Don't Send In The Clowns
The Board Of Education Is Already Here
Quote:
"You have to look at it more broadly," First Selectmann Peter Tesei said. "At the end of the day for any position, or entity, you want the overall population that you serve to have confidence in that organization. Clearly there are elements of the school population that have questions and whose confidence is lacking."
Story:
Three months after some parents called for the firing of administrators responsible for a mold fiasco at Hamilton Avenue School's temporary quarters, Board of Education members are now saying those officials were not to blame.
"So many people were criticized so harshly for that, when it, in fact, turned out not to be their fault or their responsibility," said school board member Susan Ellis, who praised school district leaders for their handling of the fallout....blah....blah....blah....blah....
Four months ago, mold was found growing in the roof overhang, crawl space and inside the walls of the modular classroom occupied by Hamilton Avenue School children. The contamination was so bad that the small children had to be relocated to schools all over town.
At the time, parents told Hoa that they were depending him and other reporters to have the journalistic balls to identify and hold accountable the administrators who allowed the small children to sit in the contaminated modular classrooms for over one year.
The poor children from Hamilton Avenue School had been in the modular classrooms since 2005.
But the incompetent reporter, Hoa Nguyen refused to listen to what the parents who had blown the whistle on the school district's contamination cover up at the modular classrooms.
Months ago, the school board formed a committee designed to help cover their rear ends. This "CYA Committee" and hired Fairfield-based Navigant Consulting to investigate what led to the mold growth and who was responsible. Yet Navigant has failed to interview parents who blew the whistle on the school district's contamination cover up at the modular classrooms.
Navigant's report is in draft format and will not be released until it has been finalized, which is expected to occur within the next couple of weeks. Maybe this week Navigant will ge off their hind ends and go out and talk with the school parents who blew the whistle on the school districts year long cover up of the contaminated modular classrooms.
A Navigant consultant has said at past Board of Education meetings that the design of an unventilated roof overhang allowed moisture to build and mold to grow, yet he fails to say that school board members and administrators that hired his firm also recommended, approved, voted for and paid for the design.
If Navigant Consulting was hired by an independent body they would report that when water is constantly coming through the building envelope, parents are reporting that children are sick and molded ceiling tiles are being replaced school administrators and officials should have been expected to uncover the defects and contamination.
But since Navigant wants to be rehired in the future by the Greenwich School District, they will most likely say, "The people who hired us are not to blame."
The Greenwich School system, and possibly Navigant, will most likely be sued by Hamilton Avenue Parents whose children suffered prolonged exposure to contamination, because of a school district cover up.
The contractor and other outside entities responsible for the modular's design and construction will probably argue that the school district voided any warranties by choosing to hide the festering contamination problem.
So no one is surprised that this is the Greenwich BOE's stand on the modular classroom mold issue is to protect failed administers.
Unfortunately, the BOE has a long history of putting failed administrators, before the children they have promised to protect.
Did the single family home-owners of have any doubt that the Greenwich BOE would deny any accountability for the mold?
Do the taxpayers of Greenwich think the BOE's statement is correct?
Hell NO!!!
They, ultimately, are responsible for that building - they own it, the mold was grown and found on their watch, therefore, they ARE to blame. They knew they had leaks, they sent maintenance people out to check/repair the leaks.
What they did not do was follow up after their so-called repairs to see whether or not there was mold where the leaks had been. They did not get roofing experts in to assist with the repairs - they hoped everything would just continue to fly under the radar.
Only a naive moron would believe that the BOE, the School Superintendents or the other failed School Administrator did not know that there was mold in that building long before the March closure.
They knew,
They all just hoped that they could keep the kids there until the summer break and hope that the new building would be complete, which it probably won't.
Meet Some Of The Stooges Who Are Involved With The Committee That Bungled The Hamilton Avenue School.- Frank Mazza, Committe Chairman
- Slyvestor Pecora, Committee Member
- Joesph L Ross, Committee Member
- Paul Toretta, Committee Member
- Stephen Walko, Committee Member
- Susan O. Wallerstien, Assistant School Superintendent For Business
- Anthony P. Byrne, School Administrator - Maintenance Department
- Richard L. Sitnik, Pinniacle One
Further, Parents are complaining about the maintenance at Glenville and other schools. Over burdened taxpayers want these failed school administrators and officials held accountable.
Unfortunately, First Selectman Peter Tesei said does not have authority over the district or school board.
Mr. Tessei has repeatedly brought residents concerns to school officials and administrators, but the don't listen to the First Selectman.
These failed school leaders don't want accountability.
If Mr. Tessei did have authority over the district or school board he would order a top-to-bottom re-evaluation of the project with action steps crucial to getting the entire Hamilton Avenue School done after years of delays and blown deadlines.
One way to get rid of the phony dates and timetables that are followed up no follow up is to diversify the Hamilton Avenue Building Committee.
Right now the Hamilton Avenue Building Committee is full of school board brown noses who go along to get along. The Unanimously vote on one bad decision after another.
But what if the put someone like Mina Bibeault on the Hamilton Avenue School Building Committee.
Then you would have a Committee member who speak up for the Children of Greenwich.
Ms. Bibeault has said:
- "This is not going away; it may take time but someone will be held accountable."
- "I will make sure that someone is going to be accountable for their actions because they put my kids at risk."
- "The three-year-old modular has had a long history of frequent water leaks and moisture issues dating back to well before students and staff moved out in March that were not thoroughly investigated."
- "If the leaks had been properly addressed, the problems would have been uncovered months earlier."
- "School officials made temporary repairs to the leaks for months and failed to investigate the possibility of a larger problem until March because they were counting on the new Hamilton Avenue School being completed this fall, and having the summer to make repairs at the modular."
- "Don't tell me you didn't know."
- "You overlooked it. You put all your eggs in one basket. You were banking on the new building to be done. I get it. But don't you dare tell me that you didn't know."
- "From a due diligence perspective, we feel comfortable with those reports"From a due diligence perspective, we feel comfortable with those reports."
- "We feel comfortable with what those reports have indicated."
- "School district administrators should be exonerated from blame in this case."
- "It's very easy to look backwards and say people should have focused in on that particular aspect."
- "It's not our fault. It was the way the building was put together, the plans were not specific."
- "There was not the expectation that the problems could have been anticipated."
- "The findings have all pointed to design and construction issues."
- "So many people were criticized so harshly for that, when it, in fact, turned out not to be their fault or their responsibility,"
If school board members voted for a "flawed design they should fire the high paid persons that gave them the flawed design in the first place.
Naive School Board Chairman Nancy Wessler is also living in Disneyland when she says "From a due diligence perspective, we feel comfortable with those reports and we feel comfortable with what those reports have indicated."
How can Nancy Wessler be comfortable with failed administrators like Susan Wallerstien who and Anthony Byrne who approved and reccomended "Flawed Designs" and urged the school board to use tax dollars to pay for the "flawed designs".
School officials like Anthony Byrne falsely claim they investigated and addressed all water leaks and other problems that were brought to their attention, and nothing about what they saw would have indicated a more serious mold problem was brewing.
Anthony Byrne is not playing with a full deck, teachers had buckets collecting water for days on end in these trailers, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that these conditions were ripe for mold development.
Anthony Byrne's men had replaced molded ceiling tiles almost a year previous to the contaminated modular classrooms being shut down.
Anthony Byrne knew how bad things were in March. That's why he ordered his staff to put on space suits and throw away the evidence the day the contaminated modular classrooms were closed down.
Hamilton Avenue School children were exposed to high levels of mold because Anthony Byrne was negligent by not immediately fixing the problems.
School board members said their consultants have corroborated this explanation.
Basically, the Hamilton Avenue Building Committee has had to gut all of it's self imposed deadlines time and time again.
Now the struggling project has been unable to legally qualify for a temporary certificate of occupancy.
It's the latest blow to the Hamilton Avenue School project that has failed to meet virtually every single deadline since plans were approved years ago.
Insiders say that there are over a dozen "essential items" that must be cured before the Greenwich Building Department and Fire Department can sigh off on letting the small children enter Hamilton Avenue School.
Hamilton Avenue Building Committee Bunglers Are Pressuring The Greenwich Building Department To Illegally Issue A Temporary Certificate Of Occupancy For Hamilton Avenue School.
The Greenwich Building Department And The Greenwich Fire Department had Better Cross All The T's And Dot All The I's, Because Hamilton Avenue Parents Now Have Lawyers.
Parents Will Be More Than Willing To Use Cell Phones To Take Pictures Of Any Unsafe Conditions Or Incomplete Construction.
The Greenwich Citizen, The Greenwich Post And The Greenwich Time Might Be Afraid To Expose Incompetent Government Officials Who Would Jeopardize The Health And Safety Of Small Innocent Children In Order Not To Have Another Construction Timetable Delay.
But Greenwich Roundup Will Fearlessly Expose Any Illegally Issued CO And All Unsafe Building Hazards For The Late And Over Budget Fiasco Know As Hamilton Avenue School.
Please also read more dispatches from the Greenwich Time Reporter who is embedded deep inside the BOE's rear end.
Ham Ave., Glenville await plan for next year
By Hoa Nguyen Staff Writer
06/19/2008 - Western Greenwich parents anxious about where their children will start school in August found no comfort at last night's Board of Education meeting. Because of lingering construction uncertainty,
Hamilton Ave. gets the once-over
By Hoa Nguyen Staff Writer
06/16/2008 - Frank Mazza needs no reminder that parents are expecting the new Hamilton Avenue School to open on Aug. 27. "We're well aware of that," said Mazza, the head of the building committee who has been...
Greenwich classrooms test positive for mold
By Hoa Nguyen Staff Writer
06/15/2008 - GREENWICH - The air in two classrooms at the modular building once used by Hamilton Avenue School shows active mold growth, according to a report released by the Board of Education.
Why doesn't Hoa Nguyen write a story like this?
BOE Incompetance
07/01/08 The Hamilton Avenue School renovation is an absolute and total mess. Parents and taxpayers are demanding that the BOE put an end to failed, undeliverable promises and an utter lack of accountability.
The Hamilton Avenue Building Committee has mismanaged the job on a monumental level and vastly compounded the offence to the children and parents who had to leave Hamilton Avenue School three years ago.
Every pronouncement from the committee has been repeatedly calculated to keep the single family home-owners from knowing was badly off track.
And badly off track it is. Three years later Glenville and Hamilton Avenue parents don't know where their children will be attending school in September.
This Hamilton Avenue School boondoggle ......
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