Connecticut’s technical school students are being deprived their constitutional right to equal education, said Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D-Meriden, at a forum Monday.
As he asked the state education commissioner and a state school board member questions, Gaffey, co-chairman of the legislature’s education committee, demanded change.
“This is just a tragic situation,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that we have a problem here, and we are going to get to the root of the problem and fix it.”
Gaffey said several parents, many from the Meriden area, have come to him with concerns this school year. They say students are not being bused to job sites and athletic events because the buses are inoperable, and they say some schools lack paper and shop equipment, Gaffey said.
The senator said these conditions are unacceptable, and he added that the school system needs to be treated like every other system in Connecticut. Gaffey also said he was concerned about the school system’s budget practices and about stalled construction on technical schools.
This past August – with the start of school just two weeks away, 16 technical schools were worried about teaching positions, athletic programs and extracurricular activities because a state budget had not been passed. Gov. M. Jodi Rell and her budget office restored funding for a few additional teaching positions just in time, but over 65 positions were lost due to retirements and were never filled.
Later, the state budget impasse stalled school construction grants for technical schools. It wasn’t until October that some school construction money was included in a budget implementer bill.
“Someone’s got to fight for these kids,” Gaffey told state school board member Beverly Bobroske, of Bristol, Monday. Bobroske is chairwoman of the board’s technical school subcommittee.
Bobroske said she was aware of some of the concerns raised Monday. For example, she was aware of the bus problem, but was not aware of a paper shortage, she said.
During the hearing, Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan acknowledged problems, but cautioned Gaffey and other committee members not to over-generalize based on one parent’s letter.
Interim technical school Superintendent Patricia Ciccone said the matter was complicated. The techincal school system makes requests for money each year for items like buses, but it never sees it, she said, adding that retirements also hit the system hard this year because of the state’s early retirement incentive. For example, the 16 schools lost five principals and eight assistant principals, Ciccone said, trying to explain how the technical schools are struggling.