As part of his transition plan Gov. Ned Lamont, the Education Committee and the Planning & Development Committee have drafted numerous bills regarding regionalization of our schools.  Although language has been updated to the Governor’s Bill 874 to remove the words “redistricting” and “consolidation” to “sharing” and “collaboration” the bill still imposes deadlines for data collection of all of our districts and does not specify whether the decisions of this Commission on Shared School Services will be subject to a vote by the legislature or will be written into law with no input from those who it will directly affect. All of this is a particular threat to those of us with children in special education. 

I would like to commend The Friends of the Animals for their informative article regarding single-use plastic and Styrofoam containers. The article does a good job of raising awareness about how sea life can be saved by not using plastic bags. One thing that was missing from Ms. Feral’s op-ed was acknowledgement of the impact that a ban on plastic straws would have on people with disabilities.

Transparency is critical for our democracy, and no part of the government should be exempt from sunlight. If our state is going to create a smarter justice system, all of us need numbers on what prosecutors are doing. Prosecutors, known as “state’s attorneys” in Connecticut, are government employees who hold people’s lives in their hands. But in Connecticut, there is very little public information available about prosecutors’ actions.