Lincoln's Log

“There is too much mystery …”
“Process is far too secretive …”
“Take the mystery out …”
“Veil of secrecy should be lifted …”

Who said the above?

1. Marianna Ponns Cohen.
2. Peter Scherr.
3. Parents of Greenwich students.

These direct quotes came out of a focus group conducted in February of Greenwich parents, students, teachers and principals to inform the Advanced Learning Program for “gifted” kids. Click here to download the report

They reinforce a widespread belief that the Greenwich school board and schools administration conduct their business in secret – that the BOE, along with a handful of PTA cohorts, reports to no one in particular and continues to operate as a closed club of individuals who are more loyal to each other than to taxpayers, parents, students and even their own political parties.

(A key member of the Greenwich DTC told me recently that Democrats Jonathan Cohen and Natalie Queen failed to get re-nominated – not because of any policy issues – but because they had become aloof and estranged from the DTC.)

This club is driven by an unholy alliance between the chairman and co-chair, who are given information not shared with any other BOE member from the superintendent.

The veil of secrecy was shattered last week when it was disclosed by the Greenwich Time that the superintendent, BOE chair and co-chair all knew before the town voted on a new $30 million auditorium in May that North Mianus School illegally paid an $87,000 overrun on a $700,000 parking lot project. Some town officials have accused them of deliberating “hiding” that fact from the public.

The superintendent has denied that accusation. But he did admit to sharing the information only with the chair and co-chair. As lawyers would say, the NMS scandal is “prima facie” evidence that there is selected information doled out. The question is how much and for how far back. We already know about the sketchy way with which the club tried to implement a major curriculum change (IB) without much public discussion.

The next battleground might very well be the ALP itself. As reported by Greenwich Time columnist Bob Horton, a group of nervous parents are organizing to confront the lame-duck superintendent on his intentions with the ALP and to squash any thought of marginalizing the program.

It is a shame that this is the way the public’s business is conducted in Greenwich. I am not optimistic that things will improve. The RTC chair has already said the candidacy of his party’s most outspoken BOE member is “problematic.” The selection of Adriana Ospina as a DTC candidate concerns me. Although I am willing to give her a chance, her legacy with the PTA is not a plus IMHO (although many will cite that as a asset, I think it’s just more of the same club mentality). And the BOE chair now wants a “code of conduct” – which is another way for the club to suppress information.

How this plays out from now to November will be interesting.

In the 2008 GHS class, 10 kids were admitted to Princeton, which is arguably the hardest college on the planet to get into. The one thing that remains a constant in Greenwich is that the top 15 percent of its graduates can compete with graduates from any public or private school in the country. The ALP is a major reason for that excellence. That is the one remaining strength of the Greenwich schools. The BOE hasn’t messed that up yet. But give it a chance …

I don’t know Marianna Ponns Cohen. Never met her. Never talked to her.

But I am starting to wonder if she is the victim of a massive campaign of disinformation and manipulation perpetrated by the BOE leadership in collusion with the departing superintendent.

The evidence is mounting that instead of the disruptive, headline-grabbing, insurgent member of BOE characterized by the BOE chair and Sid Freund, Ponns Cohen is actually the singular BOE member doing her job to protect our interest.

Let’s start with the IB fiasco. Here are the facts as far as I can discern.

Sometime in late 2009, Sid Freund and BOE chair Anderson, without authority and without much communication to the rest of the school board, sent letters of intent to IB that Greenwich was poised to implement the program in five schools. In the summer of 2010 – again without board authorization and any plan as to how much this would cost taxpayers – Freund began an extensive IB teacher training program. It wasn’t until Ponns Cohen delved into the matter did it surface that Greenwich was on its way to adopting IB but without any oversight. This led to a lengthy process of meetings, hearings and discussions which probably rubbed Freund the wrong way because due process is a pain in the neck as far as the good doctor is concerned.

Meanwhile, Ponns Cohen was telling anyone who would listen that the IB implementation was illegal.

Now, fast forward to 2011.

Greenwich is about to spend $30 million to build its version of Carnegie Hall. The spector of another building project in the schools system is a terrifying thought to many Greenwich taxpayers who witnessed the millions in overruns at Ham Ave school. The same people who oversaw that disaster now want another building. (I always suspected that Patrick Taylor deliberately packed the auditorium with five programs to demonstrate the need for a new auditorium .. I sat through too many unfortunate GHS choir performances with 250 students and their parents .. I never understood why Taylor didn’t break those concerts into reasonable segments. Now, I know).

Then in April – in the midst of the debate over MISA – the superintendent and the BOE chairman learned two things:

The MISA project required the elimination of 121 trees in front of the high school, but worse, a parking lot project at North Mianus School just rang up a $87,000 overrun.

Egads, just when the MISA project was being debated, we had a cost overrun in another building project! The BOE was on a long losing streak at the time. Greenwich schools were declining badly, according to standardized test scores. The BOE needed a win and MISA was the antidote.

Now, here is where the story gets interesting. I am generous enough in spirit to take BOE chairman at his word – that this was a terrible oversight which everyone overlooked because someone left the department during the summer, blah, blah, blah – although he admitted he knew about it in April. Oh, and by the way, Freund said he informed both the chairman of the BOE and the deputy chair – two extremely friendly BOE members who have given Freund carte blanche since he came to town.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS THE NUT OF THE STORY: FREUND AND ANDERSON AND LESLIE MORIARTY DIDN’T TELL ANYONE. THEY JUST WENT AHEAD WITH THE OVERRUN.

A lot of important people in town are not so forgiving as I am. Some have gone as far as to say that Anderson and Freund and Moriarty hid this information deliberately as not to compromise the MISA project. A lot of those pointing the finger are from Anderson’s own party! Ouch! Double Ouch!

And they are saying the whole process was definitely illegal! Triple ouch! And it’s not even Ponns Cohen saying this … it’s like the heart of the Republican leadership in Greenwich saying this.

WORSE YET, the words, “criminal liability” have been uttered. In other words, did Freund, Anderson and Moriarty – having discovered the cost overrun – have any conversation to deliberately withhold this information from the proper authorities in order to protect the MISA project?

The town fixer, Town Attorney Wayne Fox, would like this problem to go away. As would Peter Tesei, who made the mistake, along with RTC chair Jim Campbell, to immediately side with Anderson.

But this story has legs .. it reminds me of Watergate … and Campbell, Tesei and the RTC would be mistaken to assume it will go away any time soon.

I cannot imagine this happened in Greenwich, but then again this was the superintendent who tried to ram IB through without any oversight.

I can be confident of only one thing: the superb coverage of this whole mess in the Greenwich Time.

Stay tuned.

Are you as tired as I am of sitting Shiva for the departed superintendent?

It’s time to move on and let the real conversation begin – about the future of our public schools – and doing it without having the debate hijacked by the BOE-PTA establishment.

Let’s remind ourselves that not a single member of those entities were chosen by us – the people. They were either hand-selected or self-selected. And their efforts to generate sympathy for the latter day Professor Harold Hill garnered only 780 “likes” on Facebook and filled half of the 850-seat GHS auditorium (in a city of 65,000 residents).

Worse yet, their efforts to publicly prosecute two BOE members who dared to ask questions did more harm than anyone could imagine to our schools. The establishment hates noise, friction and public dissonance of any sort. But elected officials who mis-read this orchestrated sturm and drang do so at their own peril.

There are many folks like Betty Bonsal of Riverside and others who think Professor Hill’s behavior was unprofessional and disgraceful. I hope, over time, those who truly are interested in the quality of Greenwich schools will prevail over those whose delusional views cloud the discussion.

First, let us agree on the facts. Anyone who is a serious participant in this discourse must educate himself or herself on the state of the union which is not good.

The best place to start is this website devoted to the pursuit of high quality public education in Connecticut. There, you will learn that in the most recent state standardized tests, two of Greenwich’s elementary schools – Dundee and New Leb – failed to out-perform their own 2009 results. Dundee is the “prized school” with the highly vaunted IB curriculum tauted by the current administration. Not a single Greenwich elementary school ranked in the Top 50 schools in outperforming its 2009 test scores.

You will also learn that the average percentage of 10th graders at GHS meeting state goals for reading, writing, arithmetic and science was only 71 percent and that the average percentage of hispanic students at GHS meeting those goals was only 41 percent.

And then there is the inconvenient issue of the achievement gap where Connecticut is the worst performing state in the United States and Greenwich is the second worst performing town in the state (West Hartford is the worst).

These are the facts facing us like a scar that won’t allow for an easy fix. The BOE-PTA hegemony can manipulate opinion, but they can’t run away from the facts. The sooner we have a real community discussion with a new superintendent who will commit to working with the richest town on the planet to deliver on its promise to children, the sooner we will heal our wounds. Demonizing the few school board members who ask tough questions at a time when we need tough questions is not going to get us there.

Professor Hill is taking his trombone case and leaving town. Let’s hope he leaves quietly.

He ran one of Lower Fairfield County’s largest school districts.
He often battled parents and the school board.
He was an extremely effective communicator.
And he resigned recently.
His name is Joshua Starr, not Sidney Freund.
And unlike Freund, Starr did not quit on the town, the board and the kids.
Starr is leaving Stamford after six years to take on the superintendent’s job in Montgomery County, MD., one of the most challenging and prestigious education assignments in the nation. He is replacing the legendary Jerry Weast, who took one of the largest and most diverse school districts, and for 12 years, closed its achievement gap and consistently out-performed its peer group. Three of its high schools rank consistently among the Top 100 in the country. Montgomery County has 150,000 kids, Stamford 15,000 and Greenwich 9,000. The Wall Street Journal wrote about his pioneering data-driven system for tracking under achievers. The Washington Post lauded his achievements and cited his recent battles with the school board.
Starr had his share of battles – especially with Middle School parents – but he did not quit in a huff, did not inflame the community, did not point fingers. He did it with dignity, as referenced in this Stamford Advocate editorial. There was also an excellent article in Huffington Post reprising Starr’s philosophy and accomplishments.
I know how much Greenwich hates being compared to Stamford – the lawsuit that opened Greenwich’s beaches is still an open wound – but in this case, it behooves us to learn from our neighbor.
So what are the lessons?
First of all, Starr was only 35 when Stamford hired him. He was looking to make a name for himself in education and he did. As pointed out by Bob Horton in his excellent column in the Greenwich Time, the last four superintendents came to Greenwich in post retirement.
Hint to the school board next time you look at a candidate who is retired: He or she has already said once that “I’ve had enough.”
Also, Greenwich started its last search by encumbering itself at the outset: There was tremendous pressure to find someone in the “neighborhood” and to get that person “cheap.” Greenwich got both – a career educator within a half hour of Greenwich who cost $60,000 a year less than Betty Sternberg.
But no one focused on the fact that the candidate worked in towns (villages) that were a sixth the size of the City of Greenwich (admit it, Greenwich is a city!) with all its complexities, warring factions and high expectations.
There is no denying that Sid Freund was an extremely popular superintendent – with parents, students and teachers. He appeared to be a good listener. He was glib and knew how to sling the pedagogical speak that gain superintendents the aura of trust with our children.
But what was his real achievement after two years?
The MISA auditorium project? That campaign by a parents group at GHS was almost 10 years in the making.
Quite frankly, I had a hard time coming up with an answer. The IB proposal had me flummoxed. I mean it’s a nice respectable, feel-good program – particularly with parents who were happy that Johnny and Muffy could pick out places like Ghana and Sri Lanka on a map. But was that the best we could do to turn things around?
“The Vision of the Graduate” frequently invoked by Freund and the school board is a document so lofty and ethereal as to be practically meaningless. It’s PR. The superintendent is an educator. The Vision of the Graduate reads like it came out of a Burson-Marsteller printer.
The worst standardized test scores in Greenwich in decades came on Freund’s watch, as disclosed by the Greenwich Time last summer.
Again, to be fair, you cannot measure a superintendent’s success in one year – or even three years. I believe Freund deserved more time. Joshua Starr’s six-year stint in Stamford seemed like a minimum ideal.
But Freund didn’t want to stick around, which is his right. In leaving, however, he and the school board chairman took the opportunity to ignite a couple of political IEDs. It was payback time. It was grudge-settling time. And it left the town reeling. Judging from the reaction, you would have thought we lost Horace Mann.
In his departing shot, Freund wrote that he didn’t think success or failure should be measured by standardized test scores (tell that to the admissions officers at top tier colleges). Nor did he want to be micro-managed by the school board. Fair enough. But in his obtuse and tautological diatribe, I could not discern any measurable goals for himself.

To be sure, I wouldn’t want to work for Marianna Ponns Cohen either (although I think it’s unfair to lump Peter Scherr in with their political sweep).
But how many people in this world have the luxury of picking their bosses? How many unreasonable SOBs have we all had to work for in our careers? What lesson are we teaching our children here? As the lead educator in Greenwich, Freund took on a responsibility far greater than just making sure the school buses ran on time and our children could read street signs and calculate change for a buck.

The overriding question now is: With doctor Freund gone, what next?

In my opinion, you can throw eight darts against the Greenwich phone book and come up with a more competent school board than the one we got.

Of course that will never happen. The danger is that Greenwich will default to its worst instincts. Half of the RTC members never really supported public education – what with 25 percent of its constituency with kids in private schools and plenty of folks (like me) with no children in the schools. The unwritten policy is: Pay some lip service to the public schools but don’t go crazy. The cynical part of me says the RTC will get rid of the insurgents on the board, manage the fallout and get the right folks to pick another superintendent who actually will stay for three years. Sadly, that kind of low expectation has become the norm in Greenwich.

As we are all witness to the rapid deterioration of the town’s infrastructure due to its cheap, pay-as-you-go mantra (oops, I meant fiscally responsible policy), it’s a bit of a shock to see money actually being spent on something which benefits residents. Such was the case a few weeks ago when I saw the construction of a new boat ramp at Greenwich Cove, which is the main access to the water for boaters in the town.

Two years ago, the town replaced the dock at the cove but mistakenly left the pile-ons at the ends, thereby robbing boaters of two additional docking spaces. It’s a nice surprise to see something done right for a change.

The long-awaited pizzeria in the space previously occupied by “Beyond Bread,” the bakery which was an Old Greenwich fixture, finally opened on Sound Beach Avenue Saturday. Several types of pizzas are on the menu, including one that takes only 90 seconds to cook in a 900-degree wood fired Cirigliano Oven from Italy.

Prices are moderate to expensive (considering it’s pizza). The lowest priced pizza goes for $12 while nearby Sound Beach Pizza sells a $7 pizza.

Like many, I worried about the experience of watching a basketball game at a cavernous football stadium. But Reliant turned out to be a pleasant experience. From my vantage point in the Houston Chronicle suite, I did not miss a single play. Only problem was that we were on the Butler side. Actually, the crowd was pro-Butler all night. There were more Kentucky fans – wearing their defeatist blue – than Butler fans. But it seemed like everyone was cheering on cinderella. I shot these videos with my iPhone G4. Never has the UConn fight song sounded more resonant and more beautiful … the videos include the end of the game, the celebratory after-game ceremony and the national anthem. Enjoy!

The driver of this “Smart Car” tried to give new meaning to “off road” by driving along the water’s edge near the Chimes Building at Greenwich Point Sunday morning until the car got stuck in the deep bed of clam shells. It took at least two tow trucks to pull the car out, dragging it through some roadside bushes to put it back on solid pavement. The driver and a friend tried to stop this photographer from taking picture until a police officer reminded them that they were in a “public” park. The incident happened only yards away from a popular shellfishing area of the Point.