Greenwich Free Press (https://greenwichfreepress.com/tag/sophie-koven/)
The board did not vote on cuts to Transportation (bus routes) that would change school Start Time or changing the GHS House structure to eliminate 5 full time employees, citing the fact that 2 BOE members – Cody Kittle and Wendy Vizzo Walsh – were absent. They did vote to reject pay-to-play sports at GHS. Continue Reading →
“The impact of these cuts is not abstract. Reductions of this scale threaten the educational opportunities we offer our students and are going to jeopardize the longstanding reputation of Greenwich Public Schools.” – BOE chair Karen Hirsh
“I don’t think we have fully done our job. What I observe are mostly political theatrics here.” – Cody Kittle Continue Reading →
The board discussed a pay-to-play scheme for athletes. Cody Kittle said charging a $220 fee per athlete, per sport, based on 2,072 athletes, yielded a savings of $455,600 – or 20% of the GHS Athletics budget. Continue Reading →
“I want to thank everyone on the building committee for all their stellar work for the town. Without these people, we wouldn’t be here today. This team worked tirelessly. They met 119 times at the school at 7:00am over the past 30 months and 10 days. And we didn’t pay them a dime.” – James Waters, Old Greenwich School building committee chair Continue Reading →
The consultant said that overall, the conditions were potential liability issues, and keeping the pool open potentially endangered users and violated safety regulations. His recommendation was to close the pool until the required safety and compliance upgrades are completed. Continue Reading →
Newly elected BOE officers are: Karen Hirsh as Board Chair, Jen Behette as Vice Chair and Laura Kostin as Secretary. Continue Reading →
During public comment GEA president Lil Perrone said she was very disappointed with recent events. “I’m personally tired of hearing about ‘the will of the people.’…At our town hall your actions, words and the decisions you are making are hurting our students and our staff. Staff morale is down. This is part of it. You need to get your house in order and start making decisions that are best. Let our Board of Education do their job. Let our teachers who are educators do their job. People who know nothing about education need to stay in their lane.” Continue Reading →
“The rationale for ratifying this vote is there has been some confusion from the public in the past days. We followed all board procedure and this is the policy of the board. And this is also the legal obligation of the board that this is how we fill the vacancy.” – Sophie Koven Continue Reading →
“I know you have the votes because there’s four of you and three of us, but in a small town, bi-partisan system like us, this is not how it’s supposed to work. This is a level of parliamentarian moves worthy of Mitch McConnell. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.” – Dr. Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony Continue Reading →
“It doesn’t feel right to go and scrap an expensive geothermal system…It feels morally wrong to throw away a geothermal system.” – Board of Education member Kathleen Stowe Continue Reading →