Board of Ed Approves New Principal At Woodrow Wilson Middle School

At this evening's regular Board of Ed meeting, Don Gates was introduced to the Board as the nominated Interim Principal at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. The former Principal, Charles Marqua, resigned in June for personal reasons. Gates was approved by the BOE, and has a long record of school service: 31 years as Principal of Portland High School, Interim Principal at Valley Regional High School, and additional work in East Hampton in the middle school and high school. Gates supposedly retired in 2006, but apparently hasn't been able to stay away for long: "I like a challenge and I believe there's one at Woodrow Wilson....I believe in a safe school environment and in consistency....kids are young people to be molded, not unfolded." Gates starts officially on Friday.

The only budget talk that happened at this meeting was a reference to Governor Malloy's "Plan B" for the state budget. "Plan B" is to be announced on Thursday, and BOE member Sally Boske urged the board to contact Middletown's representatives to ask that funding to localities not be cut (i.e. state funding to local boards of education). There was also discussion about the possibility of all the Vo-tech high schools being closed as a cost savings measure, but Superintendent Michael Frechette said that option is now off the table. In the event it's not, Middletown High School would have to absorb about 120 students if Vinal Tech closed.

In big environmental news, Middletown is getting a second hybrid school bus. This makes Middletown the only town in the state with two, and BOE Chairman Ted Raczka is thrilled that he has "one-upped" New Britain. In case you missed the news about the first bus, you can read the details here.

The results on this year's CMT (Connecticut Mastery Test) are not in yet, but Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges did tell the board that the district would be revising its District Improvement Plan for the next three years. If Middletown meets Adaquate Yearly Progress (APY) this year, it will be off the "Needs Improvement List" for No Child Left Behind, but that doesn't mean that improvements don't still have to be made. "We've made the instructional changes we need to for the population as a whole, but we need to focus more specifically on the 'economically challenged' group to help close the achievement gap," Senges told the BOE. "We're not helping the free and reduced cost lunch population enough, and we need to work more at reaching this group of kids." This means Middletown will change the data it is collecting and it will focus on the grade level, not the school level. Senges did confirm after the BOE meeting that this will mean LESS work for teachers, not more.

Acting Police Chief Patrick McMahon spoke to the BOE about the School Resource Officer (SRO) Program at MHS, echoing the praise of Principal Robert Fontaine. Chief McMahon offered a third SRO for Woodrow Wilson Middle School, saying he'd like to be able to select an officer for training this summer so the program can start in the fall. Superintendent Michael Frechette told the Board that he'd begin a discussion with WWMS's new principal to see what could be done.

BOE member Sally Boske is not running for re-election in November, and there was some discussion about volunteers to take her place on representative boards outside the district. FYI, there are five positions on November's ballot for the Board of Ed, and rumor has it there may be more than one open spot. The deadline to declare candidacy is July 11.