Letters to the editor - April 14, 2016

A call to arms re: superintendent’s retirement package

North Canaan residents should read this with great interest. Your local school budget is about to take a huge hit upwards, and the rest of the Region One taxpayers will be affected by this as well.

Action needs to be taken to correct this horrible decision by the All Board Chairs committee and the Region One Board Of Education.

The Region One Board of Education is granting an additional retirement package to outgoing Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain, with full endorsement from the All Board Chairs committee.

Region One taxpayers will have provided over $110,000 for a 403b retirement plan for the superintendent by the time she retires. Did the Region One Board of Education really not know that was a part of her employment package and that they had already provided plenty of money to her in the form of a retirement benefit by the time she retires in June of 2017?

Further, she was also given two years of health insurance, so she pays very little for that benefit and those two years will take her to Medicare eligibility. No other superintendent in the history of our regional school district has been given a severance and health insurance in retirement.

Teachers don’t get a handsome retirement annuity such as the superintendent. They do get a severance when they leave or retire, but only if they have served in the district in which they teach for 20 years. The superintendent’s district is the Region One School District and she has not worked for this district for 20 years.

In addition, Connecticut’s Education Committee is slashing the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) for every school district in the state. Simply speaking, that means that every school in Connecticut, and of course that means every school in Region One, will be getting cuts of thousands of dollars to decrease the deficit. The question to ask your Region One representative, and Region One All Board Chairs committee, is: How can Region One afford an additional “retirement” package when coming down the pike is a cut of thousands of dollars to each school in their ECS? (North Canaan, this will affect you the most). In my calculation, less money for schools equals the mill rates for each town must increase to make up the loss. Did our Region One Board of Education or the All Board Chairs committee even consider this? Please call your member and ask them, then demand they take emergency action to cancel the first-ever in Region One additional retirement package offered to the superintendent. You can find the contact information for your representative at www.region1schools.org.

Marshall Miles

Salisbury

Region One schools extraordinary, just like the students

Sunday, April 3, I attended the Film Forum screening of “Most Likely to Succeed” at the Millerton Moviehouse. If you are interested in education and have an opportunity to see the documentary, I highly encourage you to do so. The film compares traditional classroom teaching with problem-based learning by profiling an independent public charter school serving 584 students in grades nine through 12 in San Diego, the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High. 

Unfortunately, the panel discussion organized by The Kildonan School to follow the screening got truncated because the Moviehouse had to open for business.  

However, the little that was said made me realize how well our Region One schools compare to the private schools that surround us.  Without the benefit of multi-million-dollar endowment funds, development offices, communication staffs and professional recruiting teams, our public schools welcome, encourage and try to fit the needs of all the children who live in Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon.  

Consider the diverse programming offered at Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) in Falls Village, which has: 

• The oldest AFS chapter (exchange student program) in the U.S. Last month, one of our visiting AFS students was selected to attend a leadership program in Washington, D.C.,  sponsored by the State Department 

• A robotics team that has participated in 15 FIRST Robotics competitions; HVRHS was the 716th team to sign up, now there are over 5,000 schools competing  

• The strongest Ag Ed Department and FFA Chapter in the North East

• An Envirothon team that makes the national finals almost every year

• Active relationships with sister schools in China and Germany 

• A robust Civic Life Documentary program which produces four to five films a year

• 4,000-square-foot maker space for hands-on-learning in the Mahoney-Hewat Center 

• The artgarage, an afterschool drop-in program with professional art mentors

The above list just touches on some of the many programs that make HVRHS unique. And the best news is that all Region One schools are actively working to become even better at meeting the needs of our community. They’re not perfect, but I sincerely tip my hat to the Region One administrators and teachers who continually look for new and innovative ways to improve and engage all of their students. 

Nancy Hegy Martin

Director, Mahoney-Hewat Center for hands-on-learning, HVRHS

Falls Village

Thanks, Salisbury School​

The Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service (SVAS) would like to thank the Salisbury School for donating to our organization the proceeds from its Spring Carnival. We are grateful for your thoughtful and generous support. 

SVAS has been providing all-volunteer, no-cost emergency services to our community for 45 years. In the aftermath of a devastating motor vehicle fatality almost 50 years ago, visionary community members mobilized to establish the community’s first ambulance squad. Since its founding, this community has generously supported SVAS; your gifts make our work possible, and our gratitude is deep. You support us in countless ways, whether through special events like this past weekend’s Salisbury School Carnival, the pancake breakfast or our annual appeal, you have been there for us. SVAS, in turn, is there for you. 

SVAS squad members serve with pride, professionalism and expertise. Honored this year for notable service anniversaries are: Anthy Hellmers, Bea Trotta, Chris Elian and Brian Bartram for 5 years; Clare Rashkoff for 10 years; Steve Barton, Stuart Gereg, Kaki Reid and Marty Whalen for 15 years; Larry Boyles for 20 years and Jared Zelman for 25 years. SVAS is also honored to welcome our newest recruits Thomas Sherwood, Salisbury, Will Brown, Salisbury; Dominic Sayler, Lakeville; Hatsie Baltus, Lakeville; Dave Sellery, Salisbury and Rob Keller, Lime Rock.

Thank you for your support; it a privilege to serve our generous community. 

Caroline Burchfield

Don Mayland

for the SVAS Board

Salisbury

Thank you for community support 

We just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who came to support us on Saturday night after our barn fire. It has been a tough time for all of us, but seeing the compassion, the friendship and positive attitudes of those around us has made it that much easier. Sometimes in life, it is easy to forget that there are people willing to help, and all you have to do is ask. We are not so good at that, but we are trying!

So again, our sincerest thanks, to everyone who helped put this together, to everyone who attended, brought a dish, had such kind words and a smile. From the bottom of our hearts, we want you all to know how grateful we are. The new barn will be that much more special because of our friends.

 The Dolans

Maple Hill Farm

Cornwall

How about a new switching area for the Housatonic Railroad?

Driving through Canaan recently on one of those rare occasions when the train wasn’t blocking all the roads in and out of town, it occurred to me that it would be nice if it could be like that all the time.

No doubt this has occurred to others as well. The Housatonic Railroad really needs a switching area outside town where it can arrange its car lineup without blocking traffic all the time. Such activity should not be done in the town center or, for that matter, over any road crossings.

Particularly galling is the way they always stop the engine or the last car right over the intersection so that no one can get by while the cars are being coupled and uncoupled. Then, with traffic effectively blocked, they go back the other way, only to repeat the process two or three times back and forth. By then, of course, many people have abandoned their cars and walked home. I suppose you could do some texting or read “War and Peace” during these interminable waiting periods, but the railroad clearly has placed its own convenience above everyone else’s. You can’t argue with a 30-ton locomotive on the tracks.

One recent day the train was blocking two intersections at once — Ashley Falls Road and Orchard Street — and possibly Main Street as well, although I couldn’t see that far because the train, which I estimated at four miles long, was blocking my view and had me stuck where I was for 10 minutes. Besides wasting everyone’s time, these daily time-outs waste a lot of gasoline too, especially when they occuur during the busiest traffic periods, as they so often do.

I suppose the state would have to get involved in any proposed changes to the tracks, which, of course, doesn’t bode well for fixing the problem any time soon. Given the 15 years and counting since the burning of the Union Station and its ongoing reconstruction, I wouldn’t expect any changes to the tracks themselves to take place inside 20 or 30 years. We should all live that long. The transcontinental railroad was built quicker.

The railroad might also consider beautifying the exterior of its building in the center of town. It has become a real eyesore over the years. And why do they keep all the windows shuttered all the time? It looks like someone’s running a bookie operation in there. (If so, I’d like to get my bet down on how long it will take to get a new switching yard.) Or maybe they just don’t like to look at the traffic tie-ups all day long.

Mark R. Godburn

North Canaan

Maker Faire fun and successful

The Tri-State Chamber of Commerce was thrilled to sponsor and participate in the first ever Tri-State Mini Maker Faire last Sunday, April 10, at Indian Mountain School. Our booth had many children of all ages busy making boxes out of re-purposed materials from our event archives. We were so happy to see such a big turnout, and we look forward to participating in the future. Keep MAKING everyone!

Thanks to all who worked so hard to make the event a success. 

Susan Dickinson, President

Jean A. Saliter, Vice president

The Tri-State Chamber of Commerce

Lakeville