Legislation Would Require Schools To Report Physical Restraint Used on Children

State Representative Matt Lesser, whose district includes Farm Hill Elementary School, announced that the Connecticut House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill (HB 5347) that would require the State Board of Education to report annually on how often physical restraint and seclusion on children are used in schools.

“This bill will ensure that we have adequate data to understand what is happening in our schools around the state so we may take appropriate action,” Rep. Lesser said.

The bill requires local school boards, when seclusion or restraints are used on a child, to specify whether the use of physical restraint or seclusion was part of a student’s individualized education program (IEP) or was an emergency. The State Board of Education is required to collect the data from around the state and annually report its findings to the Select Committee on Children, including if any actions resulted in physical injuries to the children.

The legislative fiscal analysis of the bill indicated, "The bill will result in a minimal cost of less than $1,000 to various municipalities, associated with additional administrative reporting requirements..."

Current law states that restraint and seclusion can only be used on students receiving special education in emergency situations and when required by a student's IEP.

The bill goes next to the Senate.

MIDDLETOWN RESIDENTS RECEIVE ACADEMIC AWARDS FROM MxCC

Six Middletown residents have been selected as Academic Award recipients from Middlesex Community College.  Samantha Einsohn earned the Business Administration Award; Nils Toledo received the Communications Award; Susan Van Ness earned the Digital Arts/Multimedia Award; Emily O'Brien received the General Studies Award; Nicholas (Nick) Vecchitto won the Mathematics Award; and Alina Bosko received the Early Childhood Education Award.  These honors were presented to the students during a ceremony at MxCC on April 27.

“This award program gives our faculty a chance to recognize second-year students who truly have excelled in their chosen area of study,” said Dr. Anna Wasescha, MxCC president.  “Samantha, Nils, Susan, Emily, Nick, and Alina each has consistently met the demands and challenges of our academic departments, and stood out among their peers.  We congratulate them for their hard work and dedication.”

Founded in 1966, Middlesex Community College (mxcc.edu) is part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents for Higher Education. The school offers more than 50 degree or certificate programs at its three locations:  the main, 38-acre campus in Middletown, the downtown Meriden Center, and the shoreline in Old Saybrook.  The college promotes understanding, learning, ethics, and self-discipline by encouraging critical thinking.  Current enrollment exceeds 2,875 full and part-time students, and 1,600 continuing education students.

Resolution Calls For Public Funding Of All Public Elections

The Common Council will consider a resolution aimed at reducing the corrupting effects of campaign finance donations on government decisions. The resolution has been pushed by a group of Middletown residents who are outraged at last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling which granted corporations the same right as individuals to make campaign donations.

Two of the leaders of the group, John Paganetti and Peter Hildebrand, spoke to the Council at their April 12th Community meeting. Hildebrand said that he wants the Council to pass a resolution condemning the Citizens United ruling.

Hildebrand said that the Middletown effort mirrored those under way in other cities, which are inspired by a national group called united re:public. The resolution is modeled after one suggested at united re:public, although some of the language for Middletown has been toned down. The united re:public draft resolution says, "... hereby instruct our state and federal representatives to end the auction of American democracy ...", while the Middletown resolution states, "... hereby instruct our state and federal representatives to end the corrupting influence of money in politics ..."

The resolution to be considered by the Council reads as follows:

RESOLVED, the People of Middletown, CT, stand with communities across America in protecting our republic from the influencing effects of well-financed interests, by establishing that:

1. Corporations should not enjoy the Constitutional rights by being considered human beings;
2. All public elections shall be publicly funded;
3. Independent political spending shall be limited and made transparent.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the People of Middletown, CT, hereby instruct our state and federal representatives to end the corrupting influence of money in politics by enacting resolutions, legislation and constitutional amendments to advance these principles.

The Common Council meets at 7PM on Monday, May 7th. Any resident is free to speak about items on the agenda during the Public Comment section of the agenda.

Literacy Event

Literacy Volunteers of Central CT Presents

“Authors for Literacy: An Evening with Amy Bloom”

A benefit to support the educational programs of LVCC with best-selling Author Amy Bloom:

Around the Chestnut Orchard

How do you like chestnuts -- roasted, steamed, pureed, in the turkey stuffing? I like planting them in the ground, and that's what I and a few others will be doing this coming Friday and Saturday morning.

If you have a few hours of free time, please consider joining us. The holes are being dug for us by The Connection's Ken Ahnell and his hardy crew, but we will be doing a lot of bending and kneeling, planting over 200 nuts in a special soup we make up of peat moss, Perlite, veremiculite and water.

Our little orchard, just three years old, is managed by the Middletown Garden Club and the Middletown Urban Forestry Commission, with oversight by the American Chestnut Foundation. We'll have a team working from 9 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m.on May 4th and 5th -- and we would love to have a few more.

Our goal is to help the Foundation develop trees with resistance to the Chestnut blight, an introduced disease that destroyed the American chestnut at the turn of the last century. The American chestnut provided farmers with a cash crop and food for their livestock, as well as the best fence post wood known to man. Barns and many homes today still have siding made from this magnificent wood.

The American chestnut was truly the king of the forest in those days, representing about one tree in four. Growing as much as two feet a year, they often attained 90 feet in height, with girths to match.

Please drop me an email at TreeFanatic@gmail.com if you would like to learn more about this project, and perhaps lend a few hours of your time.

Middlesex Historic Society Mansfield House Spring Clean up

  A message from the Middlesex Historic Society- & invitation extended to the public:

 

Dear Members,

 

Chairman of Buildings and Grounds, Joe Samolis, is issuing a call for volunteers to help clean up the Mansfield House yard and gardens on Saturday, May 5 at 9 am.  Members Bonnie Penders and Lois Bukowiec have already tended to the herb garden, and member Sally D'Aquila has taken care of the boxwoods, but the rest of the yard needs raking and clipping and weeding.  As it is said, many hands make light work, so the more who help out, the quicker the task will be completed.  I have several rakes here, but if you could bring your own and a pair of clippers, that would be helpful.  We'll have coffee brewing for those who need a boost!

Our yard is an oasis in the downtown area and we are justly proud of it.  The more beautiful it is, the more likely we will be able to rent it for parties and events, a goal under our new budget adopted last evening at the annual meeting.

 

If it is pouring rain, we will postpone to Saturday, May 12, but hopefully we will have sunny weather.

 

Best,

Debby

 

Deborah Shapiro
Director
Middlesex County Historical Society
151 Main Street
Middletown, CT 06457
(860) 346-0746

Sen. Len Suzio to hold Town Hall Meeting in Middletown

Congresswoman DeLauro To Visit NoRa Cupcake And Other Small Businesses Today

Rosa L. DeLauro, who represents most of Middletown in the U.S. House of Representatives, will visit the NoRA Cupcake Company and The Buttonwood Tree in the north part of Main Street, and Javapalooza!, New England Emporium, and Mallove's Jewelers in the central part of Main today. Mayor Dan Drew will join her for the tour.

In a press release, DeLauro said that the overwhelming majority of jobs created in Connecticut are created by small businesses. With Connecticut’s unemployment rate at 7.7 percent and the country’s at 8.2 percent, the Congresswoman’s top priority remains job creations and supporting small businesses. Along with hearing local small business owners’ concerns, the Congresswoman will discuss her jobs agenda and other Federal efforts to help small businesses succeed.

The tour starts at 11:30 am on Wednesday, May 2.

(Image from Bill Flood Productions)

Mindfulness Works Both Ways

A Near Miss

Bicycling is great sport. I have fond memories of flying down hills, grinding up hills, breezing along with the breeze on a summer's day on bicycles. Now I walk (knees can't do cycling now)--and that's great too. Keeps me (sort of) healthy, clears my mind.

When walking, I try to be mindful of other things and people in motion--walkers, joggers, runners people riding  unicycles! (I saw a woman riding one fast, uphill on Highland, just a day or two ago!), as well as people in cars, trucks, vans, tractors, motorcycles, and all types of moving, wheeled vehicles. I'm especially aware of the latter, the main reason being that they're bigger than I am, they're heavier than I am. And not I, nor they, nor their drivers, are infallible. And I don't want to get squished.

On Sunday, driving north on S. Main Street, at just about dusk, I came up behind a bicyclist, also headed north on S. Main. There was no oncoming traffic. It was just dark enough that he or she blended into the dusk. She wore dark clothing. Only three or four reflective chevrons at the back of her shoes shone back at my headlights. I wasn't going fast--perhaps 30 mph, but it was only by the luck of the lumens that I saw her silhouette  in time to slow down and adjust to her speed. She was in the middle of the north-bound lane of traffic, getting ready, I suppose, to turn left on Highland Avenue. Then, she turned and I also turned left onto Highland at that intersection, which you may remember, is the site of several recent, pretty bad accidents.

She kept right on peddling at the same speed, without any indication of consciousness of another vehicle or person on the road--it seemed, as I was then passing on her left. She seemed to be totally insouciant--totally care-less. As if she could care less. Or perhaps she was just caught up in a cycler's "high," just ambling back after a great day on the road. Maybe she was singing or listening to an ipod. I'm not sure. I couldn't tell.

The incident scared the breath out of me. How easily things could have gone wrong. How easily I could have changed her life and mine. It had been such a beautiful day. I whispered a silent prayer as I listened to my heart start to slow down.

I commend the efforts of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art, the City of Middletown, and other organizations working toward  the creation of proper bike trails and bike lanes in Middletown. I think we need them.

But I look to individual riders, walkers, and drivers of every type of  vehicle, all, to keep an eye out for each other. We must.

We are all in this together.

A new detail: I realized last evening as I drove the same route that, for some reason, street lights along that part of the route, from Randolph Rd. to Highland Ave., may have been out that night--either not functioning or not yet turned on. Don't know why. Last night, the lights were definitely on and visibility was much better. (I could be wrong about street lights not being on Sunday night, but I don't think so.)

MHS Fundraiser for Project Graduation

Voters Approve South Fire District Budget

The residents of the South Fire District have approved the budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

There were 619 "Yes" votes and 475 "No" votes.

Why I Am Voting Yes to South Fire District by Apryl Dudley

This OPINION was submitted by Apryl Dudley and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Eye or its authors.
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I have lived in South Farms for just over 20 years. I decided to stay in this district because the neighborhoods are nice, the schools are the best in the district and we have a fire department near by.

Several years ago I injured myself and needed to call South Fire District. I was home with my two young children when the fire department arrived. Four fire man came in, three came to aid me and the other went over to assure my children that, “Mommy was going to be ok.” I was amazed on how attentive they were to me but also to my children who were obviously scared. Before I left in an ambulance the fireman gave my children a stuffed animal for comfort.