Last BOE Meeting

Last night, I attended my last meeting as a member of the Board of Education. With the election next Tuesday, and a new board being seated (along with not running for reelection), my two year term has ended.

It has been an eventful two years. I ran for the Board because I had a desire to move the district forward. I didn’t foresee (nor did many other people) the gravity of the financial problems facing not only our state, but our country and indeed much of the world. What started out as a goal to move things forward soon became a fight for survival so to speak. The two budgets that I was involved with were unbelievably difficult, and I can say that in my case it took a fairly large toll on me.

Despite the hill we had to climb, we were still able to do some positive things; complete the security upgrade at the secondary schools, vastly improve the technology in the schools, purchase new textbooks, revamp curriculum, and amazingly review, modify, or eliminate every board policy. I leave my two year term with a sense of accomplishment, although I wish we could have done so much more.

I have tremendous respect for the remaining 7 board members who I served with. I say 7 because the 8th board member chose to absent herself for the last 2 1/2 months, which I deem to be a disservice to those who voted for her and which flies in the face of the oath she took when she was sworn into office. As to the rest, I have come to consider them friends of mine and I wish them all the best in the future; Andre who has chosen to leave public service; Tom who is running for town council and who has mounted a formidable campaign against a worthy opponent; Judy who is a tremendous advocate for the kids and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met; Joyce who takes her love for science to a whole new level; Chuck who is a fiscal watchdog and the board’s policy guru; Vinny, a longtime friend and a tremendous advocate for our children and one of the most involved board members, and Greg, someone who has served as a friend and confidant and who is also a tremendous advocate for our children. The school system will be well served by returning all of the incumbents running to office. As for the other candidates, Peter Jonaitis was a teacher in the system for over 35 years and has intimate knowledge as to the inner workings of the schools and I believe Pete would be a good addition to the board. Glenn Hart has volunteered his time and has been the chairman of the Demographic Advisory Committee. Glenn is extremely bright and would also make a good addition to the board. As to the remaining candidates, I don’t know enough about them to make an intelligent comment either way.

I have grown to have tremendous admiration and respect for our educators, from the administration down through the teachers, paraprofessionals, library aides and other staff. What our teachers do in most cases on a daily basis is miraculous and they should be commended for all they do.

To Dr. Gallacher and Tony Torre, thank you for all your help the past two years. The rest of the Central Office staff, including Kathy Zalucki, Chris Chemerka, and Carol Parmalee-Blancato has also been a tremendous asset, as has Barry Bernstein, our athletic director. To Chris Drezek and Craig Cooke, who left for other towns, thank you as well for your assistance while serving our district.

I would be remiss if I did not also recognize our building administrators; Paul Newton, John Coccia, Brien Brown and Chad Ellis at Fermi; Tom Duffy, Steve Sargalski, and Yvette Saniesteban at Enfield High; Tim Neville, Sarah Collins, John Coleman and Andy Longhi at JFK, as well as Maureen Sampl, Tim Van Tasel, Deborah Berger, Bob Fenton, Altressa Cox-Blackwell, Bonnie Mazzoli, Leann Beaulieu, Nancy Hayes, Debbie Clement, and Sandra Ingalls at our elementary schools and Head Start.

Finally, thank you to our children. You have and continue to inspire me. Our future is well-served by the unbelievably bright and talented children that we graduate from our school system every year. I wish all of you the best and brightest future.