I was on the interviewing committee...and this has nothing to do with the candidate, it has a lot to do with the process.

I think as leaders, at time point when the flaws came in this particular situation, that we should have stopped the process and started again.

-Comment from Board of Education member Gladys Cooper regarding
flaws in the principal search process, June 2009

I sat on the interviewing committee and my overall impression was that frankly, I felt pressured. I felt that it moved very quickly and it's such a critical position and I had hoped that we would go out again and continue the search. However, this has nothing to do with the candidate, I'm just talking about process.

...the board of education does have the option to interview the finalists candidates, and I really wished we [the board] had this opportunity to interview Mr. Rossi...I know it's impossible to go out again at this time, but I do wish we had more opportunity to interview Mr. Rossi.

-Board of education member Joan Hodge, June 2009

The city's fire training school is one step closer to becoming a regional facility.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has signed legislation allowing state officials to designate the local fire training school on Plumtrees Road as a regional facility. But first, the proposal must be vetted locally.

A public hearing on the proposal would have to be held before the designation could be made -- a new process put into place by the Legislature this year.

[...]

Mayor Mark Boughton said Monday that while he is not opposed to the designation, he wants to hear more details about how the proposal would change the operations of the school.

"I want to understand what the implications are of hosting this kind of facility, particularly the cost associated with it and if there are any concerns residents who live near the school might have," he said.

Currently at the General Assembly, there's a bill on the agenda that will establish a regional fire school in Danbury (HB 5489, LCO 8438). This proposal has strong bi-partisan support from state lawmakers including the Greater Danbury delegation and should be a no-brainer for passage before the end of the legislative session (which ends tomorrow at midnight).

At least the bill was a no-brainer until Mike McLachlan got involved...

Here's the portion of the proposal that our state senator disagrees with (highlighted in bold)...

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2011) (a) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in consultation with the Commission on Fire Prevention and Control and the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, shall approve the establishment of any regional fire school. Any municipality seeking to establish a regional fire school shall hold a public hearing in the municipality where the regional fire school is proposed to be established and, after the public hearing, submit an application to the commissioner. Not later than sixty days after such application, the commissioner, in consultation with the commission and the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, shall approve or deny the application.

In layman's terms, if a municipality seeks to have a regional fire school, they MUST hold a public hearing where the residents who are effected by the school can have a chance to offer their input about the matter.

Sounds reasonable right? Well, not for McLachlan...

Our incompetent state senator wants to add the following outrageous amendment to the bill.

"Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2011) (a) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in consultation with the Commission on Fire Prevention and Control and the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, shall approve the establishment of any regional fire school. Any municipality seeking to establish a regional fire school shall submit an application to the commissioner. Not later than sixty days after such application, the commissioner, in consultation with the commission and the Connecticut State Firefighters Association, shall approve or deny the application."

In other words, McLachlan doesn't want the public to have any input into the matter.

City officials were outraged this week to learn several school board members and school administrators traveled to Arizona -- on the taxpayers' dime -- to interview a job candidate.

"We don't need to go out of state to find qualified candidates to lead our schools," said Mayor Mark Boughton. "This represents a disconnect the (education) board has with our financial situation we have now and going forward into the future."

School Superintendent Sal Pascarella said five people, including himself, took the trip last Thursday to interview one of two finalists for high school principal.

Both candidates previously traveled to the Danbury for the initial stages of the interview process, he said.

Others on the two-day trip, which Pascarella said cost about $3,000, were two high school administrators and education board members Irving Fox and Rachel Austin.

[…]

Boughton said the money spent on the trip is important, but the message it sends is even more of a concern.

"I've said publicly before that I'm proud of the work the district has done to contain costs, but one trip to Arizona undermines all that," he said. "I don't think recruiting from outside the state demonstrates that you are committed to containing costs."

Boughton, who was a social studies teacher at the high school for nearly 14 years before entering politics, said he knows for a fact there were "internal candidates who were discouraged from applying" for the job.

"That's a problem," he said. "I know these individuals and I know they are capable of leading that school."

[…]

Common Council president Joe Cavo said he would like to get more information about the trip, but that sending five people to Arizona seems "ludicrous in this time, given how tight the budgets are.

"For them to take a trip like that is totally unreasonable. ... I'm sure there are other ways they could have acquired that information."

Council minority leader Tom Saadi said if a site inspection is a necessary part of the process, he could see sending one or maybe two officials to Arizona, but not five.

"It's completely unacceptable given the economic straits that we're in," he said. "Especially at a time when we are asking all employees, unions and department heads to look for cost savings. Ultimately, it's the city of Danbury taxpayers that will have to pay this bill."

The school district was harshly criticized by Mayor Mark Boughton and the Common Council this week for spending about $3,000 for five people to travel to Arizona to visit Rossi's school last week.

"That's why we go and make site visits,'' he said. "We do Google searches, check things out, and then go face to face, he said. "We want to get the best people in the position."

[...]

"Because we've had such a high turnover (of leaders) at the high school, it was important to have veteran high school administrators there [at the Arizona visit].

In 10 years, we have had five principals at the high school. I needed to have their (assistant principals') input and their eyes."

Dr. Robert Rossi, principal at Danbury High School for the past two years, has resigned and will return to Phoenix where he worked before coming to Connecticut.

The 53-year-old Rossi sent a letter to school officials over the weekend saying he resigned for "personal reasons," according to Kim Thompson, the district's human resources director and legal counsel to the Board of Education.

Rossi's resignation means that the high school of 3,000 students will face its sixth principal in about eight years.

"It was a very tough decision,'' Rossi said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. "I had tremendous support at the district level and from the school board. But personally, to live in Danbury and have my life on the other side of the world was too hard."

Rossi has family and a home in Arizona, where he has been since he moved from New York at 12 years of age.

• Unwisely spend over 3,000 to fly people over to Arizona to see then Desert Edge High School Principal Rossi in action (at a school that was closed for the summer),


AND


• Passed on hiring local candidates such as long time (and beloved) vice principal Tim Salem for the top job.