Tag Archives: Paul Stansel

CMT Results and the Effectiveness of Open Choice

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One of the most interesting things that came out of the conversation on CMTs at the last BoE meeting was the discussion around the School Choice program.  Schools that have failed NCLB requirements for multiple years in a row have to offer students the chance to go to a different school in town.  Currently there are almost 70 children that take advantage of the offer and go to Lake Street and Center Road from Maple Street and Northeast.  The majority of new requests this year were from Kindergarten parents who, I have to suspect, aren’t as invested in the neighborhood school as they might otherwise be.

Let me start by saying I completely agree with the parent’s right to do this.  It’s the law, and we will follow it.  The test numbers however seem to indicate pretty clearly that it doesn’t make a difference.  Your child will continue to perform almost identically to where they would have performed in their neighborhood school.  Simply moving them to a different school does not increase or decrease their academic success.  So what does that mean?  We are paying roughly $65,000 in transportation costs to move students in district when, academicly speaking, it doesn’t make a lick of difference.

So while I respect your right to move your kids, and even understand why you would want to, please don’t do it assuming they will get a better education.  We want to educate every child in every school as well as we possibly can.

I’m Running Again!

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Paul

My two year term on the Vernon Board of Eduation is almost up, which means I’m getting back into campaign mode.  I won’t lie and say campaigning is my favorite thing in the world.  In fact I am very happy to be running for a 4 year term this time around.  Assuming the voters are nice enough to put me back on the Board I won’t have to worry about another campaign until 2015.  Believe me, that’s a plus!  With that said though I have to work my butt off to get elected. 

This year is a pretty stiff race on the Board.  I’m up against 2 incumbent Republican members in Dean Houle and Laura Bush.  Can’t (and won’t) say a bad thing about either one of them.  We have different idea sometimes on the right way to get things done, but the one thing the last 2 years on the Board have taught me is that ultimately we all want the schools to succeed.  We may have different measures for success, and we may have different ideas about how to get there. 

But I’m incredibly thankful to be on the Board where the atmosphere is civil as compared to other areas of town government where it isn’t.  You didn’t elect me (I hope) to yell and scream at my fellow Board members.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t taken a stand sometimes (and once or twice even won!) and I won’t hesitate to argue when I think we’re in the wrong.  But I’ve grown enough in the last two years to also learn that I’m not always right ;)

The Vernon school system is a complex, sprawling corporation.  I’m very happy with the selection of a new Superintendent that we made, and I think Dr. Conway is implementing some great plans to help us steer the Vernon school system to success.  It is our job, as the elected Board, to be your voices.  To set policy that ultimately leads to the development of every one of our students.  I will do my best for every student of our school systems to make sure they get the absolute best that we can provide.  And if we are failing at that, I expect to be held accountable.

So please, reach out to me and let me know your thoughts.  Good, bad indifferent… I need to hear them.  You elect me to be your voice.  We won’t always agree, but I’ve never yet hung up on someone.

What I Think We Need…

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It’s always good to be out campaigning and get asked what I really think we need to do.  Too often people just smile and nod and take the campaign lit and then probably forget about me :) .  So if I’m knocking on your door and you are interested PLEASE ask me questions.  If I can’t answer them I’ll get you answers.

Now… what do I think we need?  We need to work on Pre-K and K education.  Too many of our children start off their school careers vastly unprepared with just the basic skills.  Ask any Kindergarten or 1st grade teacher and they can all give you horror stories about kids who don’t have any idea how to read, write, or even know their alphabet.  They start so far behind the curve and there is just no way in classroom sizes like we have now that they will ever catch up.  I want to see full day kindergarten offered again at all of the schools.  I think it was a serious blow when it was cut, and we should work hard to restore it.  And I think the existing Pre-K program needs to be expanded.  Right now it is bursting at the seams and cannot accept more students.

But let’s not put this burden solely on our teachers.  We NEED more parental involvement.  If you are involved with your PTO in any significant way, you know that by the time May roles around those 25 eager parents you started with are down to the same four or five who end up doing it all.  We need volunteers not just for the PTO, but to actually come in to the schools and do simple things like read to our children.  All of the elementary schools have guest reader programs, but so few people volunteer.  You don’t have to be a parent to be involved!  Get out to the PTO events, volunteer to help in a classroom, whatever you can.  A half hour every week can make a significant difference in the school system.

And on that note, I want to get our Middle and High School students more involved with community business.  We have a wealth of current and retired business people here in Vernon.  Let’s bring in guest speakers to the classrooms, run more internship programs with local businesses, and just generally make a commitments as a community to make our schools a priority. 

I want to stop the drain of students and resources to the magnet schools, not by forbidding it but by addressing the concerns of those parents who choose to take their kids out.  Why are the Vernon schools not meeting their needs?  It is far cheaper for us as a town to figure those problems out than to send our students to other school systems.  Let’s find the issues, fix them, and keep Vernon’s children here in our own schools.

Those are just some quick-hit thoughts on my top issues.  Please, if you have specific questions, ask me.  And I hope I can get your vote on November 3rd.

-Paul

Thanks for Visiting

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Thanks for taking the time to visit my website.  In the run up to the election, I am going to be using this as a means to distribute my views.  But more than that I really want to hear from you.  What are your issues?  What concerns do you have?  Where do you disagree with me?  We all need to elevate the discussion in Vernon politics beyond simple rhetoric and to a place where we can have honest discussion.  Difference of opinion is fine, but argument just for the sake of arguing is a waste of our time.

In towns across Connecticut, voters are feeling the economic pinch.  I know this is an issue, and maybe your primary issue.  I understand that people worry about advocating for school reform because it inevitably leads to higher taxes.  I want to work with you and any interested person to change that.  I want to see much more community involvement in the school systems.  We need more volunteers to help out in the elementary schools.  More parents to be involved in the PTO.  More people to come to Board of Education meetings and make sure all opinions are heard.

We will not always agree on the issues.  But I promise that regardless of our disagreements I will be fighting hard for a quality, affordable education for all of our children.  Thank you for your time.

-Paul