Saturday, September 22, 2012

Letter to the Editor: Where is the Transparency at the BOE?


Letter to the Editor:
This is a letter in response to the comments by Board of Education member Ed Mckeon left on his blog post on the Middletown Eye " Living in a No Paper Town, Part II." Mckeon responded to anonymous comments asking about his role on the BOE and transparency asking anyone concerned with transparency to sign his or her name for him to answer.
I will use my name as I have no issue using it,
What I would like to know is: Where is the transparency when it comes to the BOE budget? I think it should be a detailed line item budget like every other department in the city. What do we get? A one line budget with no details. That is one issue you Ed specifically, and others, highlighted in your campaign a year ago; yet I see the same old thing as I saw before. The budget is clouded in mystery. While improvements have been made as far as more committees regarding curriculum, the people of Middletown still don't know what is going on within in the BOE as far as where our tax money is being spent dollar for dollar like in all other departments. This is not a partisan issue, but it does take a majority to make it happen.

Signed
William Wilson


Editor's note: William Wilson is vice chariman of the Middletown Republican Town Committee.
All letters to the Insider are printed as a courtesy to readers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Insider.  We want to hear from you! Please submit thank you!

7 comments:

  1. McKeon is being ridiculous- oh ask me with your real name and I will do my job that I was elected to do is what he is saying-

    WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DEMAND WHAT WE ALREADY VOTED YOU IN TO DO!

    THERE ED, some one stepped forward with a name now will you do your job??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bill:

    The line item budget of the BOE is a public document, available to you or any other citizen. If you don't have a copy, I'd be happy to make sure you get one. We discuss it every month at the Board's budget committee meeting. It's open to the public. I invite you to come. I'm with you that the public should know how its money is spent. That's why we vote on line item transfers at every board meeting, also in public.

    Out of necessity, we spend a lot of money at the BOE. Unfortunately, I don't think we fund education in Middletown adequately.

    I'm disappointed, considering that you know me, that you wouldn't make your request for information more directly. This letter, published here, seems like there's an additional agenda.

    I'm afraid I don't see the point in being associated with some of the inflammatory anonymous comments and posts published here, like the one above.

    BTW, there are Republican members of the board who might be as helpful in providing you with information, if you feel more comfortable communicating with someone in your party.

    Thankfully, we have never let party become an issue in Board meetings or in committees. We decided, from the beginning, that letting party politics interfere with getting work done would only cause problems.

    Thanks for your support on the progress we've made on the board. I look forward to hearing from you, and to seeing you at our board and committee meetings.

    Ed

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anon 10:23

    "some one stepped up" (sic)

    But it wasn't you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ed McKeon please report to the principal's office to discuss bully complaints they keep getting about you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. McKeon thinks he's better than the rest of us. He hasn't answered any of the questions posted on his blog. And he won't because he's too pretentious. At least the Insider posts points of views that may be different than their own.

    ReplyDelete
  6. No need to transfer between line items if every thing was laid out publically.. That is exactly how Frechette short changed our children a million dollars

    ReplyDelete
  7. " At least the Insider posts points of views that may be different than their own. "

    YEAH ok.. this is so funny I almost spit my soda out!

    ReplyDelete

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