
According to Councilwoman Linda Salafia (R) as posted in her facebook group this week: "The City of Middletown's charter states that the Mayor is the hiring authority for the City and BOE for all non-certified positions. The State upheld the Union's complaint, the BOE appealed and subsequently has withdrawn the complaint and the position is currently posted. However, the position that the BOE created illegally is still occupied at the BOE??? Because the rumors that I am hearing are saying that the emcumbent employee has an employment contract until the end of the school year, the BOE is not addressing the illegal position. I requested the employment contract of this employee under the FOI Act and was given a copy of the contract which is actually anybody's right to do so. What I found interesting was that the contract has as a term: until termination. ??? Appparently this contract does not expire at the end of the school year. Also, what was interesting was that, even though this has been a issue of several years, this contract was executed in August of 2011. So... a contract with no specific length of term, open ended, was written and signed in August of 2011?? Why?"
"There are some facts that need to be posted: right after the election, the press printed that the BOE had withdrawn their appeal of the State of CT DOL decision against the BOE in regards to Ms. Haynes' position and the union position of business manager. Although that was printed in November, the actual withdrawal was not done officially until the very end of December. Took awhile. Should be noted that the employee who applied for the position has declined to take the position and now the position is posted to the general public."
Good questions Councilwoman Salafia! So far only you and Councilwoman Kleckoski have publicly questioned the sanity behind the continued employment of Superintendent Michael Frechette and Business Manager Nancy Haynes.
The Middletown Press article that was published on Super Bowl Sunday, although the deficit in funds was initially brought up during the Finance Committee meeting that previous Wednesday explains the deficit that the annual audit found. The Press writes:" Councilwoman Deborah Kleckowski, a Republican, called for the immediate termination of both Frechette and Haynes on Friday.
“The irresponsible behavior is endless...and it’s more than fiscal irresponsibility,” she said. “The Board of Education comes before the council and requests money. Once the council allows the allocation to go forward, the board of ed can do whatever it wants.”
Kleckowski said Frechette and Haynes have “demonstrated an inability to follow general accounting practices and provide clear and effective transparency.” She said the education board was granted an extra $1.3 million last fiscal year and the money “was squandered.”
“Frechette got a raise, Haynes got a raise and Senges got a raise,” Kleckowski said. “Not a single instructor got a raise.”
Kleckowski also called for an immediate review of administrators, including special education administrators, for receiving large sums of money for mileage reimbursements"."
The bigger question is will Mayor Drew step up and call Frechette out on the carpet for all the issues that have occurred in his tenure? These include countless grievances by staff, delays in pay for staff who have worked overtime, complaints about transportation from parents over unsafe bus stops & recent action by the State Dept. of Education over this, complaints by parents about the closing of the DEAL program and cuts to Special Education,, improper hiring practices,, reports of bullying in schools, issues with requiring police to be present in the hallyways of the high school, low test scores, supply shortages in classrooms, and less than two weeks ago news that made Farm Hill Elementary the center of national controversy because of the use of what parents called "scream rooms." A truly sad moment for Middletown was when CNN & the Dr. Drew Show chimed in on un-padded, lockable, windowless, converted concrete block janitorial closets that Frechette knew staff were using to isolate both unruly students and special needs students. The Insider asks : Are we just at the tip of the iceberg with the BOE Administration as to what is really going on?
Bottomline:Today, when it comes to the budget deficit, it appears Superintendent Frechette's new nickname should be " Super Fullashitte."
About time someone put the info about the Board of Education and Michael Frechette out there for the public to see.
ReplyDeleteThank you Councilwomen for your work.
I cannot believe people voted for Kasper!Frechette had $6k in mileage stipends ridiculous! no wonder special education was cut in Middletown all the money when to the administrators!
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