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Balance Those ‘No’ Voices

Clinton public schools are schools where great things, big and small, are happening every single day. As educators, we are so busy teaching and caring about our students that we don’t always stop to talk about accomplishments. Here is one to be shared. Joel School has received a special recognition by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). The CSDE released the Next Generation Accountability Report for the 2016-’17 school year. This is an accountability model that moves beyond just test scores and provides a holistic, multi-factor perspective of school performance. In this report, Joel was recognized as a School of Distinction for the second year in a row. Joel was one of only 59 elementary and middle schools that received this distinction for being among the top 10 percent of schools with respect to the accountability index for highest performance!

In recent years, Clinton is the only shoreline town with a vocal “No” group that advocates for the failure of every budget, every year, despite the fact that the increases to our education operating budgets are on average the lowest in the shoreline compared with other towns, and our per-pupil costs are also among the lowest. It’s crucial to balance those voices that say “No” to everything every year, with other voices that remind taxpayers every year, “You are investing normal amounts of money in your schools and getting great results.” I encourage your readers to vote with the facts, and support the budgets at the polls on May 9.

Maria Moran

Clinton