Information Regarding Childcare During Monday PLC Hour

UPDATE: If you plan on utilizing the one hour of childcare during Monday PLC, the first Monday for PLC begins September 12. Each school will be informing parents of the sign up process when school starts next week.


For those parents who may have childcare issues every Monday for the hour early release due to teacher PLC, I have communicated with Superintendent Sweeney and childcare will be provided by the schools during that one hour session. He said a newsletter is being mailed next week with each school's summer parent letter and it will contain all the information you need to enroll your child. Paraprofessionals will be providing the childcare and there may also be some high school students helping out as well.

Mr. Sweeney also informed me that the number of early release days has been reduced by three days. The weeks there is a holiday that does not fall on a Monday, the early release will not take place for that week. The dates that PLC will not occur and will instead be a full day of school are as follows:

-Monday, November 7 - School is closed Tuesday for Election Day

-Monday, November 21 - School is closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving

-Monday, April 2 - School is closed Friday for Good Friday

I hope this information is helpful to you in planning your work and childcare schedules.

Thanks!

Amy Mackey

Clarification to Parents for Windsor Locks Education Post

I would like to clarify my intentions of contributing to this blog so there is no confusion. Yes, my introduction did indicate my stance on education issues I feel very strongly about. Some may agree with my stance and some may not; and that is ok.

I am hoping to get the parents and community more involved in our children's education. I know it is difficult for some people to attend meetings, so I felt I could bring the information to them. My intent is to state the facts of the meetings, not to speak badly about the Board of Education or Superintendent Sweeney; doing that will get us nowhere.

That being said, this is a blog and people can put their comments for the positive or negative as to what is happening in the town's education system. The more dialogue we have, the more we can work together as a community to give the children of our town the education they deserve.

Thank you for your time!

Amy Mackey

Town To Apply For State Grant To Study Possible Development Connected To Train Station

Town officials want to relocated the current station back to downtown area. They also want to renovate the shuttered historic station in downtown as part of economic development in the area.

Windsor Locks officials are applying for a state grant for a study on what kind of development could occur around a relocated train station.

The state has allocated $5 million for communities with major transit stops to see what kinds of mixed use development could be developed around the stations, Patrick McMahon, economic development consultant for the town, said. With Windsor Locks being a stop on the New Haven to Springfield train line and a proposed bus from that station to Bradley International Airport, it could be a good opportunity.

The board of selectmen Tuesday endorsed making the application, which must be submitted to the state by Thursday. A town meeting must also be scheduled by September to approve the application, McMahon said.  Read the rest of the Patch article by clicking here: http://windsorlocks.patch.com/articles/town-to-apply-for-state-grant-to-study-possible-development-connected-to-train-station

When voices go silent in elections

by Kevin Brace

I have often wondered why more people don’t vote in the Municipal elections?  Municipal elections in my opinion are more important than the Presidential elections. 

Municipal elections in Connecticut help decide the leadership in your town, and most importantly affecting how much your property taxes are.  It’s very easy for people to go and talk to their Municipal Leaders, try making an appointment to talk to a President. 

This is your chance to have the loudest voice in Town Government. 

In the 2008 Presidential election, Windsor Locks had 77.51% voter turnout (6,166 voters).  In the 2009 Municipal elections, Windsor Locks had a 30.1% voter turnout (2,375 voters).

November 8^th is our Municipal election.  Seek out the people running for office, these people live in Windsor Locks.  Ask them the tough questions, and please vote.

Parents for Windsor Locks Education

I am blogging on "Save Windsor Locks" to keep the parents and the taxpayers informed on what is happening at the Board of Education Meetings and getting more parents, families and our community involved in our declining public education system in Windsor Locks. Some of you know that I (and a few others) have been involved in trying to get Superintendent Sweeney and our Board of Education to change their stance on the 1 hour early dismissal that will be taking place every Monday beginning this 2011-2012 school year due to teacher Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Due to this early dismissal our children will now be losing 33 hours of education time every school year and parents will need to rearrange their work schedules or find alternate childcare so someone can care for their child for that 1 hour.

PLC has been instituted in many other communities and has been known to increase student achievement. However, I do not think this change should cut into our children's classroom time. Unfortunately, after attending Board of Education meetings and expressing my concerns, along with other parents, our comments have fallen on deaf ears and the early dismissal is moving forward. I have been assured by the superintendent that he is looking into childcare alternatives for parents and will be contacting him shortly about the status.

I encourage everyone to please get involved in improving our children's education in our town. Our CMT and CAPT test scores have fallen to embarrassing lows and our children need us to stand up for them so they can get the education they deserve. I will be attending as many Board of Education meetings as I can, going forward, so I know what is going on with our children's education and the decisions being made by our Board of Education. I know it is difficult for some people to be able to do this, so I will be reporting back via this blog after every meeting to keep everyone informed.

Thank you for your time and support!

Amy Mackey

Residents Want Blight Ordinance To Have More Teeth

A sad example of blight

By KIM VELSEY,The Hartford Courant

WINDSOR LOCKS — —

Residents shared their thoughts on a new blight ordinance at a public hearing Tuesday night, offering suggestions and expressing their displeasure with the current ordinance.

The town decided to re-examine its ordinance, which was passed in 2001, after brothers Malcolm and Douglas Hamilton pressed Windsor Locks to bolster regulations.  

A proposed new ordinance includes more specific descriptions of what constitutes blight, according to Town Attorney Scott Chadwick. It also allows the first selectman to designate other people to identify blighted properties — a power that he and the police chief now hold exclusively, although residents may submit complaints to be verified.

Other changes would enable residents to make complaints anonymously and allow fines to be levied on a case-by-case basis, to allow for consideration of difficult circumstances and avoid being overly punitive, said Chadwick.

Overwhelmingly, residents expressed approval for any changes that would give the ordinance more teeth, but said that they wanted an easier way to view and evaluate what steps the town had taken to address certain blighted properties.

Malcolm Hamilton said that the arrival of spring and summer had uncovered many troublesome properties that had been hidden by snow during the winter, including a blighted house on Halfway House Road that had been foreclosed on and ignored by both the bank that took possession and the real estate company trying to sell it.

Numerous calls to the real estate agent had been fruitless, he said. Hamilton said he found it hard to understand why such a longstanding and obvious eyesore remained a problem.

The Halfway House Road home was one of about 10 properties that banks had foreclosed on but refused to maintain, said First Selectman Steven Wawruck, prompting the town to step in and do basic yard work after all other avenues had failed. The cost of the yard work would be added to the property tax bill.

Selectman Denise Balboni said that it was important to make an easily accessible public record of all such interventions because taxpayer money was being used for the repairs — in the case of the 10 homes requiring yard maintenance, the money was taken from a $2,500 line item in the town budget, according to Wawruck.

Others spoke of the need to include specific and verifiable complaints in blight notices.

Gail Burrington, who said that she received a blight notice for her father's property shortly after he died, expressed frustration with complaints that included vague wording — in her case, describing the home's carport as "looking trashy."

"It was extremely subjective," said Burrington, adding that it was difficult to understand the nature of such a complaint, and therefore, how to remedy it.

Burrington also said that she had found the appeals process for property owners unclear and had received no confirmation that her appeal had ever been received after she sent it.

A town meeting to vote on the new ordinance has not yet been scheduled. Wawruck said that he wanted to make sure that the new ordinance would provide avenues to solve problems and work with people, rather than simply being about fines, before a vote was scheduled.

An Open Letter to WL Parents

Letter to Windsor Locks Parents:

There have been many conversations going on the past few weeks on blogs, Facebook, and e-mails (some positive and some negative) regarding the one hour early release every Monday for all students so teachers can participate in PLC (Professional Learning Communities) during the 2011-2012 school year. 

With this change students will be losing 33 hours of classroom time for the school year and parents will need to rearrange their work schedule or find alternate childcare due to the early dismissal. My personal stance is the PLC should be provided for the teachers as it is a proven strategy to increase student achievement by creating a collaborative school culture focused on learning. However, I do not think this change should cut into our children's classroom time.  I believe the decision to take away student learning time will delay student achievement.  There has to be a compromise that can be made so everyone benefits: the students, teachers and parents. The education of our children should be of the utmost importance and our children should be gaining education, not losing it.

Regardless of your personal stance it is apparent we all want what is best for our children’s education.  That being said, I would like to encourage everyone to attend the next Board of Education meeting on Thursday, July 14 at 6:00 p.m. at the Windsor Locks High School Library Media Center.

We all talk great behind a computer, but the only way for our voices to be heard by the Board of Education and Superintendent Sweeney is to be at the meeting and voice our questions, comments and/or concerns.

The Board of Education stated at their last meeting that they will be putting the issue of PLC hours on the agenda for this upcoming meeting, so now is the time for us all to attend the meeting and have our voices be heard. I hope to see everyone there.
 

Please forward this letter to any other parent you feel would be interested.

Thank you for your attention!

Amy Mackey