Stamford Stories: Calendar, Raises and Buses

Yesterday's Stamford Advocate (9/22) contained three interesting education stories.

Calendar: The Advocate reports that that the Stamford BOE is considering modifying the holiday schedule. Currently Stamford, like Norwalk, students have a week off in February and a week off in April.

A survey sent to parents asked whether the breaks should be eliminated. 42 percent favored keeping one weeklong vacation in February and another in April. About 17 percent of about 1,500 respondents favored eliminating the February or April break. Meanwhile, 34 percent favored eliminating the February break and replacing it with a long weekend around Presidents Day.

What these results mean is open to interpretation:

Board member James Rubino said these results indicate the majority of people are not happy with the current system.

"The district is mostly poor," he said. "I can't imagine they want to pay for child care for two weeks."

Public Engagement Chairwoman Julia Wade, however, interpreted the responses differently, since 34 percent favored a hybrid version with a long weekend off in February as opposed to a full week.

"We didn't see in these numbers people asking for something different than what we had," she said.

If the same survey were conducted in Norwalk, I wonder what the result would be? Does a February and April break seem excessive?

Raises: The Advocate reported that the Stamford Board of Education is debating a decision by non-union central office staff to give back their 3% raises. Their Board of Ed is questioning whether any raises should be given at all.

If the giveback is considered a donation it will raise base salaries, and allow the employees tax and pension credit. If its considered as a deferral then it will not. In either case, the budget does not change.

The amount in question is not even a rounding error -- $24,000 for 10 employees in a $219 million budget, but the issue is a symbolic one.

Board members are questioning the very notion of pay increases:

"Anyone asking for a 3 percent raise in 2009 is out of touch," said board member James Rubino. "If the raise is granted this year, it raises future base salaries," he said.

However Superintendent Starr argued these employees were bearing the brunt of budget cuts in other ways too.

"This is a group that has willingly taken on additional work in the absence of other staff," Starr told the board.

The Advocate also notes that some school officials in Stamford have made significant personal sacrifices:

After the school budget was trimmed by $7.4 million by other elected boards last spring, the education assistants donated $200 per member, while the administrators increased their health care contributions to 19 percent. [Superintendent] Starr donated his raise and gave up two years of performance bonuses.

In contrast, Norwalk's central office key personnel, the Assistant Superintendent and Human Resources officers, received 7.5 furlough days equivalant to the salary increase for 2009-2010. According to the contract, "the full increase in base salary will be credited for pension and carryover to 2010-2011."

In a time when some central office workers were let go because of budget cuts, do you base salaries should have been frozen this year, instead of replacing raises with givebacks and furlough days?

Buses: The Advocate reports that the Connecticut Department of Transportation will receive $7 million from a $100 million federal grant to purchase hybrid transit buses and stationary fuel cells for the statewide bus system.

These buses will be used in Stamford and New Haven.

Compared to older buses, the new hybrids are 40 percent more fuel-efficient, use 30 percent less carbon dioxide and release 90 percent less particulate matter.

I hope money flows to Norwalk for similar buses and the trend continues nationwide.