Woodstock CT Café

This is for those of you who attended the Town meeting where Doug Porter stood up and with the support of the moderator and of course Mr.Young of CME. They discredited the statement about how the town should take into consideration the upkeep and moderating of wetlands after WBA construction and CME engineering disturbs them from a Wetlands Representative. He suggested (that the town should do this) before (new houses?) are considered for approval and maintained by the town.

Then with the support of the town clique a vote was made to add to the responsibility of the highway department to approve a road that only had one completed house on it. So now we have to support it (with our tax money) as well. Just so The OLD Guard can continue the futuristic urban blight of poorly constructed mansions and poorly irrigated cul-de-sacs like Crab Tree Lane.

Example: The next time there is a heavy rain just take a ride and look at the river I have to go through to get to work caused by CME filling in the wet lands. Look what they did to the people who live on Peake Brook Lane. Your zoning committee, building inspector and Zeo should be ashamed of then selves.

Maggie

The white building is Saw Mill Pottery across Route 171 from the Fairgrounds

Intersection of Route 171 and New Sweden Road

Stables looking South from Route 197 a quarter mile east of Route 169. Barry Silver’s old place.
Read the rest of this entry »

Research demonstrates that the early years of a child’s life are extremely important and often determinative of future success.  During these years, children develop a broad base of knowledge, cognitive and social-emotional skills. These are years of rapid brain growth, when a child’s brain reaches 90% of its adult size.  Without adequate support, from good maternal health and prenatal care, to appropriate childhood stimulation and early education, children can fall far behind in their academic and social skills before they even reach kindergarten. Children provided with high-quality preschool development and educational activities, at home and in other environments have substantially increased chances of succeeding in school and in life.  Research correlates these activities with a decreased likelihood of being held back a grade, of needing special education and an increased rate of graduation from high school.

      The Woodstock School District becomes actively involved in each child’s education at an early age.  In an effort to provide families a comprehensive list of the early childhood education programs available in the Woodstock district we have assembled a list of programs below.  For further information about any of these programs or for a copy of the state endorsed school readiness standards, please feel free to contact Mrs. Lustila at the Woodstock Public Schools.
  

Every year, each of the three Multi-age classrooms performs the play “The Feast of Thanksgiving.”  This year the students transformed the school lobby into a Pilgrim Village set in the year 1621.  The “olders” (second graders) were the Pilgrims while the “youngers” (first graders) were the Native Americans.  The students memorized their lines and learned how to project their voices while developing stage confidence and poise during numerous rehearsals.  Each year the students alternate studying the Pilgrims and the Native Americans so that when they leave Multi-age classroom they have studied both units.  The Multi-age classrooms have performed this play for the past 12 years and each year it helps the students experience the reasons why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  For example, the students enact how the Pilgrims survived with the help of Squanto and his friends and learn what types of foods the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims harvest.  Just before Thanksgiving, 66 students performed in the three play performances. 

      This year, the Thanksgiving lessons were brought to life through a reenactment by “Mr. Edward Winslow” who spoke to the Multi-age classrooms about life for young people on Plimoth Plantation in 1621.  Gratitude is owed to the Woodstock Education Foundation for funding this enriching experience.

      Thank you to Mrs. Roccisano, Mrs. Robbins and Mrs. Ribaudo as well as the students, parents and the Woodstock Education Foundation for making the Multi-age Thanksgiving plays so successful.

I am curious that Rebecca Hyde has suddenly developed such an interest in the WPS teachers salaries and benefits, and that she is slipping notes during BOE deliberations about difficult economic conditions to BOE member Kirsten Rigney.

Kirsten Rigney is the daughter of Academy Trustee and Treasurer Phillipa Paquette, and Rebecca Hyde is the daughter of former Academy Trustee Elizabeth Hyde, who is credited with passage of special state legislation for the bond package that was used to expand the Acadent twenty years ago. Rebecca’s mother is honored with a bronze plaque and fountain in the lobby of the Academy auditorium named in her honer.

So my question is, has Rebecca Hyde been equally active in warning the Academy Trustees of the economic downturn she foresaw based on her review of nationwide mortgage statistics, and in presenting her concerns to the Academy that they consider this in their review of the Academy’s contract with their teachers union?

Moreover, perhaps Rebecca could present an overview of the Academy’s contract with their teachers union together with her opinions as to their earning of benefits, hours worked, sick and vacation time, and medical co-pays?

Perhaps Rebecca, with her impressive economic soothsaying, could present a more objective comparative analysis of both the Academy’s salary/benefit structure, which compares very favorably with other area high schools, and the K-8 salary/benefit structure, which compares very unfavorably? Following Rebecca’s suggestion, in these difficult economic times, it sounds like the town could save money by taking the Academy’s teacher’s union to arbitration, as they are paid higher than their peers; and it sounds like the town would lose money by taking the K-8 teachers union to arbitration.

I suggest Rebecca and her pal Kirsten get right on this and publicize the results.

Que Pasa?

Two days ago, 1009 Cafe URLs were clicked (Cafe homepage, article title, read more, comments) by 376 visitors. Below, the numbers on the left represent the number of clicks on a specific article (title, read more, comments). These differences have to do with interest in the article, when the article was published, and the number of comments. The most clicked article appears to have legs. Some of these articles were only put up late yesterday so interest in the most recent articles will continue to grow. These numbers are constantly changing.

98 starving-the-k-through-8/
51 woodstock-teachers-get-a-contract/
38 from-rebecca-hyde/
38 changes-in-the-teachers-contract/
35 kevin-explains-the-implications-of-rejecting-the-teachers-contract/
28 from-an-academy-student/
22 canterburys-going-to-the-dogs/
19 from-maggie/
17 air-quality-at-northeast-ct-schools/
14 giant-fart-pervades-over-most-of-woodstock-officials-probe-source/

Yesterday the Cafe had 412 visitors and 798 page turns. Here are the top 10 articles clicked yesterday.

125 kevin-explains-the-implications-of-rejecting-the-teachers-contract/
68 starving-the-k-through-8/
55 from-rebecca-hyde/
40 air-quality-at-northeast-ct-schools/
16 woodstock-teachers-get-a-contract/
15 telling-it-like-it-is/
24 changes-in-the-teachers-contract/
12 from-an-academy-student/
7 friday-night-lights/ 
5 top-10-clicked-articles-yesterday-dec-8/

You don’t have to click the last article to see the whole article and there are no comments.

Yesterday’s Visitor Map Read the rest of this entry »

This is an interesting discussion (Rebecca’s article below) to bring up because it is important for the taxpayers to realize the implications of what will happen if the contract is shot down by the town. I think most of us understand what letting the contract through means.

So what would happen if the town rejected the contract? This isn’t like a normal contract negotiation where we will just go back to the bargaining table and bring up any issue we want. This isn’t even like a normal collective bargaining session. This is what will happen.

1) We will be sent to collective bargaining. This will cost the town and the teacher’s association tens of thousands of dollars each in legal and other fees. My understanding is that it will cost the town well north of $50,000. So whatever financial benefit the town gets it has to be more than the cost of going to arbitration to be worth it, a difficult hurdle.

2) The arbitrators will only consider issues that were brought up earlier in the bargaining process. Our initial proposals went on the table mid September before the economy experienced problem so there is no way to put on the chopping block many of the benefits you were talking about. What will be on the table? The year over year salary increases and teacher’s insurance payment portion and the other things I mentioned changed.

3) Each party puts up its last best offer and the arbitration panel picks one or the other for each issue.

4) To help them decide the arbitrators look at what each town can pay, not what it wants to pay. This is particularly dangerous for the town Woodstock. Prop 46 makes us unique and I don’t think the town has a particular interest in finding out if the arbitration panel thinks prop 46 represents what we can pay or just what the town wants to pay. Of course the economic situation is worse now so it may be a wash in the short term. But whatever decision on prop 46 is made will come back in future bargaining sessions. Read the rest of this entry »

The data below and explanation for the data was taken from today’s USA Today article

Air quality is something we all take for granted or never think about unless you live in Elizabeth New Jersey or Weirton West Virginia or have read our Key Smile article “Giant Fart” . I found the data for Northeastern CT intriguing because even though we live in a rural environment, the highest air quality we achieved at NE CT school locations was only 73-74th percentile, shown below for Woodstock and Eastford and other neighboring town public schools.

The method of compiling of this data is described in the blockquote at the bottom of this article. These ratings are based upon assessments of 127,800 schools across the nation. Surprisingly public schools in southwestern Fairfield county (Rowayton my alma mater, Darien, Stamford and Greenwich) on Long Island Sound ranged from the 80 to 83 percentile even though these towns are only 42 to 30 miles from the New York City megalopolis.

Putnam schools’ air quality was lower ranging from 52 to 62 percentile. Even more shocking is the air quality around Killingly schools in Dayville and Danielson where the intermediate school students breathe at the 3rd percentile.

Why is it the Woodstock is not in the 80-90 percentile? I guess larger forces are at work.

Also, the air quality goes down, the closer you move toward the Academy. Maybe this is a function of the sewer and port-a-potties at the Academy…or something else . 

Read the rest of this entry »

When the Woodstock town budget came up for vote last spring, we were told by the Board of Education that they had very little leeway in their budgeting, due to contractual and state mandated obligations, fuel costs, etc.  At the time I wondered what discussion would take place when the teachers’ contract came up for renewal. 

Friday, December 5th, a legal notice was placed in your paper (the Villager) which informed us that the Town Clerk had received a signed contract between the Woodstock Board of Education and the Woodstock Association of Teachers.  The contract was filed November 26th, and the terms are binding unless a special town meeting is called and convened by December 25th. 

The contract is posted in full on the woodstockschools.net web site, in the Board Members and Information section under the Board of Education heading of the District drop down menu.  Hats off to a local blog ( ) which posted this guidance, making it easy to locate. 

Our teachers are given all the benefits any good employee deserves:  15 days paid sick leave mandated by the state, which rolls over from year to year if not used.  A PPO health insurance plan with a $20 copay for office visits and $5 for generic prescriptions.  The employee pays 15.5% of the cost in the year ending July ’10, 16.5% in FY ’11, 17.5% in FY ’12, with an option to opt instead for a cheaper Health Savings Account plan to which the Board will contribute $1,000.  There is life insurance coverage, access to retirement annuities, arrangements for bereavement leave, personal days, funds and time off for professional development, some tuition reimbursement, full pay during jury duty, and arrangements for paid leave on the birth or adoption of a child.  The teachers are expected to work 189 days per year, 7 hours per day on site with 30 minutes off for lunch.   

The pay scale for fiscal year ’10 ranges from $38,692 (beginning salary with a bachelor’s degree) up to $72,143 (top salary for an individual with further education beyond a master’s degree), not including stipends.  Currently (FY ’09) there are 74 teachers in this program, most of whom (59) have master’s degrees.  In FY ’10 32 teachers will be eligible for the highest pay level for those with masters’ degrees:  $68,412.  Salaries are arranged in 13 steps for each degree level;  presumably an individual advances one step each year.  Raises range from 1.6 – 2.3% for an individual staying at the same step from year to year (those already at top salary).  For those moving from one step to the next, most raises are scheduled at around 6% per year.  Because so many teachers are already at the highest step for their degree, the total increase is under 4% per year.    Read the rest of this entry »

The teachers contract can be viewed and downloaded at www.woodstockschools.net .

I think you will find the year over year increases in this contract are reflective of the nation’s financial situation in October of this year. I don’t have the exact percent increases in front of me but you can easily calculate them. All steps increased the same amount.

So everyone doesn’t have to read through every page I’ll call out some of the more interesting changes:
1) Step one was removed from the pay scale. Our maximum steps were in range but our lowest step was, well out of step with the surrounding communities. We don’t currently have anyone on that step so it will only have a financial impact if we hire new teachers on step 1. (Be careful if trying to calculate the year over year increases because of this; what was step two in 2008-2009 is step one in 2009-2010.)

2) The BOE and union agreed to incentive programs for tuition reimbursement and a stipend for national board certification. The board tried to get them to agree to a Praxis incentive and a few others but for whatever reason they did not want them.

My perspective is that the incentive programs are designed to be mutually beneficial to teachers and the school system. They receive extra financial benefit for participating in things that bring benefit to the school system. As an incentive I didn’t see the downside for the teacher’s association. You would have to ask the teacher’s association for their perspective as to why they didn’t want them as I don’t want to talk for them.

3) There was a provision added for leave for adopted children.

4) There were 10 minutes added to the teacher’s work day as instructional time.

5) Starting on page 16 you can see the teacher’s contribution to the health care plan increasing year over year.

6) An important change was in the type of medical benefits. In previous contracts the mix of promised medical benefits was non-standard and didn’t match up with normal plans. That’s why every time the board has looked into self-insuring vs. outside insuring it was always less expensive to self insure. Trying to get an outside company to create a custom plan was prohibitively expensive.

With this contract the benefit mix is much more standardized to what commercial providers have. We will be forming a joint committee with the teacher’s association to look into getting the best plan for the system. We hope with a more standardized benefit offering that the results of a plan search will be much more beneficial to all parties involved than past inquires. Read the rest of this entry »

“There is no free lunch” – Milton Friedman

The Academy’s fiscal structure, and actions of the Trustees over many years, make it clear that the Academy is in fact starving the K-8 system.

First, the Academy used its political connections at the State level to quietly gain unlimited and unchecked access to the town’s tax funds, subordinating the funding needs of the K-8 system along with all other funding needs of the town.

Second, the structure of the Board of Trustees carries the pretense of inclusion through the sending town representatives participation in its Executive Committee, except the Executive Committe has no designated powers.

Third, the Academy for over a decade has attracted to its Board and politically supported leaders of Citizens for Prudent Spending (recently reincarnated as “Woodstock Truth”), who have tirelessly attacked the public schools with false allegations of financial waste. Having escaped the fiscal limitations of the Prop 46 tax cap, the Academy now uses its supporters as a political weapon against the public schools.

Twenty years ago, the Academy used special state legislation – and the town’s bonding authority – to undertake a massive expansion of it facilities, student base and staff. Now, before the taxpayers have even finished paying for the last expansion, the Academy has established its next major expansion goals – the $2M sewer project; the $6M athletic field; and the $13M science center. This will all be funded by the town’s taxpayers – and inevitably at the expense of the K-8 educational system.

Changing these things is going to require more than “transformational diplomacy”. It is going to require legal changes to the Academy’s unique funding and governance structure. Having created a structure for themselves that is accountable to no one, the Trustees are unlikely to hire a new headmaster who even thinks of changing any of this.

Snuffy

The following submission and inquiry came from a Café reader. The source of the information was the most recent (12/5) Villager. – Becki

LEGALS
Legal Notice
Town of Woodstock
Receipt of Contract Between Woodstock Board of Education and Woodstock Association of Teachers ~ July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2012

Pursuant to section 10-153d, subsection (b) of the Connecticut General Statutes, on November 26, 2008, the Woodstock Board of Education filed with the Town Clerk of Woodstock a signed contract between the Woodstock Board of Education and the Woodstock Association of Teachers. The terms of such contract shall be binding on the legislative body of the local or regional school district, unless such body rejected such contract at a regular or special town meeting called and convened for such purpose within thirty days of the filing of the contract.

Attest: Judy E. Walberg, Town Clerk of Woodstock – December 5, 2008

What are the terms of the new three year teachers’ contract? What kind of pay raises are included? Is there any cost sharing of health benefits? What is the increase in cost to tax payers?

So now it appears that we have a contract with our local teachers’ union. As always the devil is in the details, so I can hardly respond to the questions that accompanied the submission without more information.

A quick check to the Woodstock Public Schools’ website <http://www.woodstockschools.net/> revealed a downloadable (not sure that is a word, but you know what I mean) PDF of the contract. Use the ‘District’ drop down menu tab, go to ‘Board of Education’, then select ‘Board Members and Information’. The 2009-2012 contract is at the bottom of the center section.

The PDF is 42 pages long, so there is no way I can attest to each and every detail. Much of it seems to be normal boiler plate contract sensibilities (i.e. definitions, procedures and authority delineations). What I did absorb seems fairly reasonable. I don’t have a copy of the contract that is set to expire at the end of June so I am unable to provide a comparison.

Below is the current teachers’ salaries and steps from the current budget for a base of comparison. I may be able to track down a copy of the current contract and will provide it for everyone’s reference when and if I’m successful. Between this and the PDF we should all have enough to mull over for awhile.

By Emily Abysinnian

Canterbury, Conn. — Many of the 35 fat cats, Swamp Yankee mutts and several pure bred hounds from Canterbury’s more fashionable district showed up at the Canterbury town bark and meow fest Thursday night to howl and yowl in favor or against a proposed dog pound ordinance that would reopen the town’s facility. The mutts and hounds are the same pack that has spoken out against more funding for the local library (see “Canterbury’s Lidoggery”).

The dogs have been peeing all around Canterbury to have a say on the pound since July, when the town switched to a regional service provided by the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments to save taxpayer money by cutting the budget. However, six separate paw print petitions on the matter were submitted to town officials.

This canine pack and a dissenting group of felines will vote on the proposed ordinance, which could reopen the local dog pound, effective July 1, 2009, at a Dec. 16 referendum. Read the rest of this entry »

December 4, 2008

Dear Parents/Guardians:

As you may know Mr. Richard Foye will be retiring as Headmaster of Woodstock Academy at the end of the school year. The Board of Trustees of the Academy is in the process of searching for a new leader, and requests your participation in this very important effort.

While the Trustees have the final responsibility of selecting and appointing the new Head, they feel that broad community representation will enhance the process and help to insure that the best person for the position is chosen [boldfaced by 'A student'].

We would like to cordially invite you to meet with our research consultants, Dr. Mary Lou Bargnesi, and Dr. Doug Lyons on December 16, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. in the Bates Auditorium, to learn a bit about the process, and share your thoughts about the abilities and characteristics you would like to see in the new Headmaster, and what you believe the community needs [boldfaced by 'A student']. The schedule for the focus groups in on the reverse side of this letter (see below).

It would be helpful for us as we plan, if you would call the Main Office at the Academy at 860-928-6575, to let us know if you can attend, and at which session. You may also leave a voice message with Mrs. Kristen Willis, at extension 152 after 4:00 p.m. Should you be unable to attend the 5:00 pm. session please feel free to join any of the other groups marked with an *(Keep in mind that this is directed towards parents and the 5:00 p.m. session is for parents – A student)

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the search committee let me thank you in advance for your willingness to take part in this very important process. We appreciate both your time and your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Sandra Fredrickson, President
Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees
Read the rest of this entry »

Again! Pleeease stop trashing our neighborhoods. We are fed up!….4500 pieces of trash delivered weekly or 234,000 pieces of trash delivered per year in Woodstock alone.

Fran Smith’s statement was posted at the Cafe on December 1st as follows: “…(the ReminderNews is) delivered by our carrier in a rubber band to the driveway (not the lawn, gutter, or road). …Our carriers…are instructed not to deliver a ReminderNews to a home if the previous paper has not been picked up. I urge all readers of this to call our office if you do not wish to receive delivery of our newspaper. We will honor all stop requests. In addition, if you ever see a newspaper delivered into a gutter or road we would love to know the address so we can address this with our carriers.”

I took up Fran’s offer to call the Reminder and cancel my ‘subscription’ for delivery to my two properties right after her statement was posted. I talked to a very nice, attentive lady who took down both addresses and stated that delivery would cease. I stopped thinking about it until I drove home from work early today. As I passed the littered driveways the thought never entered my mind that I would be trashed too. Sure enough, there it was barely on my driveway, the onorous Reminder package in almost the same place as the picture on the lower left. Last week the Reminder was delivered to my other address on Saturday so we shall see.

So Fran ‘lied’. And what is this about not delivering the Reminder to the gutter, Fran. Look at the picture at the lower center and tell me what you see. I came from a fashionable neighborhood where they fine people for littering the streets. We should implement such a fine in Woodstock rather than let anyone automatically deliver trash to our doorsteps. If there are 2000 deliveries and the fine is $50, then the town would receive $100,000 a week until the trashing ceases (hmmmm…could help pay for the new salt facility).

When I come home early on a Friday I usually take the trash to the dump before it closes like I did today. I have to admit that I hesitated because we are low on toilet paper.

On a weekly basis, a delivery of the Reminder News and other ad rags is thrown haphazardly out of a delivery vehicle window by the thoughtless driver many times missing the intended property. On a weekly basis I have to pick up this trash from two or three residences and take it to the dump. Even discarding this trash at the dump is a hassle if you are environmentally conscientious. These rags are delivered in a plastic bag, inside another plastic bag, and the Reminder is encased in a third layer of plastic. Sorting all of this out to get the paper and the plastic into the right dumpster is a complete nuisance. Some residents are so digusted, or so don’t care, that they just let this trash sit on the side of the road until it’s blown away (into the woods) by the traffic.

There should be a law in Woodstock prohibiting this kind of delivery. The approach of phoning the phone the Reminder (774-8877) to tell them how you feel, or contacting them at their website (www.remindernews.com) and tell them to stop trashing Woodstock, or writing them a letter (112 Wescott Road, Danielson CT 06239) apparently does not work. If this activity does not cease, the residents of Woodstock need to take municipal action against the Reminder News.