Column: Milford Democrats Move the Schools Forward

On Friday, Milford Republican Board of Education candidates submitted a column saying they have listed to the residents and deserve to either be reelected or elected to serve.

Read that post here. Milford GOP BOE Candidates: ‘We’re Listening’

Now, Democratic Town Chairman Richard Smith has crafted a response.

Here it is in its entirety.

The recent letter by the Republican candidates for Board of Education makes one wonder, are they intentionally misleading voters or are they genuinely that confused? Democrats have preferred not to think of the work on the Board of Education as a partisan or political endeavor, it’s about what’s best for the students but since the Republicans seem to want to go that way, let’s get the facts out there, facts that can substantiated by public record.

Republicans held the majority and controlled the Board of Education when they moved us to the now infamous K-2/3-5 configuration. Democrats, now holding a majority, have just completed a move to the much more sensible, K-5. Republicans want to talk about, “stop the shuffle” and “return to neighborhood schools”, yet it was their Party that began the chain of events that led to the closing of Simon Lake School, thus starting “the shuffle”.

In 2010 the Board of Finance, with the current Republican Town Committee Chair Paul Beckwith leading the charge, slashed the Board of Education budget request by $2.2 million dollars. The Republican controlled Board of Alderman, including their current mayoral Candidate Paula Smith, upheld that reduction while the five Democrats, led by then Alderman Ben Blake, attempted to save Simon Lake School and restore the monies the Board of Finance had cut.

Finally, it was the Republican controlled Board of Education that voted to close Simon Lake School and pair the elementary schools into K-2/3-5 sister schools, and “the shuffle” began.

Fast forward to 2014, when the Board of Education voted on the reconfiguration plan, and I recall Republican Board of Education members, led by its Minority Leader, trying to close yet another elementary school! Luckily, his motion was thwarted by the six Democrats on the Board.

The current Board of Education, led by the Democrats, has produced budgets with the smallest increases seen in years, while still meeting the needs of the district. Students are succeeding on many levels as evidenced by Advanced Placement scores, graduation rates and admittance into top tier colleges.

Just this past year, two seniors from Jonathan Law High School and one senior from Foran were accepted into the prestigious and highly selective eight year medical program at UCONN.

The Democrats have led the way by instituting the SRO program, Greeters and other security enhancements to make our schools more friendly and safe, improved the technology infrastructure and increased the number of tablets and computers available to students, provided students and teachers with the necessary supports they need to be successful, and more, all while keeping the learning and high achievement of all students in the forefront.

The pattern I have seen from the Republicans over past years is that they want to indiscriminately cut, cut, cut education spending and close more schools. The Democrats on the Board of Education have thwarted those attempts,returning our elementary schools to a K-5 configuration, and stopping “the shuffle” once and for all. Rather than drafting letters of empty campaign promises, Democrats have chosen stay focused on the issues facing our schools and deliver real and measurable results.

Rich Smith