And a Happy Mother’s Day to the family- sounds like a productive one.
Knowiing when to piivot is the magic touch.

if there were no fees - how many would want packets and dump them after hr mtg- of course we do not know- but i am sure the costs of copying ad the considerable time in assembling packets would go up- so not only machine, paper and time- but more employees- ?? lots fo cost-
yes put up the video and the packets on the web-
but yo may need to pay another person there a swell- worth it?
to me yes. maybe not to others.

1. “It was clear that this was a divided and uncooperative council” This is inaccurate. Disagreements about spending decisions at one meeting are a far cry from constituting a divided council. You were standing outside with us when we were shaking each others hand. We are all friends and we operate within a system, whether you like it or not, that does not always result in unanimity.

2. With regards to exclusion. It was already stated. The GOP is responsible for developing their proposal for a budget. The one they drew had some similar cuts to ours and we did not agree with their Capital Improve cuts. We did not exclude them. We caucus to hash out differences in policy preferences so that the back and forth is not what takes place at public meetings. Per state law we cannot caucus with GOP so they caucus on their own and they have the right to put forth motions and as you stated they did not. What they did proceed to do was provide inaccurate information that need to be corrected so as to not allow misinformation to be our there.

3. Raises for Registrars
There is a concrete distinction between the Mayor and any other elected officials in East Hartford. The Mayor is a full-time position and the rest of us are paid with what amounts to a stipend and are there for part-time or less. All elected officials who receive a stipend were to recieve no raise. That what we adopted. This includes the registrars of voters. This is not about the people who serve but more about what is expected of those who serve. The Mayor’s salary was approved by resolution prior to the recent election as is required. I believe that vote was 9-0. I will have to confirm. Hopefully someone else can before I get to it.

4. my comments about taxes and foreclosure
I will not speak for Barbara or Bill. My point was in resposne to GOP assertions that foreclosures were being driven by taxes. I simply said a majority of the foreclosures we are seeing are because of sub-prime mortgages and not taxes. I also stated that I don’t dimiss the possibility that in some instances taxes may contribute to foreclosures but that the vast majority are caused by factors other from taxes.

5. My “absurd” comment.
That was solely in response to the request for the mayor to give back 5% of her salary. I stated why I think the Mayor deserved it and do not need to again. This had nothing to do with the councilors stipend. In any case I think the idea is more symbol than substance and reflects the lack of real policy counter proposals. As you stated they could have easily made a motion to do so and did not. And by the way I made a donation of $200 to the Mayor’s Ball whose proceeds went to non-profits in town. That’s 5%.

Regrading some CI. I do not agree with all of the requests but when and if you get involved you will see that being a productive elected official requires tha ability to compromise. You will not get everything you want.

Per capita?
Why would you expect each person in the family to make that kind of money?

Also, does East Hartford restrict public employees to those persons who live in the borders? How would that help the town?

I understand that you are concerned that people make more money than seems fair to you. If you need to find the best employees, how would taking the lowest paid people help? Would taking the employees who can not get hired in higher paying places be a plus for East Hartford?

The positions that are not under union control are paid under something the Mayor called the Personnel Rules, which she said was created under the Charter.

I sat through the whole budget hearing yesterday and the Mayor presented a report from the Connecticut Conference of Muncipalities comparing her directors to other public officials doing the same job in muncipalities of the same size (Middletown, Norwalk, West Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, etc…) and East Hartford’s director’s are paid about 80% of the going rate of the municipal market for comparable positions.

It should also be remembered that few professional managers come to East Hartford because of the way they are appointed - every two years after an election. The pay and the method of appointment are no incentive to attract and retain talent.

The Council spent about 30 minutes on the single large raise for the Building Official. Seems she’s about $40,000 per year less then her peers in some of those towns and she hinted she’s gone without some form of increase.

The lady said, “the cost of my milk, gas, and insurance is going up just like yours”. Pretty interesting analogy.

Are you comparing apples and oranges? Does the average East Hartford person have the skills necessary for the jobs you are focusing on?

The costs come from the budget book starting on page 111 of the book sequence or 120 in pdf sequence.

The cost without admin is the school budget by location divided by the estimated student population of the location. This number includes building operation costs, staff costs and other location specific costs such as textbooks.

The admin portion is the sum of all the district wide (non location specific) costs divided by the total district student population. This includes the budget items for Administration, Maintenance and Instructional Services which includes transportation with limited exception and substitutes.

St. Rose and St. Chris transportation costs were not included in the calculations at all.

Best wishes for your wife and soon to be born baby.

You have, in your brief time as a political participant, brought a keen mind and rational insight into local problems. That will serve the town well, provided you remain thoughtful, instead of just sounding like another noisy gong.

You have implored all to use arguements and fact to support judgements, yet when it comes to local education, you simply rely on test scores when our system is so much more complicated.

I trust you have read the Cambridge Report. We have an achievemet gap in minority groups. We have poverty. We have transingency. We have kids coming to our system without any substantive base of eduction to build upon. We have absentee parents.

I don’t believe any of this applies to you and your family. That means I whole heartedly believe your children will succeed and thrive in our school system.

How do I know this? I am you and my children are thriving in the East Hartford School System. It’s hard work checking their homework every evening after I come home from a long day at work, but being involved as a parent is the magic elixor.

Jon, visit Goodwin School. Set up an appointment with Principal Daniel Broudeur. Ask to speak with teacher Ben Upson. Let them tell you what your children will see and experience during their years at Goodwin School. Ask for a copy of the PTA roster and telephone some parents who have children at the school. They particpate, so ask them what they think.

Speak to Principal Pauline Fusco at Sunset Ridge and see the passion she has for teaching our children. See what she says.

I believe once you experience the school system, you will come away with a better understnding of why the system spends as it does (very high special education needs among other things).

Jon, continue to ask questions since the answers will surprise you.

As an older parent (having a child of 18 in an out of state college), and being an officer in a Connecticut RTC, also a fiscal and social conservative— I taught in Willimantic for 36 recent years. I must tell you that I admire your research and your quest for knowledge and information. That need to know will serve your children and your model will help them develop an intrinsic life long learning attitude.

And what can you do to help each of them daily in his growing and learning, beyond the read and spend time together, watch our for strange television idea infusion and show that your family culture is more important than that we see portrayed on signboards and in malls.

Be careful in your zest for righting the wrongs of educational bureaucracy, that you do not give your own kids the idea that daily school in EH is poorly planned and that the rules do not apply to them, and that you know better than staff they interact with.

Students who know the parent is interested and does stand by their teacher perform so much better than those who say- my father says this school sucks and I don’t need to listen to you.
You can believe that the attitude comes through so easily, and then the student is not dedicated to learning- he is dedicated to feeling superior to the petty rules that regulate when you have hundreds in a public area.

So while you seek the improvement - and I know there is always lots of room for that- just be careful that your young students feel dedicated to the job of learning in whatever class they are taking.

Yes- EH demographics have changed and heaped many new trials on the schools. Right or wrong, the challenges arrive daily. And right or wrong, money is spent to make up for homes/parents who are not engaged in parenting and school readiness.

Yes, work diligently on changing ed. mandates for social purposes that belong in the home. Work for society accepting that parents have a responsibility to send a child to school set to learn.

Just be careful with all the love that shows in thoughtful fathering - you do not undermine your children’s love to learn attitude with rants about what’s wrong with EH education. They are too young to separate your quest for improvement from not valuing their daily work in their office.

Please take the comments in the spirit they are given- from one who loves learners and knows there is much to be improved.

Below is link to my coverage of the Straw Poll evening. I’ll be looking for your coverage. Regards,
John

http://middletown.ctlocalpolitics.net/?p=156
http://steadyhabits.blogspot.com/