Hamden BOE Budget Fowarded to Mayor

Wow! What an incredible show of support for the Hamden Board of Ed's budget on Monday, Feb 25. Special thanks need to go to Sue Murphy, Melissa Stasiak and the Wintergreen parents. It was standing room only in the gymnasium (!), with over 100 people.

The BOE passed a revised budget that asks the Town for $77.7 million, a mere 3% increase over last year's budget. That is AMAZING considering that the fixed costs of salaries, healthcare, fuel, services and utilities will all go up at least 3%.

The reason so many Wintergreen parents were there, was because, if the BOE needed to make deeper cuts, Wintergreen would be the most affected. They stand to have kindergarten enrollment reduced, their 7th and 8th graders moved to the Middle School and possibly, the Board could take back the entire school.

At this time, there will be no changes at Wintergreen. So what's next?

The BOE budget goes to Mayor Henrici. Craig is a practical man who is both a product of and a great supporter of Hamden Public Schools. He understands that underfunding education is short sighted and counterproductive to maintaining the health and longevity of our town.

Immediately write Craig (chenrici@hamden.com) or call him (203-287-7100). Tell him, parent to parent, why you feel he should include the full amount the BOE is asking for in his budget.

The PTA Council would like to thank Superintendent Rabinowitz and her finance team, and the BOE Finance Committee, especially chair Ed Sullivan, for crafting such an austere and effective budget. Further, the documentation at meetings and on the HPS website (http://www.hamden.org/) is helpful and easy to understand. We greatly appreciate the effort the HPS Central Office has taken to make sure that we are all informed and included in this process.

We were preaching to the choir on Monday night; the BOE is totally allied with the parents in giving the best education they possibly can. They are also on the side of the tax payer, because just like a house, if you let the school system fall into disrepair, the property value goes down. The health and reputation of a school system is integral to property values and our economic vitality. If people start to flee because of a failing school system, there are less people to foot the bill and the taxes will most definitely go up.

The BOE budget hearing was a dress rehearsal. Besides the Mayor, the elected officials you need to encourage to fully fund this budget are on the Town Council. On the eve of (new date) April 9, 2008, I hope to see all of the folks who spoke so passionately about Wintergreen and all the other schools in our district at that public hearing for a repeat performance.

Not only do we need to make sure our local legislators fully fund education, we need to ask our state legislators to do the same. In an earlier post I outlined a number of funding issues that are determined at the State level.

On March 12, the Connecticut PTA will be sponsoring a "Day on the Hill." A bus from Hamden (and maybe even a bus just for Wintergreen!) will be going to Hartford (am to afternoon). There will be a rally and we will meet with the Hamden delegation. More details to follow.

Just like the crowd the Town Council can't ignore at a budget hearing, our legislators cannot ignore a mob of parents demanding proper funding of education on the Capital lawn. (You can also access all members of the CT House and Senate, as well as the Governor at http://www.ct.gov/.)

More details on this field trip will be forthcoming here, or you can send me a quick email to let me know you'd like to join the Hamden PTA Council email list.

I look forward to seeing you at our next Council meeting, Thursday, March 6 (location TBA), the Hartford trip and/or the Town Council hearing on March 12.

Thanks for your support and activism.

February BOE Meeting Postponed

Hamden Public Schools have cancelled all evening activities for Tuesday, February 12, in anticipation of some nasty weather.

The BOE meeting scheduled for tonight has been moved to Monday, February 25(6:30 for Finance Committee & 7 PM for the public hearing)
Meetings are held at 60 Putnam Street (off Whitney, behind the Post Office)

While you've got your calendar out...
The Board of Education will present its budget to the Legislative Council on Wedenesday, April 2; the public hearing will be on Wednesday, April 9.

Click here to reveiw the full Hamden BOE budget presentation and schedule

It's Time to Come Together

Here are the highlights of what we learned last Thursday at Superintendent Rabinowitz's budget presentation to the PTA Council:

• She's gotten her budget increase request down from 6.95% to 3.19%.
• If she has to cut more out of the budget, she may have to do something drastic that would affect Wintergreen (i.e. freeze kindergarten enrollment and/or return the 6th grade to the Middle School). This would reduce the budget by approximately $700,000.

Before we all get our knickers in a knot about what Wintergreen and the rest of the district schools do or don't have, let's realize why we need to even consider such a step.

Charter and magnet schools were created, with great financial incentives from the State, as a court ordered remedy of Scheff vs. O'Neill. In 2006.2007, after seeing that the charter and magnet schools weren't doing any better (in terms of academic performance) than the traditional schools, the State passed legislation to take away the financial incentives. Our legislature passed a bill that would reduce the amount of money per pupil in a charter or magnet school, basically saying: "If you want it, you have to pay for it."

My personal feeling is a public school, is a public school, is a public school, and the STATE should pay equally for it. Neither we, nor any town, should not have to sacrifice a viable and necessary school because the state won't help us fund it.

In addition to coming together in Wintergreen's defense, we need to join together as district and demand that the State fund in-school suspension. This is a great idea and we thank our legislators for recognizing that a child will not benefit, and will probably get into more trouble, if they are out of school. However, the cost for the staff needed to attend to and teach these children is a line item that we have never had before. We need to ask our legislators to either repeal the law mandating in-school suspension or offer financial assistance in implementing the program.

Lastly, and this is on the local level, we need to make managable class sizes and teacher to student ratios our number one issue. The fact is, we have a great town and a good school system, so we are steadily growing. A teacher and an aide CAN manage 25 students, but a single teacher and a group of 18 is better for the teacher and the students. Keeping class sizes small is a key factor in keeping students engaged and looked after.

This is the part you need to impress upon our Town Council: If we let our classes get too big and impersonal, well, its a downward spiral: from poor test scores, to poor attitudes, to burnt out teachers, to failing schools, to resident flight, to falling property rates, to economic loss.

Now that I have you throughly depressed and/or upset, ask yourself, "Am I just going to compain, or am I going to do something about it?"

I'm hoping you chose the latter and here's what you can do as an individual or a PTA unit:

1. Speak up at the public hearing on the BOE's budget this Tuesday, February 12 (6:30 pm - finance committee; 7 PM - public hearing)If you can't attend, please send your comments and suggestions to any BOE member and/or Superintendent Rabinowitz (www.hamden.org)

2. Write a letter to the editor of some or all of our local papers:

• Hamden Journal (hamdenjournal@hersamacorn.com)
• Hamden Chronicle (www.hamdenchronicle.com)
• Hamden Daily News (www.hamdendailynews.com)
• Quinnipiac Valley News (QVTimes@comcast.net)
• New Haven Register (adematteo@mail.nhregister.com)

3. Join CT PTA for a Day on the Hill - Wednesday, March 12 (there will be a bus...more details to follow / www.ctpta.org)

4. Contact your local legislators and the Mayor (www.hamden.com)

5. Contact your state legislators and the Governor at www.ct.gov
Or in person this Thursday, February 14th, 8:00am at a breakfast offered by the Hamden Chamber of CommerceNew Haven Country Club, 160 Hartford TurnpikeCall the HCOC to RSVP no later than Tuesday at 288-6431. (admission $25)

Click here to reveiw the full Hamden BOE budget presentation and schedule

This is not an impossible situation; we simply need to stick together as advocates for the educational system and longevity of Hamden to find an equitable solution.

Thanks for you attention.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, 7 PM at the BOE meeting.

Sincerely,

Marjorie Clark President, Hamden PTA Council

February Council Meeting, Thursday 2-7-08

Just a quick reminder that our February Council meeting is Thursday, February 7th, 7 PM. We're traveling to Ridge Hill Elementary School and you will find us in the Cafeteria.

For those who have never been, Ridge Hill is NOT the school behind the firehouse on Ridge Road (that's a North Haven school). Our Ridge Hill School is off of Ridge Hill Road at 120 Carew Rd., south east of Bassett Park. Directions

We'll be discussing :

• The Superintendent's Budget, the budget schedule and a plan of action.
• What's happening at State PTA
• Revisit membership / volunteerism building

Click here to reveiw the full Hamden BOE budget presentation and schedule

I cannot stress enough that your input as parents and taxpayers is vital to this process, so I encourage you to attend, and speak up at, as many of these meetings and hearings as you can.

If you can't attend these meetings, please forward your comments and suggestions to any BOE member and/or Superintendent Rabinowitz.

I would also encourage you to draft letters to the editor as PTA units and submit them to our local papers.

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For those who would like to join the West Woods' community in celebrating the life of Donna Festa...

• Wake: Friday, February 8, 2008, 4-8 PM
  Abriola Parkview Funeral Home
  419 White Plains Road (Route 127)
  Trumbull, CT 06611203-373-1013

• Mass: Saturday, February 9, 2008, 11 AM
  St. Therese’s Church
  5301 Main Street
  Trumbull, CT 06611203-261-3676

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Thanks for you attention.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, 7 PM at Ridge Hill.

Marjorie Clark President,
Hamden PTA Council