To the Editor:

I am writing to share my concern with the community that the current Charter Revision Commission appears to be rewriting the language that will allow any one political party to hold five of the seven-seat Board of Education.  This change ignores what Newtown voters approved in 2008 and as we have seen after the town attorney allowed five Republicans to be seated in 2013, our school district is paying a very heavy price.

In 2008, at the annual referendum, voters approved what they understood was adding a seventh member to the six-member Board of Education and limiting the maximum seats any one party can hold to four.  Here is the explanatory text in The Newtown Bee prepared in April 2008 by the town registrar to explain to taxpayers what they would be voting for at the upcoming referendum:

“Question 7

“Currently there is a maximum of three members from any party on the six-member Board of Education. This amendment would increase the total number of members to seven, and allow up to four members from any one political party. This vacancy will be filled by the current Board of Education, and the appointee would serve until the November 2009 local election.”

This question was approved by voters overwhelmingly. But in 2013, the town attorney, arguing that the legal language of the change as written in the charter was not clear, allowed one party to seat five members on the BOE.  And today, rather than clarify the language of the charter to what was intended in 2008, the current Charter Revision Commission, dominated by Republicans party members, has drafted language that will formalize that error and which will dramatically alter the future of the Board of Education and the quality of education in Newtown. 

Please get involved before while you still can.  Here is the link to the Commission:  http://www.newtown-ct.gov/Public_Documents/NewtownCT_BComm/LC

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown April 8, 2015