A Quiet Board Meeting

Ah, the fickle public.

Last month's Board of Education meeting may have roiled with political furor, but this month's meeting had more of a milquetoast flavor. Clocking in at just over an hour, it was one of the shortest and mildest public meetings I've ever been to. If only I'd brought my laptop, I could have gotten some work done on my novel!

The "controversy" at the center of last month's public hearing involved teacher-protest against a plan of new and substantial requirements on lesson plans. But the topic didn't even come up tonight, except for Chair Ted Raczka's remarks praising the teachers' efforts in coming out to comment last month. Perhaps that's a sign that some of the teachers' issues are being accommodated by the administration.

This time, the brief public session included the president of Local 466, who asserted that the school system shouldn't be outsourcing to local companies since his union "owns that work". Also, one parent spoke against the recently announced schedule change which will close the Middletown schools early, for one day a month starting in January (to make time for teacher training and planning). The Spencer kindergarten parent voiced her concern that families will have trouble balancing their work responsibilities with the new half-day each month.

After the public session, the Board focused their attention on the agenda, blazing through the committee reports. A few highlights:

•Snow School and Woodrow Wilson will be getting $50,000 worth of new carpeting in a few classrooms over winter break.

•Board Member Corinne Gill questioned Director of Facilities Ken Jackson about the status of various outstanding items at the new High School. Who, she wondered, has a list of areas that are still in progress? It turns out that a construction committee still meets every Wednesday morning in Principal Fontaine's office, overseeing the final items. The pool is now complete, the library is open but needs the finishing touches, and the auditorium is still in progress. And God help anyone at Middletown High who wants to know what time it is, because the clocks are not yet installed.

•The most in-depth discussion of the evening revolved around the problem of the acoustics in the new high school cafeteria. Because of the open kitchen design, the sound of the refrigerators and other equipment makes it hard to hear during after-school events, such as last week's sports banquet. A number of options were considered, such as a glass wall or insulating blankets to block the noise. In the end, Ken Jackson offered to bring the problem to the High School Building Committee to see if they want to propose any modifications to the new cafeteria.

•The evening closed with a debate about how to keep track of issues that have been raised but which are not yet action items. With all the moving parts in the educational system, it seems that items come up during discussion that the Board notes and plans to come back to at some future time. These items can get lost in the shuffle and the Board agreed a while back on setting up a system for follow-up, but apparently, they don't all agree on what system they are supposed to adopt. If I've got my party lines correct, it looked like the Republicans on the Board favored a system of keeping a running list of ideas at the bottom of the agenda page. The Democrats, however, were comfortable with an attachment or even an email note as part of the package, but didn't feel that it should be right on the same page with the agenda. The Chair intervened to table the item for a decision at some future time.

I have to say that for me, it was hard to concentrate with that 800-pound gorilla sitting in the corner. You know what I mean, right? It was even mentioned once, briefly, in the budget committee report. THE ECONOMY. According to the report that Corinne Gill gave at the meeting, the state is predicting a 12% decrease in educational cost sharing -- which is the aid they send to cities and towns to help pay for schools. For Middletown, this means about $2,038,000 less in funding for the school system. I've been hearing people inside the system talk for months about how deep cuts will have to be made for next year. Isn't that what we should be discussing right now, instead of waiting until the budget process in the Spring?