Hoffnagle threatens school closures

WINSTED — According to Board of Education Chairman Susan Hoffnagle, the board will either lay off teachers in January or close schools in March or April if Republican Board of Selectmen candidates, and Democratic candidate Lisa Smith, win the upcoming municipal elections.Hoffnagle made the statement at the candidates’ debate held at The Gilbert School on Thursday, Oct. 20.In late April, Republican Board of Selectmen members Ken Fracasso, Karen Beadle and Glenn Albanesius, along with Smith, voted to approve a school district budget of $18,600,000 for fiscal 2011-12.The budget is $1,358,149 below the state’s set Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR).After several months of meetings with the state between members of both boards, Hoffnagle said the state is ready to take action against the town.“We have been told by the state that they have drafted a complaint against the town,” Hoffnagle said at the debate. “The state will bring the town of Winchester into court to force their obligation to fund the school system. Unfortunately, I don’t know how fast this process will work. Despite this, both [Republican selectman candidate] Marsha Sterling and [Fracasso] said they will fight any state action whatsoever.”Hoffnagle said the Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9, to review the election results.“If we have a Board of Selectmen who all agree to abide by the state law and give the proper funding for education, we can step down,” she said. “If the new Board of Selectmen remains in favor of [not funding the MBR] then we are going to have to decide if we should continue to operate the schools with the potential of closing them either in March or April.”Hoffnagle said that, as an alternative, the school district would make drastic cuts to its teaching staff starting on Jan. 1.She said the district would fire 16 teachers and 12 paraprofessionals in order to operate in the confines of the approved town budget.“We are on the horns of a dilemma,” Hoffnagle said. “The day after the election, we are going to say to ourselves, ‘what in the world are we going to do now?’ We have a whole slate of candidates who are saying that, if they’re elected, they will fund the legally required MBR. We also have another slate of candidates who are saying, ‘hell no, we will never, ever fund the MBR, regardless of what the courts tell us to do.’ ”Hoffnagle said she is worried that even if the state rules in favor of the school district, the ruling would not be made in time to fund the rest of the school year.“If the courts do not come in on a timely fashion, we will close the schools,” she said. “I don’t know what that will mean for Gilbert, but if the school district doesn’t have any money, it will probably mean that we will have no funds for the Gilbert contract.”Hoffnagle then pleaded with the students in the audience to encourage their parents to vote.“Please tell them to vote for the Board of Selectmen candidates who will vote for the budget,” she said.

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