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Heads Clash at RTM Finance Meeting

Heads Clash at RTM Finance Meeting

Alex Nitkin ’10
Managing Editor

The RTM finance committee met in town hall on Tuesday, April 28 to discuss budget matters with regards to Westport Public Schools. During the meeting, committee chair Michael Rea proposed a motion to cut an extra million dollars out of the Board of Education‘s current projected budget for the 2009-2010 school year, bringing the total value of the cuts to $2.4 million.

Students, teachers, parents and other Westport residents criticized and heavily debated the resolution until ultimately, the motion failed within the committee by a vote of 3-3-2. All members of the Board of Education were in attendance, as well as J.J. Mathewson ’12, Susan Greenberg ’11 and Mikey McGovern ’09, who all spoke out against the extent of the cuts.    

michael-rea

“My motion is to cut a million dollars from the operating budget of the Board of Education. I think we can weather this. I think we need to weather this.”

-Michael Rea, Chair of the RTM Finance Committe

 

 

“We have done the right thing. What we haven’t done is piss people off—we haven’t cut any salaries…I will do everything in my power to make sure that a $2.4 million cut does not pass. If this is your way of dinging Elliott [Landon] because he pissed you off, it’s the wrong thing to do. This is capricious.”

-Don O’Day,  Chair of the Board of Education

 

Susan Greenberg '11, Staples High School student. Photo by Annie Nelson '11
Susan Greenberg '11. Photo by Alex Nitkin '10

 

 

“These cuts are going to hurt students K through 12. And it’s not about the fancy equipment we have; it’s about the quality of our teachers and programs.”

-Susan Greenberg ’11

 

 

 

“I like to pride myself on the fact that when these things happen, I don’t react like the sky is falling. And frankly, I’ve seen a lot of people acting like Chicken Little. Rumors are going on around the schools because we’re trying to keep a high value learning system while trying to manage the budget.”

-Elliott Landon, superintendent of Westport Public Schools 

 

What is your opinion about the budget issues? Leave your comments below! 

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  • R

    RukhMay 28, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    I used to teach both Carson and Connor comic art. I miss them tremendously but my heart is so full of etloian at how much they’ve progressed creatively. Carson, in particular, with his art and ever-undulating imagination have made me more than proud as a teachers, but as someone who has watched him develop over the past few years. There is a powerful sort of optimism to these Einarsens. I’d love to see Carson at SCAD or RISD if he could manage I just never want to see this creativity stunted. He should be beyond proud of himself for setting up a goal for himself and achieving it so fully.

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  • J

    Jamie L.May 1, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    It is incredibly unreasonable for the Board of Finance to ask for another million dollar budget cut. The $1.4 million was bad enough already. The education system is what makes Westport so special and its monetary needs should be the town’s priority.

    Save Staples extracurriculars!! Come to the Board of Ed meeting on April 27 to protest the budget cuts!!!

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