Council Honors Interim Schools Administrators

The Common Council at its meeting last night warmly thanked David Larson and John Sullivan, for their service as Interim Superintendent and Interim Associate Superintendent of Schools. After a proclamation for Larson was read by Councilman Tom Serra, and a proclamation for Sullivan read by Councilman Gerry Daley, Serra jokingly said that each man must be a superman for having stepped into a difficult situation and accomplished so much.

He presented them with attire befitting their status.

Schools PTAs Urge Parents to Support School Budget

The Board of Education goes before the Common Council this evening at 7pm to make its case for the 2012-2013 School Budget.  Mayor Drew said he would flat fund the educational budget on April 3rd, which would mean cuts of almost $3.5 million to amount the BOE has asked for.

School PTAs are urging parents to attend tonight's meeting to show support for the budget as proposed.  Interim Superintendent Dr. David Larson is expected to comment on at least the following arguments in support of a fully funded budget:

·         A 0% increase is less than a current services budget because of salary and benefit contracted increases.
·         78% of the education budget goes to instruction
·         75% of the budget is for salaries and insurance benefits
·         Maintain class size
·         Need for school librarians/media specialists to support the implementation of the common core – new national standards for education.
·         Need for interventionists to support our required SRBI (Scientifically Researched Based Intervention) implementation and the Common Core.
·         Update of our Student Information System to Power School to improve communication with parents and students as well as organization and access of student data (i.e. grades, enrollment, attendance…).

On April 17th, former BOE Chairman Ted Raczka, now the Budget Committee Chair, commented on what the loss of millions would do to the school budget:  "Extra-curricular activities will start to go, and if we're short millions, we will have to look at staffing levels.  Most of our retirements were done last year, and so it's not a good picture."  Raczka went on to say, "The reason I'm sitting over here at the end of the table [referring to where he sits at BOE meetings] is because I want to see money spent in classrooms.  I don't care about politics.  If you look at our funding compared to other communities, we're not getting it, and we're going to suffer because of that."


Raczka mentioned that he thought the Common Council would put some of the money back, but in the end, Middletown as a whole has to be serious about funding a quality education.


{Author's Note:  If you don't know what Common Core refers to, it's the new national standards for education coming out of DC.  Connecticut adopted the standards on July 7, 2010.  Click here for more information.}

Board of Education Appoints Interim Superintendent

At tonight's regular Board of Education meeting, the BOE voted to appoint Dr. David H. Larson as Middletown's Interim Superintendent of Schools.

Dr. Larson was Middletown's Superintendent from 1992-2000, Southington's Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction from 1988 - 1992, and Ridgefield's Superintendent from 1987-1988. He started his teaching career in math at Trumbull High School in 1965.

After his retirement in 2000 from active school involvement, Dr. Larson was the Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Association in West Hartford until 2008. When he retired from that position in 2008, Larson went on to work as a Senior Educational Consultant with Futures Education as well as an Educational Consultant with the University of Connecticut CommPACT Schools Project.

Dr. Larson has lived in Middletown for 19 years, and he starts work tomorrow morning. BOE Chairman Dr. Gene Nocera commented, "We could not have found a more qualified candidate. David Larson brings instant credibility to our district, and he will be incredibly helpful in the day to day operations as well as helping to guide us in finding a new superintendent."

Just moments before confirming Dr. Larson as the Interim Superintendent, the BOE voted itself (the full board of education) to be the search committee for a new Superintendent. Dr. Nocera confirmed that the board will start meeting with search organizations next week as the national search for a new superintendent begins.

Dr. Larson believes his immediate job is "to make sure our children continue to get a quality education. This district has great staff, several principals that I hired back in the day, and we're going to work together for the next six months or so as the search begins for a new superintendent."

Dr. Larson will also shepherd the process to find a new Asst. Superintendent as the current Asst. Superintendent, Barbara Senges, is retiring at the end of the month.

Two Board members were missing from tonight's meeting: Ted Raczka is on vacation, and Attorney William G. Grady has resigned his position on the board (as the EYE reported last week). Dr. Nocera expects that by the next meeting, the vacant position will have been filled by a joint Mayoral/Common Council nomination and confirmation process. The new board member will have to be a Democrat as well.