The meeting began with Board of Education Chairman

Going Rogue

Mark Stapleton raising the issue of opening up the City Charter to have longer terms and/or overlapping terms for BOE members. While having experienced and knowledgeable board members would be beneficial for everyone, with one political party controlling the Mayor’s office and elected Boards, whose agenda will be in the forefront of change? Once the City Charter is opened, the entire Charter is subject to alteration. Whose voices will be represented?

Jack O'Connell asked the Chairman if he and the majority leader have met with the Mayor and the BOA to see what their objectives are because he feels it's a waste of time for the BOE to meet for long hours the next 6 days and work on a budget that they'll cut anyway. He asked for the Chairman to get direction from the Mayor a few times. He insisted that because the BOE, BOA and the Mayor are all Republicans, they should be able to work together to get something done. He believes that a City Charter change is necessary and that either the Mayor should be the Chairman of the BOE or the Mayor should appoint a Chairman/Board.

Jack O'Connell also disagreed with the priorities and assumptions (which the entire proposed budget was based on) set forth by the previous BOE and apparently agreed to by this BOE. It wasn't clear if they agreed or not. Anyway, he wants to open up the collective bargaining units for all of the unions. He likes the idea of furloughs instead of professional development days, larger class sizes and lay-offs if necessary.

It is my hope that the current Board of Education members keep in mind that the many of the members of the unions are residents and taxpayers of Milford and that they are people who need their jobs and need to pay their bills and raise their families too.

It saddens and frightens me that I was left with the impression that the current Republican led Board of Education’s primary goal is to cut the education budget without regard to the impact it will have on educating Milford’s students.

If you care about education in Milford attend the budget meetings listed below. SPREAD THE WORD. SPEAK UP.

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Education Budget Workshops to be Held in January

Find out how the budget is prepared and what’s included

Each January, the administration presents the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget through a series of public workshops that explain the details of the proposed budget. Any member of the public is welcome to attend and speak during the public comment portion at the beginning of the meeting. The remaining Budget Workshops have been set for the following dates:

Tuesday, January 12
Thursday, January 14
Tuesday, January 19 (budget vote to take place)

All of the workshops will be held at Parsons in the Board of Education Meeting Room, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
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A Citizen’s Guide to the
Milford Public Schools
Operating Budget
2010-11
What’s included
How it’s calculated
The approval process &
How you can be involved
Superintendent’s Proposed Budget ~ 1/11/2010

http://www.milforded.org/uploads/citizens budget guide 2010-11.pdf