Need a quick pick-me-up at a long meeting at the Connecticut State Department of Education?
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Effective immediately, meetings are now B.Y.O.R. – Bring Your Own Refreshments – given the major cuts that are going to be necessary to balance the state’s budget.
“Given the economic situation, we are not in a situation to provide refreshments at meetings anymore,” Education Commission Dianna Wentzell told educators during a meeting of the Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee Monday.
Members of the panel responded with jokes ranging from the cost of water to the need for coffee to get through the meetings.
It’s unclear whether this trend will spread. The governing board for the University of Connecticut, also facing cuts from the state, also meets this week. That panel typically offers coffee, bottled water with a Husky logo label and light snacks followed by a meal for the trustees after each meeting.
Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.
