Board Of Education As Soothsayer?

To the Editor:

I don’t get it. I listened to all the parties but I just don’t get it. It appeared that, in Monday night’s meeting, the Board of Finance felt the Board of Education should be more soothsayer than custodian of our children’s educational needs.

For years, Newtown has been planning improvements in the heating and cooling of our schools working from a previously prioritized list. In spite of the drastic reductions forced upon the school budget earlier this year, the Hawley HVAC project was funded in this year’s budget and has been submitted to bid. Not surprisingly, the bids came back higher than expected. What was surprising is that the bids were substantially higher than expected. Even so, the Board of Education felt that this will have a significant enough impact at Hawley to bring it forward, through the Board of Finance and Legislative Council to a town meeting.

This is where reason left the meeting.

There were implications that the Board of Education should delay any decisions until they know, and prioritize, all of the financial details behind every capital project for the next five years. Lacking this crystal ball insight, there seemed to be little if any discussion of why this request should not be approved. The Board of Finance was told that any delay would force postponement of the Hawley HVAC project for at least a year. Further, the HVAC bids will expire in about 60 days and were received before Katrina arrived on the Gulf coast. Any rebid of the project is guaranteed to increase the price.

The closest the Board of Finance came to explaining why there would be a vote against the proposal was a concern that there is a limit to the amount the town can borrow. The Board of Education was admonished that future proposals brought to the Board of Finance may be rejected with an “I told you so.” The future proposal most frequently raised was the high school expansion. Repeatedly, the Board of Finance asked if the cost of this future project was considered before bringing the Hawley HVAC proposal forward. Repeatedly, the Board of Education responded that the high school was certainly a high priority but would not be fully defined (much less priced) within the next 30 days.

I understand that a favorable bond rating is in our collective best interest. The upper limit of our spending within this bond rating was not clearly explained. The implication that the high school expansion would not be funded seems a little threatening given that there is as yet no defined project (although, speculation is that the high school expansion will, in and of itself, exceed the amount of borrowing permitted.) All of this is a moot point as, while the Board of Education is working to understand the full extent of the need for the high school expansion, it was not on the agenda. The Hawley HVAC project was — but you won’t see it on a town meeting agenda this month because the Board of Finance doesn’t believe you should be involved in the decision.

Richard Gaines

51 Black Bridge Road, Sandy Hook           September 14, 2005