Can a new Gilbert plan actually work?

While Monday night’s meeting regarding shifting grades seven and eight to The Gilbert School resulted in a consensus, there are still legitimate questions about a plan that could bring the second major school restructuring to the Winchester school system in three years.

Opposition to the idea of moving grades seven and eight to Winsted’s semi-private high school was clear and often compelling at Monday’s meeting.

How have town officials shown us that moving the grades to Gilbert will actually save money? They haven’t.

How can they assure townspeople that Winsted teachers will be able to keep their jobs? They can’t.

How do we know the new restructuring will work? We don’t.

These major questions and others have yet to be answered, and opponents of the as-yet undetermined plan made strong arguments against dropping all other options in favor of a plan that some feel is being forced upon the school board. Town Manager Wayne Dove and members of the Board of Selectmen said the discussion should not be about control, but that’s easy to say when it appears you are the one taking control.

Board of Education member Susan Hoffnagle was the most vocal opponent of the agreement and said she wanted to continue pursuing ideas such as vouchers for students who want to transfer to other districts. That opinion was shared by some on the school board, but a 4-3 majority ultimately agreed to a moratorium on pursuing outside options.

This agreement means town and school officials will have until October to generate an actual plan that moves the two middle-school grades up to Gilbert, improves the quality of education in Winsted and saves taxpayers money. It may sound like a tall order, but the three boards have taken a step forward by agreeing to at least investigate the plan.

While the details are being assembled, Board of Education members should remember they have the ultimate authority to approve or reject a restructuring plan. They should continue asking questions and argue their points as Winsted works to fix its educational system, but they should also stick to their agreement not to impede the process.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less