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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

12/03/08 The Greenwich chapter of Business Networking International, a business referral professional group, has appointed its new leadership team.

PRESS RELEASE:

Charisse Lombardo was named president.

Alexandra Keleman was elected vice president.

Tom O'Shea and Carolina Fernandez were appointed visitor hosts.

Fred Capparelle Jr. will head public relations.

Dean Trombetta was selected as treasurer.

Andy Feldman and Meghan O'Toole will handle membership.

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Reports on new businesses, company relocations, awards, job changes and special appointments. Information can be submitted by e-mailed to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com . Photographs are accepted and encouraged.

12/03/08 25 Full Time School Staff Positions To Be Eliminated, Because Of The Millions Of School Dollars Wasted By Frank Mazza And His Band Of Idiots


Frank Mazza And His Band Of Idiots Burned Through Millions Of Dollars In School Funds And Now School Employees And Students Must Pay The Price.





Staff Writer
Posted: 12/03/2008 02:32:15 AM EST


School employees and parents voiced objections Tuesday to the schools superintendent's decision to target staff positions for reductions under her 2009-10 budget proposal.


Board of Education members this month are vetting the superintendent's budget proposal, which calls for slashing the equivalent of 25.5 staff positions from the public schools to save roughly $1.5 million next school year.


"We're not happy about these cuts," said Greenwich High School PTA co-president Laurie Heiss-Grealy. While parents realize the need for budget reductions amid mounting fiscal woes, "we're not convinced that (staff cuts) are the thing to do.".......


.......cutting two of the district's 11 social worker jobs at the secondary schools will "have an impact on the rest of the staff" by creating larger caseload for the remaining employees, argued Senior Social Worker Mary Ann Murray.


Heiss-Grealy raised similar concerns about reducing guidance staff, particularly at a time when their counseling services, she said, will be increasingly vital for students affected by the financial crisis. ......


.....At $127 million, Sternberg's proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year is just a 1.6 percent increase this year's $125 million, which marked a much larger, 4.6 percent increase from the 2007-08 budget. The reductions are meant to comply with the town finance board's recent mandate that the school officials produce a leaner budget that includes a lower certified-staff-to-student ratio of 1-to-10.2, down from 1-to-10 this year.


......school officials have also proposed a wide range of cuts to programs and services, such as curtailing the purchase of additional Smart Boards at some secondary schools and delaying the next Harris Interactive School Poll, given to parents, students and school staff every two years, until 2011 - instead of 2010.......


Greenwich Time Correction:


The Greenwich schools superintendent's budget proposal for the 2009-10 school year recommends eliminating the equivalent of one full-time guidance position by consolidating some part-time positions. A Dec. 3 article incorrectly stated that three guidance staff positions would be eliminated.
Meet The People Who Caused The Greenwich Board of Education To Call For Slashing 25 School Staff Positions

Hamilton Avenue Buileding Committee Members

Joseph L. Ross
jross@tishman.com

Jay Schondorf
jsamisinc@aol.com

Thomas J. Heagney
heagney@conversent.net

Paul Toretta
torpa@aol.com

Sylvester Pecora
nansea@optonline.net

Michael C. Bodson
MichaelBodson@yahoo.com

Stephen G. Walko
swalko@ibolaw.com

Ex-Officio Members

Deal L. Goss (RTM)
deangoss@optonline.net

Peter J. Crumbine (Selectman)
pcrumbine@greenwichct.org

Dr. Betty Sternberg (Superintendent)
betty_sternberg@greenwich.k12.ct.us

John Vallerie (Public Works)
jvallerie@greenwichct.org

Raymond J. Heimbuch (P&Z)
rheimbuch@cs.com

PTA

Dawn Nethercott
Dbn3793@msn.com

Donna Curtis
donna@terrapin.com

Betsey Frumin (RTM#9)
Betsey@nacca.com

Architect

Joseph J. Aliotta
aliotta.j@shca.com

Roger L. Klein
klein.r@shca.com

Risa Rottenberg
rottenberg.r@shca.com

Project Manager

Richard L. Sitnik
rsitnik@pinnacleone.com

Gerald J. Adam
gadam@pinnacleone.com

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Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

12/03/08 Reader Submitted Comments: Cos Cob School Insider Reports That Ham Ave Kids Might Be Around For A While


The Cos Cob School Insider Says......


"If there’s any doubt the kids are not moving this year, the BOE just delivered brand new lockers to Cos Cob School for the Glenville kids. I suppose they assume these kids have to get comfortable, for the long run."


But The Board Of Education Is Telling Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin Gustafson That ......


Hamilton Avenue School could open Jan. 5


GREENWICH - School officials are moving forward with plans to re-open Hamilton Avenue School early next month, on the assumption that the necessary approvals for occupancy will have been secured by then.


The district will begin conducting environmental testing at the renovated school within the next week, in preparation for students to return to classes there after holiday recess ends Jan. 5, Assistant Superintendent Sue Wallerstein said.....



.....If the certificate doesn't arrive by then, Board of Education Chair Nancy Weissler said board members may have to reconsider the current schedule - though at this point, "we're assuming we will have occupancy by Jan. 5."


Last week, Weissler said the board would consider an April fallback date, if the certificate had not arrived by Dec. 5.


She declined to say whether that option was still in consideration today.


The project, which was initially slated to span 18 months when work began in April 2005, has missed a series of interim deadlines set by the school board ......

.....the bathroom fans will have to meet inspection standards in order for the school to receive the temporary occupancy certificate.


Mazza said he expects to have addressed the bathroom issues by the end of the week.


"Will we have a TCO by Friday? I don't know. Probably not," Mazza said, adding later that the work would almost certainly be done by January.


COMMENT:


Assistant Superintendent Sue Wallerstein And Board of Education Chair Nancy Weissler Are Just As Stupid As They Look If They Think The Town Building Department Can Be Pressured Into Giving A Temporary Certificate Of Occupancy To A School Building That For Over Six Months Has Had Serious Issues With The Air-Balancing System, Which Is Supposed To Distribute An Even Supply Of Air To Different Parts Of The Building.

Just A Little Over A Month Ago, Parents Found Mold In The New 30 Million Dollar Hamilton Avenue School Building.


While Hamilton Avenue School Building Committee Chair Frank Mazza Was Telling The Building Inspector The "It's Green Paint" Lie A Hamilton Avenue Parent Took Pictures And Helped A Greenwich Post Reporter Obtain A Sample Of The Mold To Be Tested.


If Mold Is Found In That 30 Million Dollar School, Sue Wallerstein, Frank Mazza And Chair Nancy Weissler Are Going To Point Their Fingers At The Greenwich Building Department And Say,"It Is Not Our Fault!!! We only Put Small Children In Moldy Hamilton Avenue School, Because The Building Inspector Said The Building Was Safe For Greenwich Kids.


Frank Mazza And His Band Of Idiots Will Be Long Gone And The Only Ones Left To Go After Will Be The Town Building Inspectors Who Approved The Unsafe School With Unbalanced Air Flow The Allowed Mold To Make Hamilton Avenue Kids And Teacher's Sick Once Again.


Hamilton Avenue Staff Members And Greenwich Children Were Exposed To Foul Moldy Air At The Old Hamilton School Building And Also At The Hamilton School Modular.


If Mold Continues To Appear And Grow At The New Renovated Hamilton Avenue School, You Can Almost Bet Your Last Dollar A Hamilton Avenue Staff Member Or Parent Is Going To Sue The Town For Big Bucks And Name The Building Department Officials That Signed Off On The Schools Certificate Of Occupancy.


Worse Yet, Hamilton Avenue Insiders Are Saying That There Are Still Unresolved Problems With The School's Safety Lights.


Once The Greenwich Building Department Signs Off On The Hamilton Avenue's Temporary Certificate Of Occupancy ...... Cell Phone Camera Carring Teachers, Staff Members, Parents, Contruction Workers And Other Disgruntled Contractors Will Be Able To Document Any Unsafe Problems Over Looked By The Town's Building Department.


PLEASE SEE:


10/23/08 Greenwich Time News Links Or Frank Mazza's Screwups Cost Town Employees Their Jobs


10/09/08 In case You Missed It Here Is Frank Mazza Starring On Cablevision News 12


....Mold problems have plagued Hamilton Avenue students for months. Before construction on the new school began, mold damage was found on the old building. Then, the modular classrooms used by students during construction were discovered to have mold issues last spring.



The chairman of the school's building committee says he wasn't aware of this latest test.“Number one, I don't even know how anyone got in there and took samples,” says Building Committee Chairman Frank Mazzo. “…I don't know what they're trying to prove, but at this point we're just leaving it up to the board of education and their hygienists.”


Play The Frank Mazza Video


10/09/08 Frank Mazza Doesn't Know An Ass From A Hole In The Ground. It Wasn't Green Paint It's Green Mold


09/14/08 You Wont Read This At The Greenwich Time, But You Will Read It On The Ham Ave PTA Website, HEY, TONY BYRNE, THE MODULARS ARE LEAKING .....


09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 1



09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 2



09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 3



09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 4



09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 5



09/10/08 INSIDE HAM AVE PICS 6


07/11/08 You Wont See This In The Greenwich Time - Failed Board Of Educaion Gives Our Children Facilities like this - Glenville School Bathroom Pics


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Please send your comments and your Hamilton School news tips, pictures and video to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com


12/03/08 Greenwich Time News Links


E. Pendleton James, assistant for presidential personnel for Ronald Reagan from 1981-83 at his home on Old Church Road.

(Keelin Daly/Greenwich Time photo)



Many stumble out of the starting blocks. Others find themselves running in place as if on a treadmill.



Group pulls plug on Greenwich Avenue arts center project
After almost five years of trying, a local nonprofit group has withdrawn its proposal to establish a downtown arts center in the Havemeyer Building on Greenwich Avenue.


A Stamford woman formerly employed by Saks Fifth Avenue in Greenwich has sued the company over alleged racial discrimination that she claims led to her being fired.



Parents object to school budget slashing
School employees and parents voiced objections Tuesday to the schools superintendent's decision to target staff positions for reductions under her 2009-10 budget proposal.


When a man in a stolen BMW came tearing down Interstate 95 at speeds exceeding 140 mph, Officer Carlos Franco was ready and waiting in his patrol car.



Greenwich Audubon reports soaring hawk numbers
Audubon Greenwich officials have reported a steep rise in the number of broad-winged hawks and other raptors flying overhead as they migrate south for the winter in search of food and warm weather.


Police are investigating a residential burglary reported Monday morning at 244 Davis Ave. Police said the homeowners reported the crime, telling officers that someone had entered their home between midnight and 9 a.


Ready for a Replay: New Canaan routs Weaver to earn final vs. Darien
NEW CANAAN - Lou Marinelli paced around the 50-yard line prior to Tuesday night's CIAC Class MM semifinal game, tapping some players on the back, pulling others aside for a word of encouragement.



WASHINGTON - General Electric Co. said Tuesday it expects fourth-quarter earnings to be near the low end of its guidance and will take a charge of up to $1.





When I was a teenager in Meriden, the baby boom had the city's two high schools, constructed only a decade earlier, bursting at the seams.


Maloney High School was in its original form during my freshman year, and things were pretty tight. Students were doubling up on lockers, and study halls had to be held in the auditorium and cafeteria.
By the time I was a senior, there were two new wings of classrooms, a gorgeous two-floor library, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, new bathrooms and office space and plenty of lockers to go around.


Students and teachers put up with a little extra noise and had some classes relocated within the building during construction, but in less than two years we had a bright, shiny, functional school, big and modern enough for all comers.


The same successful renovation happened across town at Platt High School, a virtual twin of Maloney, at the same time.


I thought of my high school experience as I read reporter Colin Gustafson's latest story on delays in the Hamilton Avenue School renovation that may add even more months to its long-overdue completion.


The word boondoggle is hardly strong enough to describe the Ham Ave. project, a public building disaster that should forever change the way Greenwich handles major construction endeavors.
Now two years late on its original 18-month completion schedule, the recent revelation of ventilation problems in the renovated building could mean that Ham Ave. won't be habitable until April. That's four years after the project began.
In the meantime, students were herded into modular classrooms parked on school grounds and eventually dispersed to other buildings throughout town when mold was discovered in the modulars.


With all those distractions, it was no wonder that scores on their mastery tests tanked a few weeks after the Diaspora.


Everyone involved in the Ham Ave. project should feel some sense of responsibility for putting these poor kids in a situation where they were bound to perform below their potential. This includes the school building committee, the administration, the Board of Education and the project's general contractor.


All have been inept in performing their roles in the school's renovation; collectively the lack of competence is astounding. You'd like to think that one person or group's inadequacies would be made up by the higher-level performance of another person or group. In the case of Ham Ave., you'd be wrong.


Last summer's vacuum of information about the school's readiness and its near-daily unfulfilled deadlines formed an absurd comedy. Further delays into the fall and perhaps to next spring are simply sad and discouraging.


Let's hope, though, that this whole process will be taken as a lesson by the town government and Board of Education.


Processes must be in place, responsible people on the job and accountability absolutely demanded from everyone the next time Greenwich embarks on such a critical project.


Buildings can be completed on time, and disruptions to the stakeholders kept to a minimum. I saw it happen when I was in school. Too bad the kids at Hamilton Avenue haven't been as lucky.


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Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

12/03/08 Reader Submitted Comments: What is up with Greenwich?

Teachers are taking up slots for YMCA child care?
Are they even residents of Greenwich?


To Mr. Editor:

Why does life in Greenwich in remind me of an adult redition of WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE??????

The newspapers report on nothing. The Greenwich Post is a joke, the Greenwich Times is a joke. Who can possibly take any article seriously?

The Greenwich YMCA seems to be the exception to every rule of fairness and dignity because Rebecca Fretty makes half-assed decisions.

Teachers are taking up slots for child care? Are they even residents of Greenwich?

The Mayor of Stamford is going to read poetry in Greenwich. This "OUR TOWN" is now Stamford"s TOWN, as well? Our Greenwich is anybody's Greenwich? Since when? Why is the Mayor of Stamford crossing the border again??? Is there another gorgeous party in the works at the Hyatt???????

Why is our news packed with people who don't live in GREENWICH??????

The Greenwich Board of Ed and many RTM members are incompetent. Whoever voted for these people should be severly flogged..... publically.

I say, let's use that sausage, make sausage whips, and line 'em up. And beat some sense into these stupid screw-ups. If you pack the casings tightly enough....it can definately gcat someone's attention. Or, at least. cause a welt...

Hey Brian, is that you turning the crank on the sausage stuffer? I know that arm.....it's yours!!!!!!

Another day in Greenwich and I'm going to jump off St. Mary's bell tower.....except, when I do, I really will. I won't be writing about it on MY GREENWICH for sympathy and faux-IMPACT.

Though just before I leap, Greenwich Roundup can have the exclusive.

Long day in MY TOWN....that being GREENWICH!!!!!!

And To All A Good night



COMMENT:



WOW, I Am Impressed With How Closely You Follow Every Word And Picture Posted In Greenwich Roundup.



I Almost Felt That I Should Have Posted Links To All Of The References You Made To This Blog and The "Our Greenwich" Blog In Your Email.



First Of All, I Would Like To Say,Please Don't Jump Off St. Mary's bell tower.



Second Of All, Are You Pulling My Leg, Is Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy Comming To Greenwich To Read Poetry?



Lastly, I Must Tell You That The YMCA Did Return My Phone Call, But I Was Away From The Phone. So I Will Later Try And Call The Greenwich YMCA And Ask Them If It Is True That Y Families Could Be Pushed 60 Slots Toward The Bottom Of The Childcare Waiting List.



You Make A Very Good Point That Out Of Town Teachers Could Be Taking Slots That Were Promised To YMCA Families Who Have Been Patiently Waiting For Their Turn To Be At The Top Of The Childcare List.



I Will Ask About This And Report Back To You.



And I Thank You For Being Such A Close And Loyal Reader



Of Greenwich Roundup.



PLEASE SEE:



12/02/08 It Is Hard To Make Sence Out Of The Board Of Education Press Release That Cub Reporter Colin Gustafson Has Reguritated In The Greenwich Time



Non-ADA Compliant YMCA Will Continue To Discriminate Against The Crippled Of Greenwich, But Will Offer Daycare To Greenwich Teachers



.....Shouldn't have Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin Gustsfonson made a few phone calls and asked a few questions before publishing this one sided press release?




Maybe Greenwich Roundup should make a few phone calls for Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin Gustsfonson.




Well lets call up the non-ADA compliant Greenwich YMCA childcare director, Susan Inglese, at (203) 869-3381 and ask her......



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