Woodstock CT Café

Snuffy is not correct. Tax payer committees seem to be legal and they certainly do have a point…how quickly we forget the Farmer’s Tax Abatement Committee who seems to have now become the precedent for community action. This committee was able to pass through an ordinance with remarkable ease, remarkable bias, and remarkable impropriety without a peep from anyone except for a few people who paid attention, but to no avail.

This committee was led by an independent “taxpayer group” filled with completely biased and one-sided members who developed an ordinance that was passed at a town meeting after letters were admittedly only sent to Farmer’s (not non-farmers) informing them of this meeting.

When the selectman’s office was asked about this committee’s questionable improprieties they turfed inquirers over to the chairperson of the committee, Reva Seybolt, who by her own admission stated that mistakes were made. This Harvard MBA claimed “she didn’t know” but apologized after the inquirer persisted.

So in this case of a politically expedient interest, this group was readily supported and given carte blanche by the elected officials, to process their agenda without an oversight to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability. Under the noses of all of us, they successfully managed to pass their ordinance without completely vetting the many questions that were asked by an interested few. Read the rest of this entry »

As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain’s choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.

The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her husband works in the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races snow mobiles. She is a life time member of the NRA and has worked tirelessly to allow indiscriminate hunting of wildlife in Alaska , particularly wolves and bears. She has spent millions of Alaska state dollars on aerial hunting of these predators from helicopters and airplanes, dollars that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska ‘s failing school system. We have the lowest rate of high school graduation in the country. Not all of you may think aerial predator hunting is so bad, but how anyone (other than Alaska wolf-haters, of which there are many, most without teeth), could think this use of funds is appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know more about the aerial hunting travesty, let me know and I will send some links to informative web sites.

She has been a strong supporter of increased use of fossil fuels, yet the McCain campaign has the nerve to say she has ‘green’ policies. The only thing green about Sarah Palin is her lack of experience. She has consistently supported drilling in ANWR, use of coal-burning power plants (as I write this, a new coal plant is being built in her home town of Wasilla ), strip mining, and almost anything else that will unnecessarily exploit the diminishing resources of Alaska and destroy its environment.

Apparently the photo submitted with this post was doctored. For more information go to http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/palin.asp Thank you mountainmom – Admin

Read the rest of this entry »

Yet again, to the thick-as-a-brick set, there IS harm if such task forces are used as a platform by people with the malevolent intent to attack the BOE. That has been the pattern for three decades. That is why Lisa Rapose, Ernie Wetzel, Preston Schultze, Steve Rosendahl all want one established. 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). I think if done without an axe to grind and executed properly, they can be used by the boards to assist in studying issues that our elected volunteers may not always have a chance to get to. I’m thinking of these task forces in broad terms, not in terms of setting one up only to go after the BOE and further harass them. If many folks in town felt that we needed a task force to only study the intricacies of Prop 46 (for example) I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I know you feel it’s a complete waste of time and that everything in Woodstock has already been study circled to death. I’m just of the opinion that a few fresh sets of eyes could possibly find something that was overlooked before. You don’t have to agree with me. As long as no taxpayer dollars are being spent on these task forces, I don’t find any harm in them. Again, that’s assuming that none of them be used to target or attack an elected board. I would not be in favor of that. Read the rest of this entry »

Regarding the query about the health care account, this 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.

The BOE is self-insured. An independent benefits advisor adjusts the required pool each year based on actual claims the previous. The independent benefits advisor is precluded by law from disclosing the cost, nature or beneficiaries of the claims. As a result. this account goes up and down every year. This is the cheapest way for the town to provide health insurance. Thats why they do it this way.

Demands for an ‘audit’ or ‘investigation’ are made up by people with mental disturbances obsessed with phony allegations of wrongdoing by the BOE.

Snuffy

It’s official. The Academy re-submitted their application to PZC for expansion of fields. Planning office reports that it looks like the same application with no changes. WPZC will meet next Thursday night, September 18th, and will probably set public hearing for October 21st meeting. PZC can open and close public hearing that evening and vote to approve following the hearing.

Construction on this development can then begin to meet deadline of opening Football game September, 2009! To all residents of Woodstock and sending towns . .  be forewarned — OPEN your pockets WIDE now.  This is coming hard and fast right at ya!

Concerned Citizen

Dateline: Woodstock
By Ace Cafe Reporter, Jennica Heifer 

Last night (fittingly 9/11) the Woodstock Society of the Disgruntled (WSOTD) gathered at the Inn on Woodstock Hill to share Hors D’oeuvres and learn how to attack the Woodstock School System just the way Al-Qaeda did seven years ago. This is of course why this particular date was chosen to launch this campaign. The meeting had to be moved to the Inn after a lightning bolt struck the East Woodstock Congregational Church.

The invited speaker was Armand Osama Fusco (known to friends as “Fussy”). Fussy is living an inspired second childhood teaching disgruntled citizens of many Connecticut towns how to harass their respective Boards of Education. The master of ceremony, Dave (I promise to sue the town) Richardson, introduced Mr. Fusco with a long-winded diatribe. What Mr. Fusco said can be found on the Internet so to avoid repeating a lot of hot air I will just recognize the attendees (tee-hee).

Card Carrying Members of the WSOTD: 

CPS/Coalition disgruntled
Jerry Ralston – downright angry man - and wife Jane
Ernest A. Wetzel – You Moron! fame
Preston Shultz – frequent BOE FOIA litigant – and wife Krysta
Joe Klusek – a staunch anti-McMasonite
Everett Cowley – anti-everything accept the war, of coarse
Craig R. Powers - frequent BOE litigant, the Cecil B. DeMill of Woodstock – and wife Sue
Dave Richardson – town litigant and misanthrope accountant
Avis Spalding – ?

Other BOE Antagonists
Lisa Rapose - of computergate fame and many rude diatribes
Suzanne Rosendahl – married to a CPS/coalition spy on the BOE

Non WSOTD Attendees:

Woodstock Academy Trustee
Paul Dennis Kelly (thanks for the correction Ms. Powers -Becki)

Lifetime Woodstock Moderator of all bad things according to Snuffy
Ed Higgins (rumored to be there but not visible) Word has it that Ed was in the church asking for forgiveness when the lightning bolt struck.

Board of Finance
George McCoy

Enigmatic People
Bill Sowka
Jack Mona
John Winstanley
Valerie Ietto

School Board Representatives
Carol Andrzeicik
Brian Musumeci

Cafe Admin
Becki Leavitt

Innocent By-Stander
Bill Andrzeicik

Reporters
Dustin Racioppi - reporter of local news at the Norwich Bull
me … Jennica Heifer (tee-hee) - Ace Cafe reporter
Sarah Hamby – from the Worcester Telegram (formerly with WINY)

If efforts to constitute a Task Force to look at the education budget are only just ways to attack the public schools or to create wedge issues, then no meaningful purpose will be served. On the other hand, if there is a sincere intent to work with the BOE and the BOE supports such an effort in a bilateral, nonpartisan manner, then benefit may be realized after all. I don’t know. I think the idea is interesting to discuss, but we’ll have to see if it would make sense to do once one learns the operational details of how it is proposed to be done. Discussing ideas is not the same as deciding to do them.

There should not be an a priori judgment that there’s something bad to be found with our schools, the BOE, or the Academy. Objectivity is very important. I myself have no special interest in the Task Force, other than wanting to see what’s best for our children in the public schools. Some inflated commentators may call that naive, but I call that realistic and pragmatic. I’m wise enough to understand the different politics in town. Such factors will be involved in anything that involves town government and our educational system, for good or for bad. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for as much objectivity as possible and to try to be as inclusive as possible in what gets done. That’s how we succeeded in doing things on the MFATF.

Remember: its the school kids, now and in the future, that are our priority focus. How tax money is spent is very important. But taxes spent wisely and responsibly on education do indeed reap more valuable benefits down the road. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that “taxes are what we pay for a civilized society”.

Jeff Gordon

The above comments are my own and do not in any many reflect upon any official statements of the PZC.

Spotlight on Education – September 2008

We welcome our students and staff back to school and the start of the 2008-09 school year. The classrooms are again filled with energy and the playing fields, school clubs and organizations are actively recruiting and engaging our students.  Spotlight on Education will again start publishing monthly as a forum to address questions from the community, and to highlight particular initiatives and accomplishments of Woodstock’s students.  We encourage parents and citizens to send your questions and ideas to asktheboard@woodstockschools.net.  We will try to address as many topics as possible.

The Woodstock Board of Education met in August to set its agenda for the year. With a guiding priority of advancing student achievement, the Board suggested action steps for each of its five goals:

1. Promote measurable academic improvement while challenging each student to reach their full potential.
2. Develop well rounded and creative citizens by promoting and assessing their physical, social and mental well- being
3. Promote the alignment of curriculum K-12
4. Improve student achievement through continuing improvement of quality instruction
5. Encourage community ownership of the Woodstock Public Schools.

Board members considered many possible actions towards advancement of these goals, discussed challenges, and identified where responsibility will lie for next steps. Our perspective benefited from citizen input.  As board members, we recognize that, in order to achieve continuous improvement in student success in our district,  our actions and responsibilities have to move beyond the still valid but entrenched problems of inadequate funding, energy and wage inflation, and the challenges of the No Child Left Behind federal requirements.  At our September meeting we plan to prioritize and finalize our targeted actions for the year.  A draft summary of proposed actions can be found on the school’s website and is incorporated in our minutes of August 29, 2008 (www.woodstockschools.net/board.htm). 

Our schools are made stronger by the active involvement of our parents and citizens. Regular monthly meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of the month at 7 pm at the WMS, and citizens’ comments are welcome. Our superintendent, Dr. Baran, is readily available and can be reached at 928-7453. We look forward to a busy and productive year.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

The terms “objectivity” and “subjectivity,” in their modern usage, generally relate to a perceiving subject and a perceived or unperceived object. The object is something that presumably exists independent of the subject’s perception of it. In other words, the object would “be there,” as it is, even if no subject perceived it. Hence, objectivity is typically associated with ideas such as reality, truth and reliability.

The perceiving subject can either perceive accurately or seem to perceive features of the object that are not in the object. For example, a perceiving subject suffering from jaundice could seem to perceive an object as yellow when the object is not actually yellow. Hence, the term “subjective” typically indicates the possibility of error.

From http://www.iep.utm.edu/o/objectiv.htm

Thus, perceiving an advisory committee as “forensic” could seem to perceive the subject as criminal when the object is not actually criminal. Hence, this subjectivity typically is fraught with error.

At a couple of MFATF meetings, I mentioned, as did several others, that perhaps in the future a similar type of objective, independent task force could focus on BOE budget issues in an advisory role. There has been some interesting dialogue here at the Cafe previously and recently about considering such a proposal. The selection criteria list may prove difficult to follow based upon what interest their is from the public to participate and that some people who may not “qualify” based upon a certain criteria item still would be quality people to have on such a task force. I think with any task force, the MFATF being no different, that we all would expect people to have particular views of things. But, I do think it is possible to get such groups working together toward the common good. Now, I’m not being naive, having learned more and more about things in Woodstock (and before that in Worcester) regarding local politics. I don’t profess myself to be an education expert. I focus a lot of time on my work on the PZC, the Board of the Northeast District Dept of Public Health, and the Wireless Communications Task Force (and also the MFATF). But, still, if there is a genuine sense among people and the BOE itself that such an advisory task force could help, then it is worth looking into to determine if such would be the case. One may find things are O.K. One may find they aren’t. Perhaps a better understanding of what the BOE is facing, doing, etc… could be beneficial. I agree there shouldn’t be a witch hunt. The fact that various people can discuss this type of idea is healthy for our community. Of course, a task force’s work is only so good in and of itself without its recommendations and findings being taken seriously.

I’m not saying or implying anything negative about the BOE. I am interested in what the BOE thinks about this idea. Whenever I think of the BOE, I am reminded of the awesome responsibility they have with providing the best quality education for our children. Everyone shares those goals.

A technical point: can the BOE appoint non-elected BOE people to serve on a task force or subcommittee? I don’t think any elected board can do that other than the BOS.

Jeff Gordon

The above comments are my own personal statements and do not in any manner reflect any official positions of the PZC.

This is an updated version of a proposal that the Cafe made in March 2006. Admin

The Cafe proposes that a committee of individuals be created for the purpose of carrying out an independent and objective review of Woodstock’s education budget.

This committee, composed of three to ten members, should be authorized by the Board of Education (BOE) to carry out its mission independently of the BOE with the exception of the BOE’s cooperation in exchanging information and providing clarifications as needed by the committee.

Nominations for appointment to this committee should be posted publicly on the Internet and in local newspapers as these nominations should be known to the Town citizenry.

It should be stipulated that nominees to the committee meet the following criteria:

(1) committee nominees and members should have no prior role with the BOE, the Academy, or the Woodstock school system;

(2) individuals who have conflicts of interest (lawsuits, vendors, contractors, etc) with the school system are disqualified as committee nominees and members;

(3) committee nominees and members should not have held Town office or appointment to any municipal committee or commission or be a member of any political party town committee;

(4) committee nominees and members should have some form of higher education or sustained experience in a profession; and

(5) no committee nominee or member should have a child entering into or currently within the Woodstock school system.

The committee members will be selected by the BOE after screening nominees for their experience and expertise.

The mandate of this committee will be as follows: (1) To complete a line-by-line review of current and proposed BOE budgets to determine appropriateness of all expenditures; and (2) provide an independent review of reasonable unmet needs of the school system. In completion of its mission, this committee will produce a written report annually to be published in a timely fashion on the Internet and in local newspapers.

This proposal is open for discussion.

With the evidence presented at Shultz’s FOI hearing in June we now know that Ms. Wholean used her office as First Selectman to collect information for Mr. Shultz to support his complaint. Then the negative verdicts for Powers and Shultz came down from the Court and FOI Commission. In Powers’ case the Judge used words like “pure folly”, (not) “sincere”, “disingenuous”, “baseless”, “shifted their argument”, and (lacking) “common sense” to characterize Powers’ case. This no doubt made Powers very angry. So his retort was to invite Armand A. Fusco to Woodstock to spread their common gospel at the local church.

Dr. Fusco’s gospel of corruption reads like a thesaurus of negativity - “breach of trust, bribery, crime, crookedness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, exploitation, evil, extortion, fraud, graft, malfeasance, nepotism, payoff, profiteering, tainted, unethical, untrustworthy and unscrupulousness“ – and rails against all education boards and associations in all states of the United States of America. Fusco asserts that Boards of Education should have randomly self-appointed “forensic advisory committees” and infers that these Boards are inherently criminal when he uses the word “forensic“. Indeed, many of his published articles have the word “Corrupt” or “Corruption” in their titles. This kind of predisposition undermines his credibility supposedly built on the higher degree of “Dr”. Any “Dr.” should know that you can’t have that type of bias if you are going to be objective.

We at the Cafe wrote about the idea of having an independent committee to evaluate the education budget because of it’s size and complexity more than two years ago in March of 2006. We proposed criteria for selection of such a committee unlike Dr. Fusco who says anyone can join … which can lead to political disruption and chaos.

“It should be stipulated that nominees to the commission (1) should have no prior role with the BOE or the Academy including candidacy for election to the BOE or the Board of Trustees of the Academy, (2) should never have run for Town office or appointment to any Town committee, (3) should have some form of higher education combined with sustained experience in a profession, and (4) no commission nominee should have a child entering or coming through the Woodstock school system.”

I saw Fusco’s hap-hazard approach in action at the first meeting to the MFATF Committee, a committee formed by Ms. Wholean after the Cafe article was published. A “little bird” spoke to a Board of Finance member who then passed the idea to Ms. Wholean. In Ms. Wholean’s case she accepted all who applied, and thus the first MFATF meeting had approximately 20 attendees nearly all with a political agendas. In this first meeting I heard one member state “I don’t like what the Board of Education is doing!” thus tossing objectivity out the window.  Few of the original members of MFATF would have qualified based upon the criteria above.

It’s a credit to Jeff Gordon Read the rest of this entry »

It has been said that the East Woodstock Congregational Church will rent or lend out their meeting hall to anyone. So the litigious folks at CPS and the WoodstockUntruth have scheduled a speaker, Dr. Armand Fusco, from the Swamp Yankee Institute to come to Woodstock for the purpose of trashing our school system. Litigants Shultz and Powers, along with their friends will be there to swap their conspiracy fantasies with any Woodstockians who wish to join them in this negative function. Mark your calander for 7:30PM Thursday night.

Just for the record The Woodstock School System is 162nd out of 169 Connecticut towns in PER PUPIL SPENDING according to the State Department of Education. This spending includes the cost of defenses against the failed lawsuits from Shultz and Powers. The town of Enfield, Fusco’s last victim, expended $1167 more per pupil than Woodstock which is equivalent to approximately $1,108,650 more spending for the K-8 school system.

Date: December 18, 2007

To: Board of Education Chairs, Superintendents of Schools

From: Robert Rader, Executive Director, Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE)
&
David Larson, Executive Director, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS)

Re: Dr. Armand A. Fusco, Yankee Institute

This letter is an “fyi” on an issue that has been raised in several districts.

Over the last year, Dr. Armand A. Fusco, now working with the Yankee Institute, has been attempting to speak to school boards and superintendents, claiming that “some degree of corruption is likely to be found in most school districts“. He has also been on the radio talking about his latest writing on the subject.

His definition of corruption is “breach of trust, bribery, crime, crookedness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, exploitation, evil, extortion, fraud, graft, malfeasance, nepotism, payoff, profiteering, tainted, unethical, untrustworthy and unscrupulousness“.

We believe that his charges are broad brush, unfair, unproven, untrue, and frankly, outrageous. His examples (he provides) are from other states with different fiscal and governmental structures.

Generally, we would not respond to such over-the-top, widely inaccurate and unfair comments but, it is hard to imagine a more one-sided attack on those who serve voluntarily as elected school board members and their staffs, who work tirelessly to ensure the best education possible for the State’s children. The attacks are so far removed from the reality of public schools that we see no common ground to even have a conversation on this subject.

We thought it important that you be aware of Dr. Fusco’s attempts to speak to school boards. His attacks and those of the Yankee Institute are relentless on the public schools and those who govern and administer the schools. Should you be approached, please feel free to call on us for further information.

(text of Memo is taken from http://ednews.org/articles/27775/1/An-Interview-with-Armand-Fusco-A-Simple-Audit/Page1.html )

“Thank you for the opportunity to again address this critical issue – it is one of my favorite topics to write about – and critical to the future of the town. Have a nice weekend, and I hope you stay dry!”

I really believe that most disagreements are the result of one person not understanding the other’s position. The basic problem here is you (speaking to Folsom) do not understand the Special Permit issue. Don’t feel bad, the PZC doesn’t either, so let me try again:

Once again, The Special Permit guidelines are the ONLY guidelines for review and approval of ALL commercial development in Woodstock – they ARE the Commercial Zoning standards. So it does not make any sense for you to say you are writing about one and not the other – they are one and the same.

That’s the entire point – and the problem. Because the standards contained in the Special Permit process are vague and selectively enforced, this structure for town-wide commercial applications constitutes an illegal “spot-zoning” scheme. As a result, the PZC cannot legally deny any commercial application. The result has been “Build Anything, Anywhere”. This is a fundamental stuctural flaw in the town’s zoning scheme. And the PZC – just like you – does not understand this problem. And if they do not understand the problem, they cannot address the problem. This is the FIRST reason for my skepticism.

Unlike you, I know all the PZC members of whom I have spoken – their views and dispositions. And like you, I have my own direct experiences – but far more than your one or two meetings. The history I have recited is true, and includes Republican Dottie Durst working AGAINST zoning by relentlessly attacking PZC member Ken Goldsmith for two years, when he was working on the new Zoning Code, culminating in her shocking fabrication that the PZC never asked him to undertake the task. Fred Rich has frequently spoken AGAINST any zoning or other land use controls. Dexter Young, the PZC’s top vote-getter, is AGAINST zoning believing that the current hodge-podge approach is the ONLY commercial development Woodstock can ever have. With Durst running the campaign, the Republicans campaigned and advertised AGAINST zoning. This is the SECOND reason for my skepticism. Read the rest of this entry »