http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2012/04/05/news/doc4f7e4b1b9d2e9839603131.txt
Dotting the i's: Bristol school board to re-vote on super due to technicality
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Thursday, April 5, 2012 10:06 PM EDT
By Susan Corica
Staff Writer
BRISTOL — The Board of Education’s appointment of Ellen Solek as the new school superintendent Wednesday may not technically have been legal, so the board will meet again next week to re-affirm her appointment.
The special meeting will take place April 11, at 6:15 p.m., in the library at Bristol Eastern High School. At the same time, the board will re-affirm the appointment of Deputy Superintendent Susan Moreau as acting superintendent for two months.
Board Chairman Christopher Wilson said there was confusion over whether Wednesday’s meeting was a regular or special meeting because it was in a different location than usual. The board met at BEHS to accommodate a large audience but also because the elevator at the board’s Church Street office was not working.
“The city clerk said it was technically a special meeting therefore we couldn’t put anything on the agenda that wasn’t previously published,” Wilson said. “We’re just making sure that we’re complying with everything.”
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Solek, who said she intends to make a long-term commitment to Bristol, will receive a salary of $170,000.
She has been superintendent in East Haddam for five years. A Hamden resident, she said she will be moving to Bristol. She grew up outside Albany, N.Y., and attended the University of Hartford, where she received a bachelor’s degree in music, a master’s degree in education administration and a doctorate in educational leadership.
Solek has taught music to students of various ages and served as a middle school teacher for nine years before moving to East Haddam. As superintendent, she helped establish a regionalized alternative high school program and full-day kindergarten, and supervised the opening of a 4-8 middle school in 2007.
Her enthusiasm, energy, communications skills, and background made her the best choice, said Wilson, who served on the personnel committee that chose Solek. “She had strong student achievement scores in the district she comes from. Her breadth of experience as a teacher, a middle school principal, and a superintendent, all were things we were looking for.”
East Haddam is a small, relatively rural district compared to Bristol, but Wilson noted Solek has taught in Meriden and Springfield, Vt., which is an impoverished area.
“She came highly recommended by our consultant, Goens/Esparo LLC, and she went through a pretty thorough screening and interview process,” he said. “The fact that we had unanimity among all the board members I think is a great mandate for her to lead.”
Outgoing Superintendent Philip Streifer said Solek is “highly regarded in her field.”
“It’s been a pleasure so far working with her,” Streifer said at the recent board meeting.
“The central office staff and everyone has been warmly welcoming to her. I remember [previous superintendent] Mike Wasta offering the same welcome to me.”
Streifer will be leaving Bristol May 1 to take a position at the University of North Carolina Fayetteville as a professor and chairman of the department of educational leadership. He said he is also working on a book.
Well, that new town logo Springfield on the Dole rolled out has really done wonders to improve Springfield's image in the region as an "impoverished area".
ReplyDeleteHey, this could be our town draw. We can put up a sign in Exit 7 saying, "Stop Here, See The Impoverished". There are enough dumbasses out that will stop thinking we're the Amish or something.
ReplyDeleteThe facts are the facts people...this is an impoverished area. I dont think 1.5 years of a new logo is going to change that. I think what we need to do, is all sit at our computers and complain. Why don't we fire off negative comments on blogs and attack organizations that are are at least trying to move this town forward. This will be way more effective than actually doing something.
ReplyDeleteYou are not paying attention, that is what we are doing.
Deletereally?
DeleteSpringfield got exactly what it bargained for. No zoning, a glut of low income housing, extreme taxes that drive working families away, a school that caters to social misfits, social services for every whim, a family center that hands out food to lazy bums and addicts, tax payer subsidized transit, a community college and adult tech center that insure perpetual unemployment benefits, and now a methadone clinic. Springfield rightfully deserves its reputation as a utopia for parasites.
ReplyDeleteAsk yourself, why would any successful, working class family move here?
Did I miss something? Is Turning Point a methadone clinic? Sorry if everybody knows this but me.
DeleteRe: "I think what we need to do, is all sit at our computers and complain." Impoverished area = impoverished intellect.
ReplyDeleteparasite infestation = demand for social services with accompanying taxes
ReplyDeletehigh taxes and social ills = no successful young people raising families here
No young, ambitious/educated labor pool = job loss & no leverage to attract new business
lack of high paying jobs = lack of prosperity
lack of prosperity = lack of wealth
lack of wealth = impoverished areas
therefore, impoverished areas = parasite infestation
You don't get out much, young people who have been to college and are succesful are in fact coming back and are part of many committees and organizations here in town. I graduated from college, came back here (completley my choice) for a very good job and I plan to stay here becasue it is a great area. The youth that graduated from Spfld high and went too college are coming back here, more and more each year and we all have incredible drive that may actually make the comments on this blog positive for a change.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Deletere: "The youth that graduated from Spfld high and went too college are coming back here, more and more"
ReplyDeleteOnly if they were liberal arts majors, content to be adult baby sitters for HCRS or packing rutabagas at Black River produce.
^^^ or people who don't read entire comments.."young people who have been to college and are succesful are in fact coming back and are part of many committees and organizations here in town."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete