RTC Invites School Board To Special Meeting April 21

The Republican Town Committee will hold a special meeting Wednesday, April 21, at 7:30 pm in the Newtown Multi-Purpose Center. At the beginning, the RTC will hear from Republican Jack Orchulli of Darien, who is running for the party’s nomination for US Senate.

Mr Orchulli, co-founder and former chief executive officer of Michael Kors designer clothing, is new to the political scene. Nevertheless, he believes long-term Democrat Sen Chris Dodd is vulnerable. According to the Associated Press, much of Sen Dodd’s funding comes from out of state, demonstrating he lacks real support in Connecticut. Mr Orchulli, who is investing a considerable amount of his own money is his campaign, is focusing on meeting with Republican leaders in municipalities across the state.

 The bulk of the meeting will be devoted to asking Board of Education members specific questions about the school system’s budget process.

“We want a high-quality education for our children that will prepare them to function effectively in our society,” said Carol Recht, RTC chairman. “In the light of constantly escalating budgets, with no end in sight, we also want to ensure that we receive the best value for the money we are being asked to spend. We remain unconvinced that spending more money automatically results in higher quality education.”

Among the questions the RTC has addressed to Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure are:

What is the Board of Education doing to ensure that future negotiations over administration and teacher contracts fairly reflect the realities of our economy and the marketplace?

Should school enrollment level off during the next ten years, how would that impact the forces of competition on the negotiating process?

Has the Board of Education considered forming a coalition with other school boards to lobby the legislature for changes in the bargaining process, especially in the area of basing salaries on merit and reviewing tenure?

How would the recent court ruling that permits town to consider the education and town budgets separately impact the negotiating process?

The perception persists that we are spending a greater proportion of our compensation budget on administration than on instruction. How does this impact your primary objective of having quality teachers and lower classroom sizes? Can you demonstrate the positive effect lower class size has had on student performance?

We hear a great deal about educational mandates and how their requirements impact school budgets. Can you explain the distinction between those curriculum requirements and past requirements? How do these differences translate into higher costs?

How many special education students are we serving in Newtown? How many need to be transported to other school districts? Why? Can we handle their needs more efficiently? Can we tap into other sources of funding for children with special needs? Could Newtown cooperate with other school boards to pursue and secure designated funding for specially equipped schools to defray the costs to the local taxpayer?

We have all heard rumors about “waste” in our school system, such as working computers and new textbooks being dumped, etc. Are these types of allegations investigated? Are decisionmakers who cause such waste held accountable?

Mrs Recht said that Ms McClure said the school board would address these and any other questions members have.