Disgusted And Amazed

(Part 2)

To the Editor:

It never ends with BOE. When I picked up my copy of The Bee, I couldn’t help noticing they are now going to spend $100,000 for a new superintendent search. I hope they do better this time. Look who showed up for dinner last search.

My point is not the search but the comment that Dr Robinson made to The Bee after the multiboard meeting. “I have no plans to leave my position.” Translation: I have a contract, you can’t touch me, I’m getting paid until the end of the 2013–2014 school year (almost two years). Must be nice to have a contract that is honored.

When All-Star was awarded their contract with a little help from friends for owner-operators only (20–24 buses), MTM had two more years remaining on their contract. But Dr Robinson, Ron Bienkowski, and the BOE decided that they were not going to honor that contract. But MTM was still in the way of All-Star taking over the whole transportation system for the town of Newtown.

It didn’t matter that MTM had a contract. All-Star was given the authorization to do whatever they had to do to get more buses into town. The first thing was to take all the buses that MTM was using to transport students to and from all the schools and replace them with All-Star buses (I’m estimating about 8–10 buses).

MTM also had buses going to Fraser-Woods, Housatonic, and magnet schools but they were also replaced by All-Star buses. At the first two BOE meetings it was mentioned several times that All-Star had 42 buses on the road but no one on the board questioned the number. The three schools above were also mentioned but again no one on the board asked why All-Star had replaced MTM with their buses.

I guess MTM wasn’t as important as Dr Robinson is; she’s not going to lose a dime, MTM is losing $100,000 a month.

I have no knowledge of anything other than what I read in the newspapers.

Raymond Thompson

380 Old Waterbury Road, Southbury                   October 23, 2012