Board of Selectmen Appoint Bethel Teen Center Interim Director

At the Jan. 19 Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Knickerbocker informed the Board that plans for the “new direction” of the Teen Center would not be finalized by the time the former director resigned on Jan. 31, 2016. Mr. Knickerbocker made a motion to appoint Claudia Fortunato as the Interim Teen Center Director. She previously served as the Assistant Director. Her salary and hours will be established by the First Selectman.

On the same night at the Youth Commission meeting, Ms. Fortunato presented her formal request for the Teen Center Director’s position to the Youth Commission:

“This is my formal letter of intent describing my desire to act as the transitional Director for Pro Access, Bethel’ s Teen Center upon Hilda Valdespino’ s resignation. I would hope that you would also be comfortable endorsing and supporting me in my effort to be a candidate for consideration for the position once it is posted....Although I’ve physically worked part time logging in an average of 40-60 hours per month I communicate with Hilda almost daily during the mornings, evenings and weekends well beyond the times the center is open. We exchange texts and emails and calls constantly to assure that we are doing everything possible to create good, positive, well attended programs. Sometimes our efforts are wildly successful and sometimes we get a few in attendance.”

The position held by the previous director was a sub-contracted position. The First Selectman told Patch in December that they are working on creating a new job description as the new position may become a town job with a full salary and benefits.

While the letter above states Fortunato worked part-time, 40-60 hours per month, it is not clear how many hours the director worked. In previous meeting minutes, Valdespino stated she needed to cut back her hours due to working another job.

Currently the Teen Center is open 10.5 hours per week, according to meeting minutes.

• Wednesdays 2:30 - 6 p.m.
• Thursdays 6 - 9 p.m.
• Fridays 7 - 11 p.m.

In addition, various activities and events are held each month.

The former director’s salary was listed at $3,517 per month, averaging $42,204 per year. Minutes are not clear as to what the Director and/or Assistant Director’s responsibilities were for the 10.5 hours per week the center is open. The Wednesday night open gym sessions were staffed by a part-time employee at $10 per hour.

According to the annual budget for 2014 - 2015, the Youth Commission received $66,000 of the town’s budget money per year to run the Teen Center. In addition to this annual amount, the Teen Center also receives money from students’ membership fees of $25 per year. The last average members served was 54 members per month. The average participation for activities in December of 2015 was 41 students which averaged four participants per program. Click here to read more.

On Friday, Jan. 29 the Town of Bethel listed a Teen Center Coordinator position on Monster.com, however as of this posting, the position has not yet been listed on the Town of Bethel’s website. According to the job posting, applications for the part-time position are due by Feb. 5, 2016.

The Teen Center is currently run in a temporary space out of the basement of the Town of Bethel’s Municipal Center located at 1 School Street. Plans are being discussed for a new center. The former location of the Bethel Teen Center was demolished due to asbestos.

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