Ninety-nine percent of Connecticut’s teachers are union members, the highest rate in the nation according to a new national study by the Fordham Institute ranking the state’s teachers’ unions as the 17th strongest in the nation. This report by the conservative policy group also notes that every teacher pays $517 in mandatory union fees each […]
Education
Stories about schooling in Connecticut: Pre-Kindergarten through grade 12, higher education, education spending and child welfare.
Posted inEducation
Teacher union names new leader
Melodie Peters, a longtime state senator from the southeastern part of the state, has been named the president of The American Federation of Teachers’ Connecticut Chapter, the state’s second-largest teachers’ union She is a former nurse, and has no background in teaching. AFT-Connecticut also represents health care workers, higher education faculty and municipal employees. AFT […]
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State desegregation efforts move forward
The State Board of Education Wednesday gave the nod to a plan aimed at desegregating Hartford largely black and Hispanic schools. It’s also an effort for the state to comply with a Supreme Court order to end the inequalities caused by this racial isolation. The Mirror provided a detailed explanation of the proposal last week, […]
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Efforts to desegregate, expand school choice a challenge with looming deficits
The Caro family debates which schools to enter their children in for the state’s school choice lottery. The Caro family debates which schools to enter their children in for the state’s school choice lottery. State education officials are proposing to expand opportunities for Hartford children by sending more of them to suburban schools — but […]
Posted inEducation, Health, Politics
Lawsuits challenging Malloy executive orders dismissed
A Superior Court judge has dismissed three lawsuits challenging executive orders Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued last year that allowed certain home care workers and child care providers to unionize. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of child care providers, home care workers and clients. Two were backed by the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, […]
Posted inEducation, Health
“Alarming” levels of obesity in CT kids
About one in three Connecticut kindergartners and third graders are overweight or obese, and about one in seven are obese, according to a study by the state Department of Public Health. The study found disparities by race and income, with 41 percent of black and 43 percent of Hispanic children considered overweight or obese, compared […]
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A lesson in higher education leadership, taught by Austin
Philip E. Austin will finish out the semester teaching at the University of Connecticut while also running the Board of Regents for Higher Education. The course: Educational Leadership and the Administration of Student Affairs in Higher Education. Austin takes over as the interim president of the 100,000-student college system — which does not include UConn […]
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Community college president resigns
Threatened with a vote of no confidence from faculty, the president of Quinebaug Valley Community College has submitted his resignation letter to the Board of Regents for Higher Education. Ross Tomlin, who has been been the president of the 2,500-student college in Killingly for nearly 3 years, also sent a three sentence letter to faculty […]
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Meotti likely to leave state service with no pension
Michael P. Meotti will likely be leaving state service without a pension. Meotti, who announced earlier this month that he will be resigning as the vice president of the Board of Regents for Higher Education after helping out with a “brief transition period,” is approximately five months shy of having worked for the state to […]
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Sending children to live out-of-state: Whose decision is it?
Unconvinced that Connecticut boys who have broken the law are being properly treated when they are sent to live at Glen Mills School in Pennsylvania for rehabilitation, officials at the state’s child welfare agency have decided to stop sending children there. “That’s it, we’re done,” Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz told a […]
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Before tuition and fees increase, minority leader wants public hearing on higher ed fiasco
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr. is asking the legislature’s Higher Education Committee to hold a public hearing on a trio of missteps by leadership at the state’s college system before any tuition or raises move forward. The Connecticut Mirror on Thursday reported that the Board of Regents for Higher Education approved a $130 million […]
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Legislator ‘speechless’ over the size of former college president’s compensation package
The co-chair of the legislature’s higher education committee last week she was “shocked” by the compensation package awarded to the leader of the state’s Board of Regents college system. This week, she said, “I’m speechless.” Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, commenteed Friday after the regents office responded with answers to her long list of questions about compensation. “I’m […]
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ECSU President tells faculty she didn’t get a raise, it was a ‘stipend/salary adjustment’
Eastern Connecticut State University’s President Elsa Nunez sent her faculty and staff an email Tuesday to set the record straight about the $48,000 pay bump the Board of Regents reports she has been receiving since April. She explains that her appointment as the vice president for state universities at the central office while maintaining her […]
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How Kennedy spent his time during his ‘professional development’
The Board of Regents for Higher Education on Wednesday released the daily schedule of Robert A. Kennedy, who spent nearly nine weeks away from the central office this summer. Last week he told reporters he spent six weeks over the summer working remotely — though his contract specified that time be used for professional development […]
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No separation package for Meotti
Michael P. Meotti, the outgoing executive vice president of the state’s college system, will be leaving the system without any perks. “There’s no separation package,” said Colleen Flanagan Johnson, the system’s chief of staff. Meotti — whose looming departure follows a trio of controversies — had no contract with the Board of Regents following his appointment […]