ENFIELD BOARD OF EDUCATION
MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
April 27, 2004
A regular meeting of the Enfield Board of Education was held at Thomas Alcorn Elementary School, 1010 Enfield Street, Enfield, CT. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Hilinski at 7:30 PM.
MEMBERS PRESENT Donna Corbin Sobinski, Kristen P. Hamilton, Albert Harrison, Kenneth Hilinski, Roger Jones, Sharon Racine, Carol Santoski, Lynn Scull, Nicholas Sinsigalli, Jr.
MEMBERS ABSENT none
ALSO PRESENT Dr. John Gallacher; Superintendent of Schools, Anthony Torre; Assistant Superintendent of Schools
CALL TO ORDER Kenneth Hilinski
INVOCATION OR MOMENT OF SILENCE Kenneth Hilinski
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Kenneth Hilinski
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mrs. Scull moved that the minutes of April 13, 2004 be approved. Seconded by Mrs. Racine. There were no changes or corrections. A vote by show of hands 9-0-0, motion passes.
BOARD GUESTS
a. EHS Boys Basketball Team
Mr. Duffy introduced the 2004 Connecticut State Champions – Division IV as follows:
Senior Rueben Andino
Junior Malakie Barry
Junior Brian DaSilva
Junior C. J. Forse
Senior Jack Griffin
Junior Pat Jubrey
Junior Matt Luneau
Senior Jesse Marrow
Senior Tim Mason
Sophmore Justin Thomas
Junior Geoff Weldon
Senior Jiquan Williams
Team Manager Isabelle Hasiuk
The Board congratulated and presented each member of the team with a championship T-shirt.
Senior, Jack Griffin, will be attending the University of Maryland on a football scholarship – Division I. Mr. Griffin also received the 2004 Division IV Loren Keyes MVP Award that was presented by the CT High School Coaches Association.
Coach Michael Thomas was presented with a certificate of appreciation for a job well done by Mr. Duffy and the Board. Coach Thomas stated that his team is an inspiration to him by showing him how hard they can compete and how much they believe in themselves. This is the first EHS team to put a championship banner on the walls of EHS. He stated how proud he was of each and every one of them.
EHS Vice-Principals, Bruce Barmak and Steve Sargalski, unveiled a photo banner for EHS that has four photographs from the championship game. The banner was presented for the first time to the team.
Marguerite Myers-Killeen stated that most of the students on the boys basketball team hail from Alcorn School.
Mr. Hilinski congratulated the whole team on behalf of the Board and wished the seniors much success in their future. He also hoped to see the rest of the team play again next year.
CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS
Items passed out to the Board as follows:
1. Notice of mediation and arbitration between the Board and the ETA, which will start on Aug 2nd.
2. Memo from Malone and McBroom, Architects, working on the field renovations, to Mr. Vindigni.
3. Agenda for the School Readiness Council meeting to be held at 8:00 AM at Alcorn School on April 29, and the minutes of their last meeting.
4. Announcement that the Secretary of State, Susan Byswicz, will be visiting JFK to present an award to the JFK Service Club on May 3rd. Everyone is invited.
5. The Town Council Order of Business resolution for the Public Hearing on the budget at JFK on April 28th.
6. Handout from Mr. Hilinski on the Joint Blue Ribbon Committee on IT Technology.
7. Email from Mr. Olsen regarding the “Buzz” Robotics Team. They placed 3rd in the nation out of 300 competitors.
8. A Hardcopy of the power point presentation for the EPS budget.
AUDIENCES
Paul Smith, Enfield, Mr. Smith strongly urged the Board not to close any school in Enfield. The entire town could be affected by closing a school. He urged the Board to go slow and consider all aspects of closing a school. He questioned what would happen to the 100 + children who attend the After School Program at Alcorn that is federally funded. He stated that the Town Council is doing a lot of wonderful things for the community but they also need to commit to supporting an educational system too.
Charles Woods, Enfield, Mr. Woods stated he is dismayed with the suggestion of Alcorn closing. It is the epitome of a neighborhood school. Mr. Woods stated he served on the Budget Advisory Committee. He stated closing a school was not one of the recommendations and wanted to know why other recommendations were overlooked. There are still ways to cut the budget and reduce the mill rate in town. The road bonding issue will have a hard time passing if the current budget is adopted.
Judith Apruzzese-Deroches, Enfield, Mrs. Apruzzese-Deroches stated she is in support of schools of choice. She reviewed the proposed budget and could not find a tuition line item for the MLC program.
She requested that the Board be equitable with the schools of choice for all children who want to attend.
Roy Reale, Enfield, Mr. Reale stated he supports schools of choice. It is a personal choice to leave a neighborhood school and learn in a different style. He urged the Board to create a formal policy for schools of choice. His son has not been notified yet if he is going to MLC because Enfield is waiting for a budget to be set. In the meantime, there will be an orientation for students attending MLC that his son cannot attend. The policy should be based on the number of students per choice of school. It will also help the Board to manage their budget.
Liz Desrosiers, Enfield, Mrs. Derosiers is against the closing of Alcorn. She has two children at MLC, one child at JFK and two children that attend Alcorn. She stated that Alcorn embraces their students as a family. Her children love Alcorn and everything it has to offer. She does not want them uprooted to another school.
Beth Monfette, Enfield, Mrs. Monfette chooses to send her children to Alcorn because it is the best school in town. The Board is taking the easy way out by closing a school. There are other avenues to explore before closing any school. She urged the Board to consider all other avenues of reductions before resorting to a school closure.
Patricia Romei, Enfield, Mrs. Romei questioned how the Board can justify closing a school after you just asked us a few years ago to raise our taxes to expand the schools. Now the schools that just completed the additions are up for possible closure. She asked how the Board could justify it because it does not make sense. Alcorn is a wonderful school and a neighborhood social resource center. The staff is wonderful at Alcorn. There are several factors to consider before a school can be closed. Mrs. Romei asked why none of the Board members attended the Blue Ribbon celebration the Friday before school went on vacation. If you had, you would have seen the pride and joy in the students and staff. She asked the Board to look behind the scenes for cuts and reminded them that students come first.
Lisa St. Denis, Enfield, Mrs. St. Denis welcomed the Board to the Blue Ribbon School on behalf of the Alcorn PTO. Alcorn has a wonderful staff and Principal and a full array of programs, such as full day kindergarten, the TLC program that helped Alcorn win a Blue Ribbon nomination, and the After School Program. She stated that displacing 300 children from any school is not justifiable. She urged the Board to consider other alternatives in the budget. She is very aware that the budget is less about money and more about politics. The Board needs to concentrate on the children and support education properly.
Jeannette Rodriquez, Enfield, Ms. Rodriquez is a single parent, full time mom and a full time volunteer in the community. Alcorn is a resource for her and her family. It is a way to build community spirit and teach her children the importance of socialization. Alcorn has helped her immensely. She is worried her child will need to be bussed to another school. She is worried about accidents and whether her child will arrive safely at another school. Alcorn gives her a sense of safety for her child. The Board needs to do their job and find a way to keep Alcorn open.
Marcy Luckenbach, Enfield Mrs. Luckenbach asked how the Board can consider closing a school when you have NCLB laws to uphold. Increasing class sizes will negate that mandate because there won’t be any time for a teacher to give individual attention to her students. She asked how teachers and administrators are going to handle inclusion, another mandate, in large size classrooms? Closing a school is not a smart move and the Board needs to rethink what they are doing.
Deanna Wyse, Enfield, Mrs. Wyse has a daughter in her 3rd year at MLC. She thanked the Board for that incredible opportunity and urged the Board to continue to do so with new students. It is only fair. Children choose to attend alternative schools and you need to allow these students to find their own way.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
Mrs. Scull thanked all the audience for their input. She stated that the Board has not voted to close a school and will continue the fight. She stated that the Board is committed to students and that is why we, as members, choose to be here. Mrs. Scull stated that had she known of the Blue Ribbon celebration, that she would have been there.
Mrs. Corbin Sobinski stated that it is important to hear comments from the public. She also stated that according to the State Department, parents cannot pay tuition for magnet schools. The reason goes back to the Sheff vs.O’Neill decision. Allowing parents to pay for magnet school education would not level the playing field for all students, some of whom cannot afford to pay.
Mr. Sinsigalli stated he had the distinct honor of being at Alcorn for the Blue Ribbon celebration. It was a wonderful day and there was a definite bond between staff and students. Mr. Sinsigalli read a newspaper article, a letter to the editor from 1992 that reflects exactly what is going on this year to what was going on 12 years ago. He was the author of that editorial.
Mr. Harrison stated he had two children attend Alcorn and knows how special this school is. He reassured the audience that no decision has been made to close a school. He urged the audience to attend the public hearing tomorrow night and speak on the importance of education in Enfield.
Mr. Jones stated he is in support of schools of choice. Creating a policy for magnet schools is a good idea. He requested that the Chairman form a committee to look into creating a policy.
Mr. Hilinski thanked everyone for speaking. He stated that the public can see the dilemma that the Board is in. We need feedback from the community as to what the town wants for an education system. The bottom line is; State funding is not coming through. All the mandated items in place are not being funded and it is draining local Boards across the State. It is an unfair burden that the State and Federal government imposes on us.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
As reported in the Board Packet.
- Principal Marguerite Myers-Killeen welcomed the Board to Alcorn. She stated that her school has a great sense of pride and community as is evident tonight. She also hopes to be at Alcorn to receive the Blue Ribbon award in September that she knows Al
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
Mr. Harrison reported that the Policy Review Sub committee has submitted the attendance policy for consideration tonight. The committee is also reviewing the graduation requirements. Having student representatives sit with the Board is being looked at. Security cameras and video taping issues at EHS are being addressed. Students recording programs for the community and cable television programs are being addressed and finally the draft policy for Parent Involvement has been approved by the State and will need to be formally adopted by the Board at the next meeting.
APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS AND PAYROLL none
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Budget Discussion
Mr. Hilinski stated that he has drawn up a proposal for the Board to consider for a contingency plan in case the budget is cut by the Town Council. He is asking the Board to approve the administrations recommendations for different reduction scenarios. He feels it is prudent to do this in anticipation of receiving less money than was requested.
Mrs. Scull moved that the Enfield Board of Education authorize the Administration to establish a budget reduction contingency plan for the 2004-2005 budget submittal with the following options:
Option 1: Reduce the Budget submittal by $300,000
Option 2: Reduce the Budget submittal by $600,000
Option 3: Reduce the Budget submittal by $900,000
Seconded by Mrs. Corbin Sobinski. Mrs. Hamilton agreed that this is a responsible action to take. She would like to revisit the Budget Advisory Committee recommendations as well as the administrative recommendations. Mrs. Racine is also in agreement that now is the time to be planning. This motion does not mean we need to take action. Mr. Jones stated this that this action is redundant since we have all the paperwork from before. He offered an amendment as follows:
Mr. Jones moved to amend the motion to not allow for any closing of elementary schools or cuts to the Terra Nova program. Seconded by Mr. Sinsigalli. Mrs. Scull stated she couldn’t support the amendment because Terra Nova is changing and the future is not clear as to what will happen to the program. Mr. Sinsigalli stated that discussion of cuts before the adoption by the Town Council is ridiculous and we should be supporting the budget that has been proposed.
A vote on the amendment by roll call 4-5-0, with Mr. Harrison, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Santoski, Mrs. Corbin Sobinski and Mr. Hilinski in dissent. Motion fails.