WTF Weston Road Race, I cannot believe what I am reading! Can we get any closer to Newtown and not realize the need to protect our children at school (not save money!) I suggest every Weston resident read this... Commingling Weston Schools View this email in your browser You WILL Have Questions Wednesday April 9th 9:30am HES South House Cafeteria Despite warnings from the National School Safety Council, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Connecticut School Safety Infrastructure Council, Two local police chiefs, and a Sandy Hook survivor, the School District has committed to commingle school space with public space. On Wednesday, April 9th at 9:30 you will have the chance to ask why. See the Facts Below Despite saying that ceding the North House building to the town was “tabled indefinitely” in December of 2012, just six months later, the district and the town signed a contract to have a firm study options for the town using school space. Upon hearing this, parents began asking questions about schools sharing space with the public. We learned: The Executive Director of the National School Safety Center, Dr. Ronald Stephens, calls this sharing of town and school space “commingling,” and strongly advises against it; (His biography is here) His exact quote in a letter sent to us was: “After having conducted more than one thousand school safety site assessments around the United States over the past twenty years I have not encountered a single school system that has proposed such a commingling of activities. Most school systems strive to separate their campuses from public access during the day including the adjacent proximity of public parks and unrelated businesses.” After speaking with the US Department of Homeland Security, the Connecticut State School Structure Infrastructure Council, the police chiefs Fairfield and one other very relevant town who asked to remain anonymous, both strongly advise against commingling of school and public spaces. HES received a total of $17million in state grants (1995 and 2000) for school construction that require repayment if the building is used for non-school purposes. According to Sec. 10-283 of the applicable statute regarding applications for grants for school buildings. On March18, 2014 the district sent out a Superintendent’s Update to all parents stating, The district will follow-up with a risk assessment of the district, including the Senior Center, as it has pledged to do. With new security regulations to be adopted by CT in July, we want to ensure that any risk assessment for the safety and security of our students incorporates those new standards. Yet,a Freedom Of Information request revealed that, a letter from the district to the First Selectman had been sent more than a month before the March 18th letter to parents. Dated February 13, 2014, this letter indicates that, without undertaking any study of security concerns, and directly ignoring the notice given by National School safety experts as well as Federal, State and local governments the district has already committed to: Renewing the Senior Center in South House for 5 more years, Expand the senior center to overtake the remaining South House classrooms, Provide hot meals with cafeteria access to Seniors via the School Food Services, Create a new parking lot for the senior center and eliminate 18 existing HES spaces Deny the school to the Multi-purpose room where book fair is held Offered a movie projector from the district, and stated “There is no reason why this could not be a wonderful place for our seniors.” Stating that if enrollment declines the North House will be a consideration for town space in the future, despite statements made to the contrary at the BOE Facilities Committee in January 2014. The Weston Senior Center is the most vulnerable spot in the school: an open entrance to the school with zero security. It accesses two additional doors that open onto the school play areas. As recently as the week of March 25, 2013, an “open to the public” event advertised in the Weston Forum was held there during school hours with no security whatsoever. A rich, vital senior center is necessary in town, but does it have to be in our school? If you wish to see the supporting documents for these facts, please email and they will be sent to you. unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences This email was sent to [email protected] why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Weston Update 2014 · #1 Town of · Weston, CT 06883 · USA
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 12:18:20 +0000
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