03/04/08 - First Selectman Peter Tesei promised to address the issue of accountability later on.

Why Can't Greenwich Politicians Hear What
Hamilton Avenue School Parents are Saying ......

When Are The Politicians Going To Listen To Common Sense:

We need to get rid of Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg and her very high paid administrators who have
failed our school children....

"Mr. Tesei, do not allow our children to be kicked to the curb for a third time by having their school family split up by a town that has for generations treated the western end in general, and Chickahominy specifically, as a trailer park and its residents as poor uneducated trailer trash," Laura DiBella, a Hamilton Avenue School parent said to loud applause.

"If it was a structural problem, why wasn't it fixed when we got it," said Sylvester Pecora, chairman of the Chickahominy Neighborhood Association. "Somebody should take responsibility for this fiasco and should be fired. This is the call I'm getting from the community and, you know, I have to agree."

Ham Ave. students to be scattered throughout district
Greenwich Time

By Hoa Nguyen

Hamilton Avenue School students will spend the rest of the year assigned to Old Greenwich, North Street, Glenville, Parkway, Cos Cob and Western Middle schools, officials told a packed audience at the Greenwich High School auditorium last night during an emergency Board of Education meeting.

Pre-kindergarten students will move to Old Greenwich and North Street schools, while kindergarten classes will be at Glenville School.

First-graders and those in a split first and second grade class will move to Parkway School.

Second-graders, third-graders and those in a split third and fourth grade class will attend Cos Cob School, while fourth-graders and fifth-graders will be in the Western Middle School building....

...Also, the Connecticut Mastery Test was to be administered starting today, but must be postponed for Hamilton Avenue School students because of the shutdown, officials said. The state requires the district to administer the CMT before the month is over, said Barbara Beaudin, the state's acting associate commissioner for assessment and accountability. Any postponement beyond March is highly unlikely, she said....

.... Additionally, the mold problems identified at the modular buildings will affect Glenville School. Students and staff had been hoping to move into the structures while waiting for their school to be rebuilt. The Board of Education expects to have an answer for Glenville School on where they will relocate to by March 27, officials said.

ALSO:

School officials scramble to put together relocation plan
Greenwich Time, CT - Mar 3, 2008
Board of Education officials said they are furiously working on a relocation plan for Hamilton Avenue School, with the goal of presenting an overview at ...

Parents protest school construction delays Greenwich Post, CT - Mar 3, 2008 With the modular classrooms closed for at least a week and the prospect of their children being dispersed to other schools, Hamilton Avenue School parents ...

What next for Ham Ave.? Board of Ed tries to keep homerooms ...
Greenwich Time, CT - Mar 3, 2008
By Martin B. Cassidy After closing Hamilton Avenue School for the upcoming week because of mold discovered in the walls of temporary classrooms, ..

03/04/08 Neil Vigdor Of The Stamford Advocate Says, "Some push for super status for Ned Lamont"

Ned Lamont’s backers are looking to bestow a new superlative on the former U.S. Senate nominee.

Some who supported the Greenwich businessman in his upset of Joseph Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary want the party to choose Lamont as a superdelegate for its national convention later this year.

Several liberal Internet blogs are promoting Lamont, who endorsed Barack Obama and worked on the Illinois senator’s victorious Feb. 5 Connecticut primary campaign over Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a superdelegate.

They said it would be poetic justice if Lamont was chosen to be a superdelegate, because Lieberman, a self-described independent Democrat who defeated Lamont in the 2006 general election, has been stripped of the same status for backing the Republican presidential bid of John McCain.

“I think he’d be an excellent choice,” said Aldon Hynes, a former Stamford resident and Lamont supporter who runs the “progressive” blog Orient-Lodge.com.

Superdelegates have gained a lot of attention as Obama and Clinton fight to become the party’s presidential nominee. The distinction usually is reserved for party leaders and elected officials. Superdelegates could help put one of the candidates over the top if the number of pledged delegates is close for the two candidates.

Under the party’s proportional system of awarding pledged delegates, Obama claimed 26 to Clinton’s 22 in Connecticut. The state has 12 superdelegates up for grabs, as well as an “add-on” superdelegate seat that must be filled later this month.

On March 19, Obama and Clinton supporters will gather in each of the state’s five congressional districts to elect delegates. The delegates will then assemble March 26 for a state convention, where they will choose the remaining superdelegate and at-large delegates.

State Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said the superdelegate position would likely go to an elected official.

“It’ll be a Barack Obama person, because they have the majority,” said DiNardo, an unpledged superdelegate.

A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee said there are no rules requiring superdelegates to hold elected office or be a party official.

Lamont said he was flattered that some of his supporters are promoting him to be a superdelegate.

“That’s very nice of them. We worked hard on the Connecticut primary campaign,” Lamont said.

Although Lamont is planning to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, he said he likely will do so as an at-large delegate, not a superdelegate.

“I think that they prefer it to be an elected official,” Lamont said.

Lamont also pointed out that he has been helping the Obama campaign identify prospective delegates.

“It’s a way you reward some activists and fundraisers,” Lamont said.

Hynes, whose wife, Kim, worked as a scheduler for Lamont during his Senate campaign, said Lamont’s selection as a superdelegate would help cement his status as a key player in Democratic politics. Lamont helped bring people to the party and galvanize grassroots liberals, Hynes said.

“I think in many ways it would be a great thing,” Hynes said.

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