just placed their superintendent on leave, , and North Stonington is looking for a new Superintendent as well.
Is there something in the water about being a Superintendent in this area?
Maybe the three towns should hire one Superintendent. Who knows, maybe a little collaboration might go a long way. There shouldn't be any difference between my daughters schooling and that of a child's across the river, should there? Let's see if we could get our political leaders and Board of Educations together on this one. They looked at it for a , why not education?
By looking at the Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List per Capita (AENGLC) Wealth one discovers that Stonington is ranked 37th in the state, North Stonington is ranked 78th and Groton is ranked 131st. Yet as mentioned above Groton supports their students by spending much more to educate them in the face of being so much poorer as a town with a myriad of hurdles that Stonington is not faced with. Comparing Stonington to Groton is easiest as North Stonington often falls between the two in most of the statistics I looked at.
Class sizes are also quite telling. In Algebra I Stonington High School has 21.3 students per class while Fitch High School has 21.7. In Biology 1 Stonington High has 26.8 students while Fitch has 18.5. Grade 10 English SHS has 28.1 students while FHS has 20.5. And in American History SHS has 28.1 students per class – while FHS has 17.8.
Stonington’s standardized test scores are higher than Groton’s which comes as little surprise given the comparison of socio-economic factors discussed earlier.
Best proposal i have ever heard for Regionalization to create equity,commonality of quality of education, and reduction in Administrative costs! You should be Commissioner of Education in Connecticut! I state all of that in total sincereity. You are that rare person who wants each kid - Minority,Poor, Middle Class , Rich - to, if attending Public Schools to be on the same playing field. Now for the reality of others... You have already been hammered by Bartlett - Get ready to be vilified by others in print and behind your back. Gist of opposition will be "We already have Magnet Schools to let those who want to mix their kids with others - why have a Superintendent our Town does not solely control to protect what we want in our own secular community ? We are different from those other Towns!". Good Luck, Steve, Admire your intellect but more so your courage! Jim Spellman Groton, CT,
First of all - I admire YOU for commenting in. Rest assured I never ,ever would equate corporations with schools - the former produces a product for a few's profit - the latter molds citizens for Democracy's survival. Steve's proposal has great merit. Let each of the Towns have an Assistant Superintendant to handle local matters. Mean while the Regional Superintendant handles the Macro Issues common to ALL of the Districts. Truth be told, in all my years in Education, I have never encountered a traditional Superintendant that did not begin to micro-manage at the school and classroom level just to find something to do. Thus, the problems Groton just had. Too bad the Stonington Board of Finance did not treat the recently resigned Superintendant with more respect - She would have run three Towns expertly. Steve's idea deserves consideration , study,and future implementation. Respectfully, Jim
We can save money by increasing size of classes to 60 students. However, I think that some of us would rather improve education in Stonington.
Your proposal on common book orders ( or Kindle leases) is a fantastic idea. Would save huge amounts of $ for all Districts. You must feel wonderful that even a "shallow brook " can endorse your suggestion. Please , with your obvious great depth, keep the suggestions coming ! Jim Spellman Groton, Ct.
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