Supporting Expansion Funds—

School Officials Mount Information Campaign

By Eliza Hallabeck

Board of Education members and school administrators have been busy creating an inexpensive and legal way to spread information to the voters before the referendum is held Tuesday, October 7, for voters to approve or reject the additional $6,045,454 cost to the Newtown High School expansion project.

At 5 pm Monday night a new blog went live on the Internet that Board of Ed members Lillian Bittman and Katherine Fetchick have been working on in conjunction with the Parent Teacher Association Advocacy Committee. The blog focuses on information regarding the NHS expansion project and the need for $6 million in additional funds for the project.

In another effort to inform voters about the extra cost of the Newtown High School expansion project, Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda, and Board of Education members also visited the schools during a serious of “open houses” over the past couple of weeks.

“The turnout for the open houses was wonderful,” said Dr Robinson.

During a Board of Education meeting last month the board decided it would be a good thing to develop a presence at the schools by attending the open houses, and it asked Dr Robinson to attend them as well.

Board of Education Chair Elaine McClure went to one night of the Head O’ Meadow open houses and school board member Lillian Bittman attended one night of the open houses at Hawley School.

“We are really trying to be a presence,” said Dr Robinson.

During the open houses that she attended, Dr Robinson said the parents typically directed questions toward her about the NHS expansion project. She said teachers around her on those nights were asked questions about what children could expect at school that year.

“It was really heartwarming to see all the parents who really care about their child’s education,” said Dr Robinson.

Dr Robinson attended open houses at each school in the district, excluding the high school. On nights when there was a conflict of scheduled open houses, either Ms McClure or Ms Bittman attended one of the open houses.

Parents were given the choice to meet and hear from the superintendent and Board of Education members at meetings scheduled before the starting time for the open houses. If parents did not wish to hear from them, they had the choice to just attend the open house for that night.

“We need people to have questions,” said Ms McClure, “and we need to answer them.”

It was in the same mindset that Ms Bittman said she came up with the idea to create a blog, and Ms Fetchick and PTA members in town have worked with her in recent weeks to put one together before the referendum.

“We’re trying to make sure the town has a lot of information, so we have informed voters,” Ms McClure said.

Ms Bittman primarily put the blog together, and a lot of the information was taken from other information compiled by Dr Robinson, Ms Bittman said.

All of the PTAs from Newtown’s public elementary schools have met and voted to support the referendum in favor of adding the $6,045,454 to the already $38,826,000 project to make it a $44,871,454 project.

Representatives from the PTAs in the PTA Advocacy Committee meet with Dr Robinson once a month, but with the referendum coming up and the NHS expansion project up to the voters, committee members have been meeting weekly to discuss what information should be contained in the blog and the format of it, according to Newtown Middle School PTA President Mary Ann Jacob.

The blog, at expansionnhs.blogspot.com, lists multiple questions presented to the board by residents and concerned parents. According to Ms Bittman, it was decided to make the site noninteractive because the Board of Ed has not had time to discuss how to maintain the site. Normally, blogs are interactive, allowing comments, questions, and discussion by visitors to the site. Ms Bittman’s blog is set up more like an advocacy website; there is no way to comment on the information posted. Email links to Board of Education members are available for readers of the blog to send in more questions.

“We just do not have the manpower to oversee the site this week,” said Ms Bittman.

Board of Education members cannot disperse advocacy information while using state funded money in the run-up to a referendum. That means, according to Ms Jacob, flyers cannot be sent home that have been paid for by the town and the intercom can not be used to make announcements to students. PTAs can advocate, because they are separate entities from the schools and the district, she said.

“It occurred to me that if we can’t use the schools to get the information out,” said Ms Bittman, “then we needed another way.”

Ms Fetchick said she felt it was important for the PTAs in town to get involved and understand what is happening on a district level.

“This is such a difficult time to vote,” said Ms Jacob, “because the time is so short to inform people.”

Ms Jacob said the blog was put together by the volunteers to get the information out to Newtown as quickly as possible.

“Whatever the vote is, the vote is,” Ms Jacob said. “I want it to pass because people believe in it.”