Receiver talks about status of district

WINSTED — Winchester School District Receiver Robert Travaglini recently sat down with The Winsted Journal to give an update on where the district stands.

Travaglini was appointed as the receiver in early August by the State Department of Education.

Since his appointment, Travaglini has tackled several issues, including finance concerns in the school district.

At a special Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Nov. 19, where department supervisors gave updates on the state of municipal departments, Travaglini spoke about the state of the school district finances.

Travaglini reflected on the meeting during a recent interview.

“While the other departments at the meeting gave 15-minute presentations, both [Director of Business Services and Finance] Nancy O’Dea-Wyrick and I gave a 50-minute presentation,” Travaglini said. “It was very telling to both of us that, when we finished our presentation, members of the board looked at us and thanked us. They told me that the 50-minute presentation was more information that we have received in the last three years. 

“I’m saying this because that’s an example of the change that needs to occur in this town. The problem is that we are a public organization where people need to understand how we operate and how we are structured, especially around budgets and finances. People need to really understand how things operate within our school district. To give that information and to the Board of Selectmen like that and for them to tell me what they said, I was shocked. It was amazing to me that we gave more information in that short time than other members of the school district had previously given in three years.”

Travaglini said that, for the school district and himself, “Communication is huge.”

“We need to develop in this town a different system of communication that is more open,” he said. “Not only when it comes to parents and the community. I am going to be planning a calendar when I get back to meet with the Board of Selectmen regularly.”

Travaglini said he has been in contact with various town officials on a regular basis since he was appointed in August, including Mayor Candy Perez, Department of Public Works Director Jim Rollins, town Building Inspector and Fire Marshal Steve Williams and Police Chief William Fitzgerald.

“Jim is suffering the same challenges we are suffering, both around budget and staffing,” Travaglini said. “These are all challenges for the town and not just for the school district. My hope is that, as a town, what I would like to see when we present our upcoming budget is that we work together as a town. If we are going to move Winsted forward, it’s a matter of changing the economic structure as well as the school district’s structure. These things all have to work together.”

Travaglini said that the school district started the 2014-2015 fiscal year with a $1.3 million deficit, but that the deficit has been reduced to $750,000.

“The reduction was through difficult decisions and reorganization,” Travaglini said. “It involved reallocation of expenditures. The message to our principals and staff this year was that this was not the year to have ‘nice to haves’ and that we have to target our expenses on priorities.”

Travaglini said that the district has closed the books on finances for school year 2013-2014 and will soon close the books for the 2014-2015 school year.

“My hope is that we will be on an even playing field,” Travaglini said. “The goal is that when this fiscal year ends in June that we will be in the black, even if it only by one cent.”

Travaglini said that the state scheduled for earlier this week an audit for Batcheller Early Education Center and Hinsdale School and an audit will be conducted on Pearson Middle School in late January.

“There will be at least three team members from the state who will come in and look at specific components of our schools concerning curriculum support, climate culture, data team processes and teacher collaboration,” he said. “Basically all of the elements that go into a school day. These audits will generate reports that will be able to tell us information that we need to focus on when it comes to move forward.”

Travaglini said the reports will be able to be seen and reviewed by the public at the school district’s office.

“I would like to set up an opportunity where people can sit down at the district office to review the information and to answer the questions they may have,” he said. “We owe people to not only understand what they are looking at, but also to have a conversation in regards to asking questions to the district.”

As for the Board of Education, Travaglini said that the board will start to meet again during the new year.

However, he did not have an exact date for the meetings.

When Travaglini took office in August he canceled the meetings scheduled for the board for the rest of the year.

The board has not met since July.

Since that time, new members were elected to the board during November’s municipal elections.

“After the election I met individually with every single new Board of Education member,” he said. “After we get back from the holiday break, I will be working with Nick Caruso from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE). We will be setting up support and professional development for our Board of Education. I will also be passing the invitation to The Gilbert School to be included in training so we can build a relationship and work together. We will begin this process in January. The process will include training board members to give them an understanding in the district’s budget, curriculum instructions and everything in the educational instructional process.”

Travaglini said that, as 2016 progresses, his plan is to have the board have control over the school district again.

“You don’t want the Board of Education to be a rubber stamp group and be completely dependent on a superintendent, so you want to build a system of capacity and support for your board,” he said. “I’ll still be here as the board retains control of the district. Ultimately, we have to start moving and getting them into a position to be able to move forward into implementing their roles and responsibilities of a Board of Education.”