Woodstock CT Café

See the Norwich Bull Article

At 7:30 p.m. Monday Woodstock Academy is launching a series of community meetings in Brooklyn to be held in the Brooklyn Middle School library.

The Academy notice says “your participation and frank input will be most welcomed as Woodstock Academy works to improve and continue providing quality educational and extracurricular opportunities for all students from sending towns…” This has come about after the Brooklyn Board of Education voiced concerns over the number of Brooklyn students transferring from the academy to Killingly High School. This issue apparently showed the Academy the need to maintain good communications because the student population is declining at the Academy. A Brooklyn town official said that the meeting is in no way a Board of Education endorsement of Woodstock Academy as its preferred high school.

In addition to Woodstock Academy, Brooklyn students can chose the new Killingly High School, Harvard H. Ellis Regional Technical School, Quinebaug Valley Middle College, Norwich Free Academy and Parish Hill High School.

From John

Eastern Connecticut State University Baseball Coach Bill Holowaty has been the head coach since 1967 – that’s 45 years. His record is 1382 wins, 515 losses, and 6 ties. Most recent years the team has had 25 to 35 wins. Holowaty is recognized nationally as one of the top college baseball coaches for all college divisions. In Mariah’s one year at ECSU ending in the spring of 2007, she was the team ‘manager’ – Holowaty’s assistant. The experience was all positive. The team won New England and went on to the World Series in Minnesota where they crashed and burned. Mariah travelled with the team to California-Arizona for the preseason in early March and then to the World Series in May. This was a great team with respectful players and a coach who expressed his appreciation for Mariah’s special contributions. I went to a lot of games that spring and saw his consistent behavior. Yes, at times he was a bully but a good bully if there can be one (he’s in the news in CT for having been accused of bullying some of his players; he’ll likely retire because of this). In the picture, Mariah is furthest to the left and coach Holowaty is furthest to the right. This was the afternoon they won the New England division III championship. Mariah was standing at the dugout and the guys waved her out to join the team picture. What a team.

From Fix46 (Steve)

It’s been some time since I sent out a note. Much has happened…and continues to. Most importantly, at the moment, is the current 2013-14 town budget process. There are only 3 opportunities remaining for you to have impact on the process.

1) the Board of Finance meeting tomorrow night (7PM, Town Hall) will include our (I am an alternate on the BoF) final discussion on the 2013-14 budget. The public comment portion of the meeting will be your opportunity to voice your concerns & wishes.

2) the Annual Town Meeting (Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 7:00PM @ Town Hall) where the budget will be discussed without a vote, but adjorned to

3) Referendum (Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 12:00pm – 08:00PM, Town Hall).

Of these 3 dates, the most important is the Referendum. Currently, unless the BoF makes a change to the budget (unlikely) tomorrow evening, the 2013-14 budget contains an increase of 0.5 mil. This is less than the 0.85 mil increase that would have funded the combined town/school budget requests. The BoF approved (4-2 with Lessig & Converse voting against….I was present, but not seated & voting) reduction from the requested budget includes the loss of school staff (1 life skills position/program) and other town & school cuts. The very important fact is this – if the current budget gets voted down at the Referendum on the 21st, the BoF has no recourse but to REDUCE the budget even more. In short, more programs & perhaps staff and town services will be cut.

Please make every effort to get yourself, family & friends to the polls on May 21st from noon-8PM to vote on the 2013-14 budget.

John Scaramone’s comment: “Where is the ‘pattern’ of abuse. It’s a sporting complex. Speakers, announcements, music, it’s all part of sporting events. The Academy is not breaking any law. The Academy has been in existence for over 200 years. Seems some one came afterwards and now demands that life plays according to their rules! I think not!”

From Marylou

With respect to your post (John Scaramone, Academy Lacrosse coach). We didn’t come afterwards. Although this is popularly if erroneously telegraphed through the Academy community. If you read former posts, you’ll see my repeated responses to the claimed WA history re: their long history is worthy of taking precedence in all things over the neighborhood in which they reside. I/we didn’t headline this post as “Pattern of Abuse,” the web master did. Please separate my post and the headline for accuracy.

During the public hearing of the WA’s application – one that was challenged by concerned citizens – there were repeated statements by Academy supporters that they ONLY wanted to play a PA system for 3 or 4 times during the fall for football games in the afternoon. Added to this was the refrain, “there will be NO lights.”

My understanding is that PZC now presents newly revise regs to allow the WA any type of tall lighting they wish to install while all other parts of Woodstock will remain, well, nicely and quietly in the dark .

Obviously, with recent loud PA along with fog horns for a Lacrosse games (with few spectators) on a rare warm April afternoon/evening, we know once again that nothing said by Academy supporters or our local PZC can be trusted face value. 

Who’s rules should we all follow? Ours? We’re not allowed any. Theirs? Always a moving target. Or maybe — a resulting, well-crafted listing of rules that both supports Academy sports events but also respects a quiet, residential neighborhood. Now, that would be novel. Stranger things have happened.

Loud PA’s, tall lights, and music may well be the norm in other towns but it isn’t here. Yet. Can you explain how grating PA’s, non-relevant music , or brash announcements, spur teams on to WIN games or even represent good sportsmanship? What lessons do we want to promote in young adults? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to instill respect for neighbors by not using loud PA’s or stadium lights? Woodstock Academy Seniors attend a Tea at Roseland Cottage each year when they graduate. They don jackets or dresses and do this because of history, because of respect they have for themselves, their school, and their community. Why can’t Academy teams win and be highly successful without PA’s and pole lights? This year’s Academy Basketball team surely did that in spades. And isn’t that just the best.

This is not the first time the Cafe has heard about this behavior on the part of Academy personel. Also, nearly all titles are created by Admin. Admin

From Marylou

Today, I finished up a challenging two-month project with long commute (to Wethersfield). I drove home early, thrilled with the warm day, anticipating the return home. I planned work in my gardens for an hour or two before ending work day. When I drove down the driveway, got out of the car — the Academy PA system was blasting the surrounding neighborhoods with indecipherable music, an accompanied announcer, along with a static rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Mood altered, I got a business call but had to go in to the house and shut the door because I couldn’t hear the caller in our yard. Later, a neighbor communicated that the noise was horrendous from their house – some distance away.

For those of you who are able to enjoy the peace and quiet of Woodstock or the NE corner of CT on this first, beautiful spring evening — enjoy it to its fullest.  It can be gone in one quick vote by your local Planning and Zoning Commission and you won’t be able to do a dog gone thing about it. Again, when Academy students are playing ANY sporting event — raised up is a joyful sound to our ears. But, when the PA is turned on and up, and non-pertinent, erstwhile music with brash, hard announcer overtakes our home — well, life is forever changed. Why is a PA necessary we wonder? It was never used at the Bentley Complex except for Homecoming game.

Soon, Woodstock’s Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on their revised Zoning regulations. This is important to all of us. Really, it is. I hope you will read these revised regs along with putting date of public hearing on your calendar – maybe attend or send in a letter re: to your thoughts/concerns. The draft will include the strike-throughs (of past language) along with new language. IMHO – Important is reading through the strike throughs to the new. The draft will be posted on the town web-site with a two month lead time before the Public Hearing.

Whereas we all care about the home we live in, we take comfort and rest within and also work to maintain, we need to take interest and responsibility in planning our town’s future with balance toward all needs. I do really believe that the more input in we have, the better off the community we will be now and in the future.

From John

means that the real reason they voted NO was that they wanted support from the Gun/NRA lobby for their re-election.

Melissa Ziobron [R; East Haddam] “It won’t stop evil people from doing evil things or criminals from committing crimes.”;-) And Daniel Rovero [D; Thompson] voted NO and said “I think we should have had a couple of days of public hearings”… “But it was all in one bill, and I couldn’t vote for it” … “I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on gun violence,” Rovero said .

[Mister Rovero and Ms. Ziobron, perhaps we should revoke the laws on (w)reckless driving, human trafficking, rape, homicide, robbery, extortion, sexual abuse; in fact, why not revoke all criminal laws because they don’t seem to prevent these crimes.]

Tony Guglielmo [R; Stafford] voted NO in part because “There is an economic component to this. Connecticut has a huge industry that produces fire arms and ammunitions. We have pride for our history in the firearms industry. We dedicated state money to make the Colt Complex in Hartford an historic landmark. There are 5,000 jobs in our state concentrated in the firearm industry .

[So Mister Guglielmo, it's all about the money. Isn't this what the partnership between the NRA and the firearm manufacturers is all about through funding and lobbying. Maybe we should arrange for more wars to spur further job growth.]

Linda Orange [D; Mansfield] voted NO because “I have learned over my lifetime that when dealing with an issue, it is best to separate emotion from the actual problem. Personally, I was disappointed to see a bill that exempts drug and alcohol from the 6-month look-back for voluntary commitments. The new law stops short of fully addressing important mental health issues.”

[So Ms. Orange, because of the 6-month look back exemption, the bill deserved a NO. Mental Health issues can be addressed on a wider scope, can't they. ]

Tim Ackart [R; Vernon] voted NO and said “While the bi-partisan task force on gun violence and school safety held many public hearings on the issue, the public was denied the opportunity to speak on the specific language in this bill – and that’s wrong.” “We also have to consider the number of jobs that are at stake with this legislation being enacted,” said Ackert. “Our state has a long history of gun manufacturing, and this bill sends a bad signal to the manufacturers that have provided our state with great paying jobs for decades.”

[Mister Ackart, you were elected to write the "specific language" not members of the NRA. For you, like Tony, it's all about the money, huh.]

[Chris Davis [R; Ellington] doesn’t explain his NO but it seems obvious that he is in Tony’s pocket since they give joint town meetings.]

Penny Bacchiochi [R; Somers] voted NO citing the increased number of banned weapons as one of the reasons behind her vote.

[Penny has her sights on the office of the Lieutenant Governor for the fall 2014 ticket and does not want to lose the support of the NRA/gun lobby and their funding.]


The following is the only statement Mike Alberts [R; Woodstock] personally makes on his NO vote:

“During the debate on the floor of the house, Rep. Alberts discovered a potential flaw in the legislative proposal pertaining to the permit process.”
“Under the bill’s current language, there appears to be a significant issue regarding the permit process,” said Rep. Alberts. “Under current law, an individual has 60 days to apply for his or her full permit with the Department of Public Safety after receiving the temporary permit from the municipality. Currently, if a person fails to apply for their full permit with the Department of Public Safety after 60 days, it is

From Formerly A Student

I have been looking through the WA BoT meeting minutes on their website, as seen here:

http://woodstockacademy.org/index.php/board-of-trustees/bot-meeting-minutes.html

I noticed that the link to the left, BoT Policy Manual, leads here:

http://policy.cabe.org/woodstockacademy/

Section 3250 of the WA policy makes reference to CT General Statutes with regards to WA providing access to public records. Interestingly, chapter 14, section 1-225, if I understand correctly, states that the agency is required to post meeting minutes within 7 days of that meeting on their website. Only until recently did any of the BoT minutes from this school year appear on their website. Also, they’re currently missing minutes from November and Decenter, as well as the ones earlier in the year. Only half the minutes are there for 2011-2012. Either they’re vary disorganized about posting the meetings, or they don’t care, or they don’t want the public knowing what was happening in the meetings. Even the minutes that are posted tend to be vague, I think. They should really do a better job posting the minutes in an organized, timely way.

Also, a while ago I found an article on here John wrote that stated the court ruled that WA was subject to FOIA (or at least to disclose the budget? I don’t recall the exact details). So, why hasn’t anyone requested a copy of their budget? This surprises me, since there are so many skeptics of the way they spend their money here. Just about every penny spent by K-12 is scrutinized, why not WA as well? I have no intention of doing such a thing myself, having recently been a student there and knowing firsthand that there aren’t many frills, but I would still like hearing from someone who has done it or will do it.

Today’s (March 23rd) Editorial in the Bull on the Team. Non-Woodstocker

Thanks to Non-Woodstocker for providing these names:”That is indeed this years State championship team holding the state championship trophy. (l to r) Sullivan Gardner, Ian Converse, Chris Lowry (front), John McGinn, Coach Smith (front), Jake Almquist (peeking through), Cameron Henry, (back), Kyle Deuthorn (immediate right of Coach), Trent Peters (front), Oliver Simon (behind Trent), Zachary Loughhead last on right (cutoff). Missing from this pic from the starting lineup is Tristan Welch and the injured Will Bourgeois.”

From John

The Woodstock Academy men’s basketball team won the State Championship Class L beating top-seeded Trinity Catholic of Stamford, winner of six state championships. The score was Woodstock 52, Trinity 49. I’m calling the team a mens’ team, not a boy’s team like in the poorly written articles elsewhere. The kids grew up a lot this season and this victory will stay with them for life.

Coach Greg Smith was quoted as saying “It’s kind of like a Cinderella story” comparing the win to the story and movie, “Hoosiers.” Exactly like that! There was reference to ‘a bunch of white kids, living in the farm land, who just came out of nowhere.’

The Centaurs ended with a record of 24-3. Trinity ended with a record of 25-3.

- Ian Converse, who is 6 foot 5, had a game-high 23 points with 11 rebounds.
- Sullivan Gardner had 8 points and 14 rebounds
- Chris Lowry had 11 assists and 5 points
- John McGinn, who is 6 foot 3, had 5 points
- Trent Peters added 3 points

Apparently WA came right at the Crusaders and took an 8-0 lead four minutes into the game. Then the game went to 25-25 with under a minute left in the first half. Then Lowry made a long 3-pointer with seconds left to give the Centaurs a 28-27 lead at the half.

Trinity took a one-point lead with over four minutes left in the game when Converse banked in a shot. Casimir missed a 3-pointer, and Lowry was fouled bringing the ball up the court. He made both his free throws. Welch followed with a 3-pointer to push Woodstock’s advantage to 49-43 with three minutes, 24 seconds remaining. WA’s lead was cut to 50-49.

Converse made two free throws with five seconds left before Casimir missed a long 3-point attempt before the buzzer. No worries, GAME OVER – Woodstock 52, Trinity 49.

Trinity Catholic’s impressive state finals history:
2013 (Class L): lost to Woodstock Academy, 52-49
2011 (M): def. Career, 57-51
2008 (LL): lost to Crosby, 82-79
2005 (I): lost to Crosby, 56-54
2004 (I): def. Crosby, 69-67
2003 (M): def. Kolbe Cathedral, 72-65
2002 (M): lost to Northwest Catholic, 45-43
2001 (M): def. Kolbe Cathedral, 63-54
2000 (M): lost to Northwest Catholic, 80-71 (OT)
1999 (L): def. Holy Cross, 63-44
1996 (M): def. Northwest Catholic, 69-63
1995 (M): lost to New London, 49-43

From Marylou

No, I like football and enjoy watching it with my son and husband (to Non-Woodstocker). My father went through school on a football scholarship — he played for West Point. He also coached football so much of my youth was spent on a football field. Happily, I add.

The area the new Academy field was built upon is a poor location for the use. So is the area of the original Bentley Fields. As far as maintenance costs, the jury is out on the new field. I know they’ve had to spend more and do more to mitigate the problems stemming from a section that is mostly wetland. In addition, there is limited access with no separate ingress and egress. There is no running water or bathrooms. There is inadequate parking and what parking exists — is far away from the fields making it tough for older people.

Again, I write — here is what I object to about football. It is the ONLY sport played in which a loud PA system is brought in to blast a field and as off-shed, a quiet residential neighborhood. They play horrible (so called) music very loud before games for some unknown reason . . ? How would you like to spend a golden fall day . . Would you want to live up wind to this?

High-schoolers, their coaches, their teachers and parents want to watch a local football game — not everyone in town does as the Academy was so fond of stating over and over again during the application process. Now, we can expect that the Academy along with PZC’s blessing will soon install the tallest and brightest stadium lights they can find so we have that to anticipate. Jolly. Would you want to live here? We like hearing the natural noise made by all teams and ALL sports. The sounds of shots going off, followed by cheering for track runners, the whack of baseballs hitting bats with subsequent cheers. Neither we, nor most people want to listen to loud PA’s or blink out from under blaring stadium lights.

But somehow football is special, isn’t it. Not properly enjoyed unless you have loud PA’s and Friday night lights. New schools are now built far outside of neighborhoods and towns, maybe because no one wants to live next to that. Progressive schools within residential and commercial neighborhoods install newly designed LED lighting that has little off-shed and protects dark skies initiatives. They also monitor the volume of PA’s. But not Woodstock! Oh no, no! PZC ushered a whip smart engineer out of their meeting when he tried to explain the benefits of installing this type of lighting. And why is that, you may wonder.

Because the Academy wants to run down property values while running off residents. They will only gain by purchasing homes cheap for dorms, etc. PZC wants to govern the Hill so that cute, quaint shops, restaurants and B and B’s populate the historic district. It’s all about the Academy with some speculation on $ from tourism. It all makes sense. It all sounds pretty ducky unless you happen to live here and have invested significant amounts of hard earned money in your property.

For all those regular Cafe readers, I apologize for the repetition of the whine. I just thought Non-Woodstock might have missed another side of the story due to football fervor. Go Centaurs!

From Non-Woodstocker

Thought I would revisit this topic in light of the tremendous SUCCESS of the winter athletic programs at the Academy. The silence on this board in that regard is remarkable, but not at all surprising. How very easy it was to deride and belittle the Academy and it’s athletics (and athletes by some of you!) when the football team was languishing through a difficult season. People jumping all over each other to question everything about the Academy from financial management to supposed emphasis on pitiful and unsuccessful athletic programs and facilities at the expense of science, arts etc. (A ridiculous assertion in the eyes of anyone who sees the academic success of Academy students).

Over the course of this winter season, the girls gymnastic team won their third straight CT state title, and finished 2nd in New England. The Cheerleaders won the ECC championship, Girls Basketball qualified for the State tournament for the first time since 2006, and the boys Bball team won the ECC Large school division championship for the first time in history and are currently enjoying a very good run in the State tournament, ranked #2 and playing in the semifinals later this week. I understand that to many all of this tremendous success is rather trivial, after all its all only silly games, but as for me, I salute the players, coaches and fans at/or the Academy on thier hard won victories and achievements – GO CENTAURS!

Wrap-up of the Boys Basketball season.

PS: They put down a new (used) floor for basketball in the gym. before everyone gets excited about where they got the money, it was raised by the Woodstock Foundation for the express purpose of replacing the existing floor. I believe $60k was raised in a very short time and no doubt that is going to drive quite a few of you folks crazy. I on the other hand think it’s terrific!

Champion WA Cheerleaders

From Ron

Reading the following article:http://www.theday.com/article/20130306/NWS01/130309746/1017 about superintendents and people of power excercising total control over their staff.

The key points of the article for me are when one of the review committee has to say that they are proud of the staff members that were willing to step forward and testify and document what turned out to be abusive behavior of the Groton Superintendent. When we look at all school systems (WPS, WA, Pomfert, etc…) I see that there is no way to have someone raise any issues about supervisors/superiors without suffering the full effects on their jobs. Within business and government we have had to create the ombudsman so that serious issues can be raised about abuse without fearing for one’s job and report what in my view a serious infraction. I have yet to see any of the school systems have a method/process to allow employees to raise issues.

Everyone at the high level of administration will talk about how their management processes do allow this, but when you start to talk to the teachers, administrators or staff away from the building, you will find out what is going on within the system. Many of the smart BoE members tend to create a pipeline with senior and trusted members of the staff to gain access to what actually happening within the system. If the BoE really want to find out what is happening I think they should find a way to create/use an Ombudsman type of service.

Here is an example. All names and locations are made up but may resemble details that I have been told by multiple staff members in school systems from different districts: When a school has a low test results and one of the grading of the school is based on students who are not promoted, would the senior administration of that school find a way to ensure that students or a particular student is passed? If the teacher is spoken to on a one-on-one bases with no one else available to verify the comments, and the teach is pressured/directed to pass the student(s) of the teacher would suffer some kind of career impacting consequence. What does that teach do? This becomes even more of an issue when you see teachers in the early stages of their career that are getting rave comments from their peers, all of a sudden told that their contract will not be renewed. This teacher was grading/teaching to the standard of “do the work or fail the class” but then is not asked back. Another example is if a fully tenured teacher has a couple of students (one might be the child of a prominent and vocal parent) that fails their course after being spoken to, then that teacher goes from teaching advanced placement courses to teaching classes at the lower levels next year.

 This kind of pressure/actions is happening at all schools in the area. Can Woodstock schools’ BoE find a way to set a standard to address these kinds of problems by enabling an Ombudsmen program?

If you think this is not happening within all of the school districts think again. This no-child-left-behind is creating many problems outside of that student not wanting to learn that should be addressed. The more I think about the number of hours our children are in the school system and getting taught both scholastic knowledge and ideological lessons from the adults that they are around for 7 hours each school day, don’t we want to ensure that they are being taught the correct lessons in life not those of office politics? If you don’t think the students have knowledge of this, think again. When a school is passing all of the students all of the time, and everyone in the class knows the grades earned don’t match the promotion list – who is kidding who. The students get this fast, and if the parents are not paying close attention, the students figure out what is actually needed to get out of the HS, but nowhere near enough to get by in business and life. I hope I am not missing the mark and have a Polly-Anna view of the world…

See the article in the Norwich Bull.

“Its one of the academy’s goals to accent international education,” Headmaster Kim Caron said. “Students are better educated in a multicultural, diverse kind of environment.”

If 80 foreign students are brought in in the next school year, this growth would equate to >$3.2 million in gross revenues at $40,000 a clip.

From the Norwich Bull

• Total Budget – $12.4 million
• Budget Decrease – 4.5%
• Tuition Increase – 3.72%
• Tuition  Charge -$12,134 per pupil
• Reduction in number of students from all sending towns except Union
• Six Sending Towns – Woodstock, Pomfret, Brooklyn, Eastford, and Union
• Expected Number of Students – 1023
• Total Tuition Lost – $943,112 (down 7.76%)
• Total Income from International and Day Students – $1.2 million
• Increase of $398,938 (up 42.61%)
• Estimated Number of foreign and Day Students – 30-40.
• Administrative Staff get a 2.5% reduction in pay.
• Reduction in 1.5 full time administrators.
• Reduction in 4.66 full time teachers.
• Reduction in 4 full time support staff.

Malloy proposes to remove a car tax on any vehicle assessed at $20,000 or less starting July 1, 2014. The car tax brings in about $500 million in combined revenue for Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns.