WINSTED — On Thursday, Oct. 13, The Gilbert School hosted a debate with Board of Education candidates in which the candidates present did not debate or argue with each other.
Of the six candidates running for the board, only four showed up: Current Chairman Susan Hoffnagle and current members Monique Parks-Abreu, Mari-Ellen Valyo and Joseph Hanecak.
The four candidates, who are all also with the Democratic Party, are all running for four-year seats on the board.
Candidate James Roberts, who is running for a four-year term, did not attend the debate. Neither did Brian Shaughnessy, who is running for a two-year term.
Few residents attended the debate. Approximately 45 people were in the audience, most of them students at the school.
Many times the candidates consulted with each other after they were asked a question by the student moderators.
Finance discussion
The first question to the candidates was how, if elected, would they hold the Board of Education more financially accountable.
Hoffnagle, Valyo and Hanecak answered by talking about what the board is doing currently to address financial concerns.
Hoffnagle started off by talking about the problems the district has faced with the fiscal year 2009-10 audit.
“We had problems with the Phoenix [software accounting] system, but we got a consultant in from California who found out what the problem was,” Hoffnagle said. “We also hired a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from East Hartford. She’s been wonderful in handling the problem. As for long term solutions, we have been looking to hire a CPA as a business manager to make sure our numbers are proper and correct.”
Pratt, who has been on the board for three months, said the district has been producing a monthly expenditure report.
“It shows us what the rate is of the money floating out the door for all known expenses, but obviously we can’t account for unknown expenses, including new students and snow removal,” Pratt said.
“These reports are given to the Board of Selectmen. We have put the reports on the website, and it shows where the money is going on a monthly basis,” Pratt said.
(The link for the monthly budget report on the school district’s website is https://www.winchesterschools.org/subsite/dist/page/monthly-financial-rep....)
Hanecak said he would like to see the school district use the website for more formal communication with the community.
“We can put more information up on there,” Hanecak said. “What I would like to see also put up is a longer financial report. The document that goes up there is a summary of monthly expenditures. The [longer report] is a line by line breakdown that will tell you exactly what monies are going out and what category.”
Abreu did not answer the question.
Next the candidates were asked what they would do about the Minimum Budget Requirement [MBR] situation if elected.
MBR discussion
“In my personal opinion, the MBR situation is a direct result of Winsted’s actions,” Hanecak said. “According to the state, there really is no MBR situation. The law is the law. Our kids deserve the minimum. As a board member and an advocate for these children, I will advocate for every penny that I can to pay for their education. The Board of Education budget is an evolution. Things are going to change and are going to happen. You can’t go year after year [spending] at the minimum and expect great results. We have to push forward on this.”
Valyo placed the blame on the Board of Selectmen for the MBR situation.
“We have elected officials who are deciding that our town will not comply with the MBR,” Valyo said. “They are denying the students the minimum amount of funding that is due for the education system. I guess what I can say is that what I will do personally is that I won’t bow to the bullies. I came on [to the Board of Education] at a time where I could have been intimidated. I probably should have run in the other direction. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like bullies in school, and I don’t like bullies in government. I don’t think four people have the right to make a decision for the entire town not to fund the minimum budget requirement.”
Hoffnagle said she would not contradict the other two candidates with her answer.
“By far, the MBR is the most important issue that we have in front of us,” Hoffnagle said. “Since 2008 and 2009, there has been a change in the [way] MBR [has been calculated], thanks to the creative drafting help of Marsha Sterling. She was instrumental in having any changes in high school enrollment count against us twice. We are now $200,000 below the 2008 [MBR]. Since that time, we have had a $8,000 increase in transportation cost, $90,000 in early retirement costs and a $232,000 increase in unemployment costs. We have $3 million in expenses for out of district special education students, $5 million in expenses for our education expenses, $6 million goes to tuition for Gilbert School, and I could go on and on.”
Abreu answered very briefly and repeated the spirit of the answers the other candidates gave.
“I just want to say that, as far as the MBR is concerned, it’s the law,” Abreu said. “The Board of Selectmen were told that it’s the law. You need to provide the Minimum Budget Requirement for children. I’m going to follow the law to make sure our kids get what is guaranteed by law, and more.”
Mold at elementary school
The candidates were then asked about the mold level situation at Hinsdale Elementary School and what they would do to prevent the mold situation from occurring again.
“Right now, the situation appears to be manageable,” Hoffnagle said. “The mold seems to be limited to a couple of areas. We do need some repairs to the gym, and we will talk to the town about how to undertake the repairs.”
Valyo spoke about a recent tour of the school made by Board of Education members.
“Yes, it’s true, a river runs through it,” Valyo said of the school building. “To truly solve the problem, some major water diversion has to happen. There may also be leaks in the roof. It takes a lot of money to repair that. So I’m not going to sit here and promise you that it will happen when we can’t get all the funding we need to run the schools without major improvements being made [to the buildings]. We take health very, very seriously. But things don’t move quickly in terms of remediation and mold.”
Hanecak said the school district takes the health of students seriously.
“I know that there have been a few kids who have [become] ill over the past month, and I hope they are feeling better,” Hanecak said. “What I would like to see beyond this immediate situation is a future plan. What are we going to do to monitor the situation? We all knew the river ran through it. We didn’t know how bad [the building] was affected. When [Hurricane Irene] came and the mulch got on the foyers and there was water all over the floors, it made you think about what else could happen. Moving forward, we need a plan of action. We don’t want to have kids getting sick.”
Abreu did not respond to the question.
Candidate priorities
The candidates were asked what their number one priority would be if they were elected.
“My number one priority is parent and community involvement,” Abreu said. “I would like to see more people at Board of Education meetings voicing their opinions and telling us what is going on in the schools. I would like that have an open door policy for parents to feel comfortable to tell us what a wonderful job we are doing or what needs to be changed. I have not seen a lot of parents at our meetings, so we don’t know what is going on until you voice your concerns.” Hoffnagle said she would like to help students be enthusiastic about the school system.
“I want to help create great schools with children who are enthusiastic about learning while they receive top notch education,” Hoffngale said. “To accomplish this, the board needs to focus on student achievement and on developing how to reach out to kids who are not thriving in our school system. The cost of Special Education in our school system is extremely high, particularly in our out-of-district school placements. I hope we can develop programs within our schools which will attract students from out of district placements. We also need to resolve our differences with the Board of Selectmen, because right now, it seems that every time you turn around there seems to be another issue. We cannot continue to operate this way.”
Valyo said she would work to find ways to reduce spending in the school district’s budget.
“There has been a lot of wild numbers put out there about how much money we would save by closing a school,” Valyo said. “I’m not saying we would not be saving anything, but there is a lot bigger fish to fry in that department.”
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