Letter to the Editor: BOE No Direction, No Leadership, No Clue

The Board of Education tells us they are going to lay off anywhere from 80 to 100 teachers because of budget shortfalls from past budgets. The BOE has $10-million more now than they had two years ago! After public outrage, they have an emergency meeting. They found some money and now they don’t have to lay off as many teachers. Only a week later and the BOE has saved the teachers. The BOE, our heros???  How did they even introduce a $96 million budget and forget they needed teachers? 

The BOE has solutions to their budget problems. First, they move the BOE election from April to November. This amounts to a money grab. By moving the election to November, the public no longer has the right to vote on the BOE budget, and the BOE will increase our property taxes at least two percent. In January 2012, BOE President Mary Shaughnessy wrote a letter explaining why the BOE elections should have its own day and not be lumped in with November elections.  Now, she has done an about face.  

The BOE’s second solution is to let the public vote on two referendums.  They wanted the public to vote on one referendum for a school boiler.  Really, they wanted the people of Bloomfield to vote on whether or not students should have heat?  The other referendum was to raise money so in January 2014 they could rehire the teachers they just laid-off in June.   Then what, split the classes in the middle of the school year?   These referendums were scrapped in favor of their latest “masterpiece.”

On March 19, the BOE introduced a referendum, that will have the public voting to save sports and after school activities. The BOE tells us that if the referendum does not pass all afterschool activities will cease after November. There will be no “pay to play” option. This is just not about kids playing sports, this includes clubs and other after school activities. These activities could enhance a college application. Activities that could lead to a scholarship for a child who may have never thought of going to college or could not afford college. At the very these least activities give kids a sense of purpose, direction and pride. Why wouldn’t the citizens of Bloomfield pass this referendum? But ask yourself what if it does not pass, what are our children going to do? How attractive will Bloomfield look to a prospective home buyer? What happens to Foley Field?  Do higher property taxes and schools that offer nothing sound like a formula that increases our property values? Afterschool activities account for only one percent of the BOE’s budget.

This BOE has to go. They are void of responsibility and more interested in passing blame. They tell us the past BOE did not budget to cap.  Well, they did not budget to cap last year either. They tell us insurance cost are up, well isn’t that the broker they brought in?  They said they are there for the children. If they were, laying off teachers and eliminating afterschool activities would never have been put on the table.  

No Direction, no leadership, no clue. 

Let’s Go Bengals

Marcus B. Wolf