Milfords Educational Crisis Can Be Solved

The city of Milford has an ugly little secret when it comes to education, or in other words the iconic "third rail" that few dare to address. That rail is what I aptly call the 100 Million Dollar Dilemma or the the cost of repairing the failing energy wasting infrastructure of our educational system.

For the last twenty years the city of Milford and the Milford Board of Education have adopted a triage policy where-by only catastrophic mechanical failures are addressed, but the issues with our crumbling schools go beyond just those simple repairs. Milford has not had a new school built in many decades, and the thought of education improvements is always a bitter battle against those who do not want taxes, and those with kids who just want their kids educated.

For a very long time there has been no way of breaking this taxpayer, parent stalemate until recently. The answer came to my desk at the Milford Independent Party after consulting with numerous experts and municipalities across Connecticut and the United States for a solution to this very problem. Finally a real solution to the Milford Education crisis was presented to me by Balfour Betty Construction. This company is a world class company and is rated one of the top companies to work for in America.

Balfour Betty delivers billions of dollars in sales annually. The project in question that has now become the national model for Leeds Certified education was delivered to the Irving Texas School District this year. Click HERE for a tour of Lady Bird Johnson Middle School the nations first "Net Zero" Middle School. According to Balfour Betty's spokesperson "Charter Builders was awarded the $29 million contract to manage construction of the new school, located in Irving, Texas.

The 150,000-square-foot facility will produce its own energy via solar panels, geothermal energy harvesting, and wind turbines. If the school produces excess energy, the district could sell energy to a local electric provider, creating a potential revenue source for the district." Should our local leaders dare embrace the vision of the future, a project like this can easily be initiated in Milford and Connecticut. Most of the delivery cost can easily be absorbed without incident or consequence to the local taxpayers.

This is because 60% of the cost of the school would be paid for by Hartford, another 10% could be covered by Federal Clean Energy grants and the rest %30 covered by bonds. The payments on those bonds would be at record low interest rates and paid for with the monthly savings from repairs, Gas, Electric, and energy. For example at current rates of 4% a loan for the difference or an est. $20,000.00 per month in un-needed electric and gas bills could be easily converted to the loan payment. This will cover the unfunded and bonded portion of the construction.

If Milford also decides to sell off and combine some failing Schools, it is even possible that a new school could be built for FREE. There may even be additional money in the bank to use for our kids currently unfunded programs. This is a project that is a "big win" for the people and city and should be seriously pursued to fix our towns 100 Million Dollar Dilemma.

We now just need to get the word out, because the lack of vision and inaction on behalf of the cities taxpayers and children is UNACCEPTABLE. We all need to put pressure on the present administration to take meaningful action to solve our educational crisis. Milford students should not be learning in hallways on carts and certainly they do not deserve to have their schools shut down. Demand Action, direct decision makers to this post and ask them to do the right thing for the sake our children.

Jobless Teachers, Political Recalls, and Frustrated Students and Parents

The times are upon us again, only this year many assumed that the layoff threat would be as it was last year just a threat. Over the last few weeks that proved to be a dangerous assumption and an abject failure of a miscalculation on the part of Milford's teachers union.

This year one school Simon Lake is officially closed and 25 Milford teachers are looking for jobs while seeking unemployment compensation. The city did promise "recall" rights to these teachers, but only if a vacancy occurs whereby a tenured teacher retires. This was already seen when Ms. Elmo retired, because in her words "she wanted to save the job of a younger teacher who needed it more."

For several weeks and months following the educational debates that filled the Jonathan Law auditorium not once but twice supporters of the Simon Lake school pleaded to keep it open just one more year, and the Milford Board of Education was unable to convince the the Board of Finance and the Board of Alderman to restore the funding to the school.

The Libertarian leaning Chairman of the board of Alderman Greg Smith, supported the schools closing citing that the "city could no longer afford it." However some parents disagreed and started a recall process this week against Republican school board member Robert White R3, who said he was unconcerned and a "recall effort is their right" but few are convinced the recall will resolve anything since Milford has never had a successful recall of a board member.

Several parents are out collecting signatures from voters and people who agree with their view that Mr. White did not listen to his constituents and callously disregarded them when they asked for a remedy to the injury of closing a school in his district. The parents of those kids are now trying to collect 675 signatures that Republican Town Clerk Linda Stock will have to verify as legitimate. Once the signature threshold is reached a recall procedure can be initiated and early reports indicate the parents are 3/4 of the way there.

Acting Superintendent of schools, Cummings gave several elaborate presentations to the public defending his plan to reorganize Milford's schools. He promised all the affected parents of the closed school that despite a commuter inconvenience and having their kids go to multiple schools that "their kids education would not suffer."

Several Republican board members in town were satisfied that the closing of Simon Lake School is a "win win" situation whereby kids still get a "Good education" and taxpayers get a "minor" tax increase.

As a former candidate for the school board myself, it is my opinion that the very notion of change during hard economic times, is unpalatable to some parents who will be forced to redo and rethink how they get their kids off to school in the morning. Some are concerned about commuting, class sizes and of course are upset with their child's teacher being let go.

As the tumultuous nature of the Education Outrage Machine goes into full swing in the coming months and years none are less prepared for the nasty changes that will arrive in 2011 than the city government. In 2011 the Milford Board of Education is expected to lose 1.5 Million in Federal funding plus take on an additional routine increase of 3.5 Million in Cost of Living adjustments, health care costs, and contractual raises.

The 2011 Educational budget spells "DISASTER" in 2011 for all parties involved. The alternatives may require additional school closings or large increases in property taxes that may be as high as 5%. Some argued that the solution to this problem will be the construction of a new Green High School that merges Jonathan Law and Foran into a single "Green" energy efficient modern facility.

The construction of a new High School has not been pursued in many decades and most of this work will be funded by the state of Connecticut and the sale of Milford's most energy inefficient crumbling schools. As it stands Mark Stapleton the current Chairman of the Milford Board of Education said "Milford's Schools need $100,000,000.00 in repairs at the moment the current method of implementing this has been a triage system."

James Tranquilli Jr. Wants Your Vote On Schools

MILFORD — A website was launched Thursday as a sounding board for residents concerned about the plan to close Simon Lake School, reconfigure the elementary grades and eliminate more than 45 positions next year.

Board of Education member James Tranquilli Jr., R-1, designed www.milfordspeaksout.com. The 10-member school board will vote in late May on the school administration’s proposal.

Acting Superintendent of Schools R. Michael Cummings is proposing the changes as a way of addressing a $2.2 million budget reduction next year. The Board of Finance reduced the school board’s budget request by $2.2 million, though overall it approved a 2.25 percent increase in spending for next year.

CONTINUE READING BRIAN MCREADY STORY CLICK HERE

My Reply To Tim Chaucer Leading High School Merger Opposition

After work yesterday I retrieved my mail from my mailbox and of course threw the bills on my desk and read the newspaper. The area that I like most is the local commentary and letters to the editor that Jill Dion so very nicely posts.

Steve Borer warned me some time ago that Tim Chaucer was going to have issues with the idea of High School mergers, and his article this week cited several reasons why this is a bad idea including the "Columbine Massacre" the nature of a "well balanced school district" and of course "Sports participation."

While I see Mr. Chaucer as an important part of this debate, and in my extensive 45 Minute conversation with him last week expressed my joy at him being the "Devils advocate" on the Milford education debate, I took issue with him. I believe that his type of contribution is important and will be needed in order that the logistics of these school mergers be responsibly worked out, but challenge some of his outmoded thoughts.

Some of Mr. Chaucer's concerns in my opinion are outdated and rely on the technology and methodology of the past. They fail to take into consideration the advances in educational learning, green school design and social interaction models between kids.

While Mr. Chaucer points to the "Columbine Massacre from years back" I have been learning about more pressing and modern threats that have no boundaries. This threat aptly known as “Cyber bullying” has been a world wide phenomenon and is very dangerous for today's kids. It recently led to the induced suicide of Phoebe Prince and made national news. These problems have nothing to do with school size or the types of issues that Chaucer is concerned about.

In my previous article below it can be noted that "Cyber bullying" work in Milford is already ongoing thanks to the student efforts put forth by Jennie Sharp and Janet Gargliano of Milford. The era of Columbine mass-murders really is an invalid argument, it's more of a scare tactic that may lead one to believe in a false conclusion.

This is not to say that Milford has not had its share of young people die, however these incidents are not emblematic of our schools but rather out of town kids using Milford as a place to exact revenge against other problem youths. These incidents do not reflect negatively on our schools but rather emphasize that school security and the tenuous view of it by our kids indicates it's of minimal concern.

Certainly there are issues that must be addressed in education, but in my view the most serious problem I see is the destabilization of the traditional social model that once kept the Grand List Receipts in check with Infrastructure, Maintenance and teacher job security.

As America and Milford continues to de-industrialize and our tax base continues to endure a sustained economic attack by global forces, our little city will continue to live with an unacceptable level on insecurity. Some cases in point, the Milford Mall (the cities largest taxpayer) would have been in bankruptcy had they not won a 12% abatement in their taxes, and still yet even with that abatement one of its largest tenants who pays in excess of $720,000.00 a year in rent may face bankruptcy before years end 2010.

Let’s take this and add it to the problem of Sikorski and its associated pressure to move to a more business friendly state. Consider every shareholder meeting whereby the CEO is held to the fire about profits and return on profits to investors. Most of the United Technologies investors or Sikorski's for that matter could care less about Milford. They demand profitability and what is better for the shareholder than to compel the CEO to move our states heavy industry to Mississippi or Louisiana to improve profitability and investor return.

We all see what happens when heavy industry moves on, just look at the ghost of an economy that once lived in Bridgeport. Taxes skyrocket, grand lists plummet, and cities face severe financial strain.

This year and in today's paper our Superintendent announced he will be closing a school a decision that I support. One thing Chaucer and I agree on is that teachers not buildings are this town’s greatest asset. Buildings are expense laden places that in time develop maintenance costs that aggravate the loss of precious teacher jobs.

The epiphany is upon us, our nation is mired in debt and the nation is moving toward extremist revenue procuring methods to stay afloat. Combine this with the fact that CERC a consulting firm that makes demographic predictions is showing a population decline in Milford in the next decade.

While some may welcome population declines, others find them troubling because they represent a disproportionate share of future tax burdens that cannot, and should not, be redistributed to sustain an outmoded educational system.

Fortunately for us, the solution to these problems was developed by a Mr. Peter Caltrope who is the founder and visionary behind Smart Growth and the art of sustainable living. Peter Caltrope amid the oil shock of the 1970's saw the future that is today at our doorstep. This future encompassed all of the ailments we see today, a devalued currency, excessive foreign debt, and a dependency on non-renewable and costly fossil fuels. These variables became the inspiration behind his modern green socio-economic models.

Education should be Milford's starting point as it consumes nearly 1/2 of the entire city budget and poses the greatest risk to the future of our city. Our kids are the future of the world we live in, and aside from bringing in green sustainable technology to educate these kids we need to adhere to the principles of those schools who educate with repeated success. The following Paideia Schools quote should express our community’s goals:

“It is our dream that students will ...experience their classrooms as invigorating, even inspiring environments - places they look forward to going to and places they hate to leave. It is our dream that they will come to know themselves as masters of various crafts...It is our dreams that ...they will come to love the process of learning itself... by making it their own.”

In conclusion to this Press Release today we are at a crossroads where the status quo no longer works. Under the economic principles set forth in "Game Theory" it could now be said that the immutable laws of entropy are rudely upon out city.

The economic principles vested in John Nash's "Game theory" in this instance calls out three opposing factions representing their own "rational interests." Those variables are the Teachers, Vs. The Taxpayers, Vs. Parents of Kids. Every group wants its own interests represented to their own ends. Teachers do not want to lose their jobs, Parents do not want their kids education compromised, and taxpayers do not want their taxes raised at unsustainable rates.

"Game Theory" is crystal clear that under the present circumstances the outcome will be a "Zero Sum Game." "Zero Sum" is the outcome where there are no winners much like the futility of two supercomputers playing "Tic Tac Toe" against one another neither side ever wins unless the "Game" is played differently, the circumstances in our town must be changed and a long term Smart Growth approach adopted if we are to solve this problem.

Many times before has Milford been afraid to exact the courage required for positive reform, and every time there has been someone who said "it should not and cannot be done" but to all my critics I once again bring you the words of Nelson Mandela:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Milford can do that with the present tools available today. We need to act before it’s too late. Under the status quo taxpayers lose their homes and this week out of five houses sold two of those five were foreclosures.

These are indeed very troubling times and moving forward without a plan for reform will erode our local grand list and threaten the rights of property owners. We need to act now if we are to save our city from an uncertain future.

Understanding Special Education And Its Heavy Toll

It is a process fraught with emotion.

Parents want what's best for their children. Local school officials have to consider the taxpayers' limited resources.

In school districts across Fairfield County, the decisions made by a pupil's Planning and Placement Team on what special education services to provide are increasingly being challenged by parents, and legal bills on both sides are mounting.

"This is difficult stuff because it is so expensive to a school district and so important to a parent,'' said Thomas Murphy, spokesman for the state Department of Education. "It's a clash of the titans," he said.

To continue reading Frank Juliano Story Click Here

Milford CT High School Merger Followup.

A proposal to replace the city's two public high schools with one large, new one drew mixed reactions Tuesday.

Timothy Chaucer, who co-founded Milford Citizens Against Mega-Schools to defeat a similar plan five years ago, said Tuesday that large high schools don't work and that cities that have tried this experiment have gone back to two facilities.

"Fairfield tried this, and it was an absolute failure," said Chaucer, a retired Hamden High School teacher. "Meriden merged Maloney and Platt into one huge school and they regret it. Joe Foran (a former Milford superintendent), said the ideal size of a high school is 900 to 1,000 students." Rocco Frank, chairman of the local Independent Party, wrote on his blog that building one new high school makes more sense than spending the same amount of money to repair two older buildings that waste a lot of energy

Continue Reading Frank Juliano Story by Clicking HERE