From 1962: Option Approval Seen On Bacon Land Purchase

The following article is from about 50 years ago today, published in the Hartford Courant on July 16th, 1962.
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The first step toward construction of the new 16 to 20-room Westfield District Elementary School is expected to be taken this week when an option is signed on some 30 acres of land at East Street and Plumb Road.

The School Building Committee will meet at the City Hall Conference Room Wednesday night ad is expected to authorize Chairman Albert A. Lapping to sign the option to buy the land from the estate of C. Marsden Bacon.

Corporation Counsel Harry W. Edelberg drew up the option and is preparing deeds for the actual purchase. The option will be for four months.

Chairman lapping said Sunday the original price set by the land owners and the committee was $42,500, but the committee decided to buy a 150 food strip of land from Plumb Road to provide access. The strip will cost an additional $500.

Lapping said the committee soon will ask for approval by the Board of Finance and the Common Council for an appropriation sufficient to cover cost of the land purchase.

Later, when school plans have been completed and a cost estimate available, the city probably will be required to issue bonds for construction and furnishings costs. Since the total will be well over the $250,000 limit in city bonds salable without a referendum, it appeared a public vote will have to be taken.

More Borrowing
Mayor Roth has indicated other borrowing will be needed to meet costs of buying Crystal Lake land and other recreational areas. A single bond issue in an amount covering all of these costs may eventually to [sic] go to a referendum.
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The City eventually spent $43,000 to purchase land described in an August 23, 1962 Courant article as "off Westfield Street, Higby Road and Plum Road." Plumb (yes, it should have a b) road formerly went from its current location on East Street all the way through the Bacon land, and came out on what is now called Country Club Road. Ground-breaking for the new school took place in January of 1963, the cost of the building was estimated at $335,000. The final cost was $750,000.
In May of 1963, the new school was named in honor of former superintendent of the Old Town School District, Van Buren Moody.

Principal Commends Moody Students and Teachers for "Smooth Transition"

Moody School began its evacuation at approximately 9:45am this morning when drywall cracks were noticed by school personnel. Principal Yolande Eldridge said that her primary concern was for student safety, so she decided to move all students and teachers to Moody's designated evacuation site as per Moody's evacuation plan.

This plan calls for Moody students to be bused to Spencer School, and Eldridge supervised the loading of buses by class so that students would stay together in their class groups. Once the buses were loaded and all students were accounted for, Eldridge stayed at Moody to issue an initial Honeywell Alert and to meet with the various groups called in to inspect Moody's condition (Westfield Fire Marshall, police, Facilities Director Ken Jackson, and city officials). "I deliberately waited to send the Honeywell Alert because I wanted to personally supervise loading the buses so that we totally and calmly moved the students over to our designated evacuation site."

Eldridge also said that teachers were instructed to bring work with them and that cafeteria staff were told they would have to serve Moody students lunch using Spencer's cafeteria.

"I want to commend everyone involved for the very smooth and orderly day we had. Spencer's Principal, Mrs. Clark, did a great job getting the kids settled. We didn't have any anxiousness from our students. The kids were warm, dry, engaged and they had lunch. I didn't see any reason for parents to have a mandatory early pick-up today."

The student perspective on today's excitement wasn't exactly as cheerful. A 5th grader interviewed for this story had this to say: "I was kind of nervous and frustrated because we were stuck for a long time." The student went on to summarize the day like this:

"we got on the buses at about 9:45 after being told we were having a winter fire drill. About half of us went to the cafeteria at Spencer and the other half went to the gym. We sat around for a long time and eventually got some lined paper to draw on. Then we had lunch and they switched out the groups so we got to go to the gym. We sat there for a while and eventually got to watch a movie."

The student also said that the teachers stood around in the hall and checked on things every now and then, but there really wasn't anything to do but sit and wait. This student was also told that parents could come and get their children, but was confused when very few parents actually did show up.

Superintendent Michael Frechette had no explanation for why the district website had an update at 9:27am on snow removal and an update at 1:53pm on activities cancellations, but nothing at all mentioned about Moody's or Bielefield's evacuations. When asked if there were any plans to schedule specific Q&A time or some other kind of deliberate communication with parents to address concerns over snow days, building integrity, etc., Frechette replied, "We will post on website as well as Honeywell."

If you are a Moody parent or teacher, or even a Spencer teacher, and you would like to summarize your experience (or your child's experience) today, please comment on this story. While it is important to know from the administrator's perspective that the technical details of the evacuation worked, it's also important to acknowledge what the children thought and experienced as well as what parents expected to know. Was it realistic to expect any instructional learning to occur after a full evacuation? Were teachers prepared for that? Did it actually happen? Did parents feel comfortable with the notifications they received? What went well today and what should be done differently next time?

Thank you in advance for your constructive comments!

Board of Ed to Vote on New Moody Playscape

The Board of Education meets tomorrow night at 7pm in the Common Council Chambers at City Hall. Several items of interest are on the action agenda (meaning the BOE is voting on something specifically), including the Ad Hoc Feasibility Committee, authorization to spend Capital Preventative Maintenance funds on a new Moody Playscape, a Spencer School naming request and the second phase of the Race to the Top Grant.

Just last week, the General Assembly approved an educational reform bill that was specifically designed to make CT more competitive to receive federal stimulus funds from the $4.3 billion Race to the Top competition. More information on this subject is available in a May 6, 2010 article in the CT Mirror. The deadline for the second round of competition applications is June 1, 2010.

The vote on the new Moody Playscape is particularly important because the old playscape has already been removed. Only the BOE can spend Capital Preventative Maintenance Funds, so it takes a specific vote to release this money.

The district's financial statement will also be of interest given the fact that the proposed BOE share of the city's 2010-2011 budget is $200,000 less than last year's budget. There will have to be some discussion (I would think) about how to readjust spending priorities if this budget passes.

Moody's Playscape Deemed "Unsafe"

During the Public Comment session at tonight's BOE meeting, Moody PTA Treasurer Janice Drescher asked the BOE to fund a new playscape out of the Capital Funding account. Moody's playscape has been declared unsafe and it will be removed during the February school vacation week, but so far, no plans to replace it have been announced.

Ken Jackson, Director of Facilities, has said that money is available and he wants to replace Moody's playscape this summer. He estimated the replacement costs to be about $75,000-$80,000. Jackson also noted that Moody is the only elementary school in the District that hasn't had its playground updated.

BOE member Sally Boske told this reporter after the meeting that the playground "wasn't likely to happen" and that the PTA would probably have to fund the replacement through fundraising. PTA Treasurer Janice Frescher's response: "I have a real problem with this as a Middletown tax payer...all the other elementary schools have safe playgrounds, so why doesn't Moody?"

Given the current focus on childhood obesity and the push to get kids outside to play, it seems ridiculous that Moody can't get a new playscape. In fact, funds have been allocated for the last several budget cycles, but the money always disappears and the playscape hasn't been replaced. Never mind the fact that Moody's overcrowding situation has drastically affected where and how the children have recess: last year children were "scheduled" by grade as to what day of the week they could play on the playscape, and sometimes two weeks could go by without access to the playground.

Yes, the economy is tough these days, but there are some things that schools just have to have...teachers, students, books, desks, and a safe place to be a kid.

Moody Holiday Fair on Thursday

Moody is at 300 Country Club Road.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Saturday

The Metropolitan District will collect household hazardous waste on Saturday, at Moody School.

For more information, see the MDC guidelines.

School Enrollments Hold Steady, Moody Remains Overcrowded

The School District's enrollment numbers at the beginning of September are very similar to those last December. Overall there was a 4% drop in the number of elementary students, with the largest reduction coming at Snow School, with 65 fewer students this year (an 18% drop).

Moody continues to be the only school which has more students than the building was designed to handle. An interim report from the JCJ Architecture firm, released in late May , indicated that Moody was built to house a maximum of 395 students, the current enrollment is higher than capacity by at least two classes. Moody has been forced to alter room uses over the past two years to accommodate all of the classes.

In addition, the average class size in grades 1 to 5 at Moody is higher than at any other elementary school.

	capacity	September 4 enrollment	% of Capacity	mean class size, grades 1-5
Moody	395	449	113.7%	21.6
Spencer	426	370	86.9%	18.4
Wesley	432	365	84.5%	20.7
Lawrence	451	349	77.4%	19.8
Macdonough	288	217	75.3%	18.1
Farm Hill	407	288	70.8%	18.1
Bielefield	526	285	54.2%	19.7
Snow	575	292	50.8%	18.5
total	3500	2615	74.7%	19.5

The superintendent of schools office has paid close attention to the overcrowding at Moody. Last January Barbara Senges, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, expressed deep concern about the overcrowding, and in a meeting with the Moody School PTA told parents that this overcrowding would be addressed before the start of the school year.

Senges, as well as the parents, anticipated that a feasibility study commissioned by the Board of Education would make recommendations in April or May for alleviating Moody overcrowding and for addressing a racial imbalance at Macdonough. However, JCJ Architecture, which was hired by the Board for this study, recommended against any changes this past summer. Senges told me, "JCJ recommended, and the Board agreed, to put off any changes."

Senges said that the final JCJ report would undoubtedly recommend redistricting, "I definitely know that the recommendation from JCJ will move kids around." She also mentioned the possibility of changing the current arrangement of one school for all 6th graders (Keigwin), and one school for all 7th and 8th graders (Wilson), asking "Would it make more sense to have two 6, 7, 8 schools instead?" Senges said it didn't make sense to move students around this past summer because the more extensive changes which will take place next summer are not yet defined.

JCJ is due to turn in their final report in late November or early December, in time for the budget process to reflect any effects of the recommendations. Senges said, "This is the last year [Moody students and teachers] are going to have to deal with this issue."

The principal of Moody, Yolande Eldridge, told me in an interview that Moody was having no troubles because of too many students, "I don't hear the word 'overcrowding' in the school." Eldridge noted that Moody's test scores were good, and that some of the schools with much more space and with smaller class size were identified as "in need of improvement."

She said that over the summer she was able to move functions around to create needed space, for example moving Kids Corner into the Cafeteria, and turning a storage room into an office room. Her only regret was that there is no space to host all-school functions; Moody does not have a dedicated auditorium, and the gym can't even hold all students, let alone their parents too.

I asked Eldridge about redistricting, and what she considered to be an ideal enrollment for Moody. She simply responded, "We're in great shape. I consider us a good staff." She said JCJ were experts in redistricting, and would be taking many factors throughout the city into account in their recommendations, "It's not just about Moody."

Moody School to get some staffing relief for 2009-2010

At Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting, Assistant Superintendent Barbara Senges told board members that a meeting with Moody Principal Yolande Eldridge has produced the following changes to ease Moody's overcrowding concerns for next year:

• Two teachers who taught 1/2 time this year (job-sharing) will move to full-time next year to help out with the anticipated 4 first grade classes. This means each first grade will have a 2nd teacher for 1/2 the day each day.


• In Special Education, a full time teacher will be added, bring the staff total to three teachers.


• An additional four duty aides will be added, for a total of ten.


• The cafeteria workers will pick up additional hours.


• During inclement weather, students will go to their classrooms instead of the gym or the cafeteria.


• The part-time secretary will continue to assist the full-time secretary.


• A Head Teacher (stipend position) will be added to assist the Principal with supervisory duties.

Board Member Ryan Kennedy asked Senges how she was going to pay for the staffing additions, and she deferred to Superintendent Michael Frechette: "Our budget can absorb these additions...we'll make it work...our budget is a living document and it will change from moment to moment," he said. "But we passed the budget LAST week," Kennedy replied, "and we asked you if you needed money for Moody, and you said no. Now you say you'll 'make it work' and I think we're doing things backwards here."

In other BOE news, Middletown has applied for $2 million in Federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The use of these funds is extremely restricted, and is intended to help build a district's capacity in a specific way. There may be additional funds available, but the state and federal governments are still deciding how to allocate such funds (competitively or by entitlement). In any case, the funds Frechette hopes to receive are tied to specific District Improvement Plans.

During the Public Session, City Councilman David Bauer (speaking as a member of the Board of Health) mentioned a field mouse issue in the kitchen at Keigwin and another rodent problem at Middletown High School: both had been identified as a result of improper food handling, and he wanted to know when the BOE was going to address/discuss those problems. Facilities Director Ken Jackson said the Keigwin issue is being addressed and that he didn't know anything about MHS (but he'd find out).

Brandon Downer, a freshman at MHS, addressed the BOE on the subject of fights and the new policy of locking the bathrooms (students have to ask to have the bathrooms unlocked to use them). "You just can't help it - there is a lot of violence in our school. But, there is a security system in place and they do a good job." Downer also commented that he understands why the bathrooms are now locked: "Just last week I personally saw 12 kids skip class and lock themselves in the bathroom...you can't do anything else about it." Later, in a personal interview with yours truly, Downer said he feels safe when he's in school, but that "kids are going to be kids, and parents, teachers, and rules aren't going to change that...my generation is rebellious and you can't change that." Downer stated that he believes there is a lot of gang violence at MHS, and while there are some very rude teachers, the kids are rude in class first, and that provokes a teacher's response. (author's note: I had to leave before the end of the meeting, so I did not have a chance to get MHS Principal Robert Fontaine's response to these comments.)

Finally, the Naming Committee presented its report to the BOE. Charged with the responsibility "to address naming issues for the new high school and middle school," the Committee recommended that "any name associated with a facility at either the old middle school or the old high school should be moved to a facility at the new middle school or high school....In particular, if a coach were a Woodrow Wilson High School coach, that person's name should continue to be associated with the high school and not the middle school even though the middle school now uses the name Woodrow Wilson." A quick summary of the recommended names is as follows:

• Gallitto-Montanile Sports Arena (over the west entrance to the athletic facilities at the HS)
• LaBella-Sullivan Gymnasium
• Baldwin-Parmelee Pool
• Miller-Fillback Sports Complex (displayed outside toward the stadium area or on it)
• Rosek-Skubel Stadium (displayed inside the stadium)
• Greco's Grill (name of the concession stand at the new HS)
• Denunzio Field (displayed on the baseball field)
• Hiller Field (displayed on the softball field)
• Virginia Gilbert Memorial Library
• A Wall of Honor/Walk of Honor is also recommended to recognize individuals who distinguish themselves at MHS and for whom a facility is not named: including but not limited to teachers, librarians, administrators, custodians, etc.
• Collins Field (displayed at the middle school football stadium and track)
• A Wall of Honor is also recommended for WWMS to honor teachers, librarians, administrators, custodians, etc., who have played a prominent role and for whom a facility is not named.

JCJ Architecture has been hired by the Superintendent to design signage to implement the naming recommendations, and the Naming Committee also recommended the city change the through-way in front of Woodrow Wilson Middle School to a city street and readdress the school 1 Wilderman's Way.

I had to leave before the meeting finished, so I did not get to see what else happened under Action Items. The Superintendent's Evaluation was scheduled for an Executive Session. I will say that I was sadly disappointed by the Superintendent's Moody update. The staffing changes are only band-aids at this point, and I fear a tourniquet is probably needed. Late last December and into January, Moody PTA President Susan Courchesne called for a cap on Moody's enrollment. The Westfield Residents Association (WRA) joined Courchesne's call in a letter to the Superintendent dated January 6, 2009. After a second letter dated February 10, 2009, Dr. Frechette had not specifically addressed the issue of capping Moody's enrollment. JCJ Architecture mentioned as late as May that perhaps Moody's enrollment issues would be self-correcting: 5th grade would leave and not as many kindergartners would register.

That remains to be seen. The Kindergarten registration numbers are not known yet, but the November 2008 Enrollment Report by Peter M. Prowda, PhD, projects a decreasing District enrollment over the next 10 years, with Middletown's K-5 enrollment essentially staying flat (.5% decrease). This projection comes despite the fact that Middletown's enrollment growth (6.5%) exceeded both that of the state (4.1%) and similarly-sized towns for the past 10 years. I have to speculate that this report is responsible for the Administration's less than enthusiastic response to Moody parents and the overcrowding issue. That JCJ Architecture had no "save the day" recommendation, and that BOE talk has now shifted to the planned redistricting for next year fortifies my suspicions further.

One parent pointed out during a recent public session that last year's projection for Moody's Kindergarten enrollment was off 117% (3 classes were planned for, there ended up being 5 classes in 2008-2009), and he wondered out loud what would happen if the projection was off again for the 2009-2010 school year. That's a great question, given the fact that the Superintendent's office seems content with adding a few staff members here and there. Given JCJ Architecture's assessment that the Middletown school system has enough seats for all the students currently in the district (just not in the right place at this exact moment), the projected decrease in total Middletown students over the next 10 years, and the planned redistricting for next year, I believe the Administration thinks the "Moody problem" will just evaporate over time.

Superintendent Receives Contract Approval, Salary Increase

By the way, during today's Eye on the Air (the Middletown Eye's radio edition, Fridays 1-2 on WESU, 88.1FM), David Bauer reported that the Board of Education voted Tuesday night to give Superintendent Frechette a three year contract, with a salary of $154,000 per year, a $2,000 supplement for his degree, and a $6,000 per year allowance for using his own car for transportation. From the June 6, 2006, BOE minutes, Frechette's last 3-year contract was : "
Vote taken to increase the Superintendent’s annual salary to $141,428, continue the TSA, $2,285, Ph.D. stipend, $2,000, retroactive Ph.D. for the 2005-2006 school year, $2,000, and continue his contract for one more year (for a total of three years) passed with a motion by Ms. Weiss and a second by Mr. Boyd – unanimous vote."

Obviously, despite the terrible economy, massive lay-offs, the need for a Federal stimulus package, a cut in the overall school budget, and the Administration's own confession that "our middle schools are struggling" and "Middletown doesn't have a challenging enough curriculum," the Superintendent is still entitled to a 3% raise for the next three years. At least we know what our priorities are.

Moody School Building and Leveling to be discussed at two Board of Ed meetings Tuesday

The School Board will be holding two meetings on Tuesday evening, a special meeting on Leveling at 6PM, and a regular meeting at 7PM.  Both meetings will be in the Middletown High School Cafe.  

Leveling

Leveling is the Schools administration's plan to combine all students into the same classroom, eliminating advanced classes for mathematics in 6th grade.  The Board has scheduled 20 minutes each for administrators and the Public to speak, and 20 minutes for themselves to discuss Leveling, prior to an "Action Item" on Leveling.  Leveling was discussed extensively by the Board at their June 2nd meeting.  

Moody School and JCJ Report

The second meeting is their regular meeting, scheduled to start at 7PM.  This meeting has a long agenda, full of policy readings, and reports from standing committees.  Two related items stand out, in the "Report of the Superintendent" portion of the meeting.  The first is entitled "Moody School Status" and the second  "Feasibility Study Update."

The Superintendent's office has been concerned about overcrowding at Moody School since at least January.  Assistant Superintendent Barbara Senges came to the January Moody School PTA meeting and assured the parents that there would not be too many students at Moody School next year.   Senges will be making the presentation on "Moody School Status" at the Board Meeting tonight.  

The "Feasibility Study" is the work being carried out by JCJ Architecture, who have been undertaking a district wide utilization study, to determine the best use of Middletown's school buildings.  Their final report is not due until the fall, but an "initial report" was to make recommendations for solving two issues:  overcrowding at Moody and a racial imbalance at MacDonough.  

This initial report, entitled "Observations of potential near-term changes" does not make any recommendations to address these issues, and specifically recommends against redistricting:

Rearranging attendance borders will likely not have a positive impact on the district at this time and is not seen as a viable working option.  

The long range plan will look more deeply into alternatives to large scale changes to attendance districts.  

Athough there are no recommendations for solving Moody's overcrowding issue in the JCJ report, the report does provide data on the enrollment capacity of each school.  Combining these data with the December 1st enrollment figures from the Board of Education office, it becomes obvious that while overall there is more than enough capacity in the elementary school buildings, Moody School is overflowing by the equivalent of nearly 3 classes (57 students):

These enrollment numbers can fluctuate during the course of the school year, and may be slightly different today than they were on December 1st. In fact, the JCJ report uses a total enrollment number for the elementary schools that is 25 students higher than the December 1st numbers used above (about 1%). 

Superintendent Dr. Michael Frechette told me last week that he is looking at several options for Moody School, but that he was not prepared to discuss them at that time.  He agreed that the problem was clearly a lack of capacity.  The Principal of Moody, Yolande Eldridge, told me that the Board has provided resources such as an additional copy machine and added paraprofessionals during this school year, but she could not say what resources might be made  available for the coming year. 

Board of Ed Delays Decision on Leveling, Moody Overcrowding

Nearly a hundred parents and residents listened, with the Board of Education to a proposal by Dr. John Hennelly, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction to end leveling at Keigwin and Woodrow Wilson Schools for language arts and math.

Hennelly explained that the proposal would bring all students into the same classroom for reading and language arts programs, eliminating stratification based on skill levels. He cited research from a number of sources which indicate that such a move, combined with smaller class sizes, appropriate education materials ("just right reading") geared toward a variety of levels, increased attention to behavioral issues and retraining of students would increase the language arts achievement of low performing students and high peforming students alike.

Several members of the public objected to the proposal, claiming that it would be detrimental to high achieving students, disruptive when students with behavioral issues were introduced to classes, and would rob low-achieving students to some music and foreign language classes.

"You're bringing advanced achievers down, and that's not fair," said parent Erin Guevarez.

"This strategy is only going to breed mediocrity in our students," another parent, Jackie Gardell, said.

But other residents rose to defend the proposal including Daniel Long, a sociology of education professor at Wesleyan University who said that his survey of the research indicates that in many other parts of the country, the program is very successful.

"Advanced students don't suffer at all in a mixed classroom," Long said.

Board of Ed member Corinne Gill introduced a motion which would prevent administrators from making any changes which would eliminate levelling of students. The motion passed with all but two members voting to prohibit changes, but a second motion by Gill put discussion of the proposal on the agenda as a workshop so that research could be studied, and the Curriculum Committee had a chance to consider the proposal.

In another matter, the Board heard a report from JCJ Architecture who are investigating issues of overcrowding in Moody and Mcdonough Schools. The firm recommended no action in the upcoming year, and suggested that a complete report, due in the third quarter, might indicate that attendance boundaries may need to be redrawn to solve the overcrowding.

Moody parents and teachers were dismayed to hear that no action would be taken. Parents and teachers testified to problems with severe overcrowding and the affect it is having on students, teachers and the quality of education.

Second grade Moody School teacher Heather Rodman cited a long list of specific problems caused by the overcrowding.

"Moody doesn't like being in neutral," Rodman said. "We need a plan and we need help. Tomorrow is going to be a rainy day. I invite you all to come and see the problems we face at Moody."

A more extensive and detailed report on the Board of Education meeting will be published later today.

Board of Ed to get public input

The Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday, at which there will be two public comment sessions.

The first public comment session will focus on leveling, which is a proposal to eliminate advanced math classes from the 6th grade next year (Eye piece).  Last week's BoE meeting drew impassioned opposition to this leveling, from teachers and parents concerned about both the advanced students and those needing more time to understand basic math.  

The second public comment session will focus on the recommendations by JCJ Architecture, who have been hired to do a district wide utilization study.  JCJ promised to make recommendations this Spring, which would solve Moody School's overcrowding this coming year.  These recommendations are to be followed in the fall by recommendations for districtwide school buildings use.  The JCJ recommendations will precede a second public comment session.  

Here is the agenda for the meeting on Tuesday, May 26, in the Middletown High School auditorium, from the BoE web site:

6:00 Leveling

7:00 Public Comment

7:30 JCJ Architecture Recommendations

8:30 Public Comment

9:00 Adjournment

The Hartford Courant reports that the JCJ recommendations presented on Tuesday will deal only with Moody Elementary School overcrowding.  The chair of the Board of Education, Ted Raczka, has not responded to my Thursday early morning request for more information to share about leveling  or the JCJ study.  

Board of Ed meets with JCJ

The Board of Education had a brief special meeting on Monday night to hear from JCJ Architecture about the District Utilization Study, and conduct other business in executive session. At the meeting, Jim LaPosta from JCJ stood in for Project Manager Greg Smolley. He started out with a general overview of his firm's qualifications and then described the process they are using to study the balance between the demographics of the student body and school buildings. As readers of the Eye know, the firm is charged both with making short-term recommendations about the overcrowding at Moody School (for 2009-10), and then producing a long-term study on grade configuration, racial balance and facility use throughout the district.

According to the presentation, here's where things stand:

At this point, JCJ has visited about half of the elementary schools in town, cataloging the classroom space, reviewing the other facilities and learning about the demographics of the student body. Also, the firm has held two "visioning workshops", first at Moody School and then at Macdonough.

Three of the Board members have attended the visioning workshops: Corinne Gill, Sheila Daniels and Ryan Kennedy. Some of the others were less familiar with the process that the consultant is using and LaPosta took the opportunity to point out that a simple number crunching of building space vs. students only takes a few weeks, but it is too blunt a tool for understanding how the schools fit into our community. He said that the visioning workshops help the consultants listen to what people really want from the schools overall. This ranges from determining the local appetite and/or tolerance for spending on school buildings to the opportunities to open the schools for many more community uses.

Jay Keiser noted that a new visioning workshop has been added for Spencer School on April 22nd. He voiced concern that if Spencer was now facing an impact from redistricting like Moody and Macdonough, then the parents should be told that specifically. This is a bit of an awkward situation, since the consultants have repeatedly said that no assumptions can be made about which schools will be affected by the short-term redistricting plan -- in fact, they are not yet saying that any changes should be made at all. Moody and Macdonough families were reassured that all the elementary schools would be studied for excess capacity, not just their two buildings. LaPosta did state that the assessment of each school's physical capacity would be completed within the next few weeks, and would be considered in the short-term recommendations.

Let's move to the question of timelines. In a slight case of "deadline creep", JCJ now says that they will have the short-term recommendations by mid to late May, or at least by the end of May. Before that time, they will have a visioning workshop with teachers, in addition to the above-mentioned Spencer School workshop. (Revision: After publication, I learned that there will also be a visioning workshop at Snow School on April 30th.) There is also a community-wide meeting planned for April 27th at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, but it is not yet clear if there will be preliminary recommendations at that session, as was suggested at the Macdonough workshop.

Board members questioned the timing of the long-term study, which is promised to arrive by early winter of next year. It was pointed out that any significant changes for 2010-2011 would probably take months to consider and implement. The request was made to get that report back by late Fall 2009, and LaPosta seemed amenable to considering that.

From over here in the cheap seats, I'm starting to worry about waiting another 6-7 weeks before the short-term study is released. There will be tremendous pressure on the Board to make their decision quickly, because of all the logistical changes involved in redistricting families and moving classrooms around. But there will also need to be a period of shock, community feedback and consensus about the decision, not to mention an opportunity to consider the practicality of the recommendations. Stop me if you've already seen this movie, but I think that's the part where parents show up in droves to complain and people are up in arms about the lack of transparency, poor planning and hasty decision-making. I'm all for blue-sky visioning, but I hope the nuts and bolts analysis of the capacity of our buildings and the size of our student body will be released as soon as possible. Surely our short-term solutions will come from that information. Then we could all take a breath and consider our vision for the school system without the cloud of immediate re-districting over our heads.

Teachers and parents express concerns to Board of Education

The last school board meeting, on November 18th, drew over 150 teachers and parents, and the next meeting, this Tuesday evening, may bring even more.  Most of those who attended last month came to protest the demands being placed on teachers by the District Improvement Plan (DIP). The DIP is a three year plan to improve the achievement of students in the Middletown Public Schools, it was approved by the State Board of Education on November 5th.

Teachers have expressed numerous frustrations about the DIP. First, they are upset at being asked to do a large amount of additional work without being given any extra time to do it. This includes meetings with new 'data teams' to evaluate student performance, and mandatory reviews of lesson plans. Second, many teachers view reviews of lesson plans by principals and the central office as equivalent to a vote of no confidence in the teachers. There is a feeling among many teachers that the central office administration is looking down at the teachers. Clearly, teachers are feeling great stress at the increased work load and insufficient time and respect.  

In recognition of the extra demands that they were placing on teachers, the Board voted last month to give elementary school teachers release time for professional development and collaborative planning.  Because there is  no money available to extend teacher's working hours, students will be dismissed at 1:05 on one Wednesday every month from January through May.  Information about these early dismissals was sent home with elementary school children last Friday.  

Another topic of concern at last month's Board meeting was overcrowding at Moody School, and the lack of resources that are being devoted to addressing the immense strain on the teachers and the students that the overcrowding causes.  As of December 1st, Moody has a total of 452 students, with 13 of the 22 different classrooms having 20 or more students; each of the four 4th grade and three 3rd grade classes has over 22 students (in comparison, Snow school has 357 students with no class of more than 18 students).  Moody's new principal, Yolande Eldridge, has been unable to secure additional staff, and in some cases has been unable to provide even some necessary supplies for teaching.   Joe Rosenblum, parent of both a kindergartner and a 4th grader at Moody, said to me, "Why does Moody School have new office furniture but one of the Kindergarten classrooms has no supplies?"

The next meeting of the Board of Education is on Tuesday, December 9th, 7:00 PM, at Middletown High School. Items on the agenda include the Enrollment Report, which projects enrollments in the Public Schools to 2018, a Transportation Report, and a report on Middletown High School construction. The Public Session, when any member of the public can speak for 5 minutes, is at the beginning of the meeting.  Teachers and parents are again expected to turn out in large numbers to express their concerns about the DIP and the stresses and strains on schools and teachers.

District 4, raw results

At 8:15, the preliminary results were read for District 4, voting at Moody School

Referenda
1. Shall there be a Constitutional Convention to amend or revise the Constitution of the State?
Yes: 438 NO: 816
2. Shall the Constitution of the State be amended to permit any person who will have attained the age of eighteen years on or before the day of a regular election to vote in the primary for such regular election?
YES 872 NO: 376
3. Shall the revisions to the City Charter be approved?
YES 667 NO: 372
4. Shall the proposed corrections to the Charter regarding grammar, spelling, terminology, consistency, and other corrections of a technical nature, be approved?
YES 916 NO 198
5. Shall the $4.5 million appropriation and bond issuance authorization for City water and sewer improvements consisting of 1) Westfield Service Area Water Pressure Enhancement, 2) Route 66 Water and Sewer Installation, 3) Well Field Planning, 4) Equipment and Material Purchases, as adopted by the Common Council, be approved?
YES 847 NO 339

President
McCain 488 Obama 862 Nader 18

3rd Congressional
DeLauro 909 Itshaky 298 Ferrucci 50

9th State Senate
Capenera 525 Doyle 726

100th State Leg.
Kalinowski 488 Lesser 769

Moody School brings out the candidates!

Several candidates chose to spend the critical home from work hours campaigning for votes at Moody School in Westfield. Rosa DeLauro, Paul Doyle, Matt Lesser, and Catherine Johnson were all there between 5:00 and 6:00 PM, each with several of their supporters.  The crowd of politicians and campaigners, with all their signs, greeted every voter arriving from the parking lot.  All of the candidates exuded cheer and caring, and many voters stopped to speak with them.

Inside the gym, Districts 4 and 5 are on a pace to shatter records for turnout.  At 5:45PM, 80% of the eligible voters had cast a ballot in District 4 (1233/1550) and 74% in District 5 (1054/1426).  Neither number includes absentee ballots.   Amazing.

Dispatches from the polls - Morning at Moody

Moody School, which hosts voting for Districts 4 and 5, was bustling as early as 5:00 AM this morning. At 5:45, when I arrived, there were already 30 people in line waiting to vote. Only one of them had come in past years to vote at the opening of the polls, and she told me that the most she has ever seen at 6:00AM in previous years was two people. Jennifer Mahr, staffing a PTA table groaning with delicious baked goods, said that there was somebody waiting to vote when she arrived at 5:00.

Today, by the time the polls opened, there were 60 people in line. Despite confusion ("which district am I in?"), the people were enthusiastic and cheerful while waiting in line. In the line were people who had followed news of voting lines in other states for early voting and were afraid that later lines would be far worse. There were also many people who had been waiting in desperation to cast a vote for president, some for the first time. One lady told all around her, "It is not success that counts, it is the process of working to overcome adversity that counts. We've got a lot of adversity to overcome in this election."

It took 15 minutes for me to cast my vote, which was the 32nd in my district. As I left, the Moody school parking lot was completely full, and the line was getting longer and longer.

Update
At 8:30 the long lines had dissipated, replaced by a steady stream of voters. The early voters included not only people who had to be at work early, but also those worried that later lines would be even worse. Those fears seem so far to be unfounded, and voting was proceeding very smoothly at Moody School.

Matt Lesser had 4 volunteers encouraging voters to vote for him, and Ralph Capenera also had a campaigner present. The campaign workers were stunned when I told them how many voters they had missed by arriving late at Moody.