Mayor's Update on Snow Removal

At 11:17 am this morning, I received the following pre-recorded phone update from Mayor Dan Drew, just as the plow was finally getting to our street.  We live way out in Westfield, off Atkins Street, and I knew we were not anywhere close to the top of the plowing priority list.  Just the same, it was a welcome update from the Mayor, and it was just plain fun to watch a "super plow" do its work!  Hopefully, you received the same phone call, but here's the text reprinted, and it is posted on the City's website as well.

Board of Ed Hears Redistricting Update and Facilities Report

The most "exciting" elements of Tuesday night's Regular Board of Education meeting have been covered in previous posts, so this update will just cover the more mundane topics that still deserve some attention.

During the discussion before the Board's vote to use April vacation to make up snow days, BOE Member Sally Boske asked if there was any flexibility in the scheduling of CMTs. Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges replied that other than fixed date tests, all other tests have to be completed by March 31 (this includes make-ups). Normally, the elementary schedule begins the first week in March with the fixed date writing assessment on March 8. However, because of all the snow day schedule disruption, the CMT dates have been moved to later in the month. A letter to parents with these new details is coming home soon.

The administration is putting together a committee to look at the school calendars for 2011-12 and 2012-13. This group will consider the issues caused by this year's weather as it works on what the next two years will look like. Ultimately, the BOE has to approve the calendar, but there will be a deliberate discussion about ways to handle snow/make-up days, and if the current method is the best choice.

At the last BOE meeting, members asked for an update on redistricting, and Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges gave a verbal update (a written one coming soon, didn't have it done in time due to time spent on analyzing substitute requirements if Feb. vacation was cancelled). The quick update is that some schools did a student and/or parent survey, and "everyone seems to be happy" with where they ended up. At Farm Hill, for example, of those surveyed:

• 96% felt welcome
• 96% felt the staff was supportive
• 94% said their children liked to come to school
• 96% said the school was meeting their expectations
• (the total number of surveys was not known)

There were no cases reported of anyone asking to go back to the school they came from. At Moody school, it was reported that parents are happy to have a computer room back, and they're happy about not having to attend two different assemblies (because of previous overcrowding limitations). Attendance at all school activities district wide is up, and Senges also commented that there is "high quality instruction and the climate is positive."

Macdonough Principal Jon Romeo was asked about how redistricting has affected his school and if the racial balance numbers are within compliance. Romeo replied that Macdonough had two separate challenges: first, that 50% of the student population was new to the school this year, and second, that he was merging five different populations of students into one new group (students were redistricted to Macdonough from five other elementary schools). Despite these significant challenges, though, Romeo said the school year was going well, and that Macdonough is well within the racial balance limits. Furthermore, the vast majority of students who had to leave Macdonough went to Spencer, and according to the reports he's received, these families "felt loved" by their new principal and school community.

The administration will continue the District Improvement Plan for a 4th year just because all pieces of the plan have not yet been implemented. Middletown had to develop this plan as a result of its identification as a district "needing improvement" according to CMT scores (but note that 2009-10 scores placed Middletown in the "adequate yearly progress category). Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges was asked specifically about how "differentiation" is taking root in the district. Senges replied, "Everyone is in a different place regarding differentiation....By the end of this year, everyone will be technically proficient, but I don't think that will actually be the case....I would be overjoyed if that was the case, but I don't think so. We don't have enough professional development time or materials to get this done any faster." [Author's note: differentiation is teaching students at their level of understanding, not just a generic plan for the whole class. So, using the same subject, more advanced students are given different materials/assignments than students who are struggling with the material. All the student, though, are still in the same class together. Given the fact that the District is systemically eliminating leveling (that's classes grouped by ability) ) because teachers are supposed to be able to differentiate their instruction, hearing that "everyone is in a different place" isn't exactly confidence inspiring in the decision to eliminate leveling."]

The rest of the meeting was mostly devoted to Facilities Director Ken Jackson's status updates on snow clearing and structural integrity: "Our buildings are in fine condition....At no time was there any danger of structural failure or collapse in any structure in our schools." Here's a quick timeline of what's been happening:

• Prior to last week, snow clearing was done by in-house staff.
• On February 3rd, Michael J. Turner Enterprises, LLC was retained to clear snow from roofs. The company freed all of its crews to attend to snow removal and 40-60 men each days worked to clear snow.
• On Friday night (2/4), 2 structural engineers were retained to evaluate all buildings. The official report is available here.
• The intention of snow removal is to keep the amount of roof snow below the maximum load amount, not "to remove every snowflake." Every school roof is designed with a 20-30% safety cushion above what code requires, so as long as drains are clear and major drifts are removed, all snow doesn't have to be removed.
• Friday (2/4) was the worst day of stress on roofs, and the cracks noted in the drywall at Moody, Bielefield and Macdonough were a sign of the roofs flexing as they were designed to. The decision to evacuate Moody and Bielefield was made by each principal as a precaution for student safety. Jackson stated, "I ultimately think we could have been in school all day with no problems, but I won't criticize the decision each administrator made given their circumstances."
• On Monday, 2/7, at about 1:30pm, Laurence School was evacuated due to the smell of gas. The supply of gas to the school was turned off, and it was determined by the fire department that students could return to school and finish the day normally. The snow cover on the gas pipes on the roof had to be cleared to reveal a crack in one of the pipes, and once that was repaired, a system check was done and everything was restored to normal.
• Farm Hill School had minor flooding on Tuesday, 2/8. Superintendent Michael Frechette commented, "Our buildings are going to leak. They're old. If your house is leaking, we have a million square ft. of roof and it's probably going to leak."

Ken Jackson was asked about the National Guard and if Middletown would be getting any additional help: "That request has been made, but the National Guard isn't free. Towns have to reimburse the state for National Guard assistance." Jackson also thanked Middletown's Public Works Department for all the help it has provided in snow removal, noting that "the equipment we use for snow removal, well, it's tired folks....and we don't have the heavy machinery that Public Works does, so their big snow plows have really helped us out." Jackson plans to use this upcoming week of vacation to work on additional snow removal in parking lots (especially Farm Hill), and he thanked his workers for the amazing effort they've put in so far.

Business Manager Nancy Haynes told the BOE that without all the bills in yet, her estimated costs for snow removal, over-time for maintenance crews, and the structural engineers is roughly $250,000. She hopes that there may be some grant money eventually available since all school districts are facing similar unexpected costs, but she's not counting on it.

There was a discussion of the Honeywell Alert System and when and how that system gets activated. Jackson said he doesn't deal with putting the alert out, but that he's often the one providing the information that goes into the alert:

"We've had more crises in a month than in the entire year, and the first concern is for the students' safety. We are not thinking about talking to parents. We have to mobilize resources and assets and come up with a plan of action to deal with the situation. We think about parents last, and so a Honeywell Alert can't be in the first 1/2 hour of a crisis. I can't afford to give out the wrong information and then have to explain to parents how I got it wrong."

Superintendent Michael Frechette then commented, "We'd love to have a full time press position, but that ain't going to happen." BOE Member Corrine Gill expressed her concern over the communication process between the BOE and the Administration the public, and noted that perhaps the BOE should evaluate if there is a more efficient way to communicate what's happening: "There are so many kids with cell phones who are texting their parents in the middle of a crisis. We can't let 5th graders decide what's happening because this passes mis-information along. But, perhaps we can use the PTOs or something more effective."

Other BOE members asked about what kids did once they were evacuated to another school and why some schools with cracks were evacuated when others were not. BOE Chairman Ted Raczka commented, "It's been an unprecedented winter with unprecedented situations. We need to spend some time over the summer thinking about how to do this better in the future. I'd like to know what the kids did after they got to their evacuation point and if we need to think about that some more." Frechette replied that the four principals involved in Moody and Bielefield's evacuation have been asked to put together a report for the next meeting: "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at all that went on." BOE Member Sheila Daniels asked why Macdonough wasn't evacuated if it also had cracks, and Ken Jackson replied that it was really the call of the principal based on the information he or she had at the time: "In retrospect, it probably wasn't necessary to evacuate, but those were individual calls and I won't criticize them."

The BOE has a workshop scheduled for February 22, 2011 to discuss its District Improvement plan and the Redistricting Committee.

School Evacuation Update

An EYE reporter just met with Dr. Frechette and other school officials at the Front Office (no BOE members were present at the meeting). Here's a summary of the information learned at that meeting:

When the heat was turned on this morning at Moody and Bielefield, some horizontal shifting of roof ice and snow occurred. This in turn caused the appearance of drywall cracking, and so both elementary schools were evacuated as a precaution. There was no evidence of structural issues, but extreme caution was exercised and the children were evacuated. A Honeywell Alert was sent out to both groups of parents, notifying them what happened.

Between the 11 school buildings in the district, there are one million square feet of roof to clear. The District has hired Turner Construction to remove all the snow and ice. Work started today on Woodrow Wilson, and all buildings will be cleared by Monday morning, even given the snow expected over the weekend. The BOE has also reached out to the National Guard for additional assistance in snow clearance. This request is still pending.

To repeat: according to school officials, there was no significant danger to students today. The evacuations were conducted out of extreme caution for student safety. Should any new developments occur over the weekend, official school news updates are available here.

Bielefield Elementary Evacuated to Wesley

Parents of Bielefield students were just notified via the Honeywell Alert System that their children are being evacuated to Wesley School. Neither the Superintendent or BOE Chairman Ted Raczka could be reached for comment in the last hour. There is no additional information available on the district's website as of 1:55pm.

Anyone with additional specific information is encouraged to comment on this article. The top priority at the moment is our children's safety and the accurate spread of information. Thank you!

Snow Removal

City crews are out in full force today removing snow... here's a quick clip I got on Court Street.

music: "Winter's Love" by Animal Collective.

Some Concrete Complaints

Commentary. All right, all right, a complaint!

A neighbor of Wesleyan University sent along several photos to illustrate a complaint.

When Wesleyan clears sidewalks during and after snowstorms, it uses small snowplows attached to small groundkeeping vehicles. These vehicles are operated, largely, by the landscaping company which cares for Wesleyan's grounds - Stonehedge.

Inevitably, the plow blades on these vehicles are wider than most sidewalks on and off campus. The result, as shown in the photos, are muddy ruts cut into the lawn on both sides of the concrete slabs. These ruts can be seen everywhere around campus until the grass begins to grow later in the spring, and in places where re-seeding does not take place, the ruts remain year round. In isolated cases, the plows have torn into roots of trees, and in some cases, weakening trees already damaged by overhead wire crews.

This methodology of plowing, instead of shoveling or snowblowing, is likely cheaper and quicker. Unfortunately the use of these plows has lead the university to replace nearly all bluestone slate sidewalks because they make plowing impossible, and the slate is destroyed if plows are used. The plows also damage sidewalks, driveway curbing and ornamental stonework on walks.

One suggestion is to return to shoveling, making it an activity of students who can use the work as credit against tuition and fees.

In a related complaint, my own, while there are ugly sidewalk ruts on my block, what's more offensive is garbage containers left on the curb all week long by residents of Wesleyan houses. When we complain, university officials tell us the garbage containers are the responsibility of residents. Unfortunately, if the residents aren't responsible, the garbage cans never get hauled off the street. This doesn't just happen when students are on break. It's a problem anytime school is in session and students are in those houses.

The Main Street snow berm

Last week Mayor Sebastian Giuliano appeared on WNPR and, with the mayors of West Hartford and East Hartford, discussed the effects of the economy on their respective cities. It was, and is, worthwhile listening.

The subject of snow removal came up. The mayors discussed innovative methods of snow removal, including abandoning sand because of the necessitated Springtime cleanup, and an expensive method Giuliano suggested in which snow is plowed into melting units.

Giuliano also mentioned the snow berm on Main Street. He claimed that the pile in the middle of our wide Main Street must be removed days after the storm through a process which entails middle-of-night scooping and transporting the snow, at a great cost to the city in overtime pay. I would add that the early-morning removal is excessively noisy for downtown neighbors, what with trucks scooping, scraping and beeping their infernal safety reverse-alert alarms.

The excess snow is trucked to a parking lot near the Cochinchaug River where its diluting and polluting effect while melting, has harmed the fragile ecosystem of the river.

While walking down Main Street today, after a snowfall, I got to thinking that there has to be a better way, and one that does not include buying huge melters.

Plow the snow to the curb - As far as I can tell, when plows travel down city streets, they push the snow toward the curbs on either side of the street. This causes large snowpiles on the treelawn on both sides of the street. On my street, Pearl Street, where tree lawns are narrow, the fast-moving plows deposit much of the street snow on my sidewalk. On Main Street, the plows push the snow to the middle of the street. And that's a puzzle. Why not push all the show toward the curbs. All the sidewalks are very wide. Merchants would be required to dig pathways for their clients. But it would save the city the cost of midnight snow transport.

Leave the berm - the city could continue to plow the snow to the middle of the street, but just leave the snow berm where it is. Some mid-block passages would have to be plowed for pedestrian passage, but the berm actually serves some safety purposes. It prevents the mid-street u-turn and left turn that is banned, but still frequently practiced, on Main Street. It restricts jaywalking. And it gives residents the opportunity to experience Main Street as a boulevard in which the snow acts as stand-in for a greenway, or neutral ground, or allows us to imagine what having a trolley route on Main Street might mean. At the very least it serves to slow traffic which would have narrower lanes, and constricted sight lines. We'd concede that in a very snowy winter, an occasional berm removal might be necessary, though not at the close of every storm.

Remove the snow during regular working hours - while this would be the least desirable alternative, the minor and temporary inconvenience to drivers would offset the large costs to the city.

In all cases, the decision to do other than what is currently done, is the mayors by authority of his office as defined in the City Charter ("the Mayor shall be directly responsible for the administration of all Departments, Agencies and Offices, in charge of persons or Boards appointed by the Mayor and shall supervise and direct the same.")

And in these fiscally-challeging times, it would seem that significant cost savings would trump minor inconveniences, and that thinking outside-of-the-box (or as in this case, the berm), would be appropriate.