Local officials in PR battle

WINSTED — Prior to receiving the word from the acting commissioner of education that Winsted is considered out of compliance with its school funding for the current year, the Board of Selectmen issued a press release last week, criticizing the Board of Education and new Superintendent Tom Danehy.Selectmen approving the press release said they do not believe the town is out of compliance with the school district’s minimum budget requirement (MBR) for 2011-12, despite the fact that state officials have said they believe otherwise (see top story, above).Town voters passed a budget in late May that set education funding at $18,600,000, which is $1,449,466 below the MBR.“The Board of Education has placed the students, the school district and the town in an impossible position,” the selectmen’s press release begins. “The Winsted Board of Education has chosen empty buildings over teachers and the town.”It is noted in the press release that, in the original budget presentation in March, the Board of Education said it was educationally appropriate to close a school building due to sending the seventh- and eighth-grade programs to The Gilbert School.“That the Board of Education is now seeking to argue that these facilities can no longer accommodate the students is to defy credibility and play at politics,” the selectmen state in the press release. “In addition to gym, art and music space, Hinsdale School and Pearson combined have 41 regular education and 20 special education classrooms available for the 31 regular education and 13 special education teaching staff that the superintendent has stated will be present for the opening of school for prekindergarten to sixth grade.”In the press release, the selectmen contend that there would be substantial savings in closing a school building.In a previous press release issued by Danehy, he stated that the town’s $18.6 million appropriation for school year 2011-12 would mean an increase in class size.“This is simply not true,” the selectmen contend. “The town appropriation reflects the permanent cost savings from the closing of the seventh- and eighth-grade programs and closing of a school building along with the state-approved reduction to account for falling enrollment. In other words, were the [Board of Education] take the actions they recommended and committed to, they would preserve our prekindergarten to sixth-grade programs intact. By refusing to close a building and spending at a rate above the town appropriation, the [Board of Education] is setting up the school district for a potentially large increase in class size, as they will have to lay off more staff as the year progresses to compensate for their first half [of the school year] overspending.”The selectmen finish off their press release with yet more criticism of the Board of Education.“For the [Board of Education] to refuse to follow its own recommendation and instead threaten to cut core teachers, staff, and increase class sizes is irresponsible, inappropriate and wrong, and flies in the face of the clearly expressed desires of the voting public,” the selectmen state in the press release.