Board must conduct the people’s business in public

What is it that gives an elected board charged with serving the public credibility? Openness, attention to detail, understanding of its charge and an ability to fulfill it might all be good for starters. Conversely, what is it that might diminish such a board’s credibility? This question is more appropriate when talking about the current Winchester Board of Education (BOE). The behavior of this board has not helped its image in the community at large.Certainly, threatening a member of the press with police action does not make for good media relations for a town’s governmental board. Neither does finding ways to suppress and hinder the inspection of information relating to board business. Yet, the Winchester BOE did just that during a special meeting on Saturday, Sept. 17. Before the meeting, members of the press were handed a packet filled with documents by Superintendent of Schools Tom Danehy. As the meeting went on, Danehy said that he accidentally handed out a letter from the board’s attorney, Mark Sommaruga, to members of the press. Danehy then requested that reporters hand back the letter to him and cited attorney-client privilege. Winsted Journal reporter Shaw Izikson did not give the letter back at first and noted that once the letter is in the hands of the media, it becomes property of the media. Board member Paul O’Meara then threatened to call the police on Izikson if he did not give the letter back. O’Meara also threatened that the board could sue Izikson if he had read Sommaruga’s letter (he did — and reported on it. As of press time, The Journal has not received any notification of legal action from the board). Izikson eventually complied and gave back Sommaruga’s letter to Danehy, as did two other members of the press present at the meeting. Instead of threatening police action and lawsuits against a reporter, why couldn’t O’Meara have called for a recess to look into the laws regarding the situation? Also, in The Winsted Journal’s continuing quest to inspect and view emails regarding school district business sent by board members, the board imposed strict restrictions on inspecting these emails. This includes the barring of any type of recording materials, including notebooks, tape recorder or a camera, as the emails are inspected. With all of these threats of police action, lawsuits and excessive stipulations barring any type of recording materials as emails are inspected, it all comes back to the question that we asked in last week’s editorial: What is the Board of Education trying to hide? And a few additional questions: When is the Winchester BOE going to realize that what it is doing is the public’s business, not its own? Does this board realize that the public is entitled to know all the business being done on its behalf? And that all the discussion of issues facing the board should be in the open, for the public to see?And by the way, after all, it is the taxpayers who ultimately hire the board attorney, and the opinions and insights that attorney brings to the table on open information should be known by the public. Discussions with the board’s attorney on issues of freedom of information should also be done in the public eye.

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Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Help Wanted

PART-TIME CARE-GIVER NEEDED: possibly LIVE-IN. Bright private STUDIO on 10 acres. Queen Bed, En-Suite Bathroom, Kitchenette & Garage. SHARON 407-620-7777.

The Salisbury Association’s Land Trust seeks part-time Land Steward: Responsibilities include monitoring easements and preserves, filing monitoring reports, documenting and reporting violations or encroachments, and recruiting and supervising volunteer monitors. The Steward will also execute preserve and trail stewardship according to Management Plans and manage contractor activity. Up to 10 hours per week, compensation commensurate with experience. Further details and requirements are available on request. To apply: Send cover letter, resume, and references to info@salisburyassociation.org. The Salisbury Association is an equal opportunity employer.

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To save birds, plant for caterpillars

Fireweed attracts the fabulous hummingbird sphinx moth.

Photo provided by Wild Seed Project

You must figure that, as rough as the cold weather has been for us, it’s worse for wildlife. Here, by the banks of the Housatonic, flocks of dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees have taken up residence in the boxwood — presumably because of its proximity to the breakfast bar. I no longer have a bird feeder after bears destroyed two versions and simply throw chili-flavored birdseed onto the snow twice a day. The tiny creatures from the boxwood are joined by blue jays, cardinals and a solitary flicker.

These birds will soon enough be nesting, and their babies will require a nonstop diet of caterpillars. This source of soft-bodied protein makes up more than 90 percent of native bird chicks’ diets, with each clutch consuming between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. That means we need a lot of caterpillars if we want our bird population to survive.

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Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

L. Tomaino
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For more than three decades, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett has worked to elevate illustration as a serious art form. As chief curator and Rockwell Center director at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she has helped bring national and international attention to an art form long dismissed as merely commercial.

Her commitment to illustration is deeply personal. Plunkett grew up watching her father, Joseph Haboush, an illustrator and graphic designer, work late into the night in his home studio creating art and hand-lettered logos for package designs, toys and licensed-character products for the Walt Disney Co. and other clients.

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Provided

Craig Davis, co-founder and board chair of East Mountain House, an end-of-life care facility in Lakeville, will sponsor a March 5 screening of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light” at The Moviehouse in Millerton, followed by a discussion with attendees.

The film, which is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the poet Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they are suddenly and unimaginably forced to navigate a terminal illness. The free screening invites audiences to gather not just for a film but for reflection on mortality, healing, connection and the ways communities support one another through difficult life transitions.

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