I have sat on the Board of Selectmen, Board of Education, Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees. I have reviewed their budgets, I have helped create those budgets. I was involved in almost every activity in Town for 4 years as the First Selectman. I have been involved in Woodstock politics, the cesspool that it is, for 13 years. After having dealt with the Education Mafia during those years, I have concluded you (to ’Pointless’) are unreasonable, will resort to anything to get your way, very poor fiscal managers, unethical, untrustworthy, hypocritical, not very smart, easy to defeat, and tiresome. I think I may have left something out, but that is enough for now. The Citizens of Woodstock are either, uninformed, stupid or just like havoc by electing the kind of people that sit in their elected offices. The Board of Education is shameful and a disgrace to this town, with the way they handled the 9th Grade proposal, the Academy negotiations, their budgeting process, and the waste of our tax dollars. Prop 46 has perverted our political process and has enabled unethical, lying individuals to be elected into office, where they spend all of their time trying to overturn, amend, or get around Prop 46. They will invent interpretations of how 46 works just to spend more money. Prop 46 is a terrible spending cap anyhow, its implementation has alot to be desired and the effect it has on our town is not good, for either side. I never said the Academy was perfect, but at least I was given information, and my questions were answered honestly. Something I can’t say about my experiences with the BOE. This BOE needs a major investigation and audit of their spending practices and accounting procedures. I am not in favor of giving them one more dime until we the taxpayers are satisfied with how they are spending the money they already have. This BOE is not on a “bare bones budget” they spend lots of money and very poorly. Proposition 46 is not the problems because it starves the K-8. The Academy is not the problem financially because it gives us a good value for our tax dollar. That’s why the other Town wouldn’t join our BOE in trying to torpedo the Academy, they know its a good deal. What we have is a group of individuals (The Educational Mafia) who either benefit directly, (jobs), perks and deals for their children, they have a personal stake to make sure this wasteful, poorly run behemoth keeps on spending our money for their benefit. We are supposed to keep our mouth shut and keep writing them tax dollar checks for their purposes. If you dare to question them, they attack your integrity and person. They are a disgusting lot and I take great pleasure in defeating their plots and plans. But it gets old and never seems to stop. People of Woodstock, get off your ass and put a stop to this nonsense.
Ernest A. Wetzel
Ernie, you have not served as Selectman for over 4 years. In fact, you bailed early on during Delpha’s time and were replaced by Mitch Eaffy. The last Superintendent of schools that you had anything to do with was Linda Galton, who most know as the one who was fired. When you were on the BOE, you complained bitterly about the Academy.Most of your decisions have been emotionaly and reactively based, and you have a mean streak, and an unforgiving heart. This is why you see fit to go along with your “troubled” soul mate, Preston. You are not fixable. But for old times sake, once again, I will ask, can substantiate ANYTHING you have said throughout this Blog?
Dear I Know Who You Are,
Don’t you get it already?? There is nothing to substantiate… but Mr. Wetzel doesn’t need to. Its’ a directed dog whistle to those who need not facts, but rather, are inspired only by angry rants to justify their own anger. This is Wetzel’s M.O. and everyone falls for it hook and sink. At first I was shocked, then I was humored, now I am just frightened. One can not logically deal with the illogical and one cannot reason with the unreasonable. Of course this is the wrong approach because logic and reason are not part of the intent of Mr. Wetzel’s rant. He should be banned from the cafe because his intentions aren’t to debate or to discuss, but rather to undermine and subvert. The folks at the cafe don’t deserve this.
I know who you are: Dr. Linda Galton was not fired by the Woodstock BOE. Dr. Galton resigned from the Woodstock Public School System because of people like Ernie Wetzel, who made her life a living hell by publishing outright lies and personally attacking her in the CPS sponsored “hate screed” called Comings and Goings. Dr. Galton always earned high marks on every evaluation and served the Woodstock Public Schools with distinction under most trying conditions.
I want to thank Mr. Blackmer for setting the historic record straight about Dr. Galton. This woman was a trained, professional educator who would not knuckle under to the grotesque head-hunters of CPS.
Now the CPS/Truth/Coalition is after their SECOND Superintendant of Schools. And they plan to use the platform of the “Citizen-Appointed Audit Committee” discussed at length below to do it. CPS has long sought just such a mechanism as a weapon for their misdirected, false allegations of financial mismanagement by the WPS in an effort, from their unelected seats, to control a democratically elected board.
I hope naive commentators such as Newcomer and Dr. Gordon are not drawn into this farce by the ingratiating language of Reality Check and Taxpayer, who are the new faces of the old CPS crowd.
What is it they say . . . “You can put lipstick on a pig . . . . “
My apologies to all of you. I have come on strong about this talk with Dr. Fusco in hopes to bring people together into a constructive conversation….only for the selfish sake of my child so that perhaps we could overcome some of the problems and promote a school system that runs smoothly and without derision.
I was naive and foolish because I underestimated the anger and division that underlies these problems. I have no desire to be marginalized and to be called a pig for this cause. It is best that I withdraw myself from these conversations and re-join the multitude of other parents who’s energies are focused directly on their children rather than on the peripheral politics/meetings/community participation that ultimately prove fruitless….huge waste of time.
Thanks for the wake-up call on DR. Linda Galton. This is a prime example of another “ernie-ism” that has been flying around town for years. I have long since wised up to ERnie and most of his company, but their lies still linger.
Come One,
Your perspective is not lost. Those who are willing to support and/or engage in a productive, forward movement (an end to the nonsense) will see and appreciate your comments. I know they’re out there.
Although I understand your reasons (been there done that!) to “withdraw”, I hope that you reconsider.
As for the insults and derision? Just look at the “source” (it’s unfortunate but come to be expected). They do nothing to diminish the positive effect of your valued opinions.
Romeo, thanks for letting me know I had a direct effect on the departure of Dr. Galton, I voted to get rid of her when I was on the BOE.She was a disgrace as a Superintendent and the way she handled the departure of the then Principal. Gee, Romeo you seem to have forgotten the investigation of the school system while you and I were on the BOE. Oh, thats right, you covered it up while the Chair, right? All the discoveries were buried and life went on a usual with education in Woodstock. Dr. Galton should have been fired and I voted for it. You and good old Dr.Snow said she would be held accountable, which she was not, and then you provided cover for her in her remaining time here. I take great pride in having something to do with her leaving, poor Westport.
So Westport CT has a superintendant from Woodstock. I have read nothing about scndals in that school system. Please note Wetzel’s reference to an “INVESTIGATION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM”.
Now Lisa Rapose, who has started multiple investigations of her own into lawn mowers, personal computers, etc. wants a self appointed citizens committee to conduct an ongoing investigation of the Woodstock Public Schools.
Sound familiar?
Snuffy,
I know you think that I’m naive. Maybe I am. The big question for me (to anyone who might like to answer) is if not an education task force/audit committee of some kind, what other avenues are there to putting an end to this persistent negative perception of the BOE? I’ve been visiting the cafe for a year now and we’ve talked ourselves in circles about identifying the issues, still nothing has changed. If having an audit committee of some kind (which includes a person or two who oppose the BOE, along with other folks who can be objective) finds no wrongdoing on the part of the BOE, then that should be the end of all of this, right? Very harsh battle lines have been drawn here. If we don’t confront them head on, will they ever go away?
I’m open to more ideas, I just have yet to hear any.
Newcomer, you are buying in to CPS hands. There should not be a task force at all. Preston Schultze is nuts and will not stop here. You are being used. Appeasement does not work with these guys. Are you daft? Don’t you hear Wetzel?
Gabriel,
OK. So what’s your proposed solution?
Solution to what?
All I’ve ever seen/read publicly posted by Mr. Wetzel and CPS (like posts here, at the newspeak website, in ads in papers) is innuendo, inflammatory language, name-calling, mean-spirited remarks, and accusations that are not backed up with facts. Mr. Wetzel has posted many times with arguements based on “appealing to authority”. In other words, he’s been there, done that, and he knows that elected officials in town are incompetent and wasting money.
I respect his right to express his opinion. Thankfully, he does not like to post factual instances to back up his claims. Honestly, I’m not willing to defend the BOE or any elected official against substantiated claims of waste, over-spending, incompetence, etc…
With Mr. Wetzel’s experience in town, he could easily spend an evening typing up some examples that he could cite here, in papers, and at the innuendo and slander = truth web site. If there were convincing facts presented showing a consistent pattern of waste and abuse CPS could garner more support.
Mr. Wetzel’s to past questions has been to call me a moron, stupid, un-informed, naive, etc. Informing people is far more likely to change people’s opinions than insults.
Newcomer, if what you mean by a “solution” is to shut Wetzel and Schutltze up , it’s never going to happen. The best thing to do is the classic: to keep and eye and ear out, but never never take any of it seriously unless they can back it up, or show good cause as to the inquiry.You are well meaning. Through years and years of experience with these guys, we know they are not. In short: don’t get sucked in.
JK,
Solutions to the problems that result from all of the slander you reference above. How do we restore voter confidence in the BOE again and show that K-8 is as worthy of funding as is WA? How do we end the slander? The BOE hasn’t been able to do it so far of their own accord. Everyone here seems to feel so strongly that any attempt to obtain all of these facts that CPS wants to see will only give them more fuel. Why is that? Why is it that no one feels that answering the questions and showing that there’s been no corruption won’t stifle the slander?
It seems a popular stance in here is to ignore CPS on the premise that doing anything else justifies their claims. But in the meantime, they’ve convinced a good amount of voters (who actually go out to town hall to vote) that their claims are true. How does anyone expect to show that the claims are not true if there isn’t a public, formal examination of them? It’s been done here to some extent through discussion, but there seems to be a finite number of folks who visit here. How do we reach the rest?
Something else that I realized only yesterday because I don’t go to the “Woodstock Truth” website all that often. The “audit group” that I’ve been supporting in here is the one proposed by John. I had no idea until yesterday that whomever is the admin of the “WT” website had proposed the same thing. So, I don’t know if people commenting here about what a lousy idea this is think I’m supporting the “WT” committee idea and/or the one in John’s article, where he listed proposed criteria. Just wanted to point that out.
In fact, I’ve said I support John’s idea because there’s an insistence there of objectivity, which I feel is key. I’m a little shy of the other because I’m concerned about the witch hunt aspect. But, I still do feel that any committee should include one or two CPS people working alongside neutral people with no agenda for or against the BOE. Call me naive (again) but I cannot see how excluding BOE critics will satisfy them or make them go away. Maybe answering their questions will.
Gabriel,
I posted my reply before seeing your last one. The only “problem” (not sure that’s even the proper word) with what you’ve said is that there are a good number of people in town who DO take what CPS says seriously AND those folks are the ones who vote. That’s why it doesn’t seem to me that ignoring any of this is enough. If it’s true that this CPS voter base has accepted their claims without any proof, then that only compounds the problem. Won’t proof that the claims are false now be required to convince people?
Snuffy has made a comment here several times in the past that has started to resonate with me. He has used the phrase that the BOE members are like a group of “abused wives”. I’ve been giving that comment some thought and wondering what the BOE might do about that. One thought might be if they added a “FAQ” page to their website that addressed some of these CPS claims. For example, some time ago, there was a discussion here at the Cafe about Mr. Wetzel’s claim about BOE abuse of the health care account. I had to back out of that discussion because I literally know nothing about it. But Snuffy (I think) had jumped in and said that that particular issue had been exhaustively addressed at a past BOE meeting by Dr. Baran. Similarly, I think, for the issue of owning our own fleet of buses vs. leasing or contracting with an outside transportation company. I’ve not seen or heard any of those discussions (from the BOE itself) because I probably was not even a resident here yet. Without knowing the date of the meeting when those discussions took place, how am I to go back now and read them for myself? It might seem like a gnit-picky thing, but for newer residents and parents (and even longtimers who simply aren’t paying attention) it might go a long way if the BOE made these past discussions easily available to those of us who have some catching up to do.
newcomer, your quote: “How do we restore voter confidence in the BOE again and show that K-8 is as worthy of funding as is WA? How do we end the slander? The BOE hasn’t been able to do it so far of their own accord. Everyone here seems to feel so strongly that any attempt to obtain all of these facts that CPS wants to see will only give them more fuel. Why is that? Why is it that no one feels that answering the questions and showing that there’s been no corruption won’t stifle the slander?” is not true of the general public/john Q citizen. It is only true of a small segment of the population. People such as yourself need to avid the temptation to want to constantly appease, make peace, put our the fire etc. , whenver these guys start the pandemonium. Please separate actual wrong doing on the part of the present school system and the marketed pandemonium. Good scores- good teachers- very little funding.Schultze has my ear – NOT.
One more thing Newcomer. Why would anyone– including yourself, think that Schultze or Wetzel has any credibility suggesting that the health care account is not wisely targeted? Have they come up with comparative numbers, examples,or even what someone else suggested- a comparative cost analysis? NO, they haven’t. How much time does Dr. Baran and everyone need to spend writing factual studies and treatises for these nuts and NOT spend time on my children?
Gabriel,
I completely see your point about separating the fact of no actual wrong-doing on the BOE’s part from the “marketed pandemonium”. I’m not sure that I agree with you though that John Q. Citizen isn’t falling for it. Some portion, (in my opinion, the voting portion) of some of the residents must be buying the marketed pandemonium because there is still no widespread support for the BOE (despite the things you’ve noted, namely, good scores, good teachers, & very little funding). You note that it is only a small segment of the population that feels this way. That may be true, but if this same small segment end up being a majority because they are the ones who turn out consistently to the polls, then the marketed pandemonium is achieving its objective. So to me, something must be done to counter this.
As to your inquiry to me regarding anyone questioning the health care account having credibility…Please do not assume that I am assigning them credibility on this issue. That’s not my intent at all. I raise this as an example because, I for one, had no answer to this argument when Mr. Wetzel addressed it to me as a reply in one of my posts several months back. I’d like to know more about what he’s talking about simply for my own information. It would also enable me to participate in future discussions that occur here about it if I knew what was going on. As it stands now, I’m not sure of either side of the argument. Mr. Wetzel doesn’t elaborate on what abuses that he suspects in the health care account and there’s nothing publicly from the BOE to explain how this account works in general. So, I have no retort either way. The argument could be made that I’m lazy in asking the BOE to post these “treatises” but if they don’t, will I hear them go over this info again in the future if I attend future meetings? Or do they consider this issue “asked and answered” with no need to address it again? If the latter is the case, then I would think it more difficult for myself and other newcomers to get up to speed on all of this from a first-hand perspective vs. hearsay.
Newcomer –
Your inquiry about the health care account is an excellent example of the overall problem. This question has been answered over – and over – and over by BOE in public sessions. It has been addressed here at the Cafe by BOE member Frank Corden. It has been reiterated by others at the Cafe – over – and over – and over. So in case you missed it the last five hundred times it was explained:
Demands for an ‘audit’ or ‘investigation’ are made up by people with mental disturbances obsessed with phony allegations of wrongdoing by the BOE. They are supported by people who will grasp at any excuse to avoid paying their taxes. And they are also supported by people like YOU and JEFF GORDON who support the creation of task forces and citizens committees to further review the activities of BOE in order to “clear the air”; “answer the questions”; “settle the issue once and for all”.
Its like the Kennedy assassination conspiracy industry – mentally disturbed people who are obsessed will just distort whatever additional information is generated to provide NEW evidence of wrongdoing, or use it as evidence of a new “cover-up”.
You have asked what you can do to help, and ignored the advice, only to ask again. Can you at least stop your incessant demands for additional task forces that support the agenda of the conspiracy nuts?
Unfortunately newcomer, there is a segment of the population that does indeed listen to the pandemonium and bullshit. I believe that the population of parents that actually pay attention, changes, depending on the inflamed issue of the moment and depending upon how many citizens such as yourself, unknowingly feed in to it. No one needs to have lived here for very long to understand what is happening. You have read old pdf’s of “Comings and Goings”. You have read Wetzel. You go to the other site. I try and keep my head on straight, by looking at this site and listening a lot, and above all: repeating to myself that I will “avoid the temptation to want to constantly appease, make peace, put our the fire etc.” Whenever these guys start the pandemonium, I try to “separate actual wrong doing on the part of the present school system and the marketed pandemonium.” I keep thinking: “Good scores- good teachers- very little funding.”
Snuffy,
I AM a fan of task forces and such committees to look at the details of something (such as the Telecommunications Task Force, for example). …(see Newcomers new article. Admin).