Fiscal Responsibility in Action
by Daniel Luce

First and foremost, lest anyone think that by signing the code of conduct that I am being stifled or my freedom of speech is being eroded, be assured that is most definitely not so. I am writing this narrative to clarify the rationale and logic behind decisions made by the School Board and discussed in recent Charlotte News commentaries.

ADMINISTRATION. Both our administrators moved on last year after being with us for many years. An inclusive and professionally led search process took place while we took a step back to figure out where we wanted to go to deliver the best education possible. The old model of principal/assistant principal has been changed into having two highly qualified people for about the same cost. The new co-administrators are Greg Marino and Audrey Boutaugh, who start at CCS in July. Instead of having the vertical, hierarchical relationship of principal/assistant principal, they will share a side-by-side relationship, both reporting to the superintendent. This new co-focus is being guided by the broad growth and developmental stages of the students (K-4; 5-8) and matching the workload to the skill sets of the new hires. After a logical, methodical and thoughtful hiring process, the community can have trust that this is our best path forward to continued excellence.

MATH. Our math scores are among the top in the state. CCS is trying to do even better. This year computational fluency has been a focus of our math program, and our teachers are taking courses at the Vermont Math Institute. A math strategy group will be formed at the end of May to develop the next steps. The community can trust that the board will continue to ask the questions necessary to ensure that our educational benchmarks are achieved.
BUILDING. The staff and prior boards are to be commended for extending the lifespan of the 1949 building asset well past its projected useful life. When the roof blew off we knew we had to take action. The roof still lea,ks, the building is overheated, the rugs in the offices in the basement get wet when windy rain seeps in, the windows are poorly sealed throughout, and air quality is lacking. It was logical and responsible for us to develop a plan to address it. A study was commissioned, and we had a full top-to-bottom list of what was needed to fix the physical plant. The Board voted unanimously to seek a bond. Once the bond passed, funds were then available for the architects and engineers to take a detailed look at the project. This analysis resulted in a plan to keep the existing foundation and boilers, and add a new, smaller footprint for the same money as estimated for the initial rehab plan. Construction starts this summer. The revised plan results in a building that is more energy and educationally efficient overall. This has been well thought out by an experienced and trustworthy team of professionals and is in the long-term best interests of the community.

NEGOTIATIONS. The negotiating team offered a freeze in teachers’ salaries and increased contribution in health benefits. The proposed budget reflects this.
CODE OF CONDUCT. Discussion of the code began last year and is based on a framework provided by the Vermont School Board Association. The code reflects best practices in being an efficient and effective group. The code is about the team aspect of being on a board. Each board member, when they find themselves in the minority of a decision, should continue to be a respectful part of the governance process.

As your elected representatives, the board is expected to look at the totality of the information presented, ask good questions, exercise due diligence, hold staff appropriately accountable, and make fiscally responsible decisions. Be assured that is what this School Board has done consistently. While CCS enrollment is slightly increasing, last year’s budget was flat. This year’s presented budget demonstrates negative growth, the first reduced budget in many years. This is fiscal responsibility in action. Our students continue to excel academically. This board is doing more with less and making changes to raise CCS to a whole new level of excellence. Trust and confidence are built as this positive trend continues.
Daniel Luce

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Clear Difference in Philosophy
by Clyde Baldwin

The board has not allowed adequate time between votes for communication and deliberation, so this is based on all of the other members’ indicated desire not to really change much, and to not modify a variety of past actions.

This seems similar to a football team in a short-yardage situation that simply keeps sending its biggest back – figure of speech for concerned parents of current students – repeatedly on a straight-ahead dive into the middle of the line. Just grind it out.
If the board is unwilling to address the underlying shortcomings of philosophy and the resultant costs that concern the community, the community should reject both the approach and the budget.

I’ve described the involved indicators elsewhere (The Charlotte News, April 8 and 22). This has not changed. I’ve voted against many budgets but never made an issue of it because there has never been such a stark statement by the board - that is to say the philosophies and behaviors  which are the UNDERPINNINGS of the budget – that this is a semi-private club operating independently of the community at large. This has to change.
We may, for example, have to cut staff over time to control cost but to cut staff on one hand and increase administrative complexity and not adequately reduce or commit to reducing administrative cost on the other is a bizarre misalignment of priorities.

Further, we’re justifying differential payment of co-principals on completely incomparable time in incomparable jobs, not on whether they have stellar records and are outstandingly qualified for this extremely important work.

Imposing bond payments for a project that the community did not approve is simply a manipulation of the political process to one group’s own ends. The bond proposal passed by only three votes – and that was when people KNEW what they were voting for.
 To stifle freedom of speech on one hand and maintain that this was not the intent is simply not believable.

Barring actions that address and redress errors in judgment and demonstrate a greater respect for and attentiveness to public participation, the community should certainly not approve a budget.

Last notes: Emphasis is being placed on the possible cost of borrowing which results from not passing a budget. We have enough time to address everything, including which building to build, before we incur such cost.

The last approved budget was $7,239,000.  The current proposal is $7,062,000 – a $177,000 difference. The claim of having removed $400,000 is based on a baseline budget which included a variety of automatic and projected increases. The only FACT is that the current proposal is $177,000 less than the last approved budget.

What should come out? Curriculum co-ordination ($8K), .5 foreign language ($ depends on some contractual issues), deferred lighting changes ($10K), Early Learning Partnership (pre-school support): we will spend $140K actual money for a tax credit of around $118K – not ACTUAL dollars.
Finally, let’s dispel the myth that we are helpless. According to the Department of Education, if we reduced our spending to the base amount just for CCS (no changes to the high school), the tax rate would decrease by thirty cents.  We’re not going to, of course – or anything close to it (the base amount is a made-up figure for taxation). However, this demonstrates that what we do locally DOES have significance. We are obliged to squeeze everything out that we can. Over the course of time such squeezing WILL help to control cost and taxes.

There is a clear difference of philosophy between myself and my colleagues. My belief is that years of observation and the insights resulting from observing cause and effect are responsible for and justify my position.
                                                   Clyde Baldwin

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School, Community and Moving Forward
by Eddie Krasnow

Schools are not like multi-million dollar businesses anymore than families are small businesses. Schools are an agreement amongst us all to raise our children together. Ages ago, we decided to pool our resources to help us educate, enlighten and inspire the people who will replace us as community members here and elsewhere. We have developed a thoughtful process in order to change with the times. Hopefully, it reflects what we have learned about childhood development, as well as reflecting our own values.

Families seek communities; communities need leaders. We have chosen them, and we have civil channels to give input and/or opportunity to regularly choose again at the polls. We are not on the national political stage; everyone involved is one of our actual neighbors.

Having any one member of the school board “taking it to the street” with such negativity reflects badly on all of us as a community. Although I will defend the right of anyone to speak out, I question the wisdom of this behavior.

Agreement on a budget by majority vote does not mean everyone loves it, only that our leaders have come to a compromise that succeeds in addressing the needs of our children’s development balanced with the ability of the community to support these needs.

For most Charlotters, the value of our homes is a major asset. Our reputation as a community can be value added or value taken away and needs to be a consideration in that decision. When given a choice, my experience is that people shy away from communities in conflict.

Other thoughts about the task at hand:

Raising children was a lot cheaper back in the old days and so were the cost of schools. So were other professional services. We never needed x-rays for dentistry, just a string and a door handle.
Let’s create efficiencies by understanding best practices as they relate to a child’s growth. Teachers must connect their plans to our understanding of brain development, a child’s social and emotional development, language acquisition, numeracy and a host of other aspects never considered way back when.

Over the past 30 years of living here, I am thankful for the support the community has given us to help raise our four children, and now two grandchildren. Just as in families, we do not all agree on everything, sometimes on very little. On the other hand, I am committed to being in it for the long haul, and through a healthy and respectful community system, we move forward through respectful process.

Eddie Krasnow
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Vote NO Until School Board Resets Priorities
Candis Perrault-Kjelleren

Last year many expressed an interest in a new plan of action at CCS. People spoke out for better communication, strong leadership and vision for higher quality education reaching beyond standards. Our board then proposed we vote “yes” to a school construction bond for health and safety reasons all in the same year. Later the board concluded that two principals were necessary to lead the school and recently two-year contracts were signed. Once we add principals’ salaries to the debt payment for the $2.8 million bond, we total $350,000 to $400,000 a year.

Last fall when the board pushed hard for a bond vote there was a general idea for renovation of an older part of the building. Some knew the details were not fully in place and risky, and as it was, the yes vote passed by only three votes. Meanwhile, the proposals have been changing from renovate to rebuild including new principals’ offices and the four classrooms. $167,000 is coming out of the school budget for the next 20 years by borrowing this money and spending it all. So do we go forward?

Currently the board is telling people that we need to accept a budget so “our children’s education will not suffer;” meanwhile drama and geography are being eliminated in the interest of going forward with these expensive choices. The board has in fact increased our costs with decisions that cause us to be down to a “mighty thin” line in their words. At the same time, we are still working with $7 million to serve fewer than 500 students.
Our children have some great opportunities within the school. Art and music at CCS are superb. In one of our middle school art classes for example, the students have made masks, and will perform Where the Wild Things Are this spring. In addition, the stage band is going to play at the CSSU Jazz Night at CVU on May 18 at 7:00 p.m. and on June 8 from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. on Church Street Jazz Festival in Burlington. Some teachers are passionate and are trying very hard all of the time.

For those who take advantage of the academic enrichment such as Math Counts, Geography, and Spelling bee, some students have been expanding in many ways. One student will represent our state at the National Geographic Geography Finals televised on May 26. Students are finalists in spelling and math. Our Spectacles magazine is student run and rich with many entries. Ten or more participated in the District Music Festival. Most of these activities are run by parent volunteers and the Enrichment Coordinator. It is programs like these which allow students an opportunity to work across the grades on a “Middle School team.”

If the board really wants to make sure that our children’s education is the first priority, it will not continue to press forward with building the new building or a renovation. We need to investigate less expensive alternatives such as putting air purifiers in every classroom and fixing the roof, as we cannot afford to pay for construction that totals $2.8 million now that we are locked into two principal contracts. Furthermore, it seems that the two new principals should be able to come into the school with less distraction than what this project is indicating.

Just because we have $2.8 million in hand doesn’t mean we should look for ways to spend it all. I am voting “no” on any proposed budgets until I see that the board is making some significant efforts to cut back on this construction expense. The principals have been locked into contracts, and so let’s get back to just -doing the very minimum we need to do on the building for this year and save the budget.
Candis Perrault-Kjelleren
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Charlotte Republican Committee Re-formed
by Bob Bloch

On Monday, April 19, by coincidence Patriot’s Day, four concerned Charlotte citizens agreed to re-form the Charlotte Republican Committee. The four: Robert Bloch, Heather Manning, Robert Sanders and Carrie Spear divided up the officers positions and got to work. Dave Nichols also joined the Committee.

Robert Bloch, the new Chairman, summed up the group’s motivation: “The last time I worked on a political campaign was for George McGovern in 1972. But recently I met Len Britton, the Republican candidate for US Senate. He convinced me that it’s not enough to sit in front of the nightly news broadcast and scream at the television to vent your frustration at today’s politics and politicians. Realizing that my wife Nancy had caught me screaming at the news too many times, I knew I had to get involved. All of us feel this way, and we all embrace two general goals:

1. Contribute to positive political discourse and involvement.

2. Support the election of candidates at the local, state and national level who exercise common sense, fiscal prudence, and respect for ideas like equal justice, personal responsibility and the all but forgotten concept that the government works for the people and not vice versa.

The Committee is busy planning for the upcoming campaign season and reaching out to Republicans, Independents and even Democrats in Charlotte.

The Committee’s other priority is preparing for its first major event, a Town Hall Meeting to introduce US Senate candidate Len Britton and other candidates. This event will be held on June 16, at 7:00 PM at the Grange in East Charlotte.

Please join us at the Grange on June 16 and please contact us at:
CharlotteGOP@gmavt.net