After intense meeting, BOE agrees to solely negotiate with Gilbert

WINSTED — The Board of Education voted to negotiate solely with The Gilbert School and halt further negotiations with other area high schools at a special meeting on Tuesday, April 7, at The Pearson School.

The meeting was emotional. At times board members argued with each other, and at some points board members argued with some of the 76 residents in the audience.

The meeting was scheduled in light of a controversial proposed plan detailed at a board meeting in early March.

The proposed plan would allow district students to attend four different high schools: Canton High School, Granby High School, Litchfield High School and Torrington High School.

Not listed as a choice in the plan is The Gilbert School.

The Gilbert School is the town’s semi-private school that currently educates the school district’s seventh- through 12th-graders.

The district started sending seventh- and eighth-graders to Gilbert during the 2011-2012 school year.

Previously, seventh and eighth grade students were educated at Pearson Middle School.

In late February, the school district started to look at other options for educating seventh-and-eighth grade students. 

The school district’s current contract with Gilbert, which was for a year, will expire on June 30, and the district is currently in negotiations with Gilbert for a new contract. 

In early March residents protested the plan at a meeting attended by members of the Gilbert community, including parents, school administrators and students.

Members of the Gilbert community once again attended the April 7 meeting and, during public comment at the meeting, 14 residents loudly blasted board members for considering the plan and making accusations.

“In the past month we have made it clear that we are not interested in exploring other options other than Gilbert, yet you continue to press on.” resident Jennifer Marchand said. “To us, it honestly sounds like you just don’t care. Time and money have been wasted on this and this should have been spent on the kindergarten through sixth-grade programs instead. Chaos has been created, with parents and children being made upset. We feel that you have been neglecting the duties you have been elected for. Meanwhile we have been trying to shield our kids from this board because we feel that you have put our kids on the auction block.”

Gilbert Community Liaison Craig Schroeder also took a turn blasting the board.

“We all know what it’s like to have a public official steal from our town,” Schroeder said. “The past director of finance stole millions of dollars from us. But money can be replaced by an insurance company, by getting a second job or by cutting expenses. What the board is proposing are two student placement programs that will steal something much more precious to us than money. They are going to be stealing an enriched educational experience from our kids along with their feelings of happiness and well-being. They are stealing a giving, caring, safe and clean educational environment and educational opportunities, not only from our special education students, but all of our future students. None of these can be replaced by a second job or by an insurance company.”

The motion to solely negotiate with Gilbert was made by board member Ray Rabago and seconded by board member Rista Malanca.

“I went to call this meeting because it is very clear that the vast majority is in full support of The Gilbert School,” Rabago said. “Everything they have done has been phenomenal. There should not be a reason why we should be negotiating with any other school. If anything, we should be looking toward what Gilbert is doing and take note.”

Rabago proceeded to accuse both the board and the school district of a lack of transparency in regards to financial issues and programming decisions.

“I have emailed [Superintendent of Schools Anne Watson] time and time again, but I have never received any answers,” Rabago said. “I have to read in the newspaper about what we are doing. My opinion is irrelevant because we work for the community.” 

Rabago asked member Christine Royer, who was acting chairman for the night for absent chairman Susan Hoffnagle, how the board got to the point where the school district was negotiating with other schools. 

“It was part of a discussions months ago when we started contact negotiations with Gilbert,” Royer said. “We made a motion, and you voted for it. It was an instruction to get information and that is all that was talked about.”

Both Royer and Rabago proceeded to argue about whether or not there was a motion at a previous meeting.

“There was no motion made and there was no nothing,” Rabago said. “The board chair and superintendent went and did this on their own without the board’s voice. We’re supposed to be working together in the best interests of the community.”

Board member Richard Dutton, who said he was not at a meeting where the proposed school choice plan was discussed, said he would be voting against the motion.

“The current contract between The Gilbert School and the Winchester School District contains specific language prohibiting the district from contracting with any other school,” Dutton said. “That language has been in the contract for all of the ten years I have served on the board. I have always considered that provision in the contract to be an injustice to our high school students and their families who would prefer more options for their students.”

Dutton said the expiration of the current contract between the district and Gilbert would open a window of new opportunity for a contract revision.

“I personally would like to consider school choice in its broadest sense,” Dutton said. “Students and families who are considering high school education should have the opportunity to select among area public schools with available space.”

Further on in the meeting, as members of the board spoke, residents in the audience were vocal in their disagreement with board members who wanted to vote against the motion. It reached a point where board members and audience members were arguing with each other.

Toward the end of the meeting Royer physically tried to pull the microphone out of Rabago’s hand, with Rabago refusing to let go of it.

Right before the board voted, a member of the audience asked other audience members to stand up if they wanted the motion to pass.

This led to most of the audience members standing up in front of the board before the vote was taken.

The final vote for the motion was five to three, with Rabago, Malanca, Theresa Starzyk, Brian Shaughnessy and Douglas Pfenninger all voting in favor of the motion.

Dutton, Royer and Mimi Valyo all voted against the motion.

Board member Susan Hoffnagle did not attend the meeting.