Election Night

I can’t post the results so I hope somebody can jump in here and let us know the burning question…. Did Joe Visconti go down in flames?
In the end, I have to admit, I couldn’t fill his bubble. I hemmed. I hawed. And, finally, I passed him by. I wound up voting for a couple [...]

Meet the school board candidates Tuesday night

West Hartford SEPTA (Special Education PTA) is pleased
to invite everyone to one more opportunity to meet the
Board of Education Candidates, at Duffy School on
Tuesday October 30 from 7-9 pm.
This event is for everyone in the community, not just
for those interested in special education.
Please spread the word!  Attached is a flyer you can
reproduce.
Don’t be complacent…
 Show your [...]

Let’s focus on education for a bit

With the election fast approaching, there’s on issue I care about more than any other: education. I want to know what each of the candidates will do to ensure proper funding of our schools and how they’ll maintain the quality programs offered to our students.
I want to hear what they’d do differently than the current [...]

Axing education

As a story in the Courant made clear this week, the Board of Education managed to slice the $1.8 million from its proposed spending plan that town councilors demanded. But they could only do it by slicing away muscle and lean, not just fat.
According to the paper, “In a 4-3 vote, the board chose to eliminate [...]

School budget slicing and dicing

At the hearing last night, the Board of Education heard lots of ideas for paring the proposed budget, according to today’s story in The Hartford Courant.
“Hall junior Alex Porter suggested reducing the school year by four days to trim costs,” reporter Fulvio Cativo wrote in his story. He added that school board members said that’s [...]

Education budget hearing tonight

If you care, show up!
Public Hearing on Budget Reductions, Tuesday, May 29, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall – Legislative Chamber, Room 314.

Don’t give in, Board of Ed

Let’s try this scenario on: What if the Board of Ed simply refused to make any more cuts in its budget (after removing any spending that’s not going to hurt in the classroom)? Couldn’t it just tell the council that it’s sliced away all that it can in good conscience and plead for more money? [...]

Quest also on chopping block

The superintendent is offering the Board of Education lots of ways to slice Quest from the budget. It could whack a teacher or two, or it could ax Middle School Quest, or it could lop off Elementary School Quest. I guess we should be grateful he didn’t urge tossing the Quest kids out on the [...]

6 elementary schools could get clobbered

Parents at  Aiken, Braeburn, Bugbee, Duffy, Morley, and Norfeldt schools better wake up fast.
On the list of potential cuts are two that would create havoc for countless families and drastically reduce the education at each of the schools.
One proposal is to eliminate full-day kindergarten at each of the six schools, to save $713,750. There would still [...]

Why are 5th grade parents silent?

To save $312K, the Board of Ed is eyeing a plan to “reduce staffing at KP and Sedgwick in grade 6 from 3 full teams per grade to 2 full teams and 1 half team. Based on current enrollment projections, the maximum class size would rise from 19 to 24 per class in grade 6.”
Read [...]