The following text was posted this morning in the comment section of another posting by Councilman Deutsch:
Below is a letter written shortly before Board meeting, distributed to press and handed to entering Board members; apparently too little and too late, after hoping many others in and outside City government would further intervene and change some Board minds:
Open letter to the Board of Education and its designated Selection Committee:
Many in Hartford are well aware by now of widespread doubts about the fairness and process in the choices made for the Selection Committee for Superintendent.
Doubts go back to October when a “Succession Policy” was launched.
Later, concerns were raised when the actual Selection Committee was formed, leaving out many representative voices. Later, there was recognition of this fact by the Board, with an poor and token attempt to add new members.
Most recently, openly as well as behind the scene, there were active, highly inappropriate, and unethical attempts by a Board official to influence the ultimate choice.
Many in the City are appalled at the slanting and bias of this process, and agree that the outcome is unacceptable. The Mayor is influential over appointments and decisions of the Board, and the City Council is responsible for accepting the Superintendent choice and the final School System budget. The Mayor rightly voiced concerns about the process as “flawed,” correctly saw the “perception in the city that the committee’s pick was ‘predetermined’, and rightly called for reconsideration -- especially after active biased lobbying by Mr. David Medina, presumably with Superintendent Adamowski’s approval.
Thereforeit is our obligation to presented this Open Letter to the Board, since it may be that the Chair will not permit the public - to whom the City Council is responsible - to express these directly:
1. The choice announced by the Board and its Chairman follows an invalid and biased process and is rejected by many citizens and several City Council members.
2. Revocation of recent bonuses for Mr. D. Medina and Dr. S. Adamowski, unless fully justified in writing for public examination, is necessary.
3. The immediate resignation of Mr. D. Medina and of Dr. S. Adamowski is demanded.
The Board and its Chairman are advised that many in the City will pursue appeals to legal and ethical authorities, and consider these items during upcoming Council budget decisions, regarding flaws and interference in what should have been a fair and transparent process in choosing for ALL the Hartford’s children the future course of the public education system in our City.
Representing views of many City residents and fellow Council members --
L. Deutsch, Hartford City Council March 3, 2011
8 comments:
I have not seen this question asked or answered. Will the newly appointed Superintendent be moving her family to Hartford?
The Board and its Chairman are advised that many in the City will pursue appeals to legal and ethical authorities, and consider these items during upcoming Council budget decisions...
I see that Adamowski sent out a press release on the bonuses. Mayor not satisfied. Have we ever seen said release?
I hope that Mr. MacDonald and the rest of the Board may explain the bonuses, once again, but otherwise politely tell Councilman Deutsch to mind his own beeswax. Let him do what he wants with legal/ethical authorities, and get on with their business. The latter should include an explanation of the pending budget. Let the people/Mayor hold them accountable at election/appointment time.
Not asking rhetorically, but honestly don't get it; why doesn't Deutsch demand the resignation of the Board? And, again, why not ask the State to look into the matter? The Board is its agent.
Councilman Deutsch needs to attend grammar school immediately.
Where is my post?
Frank: Please don't tell me you believe her residency has anything to do with her qualifications or, for that matter, with any of the pertinent issues arising from the BOE fiasco of the past few weeks. Is this, in your mind, the most important issue surrounding the Superintendent selection?
Anon: You don't get it. We can not perpetuate an atmosphere where people can just get prime, high paying jobs in our City yet still choose to live outside of it. If you're truly going to participate in making this City better, it can start by lowering your carbon footprint by lessening your commute home.
Jose: Tell me the logical correlation between where someone lives and their abilities, skills and commitment to accomplish something. This is a simple man's logical fallacy, that somehow a professional would be smarter at their job if they slept in a certain town every night. It's mentally easy to conclude one is more motivated if they too, are suffering, but there is no evidence I know of depicting a sufficiently consistent causal relationship here to dismiss all other reasons affecting one's motivations or abilities.
So I guess General Patton couldn't do as good a job while living most of the wartime in the United States, when the war was raging on in Europe? Only homeless people can do a good job working to end homelessness, and not those who live in a home; Only the institutionalized mentally ill can fix the problems of the mentally ill, not the doctors who live outside the hospitals; People who live in cities can't understand and work to solve the problems of rural farmers...
I haven't taken sides in the mayoral race yet, but as another example, Mr. Wooden's commitment to fix the Hartford Public Schools has absolutely nothing to do with whether he is willing to sacrifice the future of his children by placing them in schools he and everyone else will need years to fix. Again, no correlation between the two, but it sure sound right!
The newly appointed Supt also received a fat Bonus! She was also the Deputy Supt when these other Bonuse were approved (Happened on her watch with Adamowski) Then with her Qualifications ? Hartford BOE gives her the Top Job ? What a Joke! Now Tim Sullivan will get the Deputy Supt Job and Brad Noel will be Happy! Watch out Segarras not done with you BOE Members yet ! In due time .
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