School Board and Town Council meet to discuss common concerns

Leaders say positive outcome will spawn further efforts
to work together
by BERT WILLIAMS, News Editor
Windsor’s school board and town council got together last week
at town hall for a rare joint meeting. The three-and-a-half-hour
Wednesday evening session caused leaders of both groups to think
such get togethers should happen more often, and perhaps should
become regularly scheduled events.
“By far this was the best meeting we’ve had,” said School Board
Trustee Cheryl Scholar. “I think the community was happy to see
their elected officials working hard for them, and I think that now
we’ll be much more likely to schedule them more regularly.”
About 20 citizens attended the meeting, which took the form of
an informal workshop, allowing for a free flow of ideas from
everyone who wished to participate. The meeting’s agenda included
nearly a dozen topics of joint interest.
The future configuration of schools within the Windsor Unified
School District elicited considerable discussion. District
Superintendent Robert Carter and Board President Sandy Dobbins
summarized the issues the board faces in plotting the future course
of a growing district.
“What will the facilities needs by by 2010?” asked Carter. He
said the board is working with a consultant to develop a strategic
plan through 2010 and beyond. “We see the issue of configuration
coming front and center,” he said.
Currently Windsor’s public schools are divided by grade level
with the majority of students beginning kindergarten at Mattie
Washburn Elementary School and progressing through Windsor Creek
Elementary, Brooks Elementary, Windsor Middle School and Windsor
High School. With families often having children in two or more
schools, traffic has become a major issue as parents ferry their
children from place to place both morning and afternoon.
Because of traffic challenges, some members of the town council
have urged that consideration be given to reconfiguring the town’s
elementary schools as neighborhood schools, each offering grades
K-5 for their own neighborhoods. But Dobbins pointed out that many
factors must be considered in reaching the best conclusion. These
include budget stresses, the potential need for an additional
school facility, the possibility of citizens approving a school
bond in the future, the geographical layout of the town, and the
needs and desires of the town’s children and families.
“There are both positive and negative results that you don’t
necessarily expect,” said School Board Trustee Ted Seche of various
reconfiguration scenarios.
“It’s a monumental decision,” said Carter. “We don’t want to
make a decision that’s not going to benefit everybody involved. It
needs to be part of a strategic planning effort.”
Carter, along with Windsor Police Chief Paul Day, described
specific traffic difficulties at the various schools, and possible
solutions at each site.
Another potential joint project that received an extended look
was the use of biodiesel rather than petroleum diesel in the school
district’s fleet of school buses. Councilmember Steve Scott provide
an overview of the advantages of using the vegetable-based fuel –
chief among them being the health of students riding the buses.
“I can’t think of anything more wonderful for our kids,” said
parent volunteer Shannan Johnson. “I’ll look for grants or whatever
it takes to make this happen.”
“It’s a dynamite proposal,” said Windsor community activist Bill
Patterson. “It needs further study, but it’s the right way to
go.”
There was general agreement among council and board members that
the biodiesel proposal was an issue upon which they would work
together in upcoming months.
The two groups also took a long look at issues surrounding the
town’s Shiloh Vision Plan for the southeast part of town. The
72-acre site is expected eventually to include as many as 1,600
homes, and may include a new school.
Complicating the discussion is the fact that the southern edge
of the town, including part of the proposed development, is
positioned within the boundaries of the Mark West School District.
A variety of strategies were discussed for dealing with this
challenge.
In the only noticeably contentious interchanges of the evening,
the school district superintendent and some of the board members
suggested that the school site proposed in the Shiloh Vision Plan
might be misplaced and was too small. The mayor and some members of
the council expressed frustration that members of the school board
and school district staff had not taken the time to participate in
the discussion when the council was initially working on plan for
the Shiloh area.
Windsor Planning Director Peter Chamberlin observed that any
plans involving new school facilities should be made sooner rather
than later, as land prices are on a continual upward spiral, and
suitable parcels will not remain available indefinitely.
In addition to the major topics of discussion, the assembled
group heard reports on projects of mutual interest.
A video produced by Windsor High School students described last
October’s Future Search Conference, which had included members of
both the board and the council. School board member and Future
Search Co-chair Cheryl Scholar provided an update on committee work
that has continued in the wake of the conference.
Carter described plans to irrigate the high school football
field with reclaimed water. Work on the irrigation and drainage
systems is expected to take about six weeks once it begins, and
Carter said the goal is to have the system ready to go when the
irrigation season begins.
After the meeting Scholar, a longtime board member,was
enthusiastic about the outcome. She said that past joint meetings –
a total of perhaps four since the town’s incorporation in 1992 –
“have tended to be tainted with an approach of sort of blaming each
other for problems.” The difference with this meeting, Scholar
said, was that there was a conscious effort to seek opportunities
for future cooperation.
“Once we get in the habit of sharing ideas with each other I
think it will generate more ideas,” Scholar said. “Often public
agencies forget that what they do is really connected. We’ll make
better decisions if we hear each other’s perspectives.”
Windsor Mayor Debora Fudge said she felt the meeting was very
productive. “We discovered some issues that we’ve made progress on
in the last couple of years, and then a couple of issues that we
still need to work on together,” Fudge said.
Dobbins said she appreciated the positive tone of most of the
meeting. “I thought it was long overdue,” she said. “It was working
on the relationship, which hasn’t always been so good in the past.
We came away with a better understanding of the town and their
problems and I think they have a clearer understanding of our
challenges. I think they’re really willing to work with us.”