Yesterday was the Annual Amity Budget Referendum. Only 471 people from Woodbridge turned out to vote out of a total of 1412 people across the school district. While this was a disappointing result, it was only 16 less people from Woodbridge than the year before, and only 26 less for all of the three towns.

The individual numbers weren’t really all that different in Woodbridge either. There was a slight movement against the budget in Woodbridge this year with 23 less people voting for the budget and 7 more people voting against it.

Bethany actually saw six more people vote in 2011 than they saw in 2010. Fifteen less people voted for the budget and twenty-one more people voted for it.

Orange saw the biggest changes. Overall they only had sixteen less people voting. However, because of the increase in the number of students from Orange at Amity, they will be hit harder than the other towns in terms of the budget. This resulted in 95 less people voting for the budget and and 79 more people voting against the budget.

As people hung around the Center in Woodbridge waiting for the polls to close some suggested that the issue in Orange is a belief that they could build their way out of a financial problem. The problem with building more houses is that more people live in the houses and it costs more to provide services to these people, such as the cost of educating the children in these new houses.

Another interesting tidbit came up. I did not know that you did not have to be registered to vote in the budget. Besides registered voters, U.S. Citizens who are listed on the property tax rolls as having at least $1000 worth of property in town can vote. One person showed up in Woodbridge who was not registered, was a property holder, but it turns out was not a U.S. citizen and because of this didn’t end up getting to vote.

With that, here are the results for last year and this year:

2010 Results

2011 Results

Remember the programming schedule is usually available on the WGATV blog:
http://wgatv.blogspot.com/

If you don't get cable television, you can usually find DVD copies of programs near the reference desk at the library.

Monday, November 15 - Woodbridge Board of Ed at Beecher Road School. Public session is posted for 7pm, but will be preceded by an Executive Session. Executive Session for Board self-evaluation is also posted for the end of the meeting.

Tuesday, November 16 - a program by MADD/SADD at Amity HS auditorium - 9-11am.
Also: Massaro Farm, Inc. at Amity High School (room unknown) - 7:30pm. A program/lecture on organic food issues, open to the public, will be offered. The Economic Development Commission will NOT meet this day.*

Wednesday, November 17 - Inland Wetlands Agency at Town Hall - 7:30pm. Live coverage on WGATV is planned.
Also: Parent-Teacher conferences at the high school. Watch the traffic for lower Newton Road.

Thursday, November 18 - Board of Finance at Town Hall - 6pm. Live coverage on WGATV is planned.
Also: *Economic Development Commission at Town Hall - 7pm. May also be carried live on WGATV as long as the equipment is already set up.
But wait! There's more! High School PTSA - 7pm (They used to meet in the Media Center, but you'll have to ask...)

Friday, November 19 - Homecoming Dance at Amity HS Gym #1 - 7:30pm

Someone asked if the special WBOE meeting of last Monday would be televised.

This past week, WGATV recorded the 11/8 Zoning Board of Appeals (about 48 minutes), the 11/8 special Woodbridge BOE (2hr 24min), and the 11/10 Selectmen (1hr 23min).

Fine weather and civic duty brought a strong turn out of Woodbridge residents to another well run election at the Center gym on Tuesday. Nearly 4200 voters, or about 66% of registered voters made it to the polls. Democrats led in all races except for the State Representative where Republican incumbent Themis Klarides took a majority of the votes. She won by the same percentage as she did in 2008. Democratic Incumbent State Senator Joe Crisco also easily carried Woodbridge, but in a closer race than two years ago.

Unofficial Results

The Secretary of the State's office has now made images of the ballot for the 2010 General Election available for preview.

The Woodbridge ballot is available here

Tuesday evening, candidates for Connecticut’s 17th State Senatorial District met for a final time before election day at a debate organized by the League of Women Voters in the Woodbridge Senior Center Cafeteria.

Around forty people attended the well run debate. The candidates were respectful of one another and spoke honestly and frankly about their positions and what made them different. In many ways it boiled down to traditional points from any debate. Democratic Senator Joe Crisco spoke about his years of public service and the good that he has done for the 17th District and the state as a whole. Challenger Tamath Rossi spoke how large the budget is, how high taxes are and how Senator Crisco and the Democratic Supermajority have failed to curtail spending. People who believe there is too much government and that our current financial problems have been caused by too much governmental interference in business will want to vote for Rossi. Those who believe that the government plays an important role in protecting citizens, that the financial crisis was caused by a decrease in regulation of Wall Street and other corporations and who believe that the government can play a role in creating a business friendly environment through means other than simply cutting taxes and getting out of the way will want to vote for Crisco.

Most of the attendees appeared to already clearly be supporters of one candidate the other and few minds were changed. However, the information from this debate and previous times that State Senator Crisco and Naugatuck Deputy Mayor Rossi have met is important for people still trying to make up their minds about whom to vote for on Tuesday.

Orange Government Access Television sent us a copy of their recording of a candidates forum held on 10/19. Candidates for the CT House of Representatives, district 114--covering Woodbridge, Orange & Derby--were included.

The reassignment of a second grade teacher to be a reading specialist and the hiring of a new teacher to fill her place brought out one of the largest crowds to attend a Woodbridge Board of Education meeting in recent years.

Over the summer Language Arts Specialist Diane Krivda accepted an assistant principal position at the Bethany Community School. Ms. Krivda was a valued member of the Beecher Road community and it was with mixed feelings that her resignation was accepted. There was sadness that a great educator was moving on mixed with joy about the continued success of her career.

As the Woodbridge School District sought a replacement, second grade Teresa Nakouzi stepped forward and sought the position. Ms. Nakouzi has worked hard at Beecher Road and has many admirers. She has continued her education to focus on being a reading specialist and this seemed like a great opportunity to continue her career path while remaining in the Beecher Road community.

A new second grade teacher was found. Michelle Shepherd, who was well regarded as a Second Grade teacher at Beecher Road School in the past was interested in returning. The administration decided that the best course of action was to have the Ms. Shepherd begin during the school year so that Ms. Nakouzi could take up her responsibilities as a reading specialist as soon as possible.

Parents of some of Ms. Nakouzi’s students expressed concern about the reassignment at a special Board of Education meeting which took place on October 4th. Board Chair Sheila McCreven informed the parents that since this was a Special Meeting of the board, changes to the agenda were not allowed and that it would be best for the parents to attend the Regular October Meeting where the issue could properly be discussed.

During the initial Public Comment part of the meeting Woodbridge Education Association Board member Sandra Simowitz rose to speak in support of the teachers and the administration’s decision to handle the teacher reassignment the way they did. She suggested that some of the parents crossed the line from advocacy on behalf of their children to actions bordering onto abuse.

One of the parents spoke up to ask how the process could have been handled differently. Would it make sense to establish a human resources committee? Could the information have been disseminated in a more effective manner?

Regular attendees of Board of Education and Parent Teacher Organization meetings noted that issues of board structure and school communications have been worked on by both bodies recently and several expressed hope that the parents would become more active in the PTO and regular attendees of Board of Educations meetings.

Despite the large crowd and the public comments, the October Board of Education meeting was fairly short. Dr. Stella gave his report talking about how the school band performed at the opening Sound Tigers game. It was noted that the district has been chosen to host a Winter Guard Tournament which will take place in January. It is a honor for an elementary school to be so chosen.

Dr. Len Tomasello who has started as Interim Intermediate School Principal shared some of his initial experiences of the school. He spoke about spending time meeting with the students and how impressed he was with the social maturity of the children. He also had words of praise for the teachers, noting that this is his seventh position as an Interim Principal and he was especially impressed with the strength of the reading and writing programs at Beecher Road School.

Woodbridge Selectwoman Sandy Stein spoke about the progress of the building committee. At a previous Board of Education meeting, the building committee had presented three different schemes for renovating Beecher Road School. The building committee was now recommending that the Board of Education pursue scheme B, which is projected to bring many improvements especially in providing more efficient heating and cooling as well as bringing the school up to code in many areas. The cost of the project is currently projected to be $17 million and will be further discussed by the Boards of Education, Finance and Selectmen. This topic was returned to as the board approved the schedule for the capital budget requests.

The board meeting ended with a second opportunity for public comment and parents who did not prevail in preventing the reassignment of Ms. Nakouzi expressed their frustrations. They said that because they did not get their way, their words must have fallen on deaf ears and the board must simply be acting as a rubber stamp. Various members of the board disputed this interpretation of the events noting their empathy for the parents, similar struggles they had been through to get the school do take actions they had wanted. This had led to their decisions to become more involved with the process by becoming Board of Education members.

Hopefully the next Board of Education meeting will be as well attended even if it is not as contentious.