended message on a Letter to the Editor from a Woodstock citizen. A month ago Lindsay Paul submitted a cogent statement “…to correct factual inaccuracies and misleading statements…â€? published in the Villager. Her Letter to the Editor was given a derogatory title that defied reason (see Café article on April 29th “The Villager Tells Woodstock That BOE Meetings are Unimportant”). Presumably Walter Bird was responsible for this.

Tomorrow, the Villager will publish a Letter to the Editor by Lee Wesler that has been awarded the misleading title “Academy Students Need to be Protected� by his majesty Walter Bird (the article can be seen online tonight, Thursday May 31). However, this Letter to the Editor is not about the Academy students or the Academy as a good or bad institution. Instead the letter by Wesler is about the nonsense perpetrated by Mr. Powers and Ms. Rapose on the Board of Education.

This is what Lee Wesler said:

“To the Editor:

Our children are our future and a proper education will dictate that future.

It is, therefore, unsettling and deeply disappointing to see a group of “concerned� citizens attacking the Woodstock Board of Education. These are elected officials who have chosen to donate their valuable time for the good of the town. They realize no financial gain and their only satisfaction is seeing our children grow up and be successful adults.

To suggest that they somehow have an ulterior motive is repugnant. They are faced with an onerous task. On the one hand, they have to deal with the town’s budgetary restraints passed in an era gone by. On the other hand, they have to accommodate an autonomous governing body for a third of their students. That is not to say that an independent high school is a bad thing. In fact, it was the appeal of the Woodstock Academy that drew me to this town. But the result is an unacceptable squeeze on the K-8 students. Read the rest of this entry »

“So shame on you, Mr. Powers and Ms. Rapose, for choosing dollars and cents over our children’s well being. And shame on you for fanning the flames of ignorance while masquerading in the guise of fiscal responsibility…” Lee Wesler in the Villager. See above. Admin

A Taxpayer. As another poster here said … You must be joking.

You say “It is my understanding, as he (Rosendahl) has publically announced, that his filming is part of a documentary he is working on. R. is also only one of a large group who’s focus, if you check their website, is not to decimate the K-8 or to prostylize (sic) their views.”

A documentary on what? How to manipulate the perception of any of the “large group” who is checking in at this one-sided website? What large group? Is that the large group that is sending in the huge number of comments in the “Forum” that is at their website? How many people do you think are in this large group that is contributing to that site? It looks like around 10 at most.

How can you not see the motivation of Rosendahl’s website? With the embedded comments seeking to prejudice the viewers thoughts over selected materials and the language used to characterize Board of Education actions such as “A Legal Crusade” etc. you must be smoking Academy dope, readily available for sale everyday in their parking lot, to think that Rosendahl is not attempting to decimate the K-8 or to proselytlize his and Lisa’s views. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest bush Villager has a front page article entitled “BOE Cuts Special Ed Budget” by ACE reporter Kevin Sullivan that doesn’t mention Special Ed in the article and talks about Proposition 36.

Having grown up is the Outback near Alice Springs and the Abo lands, I am somewhat familiar with kangaroo courts. Some nit-picking dingbats will try to tell you that kangaroo courts first arose during the Calyfornia gold rush and claim jumpers but kangaroo courts were well practiced in 1800 and early 1900’s in the lawless Outback …and after all, ‘roos’ are our state bird just like your bald eagle.

Being from the down-under, which we call “the up top”, I was at first tickled as a bush pig when the Villager started to publish because I thought that it would teach me how you blokes run my adopted home of Woodstock. But after digesting many articles in this rag I began to feel like I was back reading the bush telegraph in alligator country.

There seems to be two sides in Woodstock. One side, which appears to be in the minority judging from its presence in the Villager, seems to be well meaning in acting and speaking intelligently for the best interests in town as a whole. The other group with a greater presence in the Villager appears to be conspiratorial and negative - cunning like shithouse rats…or maybe they just have a lot of time on their hands.

By reading the Villager and articles at this Cafe, I have become aware of several very positive organizations in town that donate their time, money and energy to helping the schools and various town functions such as the Education Foundation, the Academy Footbrawl Boosters, the Parent Teachers Association, the Board of Education, the other volunteer Boards, the MFATFs (which I call meatheads), and the volunteers of the fire departments in town. And then there must be a lot parents who want good schoolin for their anklebiters so that they can grow up and make a good livin. If you add up all of these blokes participating in these organizations and groups, there must be quite a large number of town residents who are working to improve our town, or at least wish to have a well-run town to live in and the best schools that we can afford for their kids. Perhaps only a low percentage of these hardworking blokes have “political agendas.” Read the rest of this entry »

‘Bowman’ to ‘Taxpayer’ - Let’s think through the fiscal ramifications of Woodstock without the Board of Ed. For the sake of argument I’ll just accept that it would be better to have no Board of Ed.

OK, so what this means is that each of the schools would individually have to submit a budget to the board of Finance. The Academy would, as they do now, just submit their tuition per student (have a nice day). So now the BOF is in the same position as the BOE was. They have to acquiesce to the tuition because they also have no voice in the Academy and then just tell all the public K-8 schools to tighten their budgets. Removing the BOE from the equation does nothing to alleviate the issue of the Academy being able to run roughshod over the town’s budget. They don’t have any fiscal accountability to the BOF either, or the taxpayer’s who are footing the bill.

Thanks. Bowman

This is Becki Leavitt’s response to the Norwich Bulletin Opinion Column: “Bickering about academy serves no purpose.â€? By Lisa M. Rapose (dated May 26, 2007)

This “bickeringâ€? that Mrs. Rapose trivializes is actually the Academy trustees and their agents’ reactions to and disdain for responsible people addressing their fiduciary responsibility and public accountability - a quality of leadership that the citizens of Woodstock should expect from all of our public officials.
That the Academy is only required to take Woodstock students for the next “eight years� is precisely what compels the Woodstock Board of Education to insist on working out a contract that does not adversely impact the education of its students or the taxpayers of Woodstock. There is just as much reason to suppose that the unwillingness to negotiate is on the part of the Academy Board of Trustees – their urgency may be to secure by contract their greatest revenue stream, the taxpayers of Woodstock.
Mrs. Rapose is quick to criticize those attempting to do what she disagrees with as having “agendas.â€? Are we to assume that Mrs. Rapose does not have a political agenda because she is not an elected official, a member of a town committee or otherwise in public service? Read the rest of this entry »

Taxpayer-
You are joking right?
You say “The current budget, even with 625K in cuts, is an excellent one and ensures a strongly viable K-8 which meets state mandates….”
Have you seen a science lab in the middle school lately?
The lab equipment is ancient, the text books out of date, and they have a copier for the entire teaching staff that is out-of-order more than it it is in working order.
There are no funds to replace outdated equipment.
There are still classrooms without the wiring for standard inexpensive computer networks.
There is plenty of decent and free educational software to augment k-3 curricula but there is no technology educator anymore for k-3 to support the teachers or instructing the students who could maximize the use the technology. I can go on if you would like.
Two kindergarten classes are sharing leveled readers between them because there is not enough to go around.
Library books are not purchased. Donations are accepted through the PTO.
Gym equipment purchased 40 years ago is held togther with duct tape.
Viable K-8? The classrooms are caught in a time warp with many teachers delighted to retire because they are tired of fighting for appropriate resources that match the state mandated curriculum.
Take off the rose-colored glasses, Taxpayer! You are in a fantasy world.
Mr. Corden sees the multitude of issues, and like other members of the BOE, is doing whatever is humanly possible to meet the BOE’s mandate - and that is deliverying the best education possible for ALL students.
UdontknowJack

Interesting comment from a “liberal democrat” 17 months after the original post. I just had to respond.

I recently attended an IWWA meeting…and have attended several PZC meetings…and the town doesn’t seem to have any difficulty in getting people to serve. If there are really openings…how about announcing those openings at the “cafe” or in the Villager? Without any effort in recruiting in an open forum, it is a completely bogus conclusion that “convincing a spouse is the only way to fill an empty spot”! I am still extremely uncomfortable with “spouses” being appointed or remaining on boards where any “oversight” is provided by their “significant other”. Delpha Very may not derive direct financial benefit from Dan Very being on the IWWA…but that is a very NARROW DEFINITION…of conflict of interest. Benefits may accrue under many different circumstances other than direct transfer of cash! Regardless…how can Delpha Very determine if her husband is truly doing a good job on IWWA…when it comes time to recertify his appointment?? What about issues where Dan might have violated ethic rules in his role on IWWA?

Being a “liberal democrat”…let me quote Al Gore for your pleasure:

“American democracy is now in danger- not from any one set of ideas, but from unprecedented changes in the environment within which ideas either live and spread, or wither and die.”

“If is simply no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse” Read the rest of this entry »

The following are the comments of Frank Corden of the Woodstock Board of Education excerpted from the minutes of the March 20 meeting of the Academy Board of Trustees.

Mr. Corden addressed the Board of Trustees and stated that as an alumnus, he took the future of the institution seriously. He recalled attending the first negotiation session between the Academy and the WBOE and as an alumnus, was appalled by the arrogance and indifference shown by the leadership of the Academy. He stated that unfortunately, little of the last several years of interactions have provided him a reason to change his view. He stated that in particular, the actions undertaken by the Board of Trustees in the last year have reinforced his view that the BOT lacks the moral conscience to lead the Academy. He stated that these actions included the coercive use of $42,000 of public funds to influence the vote of public officers; numerous submissions of unilateral and clearly biased contract terms; repeated publication of false statements using the Academy’s trademark regardless of who paid for those publications; and the deceptive budgeting practices used to covertly generate a substantial surplus by using a reduced number of students to calculate tuition. He stated that 30 years ago, he represented the Academy proudly in both academic and athletic forums and it is unfortunate that more of the Trustees did not attend the Academy. Read the rest of this entry »

See ‘Liberal Democrat’s’ new comment about spouses holding appointments and elected positions & the conflict of interest issue placed below Debunker’s article of Jan. 2006.

On October 29th, 2006, Mr. Powers challenged the Cafe to the following: “I wonder how the teachers are going to feel when we release the transcript (will the Café post it or say they didn’t receive it?)” in comment # 11 of the article “Point-Counterpoint…” published on October 28th. We finally found a copy of his testimony posted on the Internet. If you read this tedious testimony from the Sept. 28th 2006 hearing you will understand the merits of this case. Also read the court’s April 13th 2007 decision in the Powers’ lawsuit against the Woodstock School System posted publicly at the State Dept. of Education website.
Court’s Decision
The Powers’ other lawsuit against the opposing attorneys mentioned in the Villager in February was dismissed.
Finally in the most recent Villager published today 5/18/07, Mr. Powers mentioned that he is moving his son to St. Mary’s… but he hasn’t mentioned that he has been sued by The Rectory School. This lawsuit by the Rectory School can be found at the CT State Judicial website under the name of Craig R. Powers, the defendent.
We propose that there should be a line item in the Education Budget under two names, “Powers” and “Schultz” his colleague at CPSacademy dot org. These line items should contain the costs passed on to the Woodstock taxpayers for these litigants’ lawsuits and FOI requests which we estimate have cost the Woodstock taxpayers in excess of $75,000 in 2006, the cost of at least one first year full-time teacher.

STATE OF CONNECTICUT
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
* * * * * * * * * * * *
ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
IN THE MATTER OF WOODSTOCK BOARD OF EDUCATION
ALEXANDER POWERS WOODSTOCK, CONNECTICUT
10:12 A.M.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
BEFORE: DEBORAH KEARNS, HEARING OFFICER
APPEARANCES:
FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION:
SHIPMAN and GOODWIN
One Constitution Plaza
Hartford, Connecticut 06103-1919
BY: Anne Littlefield, Attorney
Erin O. Duques, Attorney
FOR ALEXANDER POWERS:
ROBERT SKELLEY, ESQUIRE
952 North Main Street
Danielson, CT 06239
PRESENT:
Trish Lustila
Craig Powers
Page 3
MS. ANNE LITTLEFIELD: And I believe we’re starting with my Cross-Examination of Mr. Powers, if I’m
not mistaken.
HEARING OFFICER DEBORAH KEARNS: Okay. Mr. Powers, I’m just going to remind you you’re still under oath, okay?
MR. CRAIG POWERS: Yup.
HEARING OFFICER KEARNS: And try, if you can’t answer the question that’s being asked, try to withhold your answer. If you require a clarification or
something, that’s okay.
MR. POWERS: Okay.
HEARING OFFICER KEARNS: But try not to give an answer that’s not responsive to the question that’s being asked.
MR. POWERS: I will do my best.
HEARING OFFICER KEARNS: Which is typically your opinions and conclusions are probably not going to be questions that are asked of you for the most part, so let’s see if we can proceed.
MS. LITTLEFIELD: Not on Cross-Examination anyway.
HEARING OFFICER KEARNS: Not likely, because we’re trying to establish the facts of the case,
Page 4
so that you’ll be able to have a clear record when it comes time to writing a decision for you, okay? Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a reprint of the text of a “Guest Column” by Joe Breen published in the Norwich Bulletin today 5/16/07.

“Academy Must Be More Accountable

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 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 local public education system must be addressed soon.

Trustees not owners
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 its true operating costs; and transferred financial benefits from subsidies provided by Woodstock taxpayers to the other sending towns.
Average academic results cannot be deemed “excellent” based on the academy’s advertisements.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday (7/10) Roche invested $331 million in Alnylam in a deal that could eventually be worth $1 Billion. Alnylam’s stock rose 51% and will likely continue to rise today.

I rarely give stock advice. The last time I did this was in the summer of 1964 when I read in the newspaper that a new company called ComSat was having an IPO in September. I considered this, perhaps naively, a sure thing. Yet being in my first job I had no money to invest. So, I decided to watch this stock with the fantasy of having invested $1000 ($6548 in today’s dollars). My initial plan was to buy at the IPO at $10 per share and then sell just before the launch of the first commercial communications satellite (just in case the launch failed). The stock rose meteorically from $10 per share to $80 (the launch did not fail), then the stock split and rose again to >$80 per share, and I made about $240,000 from a $1000 investment equivalent to $1.5 million today.

A week-and-a-half ago I was fortunate to attend a small meeting in Boston focused on developments in the seemingly esoteric field of siRNA or “short interfering RNA” used to silence genes. Rightfully so, there has been a significant buzz in the scientific and investment communities over the promise of this technology for the last 2-3 years. To cut to the chase, I left this meeting with the notion that in the next 10-20 years siRNA, also called “RNAi”, was going to dominate drug development and that many successful drugs currently targeting specific proteins like Genentech’s Herceptin and Imclone’s Erbitux would be replaced by RNAi-based drugs. Furthermore, many disease-causing proteins thought to be ‘undrugable’, like the metastatic biomarker L-plastin for colon, breast, melanoma, prostate, and bladder cancer, could now be targeted by RNAi drugs. Read the rest of this entry »

This superbly written statement by Linsday Paul, Chairman of the Woodstock Board of Education, was published in the Villager on May 18th 2007.

May 11, 2007

To the Editor:

The Woodstock Board of Education (“WBOE�) is aware of concerns within the community regarding our objectives in our discussions with Woodstock Academy. The aim of this letter is to clarify the WBOE goals in this relationship and in contractual negotiations with the Academy.

We respect Woodstock Academy and recognize its role in the region’s educational system. We respect its history and legacy. We recognize its interest in ensuring long term program and fiscal stability. We have no interest in controlling Woodstock Academy. We have every interest in working collaboratively towards a goal of continuous improvement in achievement and success of all Woodstock students in every grade. Our contractual arrangement cannot fall short of that goal.

Interdependence of missions: By Connecticut law, the WBOE is accountable for meeting the educational interests of all Woodstock students, grades PreK-12. Further, federal law under the No Child Left Behind Act assigns accountability and consequences to the WBOE for year over year performance improvement of our district students, as well as for that of our 10th grade students as measured by Proficiency levels on the CAPT. Woodstock Academy’s chartered purpose is to “maintain and operate a school and engage in educational enterprises in …Woodstock for the benefit of the inhabitants of said town and vicinity� (Sec.3 “Corporate Purposes�). Thus, we see substantial overlap in the purpose and directives of our two organizations in providing for the educational needs of all of Woodstock’s students. We believe we both embrace a commitment to student achievement. We believe the success of each of our missions is interdependent.

In our contract negotiations we seek to address three primary needs: alignment, accountability, and greater equity of resources.

Alignment: We seek closer alignment of the interests of the PreK-8 and 9-12 systems, including the explicit recognition that the success of Woodstock Public Schools is critical to the success of Woodstock Academy. This requires greater collaboration in curriculum and academic planning, programs and extra-curricular interests. It includes the ready sharing of testing results and other performance indicators, the development of assessments having common foundations, and the coordination and improvement of academic standards within the two systems. It includes cooperative planning for student transitions into high school, and ongoing communications regarding student progress. Read the rest of this entry »

23:20 Just in from a great BOE meeting. The discussion that followed Becki’s departure included consideration of Mr. Loftus’s 22 questions which I cannot muster the energy to transcribe now. Noticed that they were documented on the agenda as “drafted by Mr. Loftus”. The other members offered little comment but Mr. Loftus gave the audience quite the diatribe with pointed comments directed at Mr. Rosenthal who was filming him. He reiterated to the camera 3 times that “Woodstock underfunds education”. Although Ambien couldn’t hold a candle to his quiet monotone voice, the points he made were quite logical and I believe equally important to get answers to his questions as well as Rapose’s . Read the rest of this entry »

Putnam’s budget approved.
$4.4 million general government budget:
Yes:132.
No:6.
Undecided:1.
$15.3 million education budget:
Yes:137.
No:7.
Of approximately4,917 registered voters, 144 ballots were cast, or 2.9 percent.

The reductions are in - $625,000 of them! They are as follow:
First we had to add $7,281 (1 student to VOAG) and $6,000 (2 students to ACT)

Now for the reductions!
$31,104 – reduction due to the change in WA tuition from $10,341 charge (used for calculation the budget before WA ‘set’ their budget) and $10,277 (the actual tuition charge set by the Trustees)
$30,831 – reduction in WA tuition due to three less students (reference tuition additions added above)
$25,294 – due to the resignation of Mrs. Guarco, will be replaced by a Level 3 Masters
$12,292 – Mrs. Guarco’s resignation eliminates unemployment costs
$88,266 – Early Retirement Incentive Plan (nine teachers have chosen to take advantage of the ERIP) The reduction is the difference between the salary savings of new hires (anticipating Level 3 Masters) and the contractual retirement costs (if memory serves me, it is full funding of three years of pension).
$2,721 – Audit Fees (an agreement with Barbara Rich)
$102,000 – 2 computer carts (1 ea WMS and WES)
$15,000 – Lawn Mower
$4,800 – Kaivak Cleaning System (Vacuum)
$3,600 – Phonic Ears (WMS & WES Computer Hardware)
$2,180 – Office Computers (WMS & WES Office Computers)
$12,000 – Computer Equipment (60 LCD Monitors 30 ea. WMS & WES)
$700 – Superintendent’s Office Equipment (4 Flat Screen Monitors)
$7,600 – WES one Whiteboard
$2,000 – WES Equipment (2 Phonic Ears)

Now, this is where it gets a little complicated because the items above are from two different options the Superintendent put forward. The BOE then mixed and matched and put together a hybrid of the two with a twist of their own. Read the rest of this entry »

The questionnaire distributed by Mike Alberts was a ridiculous attempt to gage the interests of his voting constituency with questions that are largely irrelevant to Woodstockians and residents of the 50th district.

Advice from a UConn Ph.D. in Educational Psychology: “Questionnaires can always mess with people with extraneous questions. Furthermore, the way you write a question can change the answer or even be a form of advertising.�

Take question 1 for example “What is your top issue for the legislature?� Neither property tax reform nor increased state funding of public school systems was listed as a possible answer, issues that receive constant attention at the Café, in local news papers, and on WINY. Twenty-nine percent chose government accountability as the “top issue for the legislature.� But what is the plan of the legislature with regard to government accountability. Does this mean the Mike will work to make Ms. Wholean and her fellow selectmen more accountable, or possibly Rell or Bush more accountable? Me thinks not. So what does Mike intend to do with this information?

And then there is question 2 : “Which budget proposal do you prefer?� The four possible answers may be aspects of someone’s budget proposal but they are not Rell’s proposal or the Democrats’ proposal currently on the table in the state legislature. Since 35% of the respondents said “eliminate income tax on pensions� it will be interesting to see what Mike does to act on this issue.� I can assure you that all of us well-pensioned people will appreciate Mike’s accomplishment in this area.

Read the rest of this entry »

Like many of you I recently got my hands on the results of a survey conducted by Mike Alberts. While examining the results it struck me that they are a prime example of why the political spoils go to those interested enough to voice their opinion to their representatives. Those who can’t be bothered to do so will forever be relegated to complaining about the current state of political affairs. For those curious about the results I have included them here:

Out of 850 respondents from the five towns the comprise our district.
1. What is your top issue for the legislature?
29% government accountability
29% energy
12% health care
10% jobs/economy
8% environment
4% no answer

2. Which budget proposal do you prefer?
35% eliminate income tax on pensions
33% retain the state spending cap
26% reauthorize programs every two years
6% no answer

3. For children, it it(sic) most important to:
43% encourage business day care service
31% keep sex offenders away from schools
20% give instruction on Internet safety
6% no answer

4. On the environment, should the legislature:
42% acquire threatened farm properties
35% support alternative energy sources
18% promote energy conservation
5% other or no answer Read the rest of this entry »