From the Mind of Jason Zandri

By Jesse Buchanan
Record-Journal staff 
jbuchanan@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2230 

As published in the Record Journal Thursday January 28, 2010

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WALLINGFORD — Ques­tions about proposed school district reconfiguration came fast and heavy from concerned parents to school administra­tors Wednesday night at Yalesville School.

Elementary school princi­pals and Board of Education members didn’t have all the answers but said the reconfig­uration was not already decid­ed, and they welcomed com­ments and concerns.

“This is not set in stone. This is just a proposal,” said School Superintendent Salvatore Men­zo. “We are definitely still lis­tening — this is not a finished process.”

Many parents differed, though, saying Wednesday’s fo­rum was just a formality.

“It seems to me that this is a done deal,” said Yalesville par­ent Angela Jagrosse. “I’m feel­ing that this is just a big hoax and this is just away to appease parents.”

Forum participants were bro­ken into four groups and led through four discussions on aspects of the proposed change, which would divide the eight elementary schools into four schools with kindergarten to grade 2 and four schools with grades 3 to 5.

The reconfiguration would save the district more than $1 million, according to administ­rators, although that number has been contested by some who oppose reconfiguration. Parents also questioned whether dividing the elemen­tary schools had any educa­tional benefit.

Carolyn Hall, a teacher at Yalesville School and a parent of two, said Connecticut school districts such as Ansonia that went to a K-2, 3-4 model suf­fered from decreasing test scores.

Before the forum, Gina Cewe-Barrett, a member of the Facebook group “Concerned Parents Wallingford CT Board of Educ. Budget,” was handing out packets with information on the decrease of student performance in other districts.

Yalesville School Principal Kent M. Hurlburt said the data on the subject was mixed, but the reconfiguration could have benefits since the schools could focus on age-specific students. Much of the impetus for the reconfiguration proposal was in response to decreasing state revenues, he said.

“This is a tremendous finan­cial crisis,” Hurlburt said. “We were faced with ‘do we up class sizes or reconfigure?’ ” The four forums discussed different aspects of the pro­posed reconfiguration: trans­portation, class size, educa­tional opportunities and the psychological effects of transition on children.

Chris and Jamie Bowen, par­ents of a Yalesville first-grader and kindergartner, said they had been to most of the parent forums and board meetings on the reconfiguration issue. What Jamie Bowen heard at Wednes­day’s forum didn’t help her anxiety.

“I’m just as concerned as I was coming in,” she said. “I don’t think they answered my questions.”

By Samaia Hernandez
Record-Journal staff
shernandez@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2266 

As published in the Record Journal Thursday January 28, 2010

Follow all the news directly on the Record Journal Website for the most up to date information. www.myrecordjournal.com

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At a glance – Projected school layoffs in Wallingford:

With reconfiguration
Teachers: 59.3 Paraprofessionals: 39.1 Total noncertified: 117.1

Without reconfiguration
Teachers: 51.3 Paraprofessionals: 3.0 Total noncertified: 59.5

Source:Board of Education office

WALLINGFORD — Whether or not the town re­configures its elementary schools, more than 50 teachers could lose their jobs in the fall, according to recent central of­fice projections, but a recon­figuration plan would have a much larger impact on para­professionals.

Converting schools to a K-2, 3-5 grade structure would eliminate 39.1 paraprofession­als.

But if the town’s K-5 struc­ture is maintained, only three paraprofessionals would be cut, including two part-time positions.

“Quite frankly, you don’t want to lose anybody,” said Annie Mac Donald, president of the Paraprofessional Union of Wallingford Local 75, “but you’d rather lose three than 39.1.”

Though Mac Donald feels a school reconfiguration plan could prove educationally sound, when it comes down to supporting the proposal, it would be foolish to do so con­sidering the number of layoffs that would result, she said. “We’ll support anything that will give more support to stu­dents,” said Mac Donald of the 175-member union.

In the superintendent’s orig­inal budget proposal of $88,599,670, a 4.16-percent in­crease from last year, 117.1 full­ or part-time noncertified staff positions would be eliminated. In revised budgets without school reconfiguration, 59.5 noncertified positions would be cut, including greeters, of­fice and cafeteria aides, cleri­cal support and paraprofes­sionals. Preserving the K-5 system would increase the budget proposal to $88,980,604, a 4.61-percent in­crease.

The Board of Education continues to weigh both op­tions and look for additional cost savings before adopting a budget Feb. 22, which then goes to the Town Council and mayor for possible revision.

The three paraprofessional cuts would happen at the mid­dle school level, School Super­intendent Salvatore Menzo said Wednesday.

“They felt that the reduction in para support would not ad­versely affect the students and their achievement,” Menzo said, referring to school ad­ministrators who reviewed case loads for the coming year.

The paraprofessionals, like other unions, came to the table willing to negotiate possible givebacks with the school board; however, they failed to reach an agreement that would save positions, Mac Donald said.

The Board of Education Clerical Union, which stands to lose an unspecified number of members, also said it would be willing to open discussions, but doesn’t yet have firm num­bers to work with. “The membership at this time doesn’t have to be con­cerned for one reason: for us, they keep telling us this is still a proposal,” said Flo Mulcahy, president of the 67-member union.

“We have nothing that I can present to the membership at this time to vote on,” she added.

School board Chairman Thomas Hennessey said it wouldn’t be responsible to as­sume the town would approve a percentage increase of nearly 5 percent.

The budget will continue to be modified, he said, and the number of layoffs will change.

“There’s not a heck of a lot of moves left to save a lot of money,” Hennessey said. “We’re going to have to cut somewhere. I see the number changing. It has to.”

By Samaia Hernandez
Record-Journal staff
shernandez@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2266

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday January 27, 2010

Follow all the news directly on the Record Journal Website for the most up to date information. www.myrecordjournal.com

Write a letter to the editor letters@record-journal.com

WALLINGFORD — Renegotiating a contract may sound logical to some, but according to the town’s teachers union, it could mean risky busi­ness.

With administrators having agreed to $100,000 in concessions this week and other bargaining units in negotiations with school officials, the Wallingford Education Association, the district’s largest union of some 600 teachers, is the only group not inter­ested in possible givebacks to help save more than 50 teaching positions slated to be cut next year.

At roughly $43 million, full-time teacher salaries make up about half of the $88.6 million proposed budget for 2010-11. Under advice from the Connecti­cut Education Association, the teachers union is re­luctant to open up its contract, which expires in 2012 and includes a 4.2 percent salary increase for next year after teachers accepted a step freeze this year.

Unlike other unions, teachers are bound by the Teacher Negotiation Act, implemented to prevent teacher strikes. If teachers reopen a contract, it ex­poses them to “impasse resolution.” In a nutshell, if the school board and teachers don’t reach an agree­ment, the process will go mediation.

Ultimately the contract’s fate could wind up in the hands of an outside arbitrator. In the middle of the budget process, arbitration could turn into a lengthy and costly court battle in which teachers stand to lose the benefits they fought to obtain in the contract, which lasts from 2009-12.

“We are under legal advice from our attorneys from the CEA not to get into the contract,” said Richard Harkawik, president of the teachers union and a sixth-grade teacher at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School.

“We’re protecting our interest,” Harkawik added. “First of all, this budget proposal is still a proposal, and we don’t know what the Town Council is going to do.”

Phone calls to the CEA went unreturned Tuesday. Wallingford isn’t the only municipality facing a reluctant teacher’s union.

Joseph Cirasuolo, execu­tive director of the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents and former Wallingford superintendent, said it’s happening across the state. However, once contracts do expire, teachers have been willing to negotiate salary freezes in the first year and other savings, he said.

As districts receive less support from the state, school boards are trying to negotiate with unions.

“The risk of binding arbitration is a risk, but I think it’s a small one when you compare it to mass layoffs that could occur,” said Kelly Moyher, senior staff attorney for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

But Thomas Mooney, author of “The Practical Guide to Connecticut School Law,” University of Connecticut Law School professor and attorney at Shipman & Goodwin in Hartford, which represents districts including Meriden and Simsbury, says the CEA’s stand is nonsense. An agreement can be reached during informal discussions without put­ting the entire contract in jeopardy, he said.

“These parties can agree to change the contract, and part of their agreement can be that these changes will not be implemented if our agreement is rescinded, if it is not accepted by the town,” Mooney said. “It’s just that simple.”

School officials in Wallingford are under similar legal guidance. There’s a way to enter informal dis­cussions about aspects of the contract and agree to void negotiations if the district and union don’t reach an agreement, said Wallingford schools Hu­man Resources Director Jan Guarino-Rhone, which is exactly what the administrators did this week.

With a wife and two daughters teaching in the system, Town Councilor Nick Economopoulos, a retired teacher himself, said he can understand the educators’ viewpoint.

“Which side has something to lose?” he asked. “The school board doesn’t. Teachers could lose everything they negotiated for last year. But what good is it if one council’s reading one thing, another council is saying another thing and they’re both in­terpreting the same law?”