The Other Half of the Story...
Below you will find an email sent to the RTC by Steve Rosendahl regarding his feelings on the perception of the electorate as well as other issues within the BOE, and Frank Corden's response...Mr. Rosendahl's email was leaked to the Aljazeera Café this morning...I wonder who would have done that? 1) Times are bad people are losing their jobs - gas is on its way to $5.00. The only thing townspeople can have input on is this vote.
(2) Most of our citizens are not upper management or owners of manufacturing plants they are wage earners of less than $60,000 and have not had a raise in years yet alone a 4% yearly raise.
(3) Do townspeople trust the boards? Have the boards earned the peoples trust. Do board members mislead the townspeople as private citizens for their own agendas?
(4) Did both parties overwhelmingly vote in November for change? Did they vote for change two and half years ago, when we got our tails handed to us?
I saw this coming (the economic down turn) but did not think it would hit till next year. I stated this at my board meeting and pointed out that when deep real cuts would need to be made the BOE had to have trust of the townspeople. To steal a slogan from Microsoft the message we need to send is DO MORE WITH LESS because that is what most of us will have to do.
But what did we do? The selectman asked for 125K for the revaluation. Then the BOF went to the limit of 46 and with 250K added for the revaluation which was not required. The newspaper reported that the BOF chair stated the 250k was the request of the Selectman (this might have been a mistake by the reporter but no one corrected it). A BOE member mislead the public in stating that the overestimate in student tuition happened only one year and then a few days later not only admitted it was two years but how the money was spent. My point the townspeople of Woodstock do not get a clear message, this leads to mistrust.
So we have a perfect storm here.
This is not a new problem last November we as the republican party ran on not listening to the few but the wisdom of the many (or whatever the slogan was)
Look what has happened with the former Breen P&Z with a majority of new members – there is now open discussions and positive debate. Even with the hard issue of the Academy Fields they are acting in a professional manner. I thought I was in a different town the change is night and day. No bullying, No release of selective information, and only a small amount of misinformation from Breen members.
On my board (BOE) only two new Republican members (the max allowed) were elected, the board has only fractured the town more and promoted more mistrust since the election.
I ran to oppose the present board, something I made clear to everyone who would listen. The RTC backed me and endorsed my newspaper ads, I went into the community and received endorsements from all three 1st Selectman canidates, former Superintendent, the former Elementary School Principal , the former Academy Headmaster, several long term BOE members, the Democratic BOE member who resigned over the Breen proposal, and even the dark side the CPS. My goal was to get the townspeople of Woodstock to take ownership and pride in our town again. The single most important issue in a school system is trust of the townspeople. I am on the Long Range Planning subcommittee, in 7 months we have had 2 meetings the first was the same night as our Republican Caucus the second I attended. During the 2nd meeting I suggested looking at what other schools were doing right so we could emulate them.
I also asked that we do a study on dollars spent vs. scores on standardized test. Since February 11th we have not had a meeting.
Members of the BOE insisted on cutting sports to save $9,000.00 to spend on classroom supplies(I spoke to several teachers who told me supplies were not a problem and they even had closets full left over from past years). The Superintendent begged the board not to cut funding to the after school sports program stating the parents will feel they are being punished for not passing the first referendum.
One of these members as a private citizen is using the P&Z to attack the Academy. The other is putting out pleas for the student funding after cutting sports. How can we put out threats and attacks on other Schools and expect the townspeople to support us.
They are BOE members that ran as Republicans but got instructions from the Old Breen party Chair on how to negotiate with the Academy, during this time did Chan get email asking for help negotiating with the Academy? Or was this just a clever plan to use the RTC as the new Breen Party Chair and Superintendent have used the BOF chair and laughed behind his back?
If the RTC thinks the BOE is doing a good job and they endorse their methods and actions (which seem to be about personal agendas and not students) let me know. I asked for your support – you knew my feelings – I am only in office because of your support and backing – If you do not feel I am doing my job to better the education system by working in the open and supporting students k-12 please have a RTC vote and I will respectively resign.
I have been on the board for 7 months, I have not been allowed to do one thing that directly improves education for either our students or teachers. I also believe that for the last 3 election cycles the BOE also has not done anything to improve education in Woodstock. Thank God for our great teachers at all three school, where would we be without them. Personally my kids have done great but it took all three schools to make this happen. Why do we pit School against School they are all needed to prepare our students. Or are there BOE members who have no intention of sending their children to the Academy?
If you want to join me in improving education please come up with positive ideas to present to the BOE and town. We are not the only town with this problem they are many ways to win back the trust of our townspeople. If you are interested please contact me.
While most of us bicker about politics Chan and Brian did something - they volunteered and shingled the Quasset School Roof saving the town $2,500.00 or more. Woodstock needs to come together and work for our students and town . Please stop the destruction of Woodstock and work to make the School k-12 the best in CT.
The Schools need painting, the School s need cat 5 computer wiring, the Schools need the community to come together. How many of us are willing to follow Chan’s and Brian’s example lets raise money for paint, and cable and provide labor from our hearts. Woodstock has many skilled townspeople with knowledge and equipment I am willing to bet they are willing to help. How about you.
I apologize for my rant but education is very important to me on a personal basis. Townspeople can be pro education and anti BOE please pray they do not vote down this budget because of our action or non action from all our boards.
Thanks Chan and Brian for your example
Steven Rosendahl
PS Proud Dad moment two of MS. May’s Biotech students have been invited to work with Maseno University in Kenya on water contamination in rural villages. They leave in July. Yes my daughter was one of them. Again good job preparing them as global citizens the credit goes to all three schools. My thanks to all Teagan’s teachers. _____________________________________________________________________
Yes, times are tough, food and fuel are more expensive and yes many of our neighbors don’t make high incomes.
Regardless, that doesn’t excuse us from meeting our obligations. You talk about the community as if it’s one entity. It’s not. Yes, there are about 800 or so voters out there that don’t trust our elected board and commission members. But, head’s up, they haven’t trusted them for the last 20 years, almost regardless of who is in office, exception being Mr. Wetzel.
This group of voters is looking for a reason to vote no, they want to vote no, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Schultz give them a convenient excuse. And no amount of clarity or “transparency” will make a bit of difference. With regard to the motivations of the BoE members, let’s take that offline, last time I checked you aren’t a mind reader, so don’t speculate about agendas and motives. All you are doing with your irresponsible speculation is contributing to the conspiracy theories that are so insidious in this community and by there nature are impossible to disprove. What about the 1,000 or so voters who show up to vote during a town election that don’t show up for a budget vote?
That’s who needs to be engaged.
So Mr. Rosendahl, are the citizens of Woodstock better off with a YES vote or a NO vote. You tell me.
Regards,
Francis L. Corden _____________________________________________________________________ It appears to me that Mr. Corden has very little respect for the electorate and an agenda of his own. The statement that "...no amount of clarity or “transparency” will make a bit of difference." says it all.
As has been stated here before, there is a very simple way to silence the detractors of the board, provide the information requested and answer the questions.
"...conspiracy theories that are so insidious in this community and by there nature are impossible to disprove." WHAT? Straight forward questions regarding where our money is spent and clarity of an over complicated budget are impossible to disprove? Please.
The very nature of this email by a sitting BOE member is inexcusable, especially after his tap dance- See it -HERE- around the $469K budgeted for the Academy that was spent who knows where.
I personally don't care if it takes $18M to run the school system properly, which it is obviously NOT at the moment evidenced by the failing SPED department and a plethora of other problems, as long as it is done openly and in a spirit of trust with the taxpayers- instead this BOE runs their own agenda with impunity and thumbs their noses at us. This is truly disgusting. One other thing- I would like to thank Frank Corden for erasing any doubt in showing us what liars and manipulators he and his ilk really are.
(2) Most of our citizens are not upper management or owners of manufacturing plants they are wage earners of less than $60,000 and have not had a raise in years yet alone a 4% yearly raise.
(3) Do townspeople trust the boards? Have the boards earned the peoples trust. Do board members mislead the townspeople as private citizens for their own agendas?
(4) Did both parties overwhelmingly vote in November for change? Did they vote for change two and half years ago, when we got our tails handed to us?
I saw this coming (the economic down turn) but did not think it would hit till next year. I stated this at my board meeting and pointed out that when deep real cuts would need to be made the BOE had to have trust of the townspeople. To steal a slogan from Microsoft the message we need to send is DO MORE WITH LESS because that is what most of us will have to do.
But what did we do? The selectman asked for 125K for the revaluation. Then the BOF went to the limit of 46 and with 250K added for the revaluation which was not required. The newspaper reported that the BOF chair stated the 250k was the request of the Selectman (this might have been a mistake by the reporter but no one corrected it). A BOE member mislead the public in stating that the overestimate in student tuition happened only one year and then a few days later not only admitted it was two years but how the money was spent. My point the townspeople of Woodstock do not get a clear message, this leads to mistrust.
So we have a perfect storm here.
My fear is this round is going to be turned down and then what.
We as board members and RTC members have to take responsible for our own actions this is not all fault of the townspeople.This is not a new problem last November we as the republican party ran on not listening to the few but the wisdom of the many (or whatever the slogan was)
Look what has happened with the former Breen P&Z with a majority of new members – there is now open discussions and positive debate. Even with the hard issue of the Academy Fields they are acting in a professional manner. I thought I was in a different town the change is night and day. No bullying, No release of selective information, and only a small amount of misinformation from Breen members.
On my board (BOE) only two new Republican members (the max allowed) were elected, the board has only fractured the town more and promoted more mistrust since the election.
I ran to oppose the present board, something I made clear to everyone who would listen. The RTC backed me and endorsed my newspaper ads, I went into the community and received endorsements from all three 1st Selectman canidates, former Superintendent, the former Elementary School Principal , the former Academy Headmaster, several long term BOE members, the Democratic BOE member who resigned over the Breen proposal, and even the dark side the CPS. My goal was to get the townspeople of Woodstock to take ownership and pride in our town again. The single most important issue in a school system is trust of the townspeople. I am on the Long Range Planning subcommittee, in 7 months we have had 2 meetings the first was the same night as our Republican Caucus the second I attended. During the 2nd meeting I suggested looking at what other schools were doing right so we could emulate them.
I also asked that we do a study on dollars spent vs. scores on standardized test. Since February 11th we have not had a meeting.
Members of the BOE insisted on cutting sports to save $9,000.00 to spend on classroom supplies(I spoke to several teachers who told me supplies were not a problem and they even had closets full left over from past years). The Superintendent begged the board not to cut funding to the after school sports program stating the parents will feel they are being punished for not passing the first referendum.
One of these members as a private citizen is using the P&Z to attack the Academy. The other is putting out pleas for the student funding after cutting sports. How can we put out threats and attacks on other Schools and expect the townspeople to support us.
They are BOE members that ran as Republicans but got instructions from the Old Breen party Chair on how to negotiate with the Academy, during this time did Chan get email asking for help negotiating with the Academy? Or was this just a clever plan to use the RTC as the new Breen Party Chair and Superintendent have used the BOF chair and laughed behind his back?
If the RTC thinks the BOE is doing a good job and they endorse their methods and actions (which seem to be about personal agendas and not students) let me know. I asked for your support – you knew my feelings – I am only in office because of your support and backing – If you do not feel I am doing my job to better the education system by working in the open and supporting students k-12 please have a RTC vote and I will respectively resign.
I have been on the board for 7 months, I have not been allowed to do one thing that directly improves education for either our students or teachers. I also believe that for the last 3 election cycles the BOE also has not done anything to improve education in Woodstock. Thank God for our great teachers at all three school, where would we be without them. Personally my kids have done great but it took all three schools to make this happen. Why do we pit School against School they are all needed to prepare our students. Or are there BOE members who have no intention of sending their children to the Academy?
If you want to join me in improving education please come up with positive ideas to present to the BOE and town. We are not the only town with this problem they are many ways to win back the trust of our townspeople. If you are interested please contact me.
While most of us bicker about politics Chan and Brian did something - they volunteered and shingled the Quasset School Roof saving the town $2,500.00 or more. Woodstock needs to come together and work for our students and town . Please stop the destruction of Woodstock and work to make the School k-12 the best in CT.
The Schools need painting, the School s need cat 5 computer wiring, the Schools need the community to come together. How many of us are willing to follow Chan’s and Brian’s example lets raise money for paint, and cable and provide labor from our hearts. Woodstock has many skilled townspeople with knowledge and equipment I am willing to bet they are willing to help. How about you.
I apologize for my rant but education is very important to me on a personal basis. Townspeople can be pro education and anti BOE please pray they do not vote down this budget because of our action or non action from all our boards.
Thanks Chan and Brian for your example
Steven Rosendahl
PS Proud Dad moment two of MS. May’s Biotech students have been invited to work with Maseno University in Kenya on water contamination in rural villages. They leave in July. Yes my daughter was one of them. Again good job preparing them as global citizens the credit goes to all three schools. My thanks to all Teagan’s teachers. _____________________________________________________________________
Yes, times are tough, food and fuel are more expensive and yes many of our neighbors don’t make high incomes.
Regardless, that doesn’t excuse us from meeting our obligations. You talk about the community as if it’s one entity. It’s not. Yes, there are about 800 or so voters out there that don’t trust our elected board and commission members. But, head’s up, they haven’t trusted them for the last 20 years, almost regardless of who is in office, exception being Mr. Wetzel.
This group of voters is looking for a reason to vote no, they want to vote no, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Schultz give them a convenient excuse. And no amount of clarity or “transparency” will make a bit of difference. With regard to the motivations of the BoE members, let’s take that offline, last time I checked you aren’t a mind reader, so don’t speculate about agendas and motives. All you are doing with your irresponsible speculation is contributing to the conspiracy theories that are so insidious in this community and by there nature are impossible to disprove. What about the 1,000 or so voters who show up to vote during a town election that don’t show up for a budget vote?
That’s who needs to be engaged.
So Mr. Rosendahl, are the citizens of Woodstock better off with a YES vote or a NO vote. You tell me.
Regards,
Francis L. Corden _____________________________________________________________________ It appears to me that Mr. Corden has very little respect for the electorate and an agenda of his own. The statement that "...no amount of clarity or “transparency” will make a bit of difference." says it all.
As has been stated here before, there is a very simple way to silence the detractors of the board, provide the information requested and answer the questions.
"...conspiracy theories that are so insidious in this community and by there nature are impossible to disprove." WHAT? Straight forward questions regarding where our money is spent and clarity of an over complicated budget are impossible to disprove? Please.
The very nature of this email by a sitting BOE member is inexcusable, especially after his tap dance- See it -HERE- around the $469K budgeted for the Academy that was spent who knows where.
I personally don't care if it takes $18M to run the school system properly, which it is obviously NOT at the moment evidenced by the failing SPED department and a plethora of other problems, as long as it is done openly and in a spirit of trust with the taxpayers- instead this BOE runs their own agenda with impunity and thumbs their noses at us. This is truly disgusting. One other thing- I would like to thank Frank Corden for erasing any doubt in showing us what liars and manipulators he and his ilk really are.
Steve,
Some advice:
1)All controversy can become good controversy.
2) Moderate yourself, moderate your rhetoric, and decide which battles are really worth fighting.
3) Continue to put education before politics. If promotion of education is not your primary motive as a BOE member you will fail at both.
4) Your role on the BOE is not to advocate on behalf of the taxpayer, but on behalf of the students. The taxpayers can advocate for themselves. You have enough to do.
5) The time and place for promoting transparency and accountability will come in small ways. You have 6 years, not 6 minutes. No need to wage a full scale pyrhiccal war on the behalf of these virtues. You risk jeopardizing their worth and your health.
5) A quote I read this morning,
"I believe that the greatest of all political ethics was made by Jesus when he urged the injured and offended among us to turn the other cheek, thereby breaking the cycle of revenge and reprisal."