Students from Staples High School are planning a rally on the steps of Westport Town Hall today to protest cuts in the Board of Education’s requested 2009-10 budget increase that they say will possibly alter course offerings and extra-curricular activities at the school.
The rally was set to begin at 5 p.m. in advance of the 7:30 p.m. start of at least two nights of budget deliberations by the Representative Town Meeting (RT), the town’s legislative body. The RTM will take up the municipal budget tonight and the education budget on Tuesday.
The Board of Education’s original request for a $1.9 million, or 2.06 percent, increase in its proposed $96 million 2009-10 budget was reduced by the Board of Finance by $1.4 million. The education board voted not to seek restoration.
But in an e-mail message Sunday to RTM members, Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon, writing, he said, as “a private citizen and a resident of Westport,” asked the RTM to restore the $1.4 million. He said an early retirement program offered to town employees showed the cut was not necessary.
A motion to recommend a cut of an additional $1 million from the education budget was proposed at a RTM Finance Committee meeting last week but did not pass.
I don’t think Eliot understands why early retirement is offered. The stated reason is that you encourage high earners to leave—thus reducing the salary line item. That is true, but there is perhaps an even more important reason. This is an opportunity for an organization to get rid of “dead wood”—those high earners who are no longer pulling their weight. The result should be a slimmed down and more energetic group.
Even Education may have some high level “dead wood”. Take a look, Eliot. This may be a way for Education to both save money and solve some personnel problems.
I agree with Mr. Meyer. Perhaps the first thing Mr. Landon should do is either act like a Leader or learn how to become one. His reasoning to restore the $1.4mm budget cut because the Town is offering early retirement to reduce imbedded expenses shows a real lack of the financing process within the Town. The Board of Finance and the First Selectman showed leadership and political courage in attacking the Town’s current financial problems. Mr. Landon should be circling the wagons and figure out how to do more with less. This is what we call leadership.
Tom Bloch
I still think instead of protesting…the student should get little resourceful and help Dr. Landon out with this one. Extra credit is the way to go!
Early retirement might also entice excellent, long-time teachers to leave, and that would be a real loss to the community.
The RTM should not be swayed, influenced or intimidated by
superintendent of schools/ “private citizen” Dr. Landon and his
modus operandi. It appears that Dr. Landon looks at Westport
as a money tree and all he has to do is shake it. He must be made to realize that in this economy curtailing of expenses
is mandatory.
Janet Beasley
Dr. Landon is showing all the signs of poor leadership and understanding of the current fiscal situation.
This to clarify my previous message:
Dr. Landon is showing all the signs of poor leadership and lack of understanding of the current fiscal situation.
I applaud the students for exercising their right to protest (or in this case support their education and their school).
Students are urged when they enter as freshmen to participate in extracirricular activities. They are told to take challenging courses as that is what colleges look for in their transcripts. At the possibility of some of those being eliminated, they are now voicing their opinion in a democratic manner. Please do not fault the students for exercising their rights. How about giving them extra credit for their efforts?
It’s been time for Mr. Landon to go for quite some time. Does anyone know how many pay increases he has received over the last few years?
Kathi – My thoughts exactly. The students in the Westport schools are going to be directly affected by any school budget cuts, so it makes perfect sense for this affected group to have an opinon and express it via their right to free speech and peacable assembly. Some of these students will also be eligable to vote in the next election too, hopefully they will exercise that right as well.
First let me say that negative comments about dedicated town employees who chose to retire is inappropriate and unacceptable.
Dr. Landon by his posturing is setting a poor example for his students. He should be encouraging them to assist the entire school system in economizing in the current fiscal enviornment. He is exhibiting extremely poor leadership. It is time for him to go!
Rererring to nameless town employees as “dead wood” is inappropriate, insulting and just plain WRONG!
Those that have said it should apologize and Landon ought to as well. His facts are simply WRONG as well.
Wally, you need to take a lesson from Willy.
Arthur Miller has him say, “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away-a man is not a piece of fruit.” Neither is a woman. And no person who devotes his or her life to public service deserves to be insulted or have their life work so besmirched.
It is nice to see students taking the time to advocate for something they believe in – regardless of where each of us stands on this budget issue.
Dr. Landon was quoted as follows; “He said an early retirement program offered to town employees showed the cut was not necessary.”
I need to clarify a point or two here.
First: the early retirement incentive offer was made to town employees, I repeat, Town employees, not BOE employees. It was designed to reduce the amount of layoffs of Town employees. Not to raise some cash for the BOE.
Second: I take great exception to Wally Meyers’ comment, “an opportunity for an organization to get rid of
I am surprised to see the criticism of Mr. Meyer’s statement about “dead wood” and subsequent “piling on”. In the 5/1 issue of our local paper, our First Selectman said, “Also, it’s an opportunity to clear out older workers who have been around a long time and not as enthusiastic about their old jobs…there are people that hang in there and accumulate lots of vacation and sick time and…an opportunity to look at some depts and revitalize them.” I THINK I might have even heard Mr. Joseloff use the term “dead wood” or something very close in his comments at the RTM meeting on Tuesday when saying how important it was to get the town’s employees more computer oriented and therefore more efficient. As Mr. Meyer does not have a mean or snide bone in his body, I think he was channeling other’s comments. Actually, amazingly enough, “dead wood” used to be a technical term in HR circles in my day and was not considered a personal attack on anyone.
Perhaps Staples needs to beef up its economics curriculum; some students seem not to have grasped that we’ve left more prosperous times behind, at least momentarily.
Sophomore Susan Greenberg is correct that
On any given afternoon, there is at least one bake sale being run by Staples students. In addition, they have car washes, sell logowear, work part-time jobs and, yes, ask their parents to write checks. They raise money for their sports teams, for orchestra/band/etc., for their clubs, and for charity. Think what you will about the budget, but do not make the mistake of belittling the fundraising by Staples students for themselves and for others.