Lincoln's Log

It was just three weeks before Christmas. The school and finance boards went toe-to-toe on the proposed education budget for next year. The finance board wanted a $1 million cut, and the school board stood its ground.
Eventually the school board got its way and the cut was voted down.
Guess which Fairfield County town it was?
Hint: It doesn’t possess the hubris to call itself the Gateway to New England.

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There is a reason Westport has the No. 1 school district in the state (according to a ranking of the most recent statewide test scores) and boasts of the No. 1 high school, Staples, which recently won a silver medal from US News in its annual ranking of the best high schools in the nation. Connecticut Magazine also rated Staples the No. 1 high school in the state.

Last year, Staples students packed the RTM meeting in Westport when it cut the current budget.

Elliott Landon, the legendary superintendent in Westport for the last 12 years, is no passive, get-along, shuffling wallflower. In the last two years, his proposed school budgets called for increases of 7.3 percent and 6.75 percent – in the face of severe declines in tax revenues. Landon is clear-minded about what his role is. He was not hired to build Westport a second-rate school system. He was not hired to worry about the declining tax base. (Greenwich, on the other hand, has had six superintendents in those same 12 years)

When Westport builds its school budget, it starts with the superintendent determining what he needs to give the town the best education for its children.

When Greenwich builds its school budget, it starts with the Board of Estimation and Taxation setting “guidelines” for all departments and schools are no exceptions.

I would like to use this opportunity to aver and reaffirm the truism by which we Connecticut homeowners have come to adopt – that there is a direct relationship between the reputation of the public school system and our property values.

While Greenwich has suffered a decine in its property revenues, so has every other municipality. But Greenwich stands alone in allowing its public schools to suffer a rapid decline over the last 10 years. And this will be reflected in home prices eventually.

Westport spends more than 70 percent of its overall budget on schools. Greenwich, on the other hand, spends 35 percent.

I cannot imagine any school board member in Greenwich publicly taking on the BET.

I cannot imagine GHS students packing an RTM meeting other than protesting some cut in a sports program.

Any politician in Greenwich who challenges the accepted practice of capping annual tax increases to 3.5 percent – NO MATTER WHAT THE NEED – risks total annihilation at the polls. Even Lin Lavery, who slung more mud than an old tractor, never dared to violate the sanctity of the mill rate altar that ultimately defines everything that is Greenwich.

None of this would have mattered as long as the schools maintained its facade of giving the town a reasonably acceptable school system. But it all begin to unravel during the Nancy Weissler era when the triple whammy of Betty Sternberg (the million dollar superintendent) collided with the fastest growing non-English speaking student population in the town’s history, along with a a desire to cut costs. In any other Fairfield County town, the Weissler board would have been thrown out just for the Sternberg hire. Add to that the palpable decline in test scores and every other objective measure of academic achievement in which Greenwich schools took a nose dive in rankings, and we have the makings of a disaster.

Since our school board and BET are accountable to very few people, it’s almost impossible to change this pattern of governance.

And there are other structural reasons for this. Greenwich has 35,000 registered voters – 13,000 Republicans, 12,500 independents and 9,500 Democrats. Yet, the first selectman was elected by only 8,800 voters. Moreoever, there are only 8,960 students in the public school system, with nearly a quarter of the student population attending private schools.

That is not to say you can’t get a good education in Greenwich. My son did. But it took proactive intervention by his parents as well as private tutoring. In essence, we – like many parents – subsidize the Greenwich schools.

Today, a caretaker superintendent Sid Freund – a good guy but not visionary and certainly not a boat rocker – is proposing a 4.1 percent budget increase, slightly more than the BET guideline, for next year. I think this is mostly a PR-induced budget. The challenges are so profound that a 4.1 percent increase will only prevent us from sliding more.

Greenwich needs a serious discussion on the future of its schools, and it’s not likely to come from the usual suspects. But where are the parents? The PTAs? The students? The Townies who run Greenwich are happy to have GHS contend for the FCIAC football title every year; the parents of private school students are not predisposed to spending tax dollars on the public schools; and the growing hispanic population in Greenwich have no respresentation whatsoever.

The penurious citizens who took to the polls to vote in the same cast of characters to guarantee that their mill rate will remain the lowest in the state will also suffer the absolute decline in the value of their real estate when the Greenwich brand loses its resonance as its schools fail to deliver on its promise.

Like the Mendoza line in baseball, no active participant in the game wants to fall below that fault line.

The Weissler Penalty put Greenwich below the Mendoza line in education, and the Weissler Penalty will more than eat up the misbegotten savings from keeping our mill rate artificially low.

A day of reckoning is coming. When the economy recovers, and people wonder why Greenwich is not bouncing back like its customary self, we will look at 10 years of neglect of our schools and wonder why we didn’t do the right thing at the time.

The reality of Greenwich’s new frugality is starting to show. The town with the state’s lowest mill rate is fraying at the edges.

To wit …

Almost a week has gone by since the snowstorm that dumped eight inches on Zip Code 06870. And yet large piles of snow clog up parking spaces in the municipal lots behind the stores on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich. A Pubic Works employee told me the town has cut back on clearing these piles at night because of the overtime costs.

On Sunday morning whole sections of Riverside and Old Greenwich did not get a second plow until midday. Wesskam Wood, Owenoke, Spruce, Hendrie Avenue, Terrace and the entire southbound lane of Tomac were not cleared until around noon. The crews were then told to stop at 1 p.m. leaving some streets such as Edgewater and Shore Acres unplowed.

These photos taken on Dec. 24 speak for themselves. Hate to think what would happen if we got a real snowstorm.

The Old Greenwich Yacht Club is being called upon by its commodore to help a member who lost her life’s possessions in the fire at the Gables condominium on Dec. 1.

Diane Metz, who has been an OGYC member since 2002, and her son Andrew Cline lost most of their belongings when fire swept through their condominium at the Old Greenwich Gables on Forest Avenue. “Diane and Andrew have been very strong in the face of this disaster, but the reality is that they need our support to move forward with their day-to-day lives,” wrote OGYC Commodore Mary Rappas in an email.

John Martello, proprietor of Sam’s Package Store at 230 Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich has graciously offered to accept donations at his store on behalf of Diane Metz. Martello told me today that OGYC members have been very generous. Anyone can stop by the store and make a direct donation to Diane Metz, who is temporarily staying at a house in Cos Cob. Martello said she is looking for another place to stay starting next week.

“Diane’s is seeking a house-sitting opportunity or amonth-to-month rental of a local studio or one bedroom apartment,” Rappas said. “Without a kitchen, Andrew and Diane would really
appreciate a gift certificate from one of our local eateries or grocery stores, where they can get a freshly prepared meal. Garden Catering, Upper Crust Bagel, Sound Beach Pizza, Oriental Gourmet,and Food Mart are among their favorite places.”

A gift certificate from the Old Greenwich store, “ChillyBear,” would be warmly welcomed, as most of Diane and Andrew’s clothing was damaged by smoke or water during the fire.

Diane Metz can be reached by email at: dmdianemetz@gmail.com

My friend Tommy the Golfer is usually even-tempered, fair and balanced.

I suspect that is why he shoots in the 70s when he plays his weekly round Saturday mornings at the Griff, the moniker favored by Townies for the municipal course otherwise known as the E. Griffith Harris Golf Course.

But don’t ask Tommy about the state of the course. You’ll be tapping into a mother lode of pent-up grievances. To start with, Tommy will tell you that the conditions this year were the worst that he has seen in many years. As a matter of fact the conditions the last two years were less than ideal in Tommy’s mind. The word Tommy uses most often to describe conditions around the greens and bunkers is “ratty.” And don’t get him started on the greens.

To be fair Tommy will also wax effusively about how the Griff has improved over the last 10 years, ever since they decided to use the excess revenues to maintain the course instead of returning that money to the general fund. By around 2005, the Griff was a jewel of a municipal course – the envy of all in Fairfield County.

But the recession that started in 2007 clearly had its impact. The course actually lost money this year – about $55,000 in the red. Membership was down to 3,650 – a decrease of 250 from 2008. Total rounds played were down by 2,000.

Now a “user group” has recommended to the selectmen that fees be increased in 2010. Don’t ask me who is on this user group. No one of any official capacity could tell me. I checked the town’s web site and could only find old agendas that go back to September 2008.

Tommy said they would never let a real user such as himself to be on the user group because he would tell them the truth. “And they can’t handle the truth!” Tommy said in his best impersonation of Jack Nicholson.

Anyway, Sometime over the next few weeks, in the bowels of the chambers of Field Point Road, our newly minted Townie selectmen board will approve increases of $5 for membership to $145 for next year, and increases of $1 for green fees across the board.

Moreover, the reservation system will be changed to allow for advance booking of four days instead of the current seven days. This is to give groups a better chance of booking for the weekends. There will be no refunds for cancellations – just like the old days when we had to run up to the course to sell our ticket if we wanted to cancel.

I don’t think Tommy is going to be happy to hear any of this.