Westport Education

"Kids Must Have a Voice": Nicole Suddath's letter to the editor on the Press Republican's April 5th Speakout column has appeared

From this morning's Press Republican, Nicole Suddath's response to the controversial April 5th Speakout Column, a column which allows people to vent anonymously. In the same issue that this letter was published, the Press Republican announced that it is tightening editorial standards for the Speakout column.

Kids must have voice 
TO THE EDITOR: Unlike you, I will sign my name to this letter. I just read Speakout and there were two letters questioning why parents let their children speak at budget workshops.

Why shouldn't kids be allowed to speak? Who is impacted the most when budgets get slashed? The kids!

My daughter was one of the students who spoke at the most recent budget workshop at Westport Central School; she spoke with honesty and from the heart. How dare you tell her she should not have a voice. These kids are the real future of Westport; why not let them speak? Furthermore, why don't you listen?

In case you haven't noticed, there are many who have a great love for WCS and all it stands for. If a second-rate school is what you want, go elsewhere. Second best is not in the vocabulary of any student or alumni from WCS. Why do you think we are one of the top-rated schools in the United States? Stop trying to short change the education of our kids to save a few pennies.

You say that kids should worry about homework and parents should worry about money. My daughter did her homework before the meeting. I think it is only right to teach our kids the value of a dollar and to support their beliefs and to teach them to stand up for what they believe in.

I support my daughter and know that what she said is the truth. I listened to what all of the students had to say that night and I will be at WCS on May 18 to vote "Yes" for the 2010-2011 budget.

In the meantime, I will be at all of the softball games, as many of the baseball games I can get to, the John F. Geyer Memorial Concert, the Drama Club show and whatever other student-based activity there is, and yes, the budget meetings. What are you going to attend besides the budget meetings?

Nicole Sudduth

Westport

See also my posts:

• Ulrich Hoffmann weighs in on the April 5th Speakout column in the Press Republican
• A few comments on the discussion of the Westport Central School budget

Dr. Gallagher's Powerpoint presentation on the Westport Central School District budget

Here, for your home viewing, is Dr. Gallagher's Powerpoint presentation on the Westport Central School District budget that was approved by the Board of Education on April 8th:

Ulrich Hoffmann weighs in on the April 5th Speakout column in the Press Republican

Ulrich Hoffmann writes regarding my post about the Press Republican's April 5th Speakout column:

Kathryn -- Regarding your Westport Education piece -- be careful at whom you point your finger or appear to point your finger. Why would I want to hide behind anonymity when I have spoken my mind publicly and signed every piece of writing that I have authored? That's a rhetorical question but take care how you generalize. -- Rick

I'm glad we all agree that the anonymous attacks on the participation of an 8th grader in a public meeting as published in the Speakout column of the Press Republican are inappropriate and beneath the level of discourse we wish to maintain.

Q: Did my daughter write a letter to the Westport Central School board of education? A. No.

Ulrich Hoffmann writes:

Kathryn -- Did I hear correctly that one of the letters read at yesterday's School Board meeting was authored by your daughter? -- Rick

Answer: No. There is more than one Cramer family in Westport. We are not related. 

However, my daughter was at the WCS budget hearing with me because I have almost no child care for those meetings and so my children are always nearby when I attend. (My husband still has a job in Manhattan.) My childrens' last name is Hartwell, not Cramer.

My statement at the school budget hearings last night

I composed the following statement as a sort of cover letter to my post of March 26th, Cutting the school budget a form of tax relief for the local low income elderly? No. It doesn't work that way. I had intended to read the statement below aloud, but instead I read the opening and summarized, since there were many people wanting to speak at the meeting. I submitted this as my written to the Board of Education along with a printout of Cutting the school budget a form of tax relief for the local low income elderly? No. It doesn't work that way plus related correspondence. My statement incorporates some of my comments posted on the Valley News site yesterday.

First of all, at this final hearing on the budget, I wanted to congratulate Westport on having such a high participation rate in these budget discussions. People for the most part do not go to Board of Education hearings for fun. No matter how much some of us may disagree, we are all here out of sincere concern for the well-being of our town.

Secondly, I would like to follow up on George King’s comment of last meeting concerning the demographics of our community and his claim that the school budget was forcing those on social security out of their homes. When he ran for school board in 2008, King said, "I hope to maintain the best possible education at a reasonable cost, as 40 percent of the people in Westport are retired. I would do this by applying common business practices.”

I believe that Mr. King’s demographics are incorrect and have suggested that he revise his figures based on the Office of the Aging document posted on the Future for Westport site.  Slide #16 projects a 20% increase in people 60+ in Essex County from 2000 to 2015, not a doubling from 2000 to 2010. If inn 2000, 26% of Westport resident were over 65, by 2015, this figure may rise to 31%.

But also, using figures from the Adirondack Regional Assessment Project, it appears that those residents over 65 are our wealthiest demographic group. My analysis is lengthy and I submit my detailed write-up from my website along with my correspondence with Mr. King^{1, 2} in which he defends his arithmetic, so that the board may make up its own mind.

Two key issues underlying the larger budget discussion are:

1. the definition of "taxpayer," a word that has often served as a euphemism for "property owner," when in fact New York State taxpayers pick up a substantial portion of the tab for education; and
2. the authentic financial anxiety of the wealthiest 10% of residents and property owners (who also tend to be the oldest Westporters). The volatility in the stock market can reasonably be expected to have diminished the wealth of the wealthiest 10% by as much as 40%. Their feelings of financial anxiety are real and need to somehow be addressed by the community without costuming them as the poor.

New York State has frozen at least some of the figures used to calculate the wealth of our community in determining what the state contributes to our school budget. In the case of the much-discussed NYS "Foundation Aid" which gives the district a specific amount per pupil, they have frozen the wealth figures at the 2006-2007 school year. The stock market crashed in July of 2007.

With the arrival of Fiberoptic Internet to Westport through the efforts of our phone company, Chazy-Westport, I think the prospects of the Westport economy bouncing back faster than New York State as a whole are very good, since it can now reasonably attract suburban telecommuters (like myself) as home buyers. But for that to work, we need to keep our infrastructure intact, and that includes the Westport Central School District.

Thank you.

---

1. George King letter to Kathryn Cramer, March 28, 2010.
2. George King letter to Kathryn Cramer, March 31, 2010.

May 13th Board of Education Meeting Rescheduled to May 11th

The regular Westport Central School District Board of Education meeting/budget hearing originally scheduled for May 13th has been rescheduled. The new date is Tuesday, May 11th: Regular Meeting and Budget Hearing beginning at 6:30 pm.

Does the public have a right to speak at school board meetings?

From Nicky Sudduth:

Maybe this will clear up questions about the public speaking at BOE meetings. Please feel free to pass it on.

Nicky

The information below was taken from, School Law, 32nd Edition

3:16. Does the public have a right to speak at school board meetings?

Although school board meetings must be open to the public (Educ. Law section 1708(3); Pub. Off. Law 103; see also 3:13), there is no requirement that school boards allow members of the public to speak at school board meetings except in New York City, where community district educational councils must hold monthly meetings at which the public must be allowed to speak (section 2590-e(14)). Elsewhere, the commissioner of education encourages school boards, whenever possible, to allow citizens to speak on matters under consideration (Appeal of Wittneben, 31 Educ. Dep't Rep. 375 (1992)). Boards can limit the time for a person to speak (see Matter of Kramer, 72 St. Dep't Rep. 114 (1951)).