NEW FAIRFIELD TOWN HALL

2011-12-06T17:10:00.001-08:00

NEWSTIMES ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW ... BUT THE REAL STORY HAS YET TO BE EXPOSED!

2011-11-30T05:48:00.001-08:00

CITIZEN OPINION

"... most of New Fairfield knew more about this in October than is reported here!"

New Fairfield official suspended, investigated
John Pirro, Staff Writer ... he wrote this?
Updated 10:49 p.m., Tuesday, November 29, 2011

NEW FAIRFIELD [THE BEST GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY]] -- First Selectman John Hodge said Tuesday he suspended buildings and grounds director Steven Merullo in October, three months after asking State Police to investigate the "possible" disappearance of money from an undisclosed town department. [NOW DID MR. MERULLO DO "IT" OR DID MR. MERULLO GET CAUGHT DOING SOMETHING ELSE ... A HINT IS IN THE FOLLOWING TWO SENTENCES.]

But he refused to directly link the decision to place Merullo on paid suspension to the missing funds.

Merullo, 49, was placed on administrative leave effective Oct. 27, but Hodge declined to say why he had been suspended, calling it "a personnel matter."

In a letter dated Nov. 10, obtained by The News-Times, Hodge told Merullo the town "would be conducting its own investigation of your activities, which may result in charges of serious misconduct." [nothing like real investigated letter opening]

Hodge also directed Merullo to cooperate with the investigation and said failure to do so "could lead to disciplinary action up to an including termination of your employment."

Telephone calls to Merullo's home weren't returned Tuesday evening. [OF COURSE HE HAS CALLER ID!]

Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance confirmed that the department's Major Crime Squad had been asked to investigate the possible theft of money from the town. [HERE'S MY QUESTION WHERE WAS THE MAJOR CRIME UNIT WHEN COELHO HIT THE JACK POT? ... CT STATE POLICE ARE TURNING OVER THE STONES HOPING SOMETHING WILL CRAWL OUT ... BUT ARE THEY THE RIGHT STONES ... OR PERHAPS AN ILLUSION OR MISS DIRECTION? TIME WILL TELL!]

Hodge said he asked for the inquiry in July [IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ELECTION CYCLE], but Vance was unable to say Tuesday night whether a criminal investigation had been started.

Hodge wouldn't say whether Merullo was a target of the State Police investigation, but he said no money was missing from either Buildings and Grounds accounts or the Parks and Recreation Department, which Merullo headed before he was transferred to the Buildings and Grounds job last year. [appreciation richly deserved?]

He wouldn't say from which department money was reported missing. [WHAT IS THIS REFERRING TO? NEW FAIRFIELD'S CASINO GOVERNMENT!]

While Merullo was in his former post, the Parks and Recreation Department's then-assistant director, Barbara Coelho, was forced to resign after it was discovered she had been embezzling money for years.

Coelho and the Board of Selectmen agreed to a settlement last year under which she would not be prosecuted criminally but had to pay $50,000 restitution to the town, a decision that resulted in extensive criticism of Hodge. [WHO WAS THE JUDGE AND JURY FOR THIS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE?]

Under state law, first-degree larceny involves the theft of $10,000 or more. So what happened with Barbara Coelheo? Further how much was reported missing in the latest CASINO THIEFT in New Fairfield?

To inquire about what else may have fallen between the "cracks" contact John Pirro at jpirro@newstimes.com or 203-731-3342. [WHY DO YOU INSULT US WITH SUCH CRAP REPORTING!]

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Fairfield-official-suspended-investigated-2309511.php#ixzz1fCEB5lzW
http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Ex-Redding-official-charged-with-stealing-from-2286918.php#ixzz1fCThulce
http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Ex-Redding-official-charged-with-stealing-from-2286918.php#ixzz1ejXsEcrq

Former New Fairfield town employee won't be charged

The investigation of former recreation department assistant director Barbara Coelho has been closed, said First Selectman John Hodge, who was informed of the decision in a letter from the Office of the Chief State's Attorney. The Board of... more »

John Pirro, Staff Writer 10 months ago

AMATEUR HOUR IN REDDING CONNECTICUT ... SO WHY NOT IN NEW FAIRFIELD?

http://www.city-data.com/zips/06812.html

UP IS DOWN AND DOWN IS UP ...

2011-11-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

As Home Prices Sink, Home Ownership Heads to New Lows ... AND YOUR TAXES ARE GOING TO RISE ... IF... !!!

Published: Tuesday, 29 Nov 2011 | 11:13 AM ET

By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter

Home prices across the nation are now right back where they were at the beginning of 2003. All that was gained is largely now lost, and the effect on home ownership could continue for decades.

"Consumer attitudes have gotten a lot more negative about long-term commitment," said Standard and Poors' David Blitzer, after reporting home prices through September had fallen a deeper-than-expected 3.9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2010. "They dropped to new lows. This takes them below the point we saw in 2009, where briefly we all thought this thing was about to turn around."

And that's the problem.

Every time we think things are turning around in the housing market, we get hit with some new problem, like last year's so-called "robo-signing" foreclosure paperwork scandal, which managed to stall the cleansing of distress in the market for over a year. Now that foreclosures are ramping up again, prices are coming down again.

All this could push home ownership down to levels not seen at least since before the Census began tracking this data in 1963. Home ownership soared to 70 percent in 2005, but it could fall to 62 percent by 2015, according to the number crunchers at John Burns Real Estate Consulting. They suggest that the effect of foreclosures drops home ownership 5.6 percent, and cyclical trends, like poor consumer confidence, tightening mortgage credit and the weak economy drop it 3 percent. Positive demographic trends would only offset that by 0.7 percent.

"People's memories take a while to fade," says John Burns. "It [also] takes a while to rebuild your balance sheet after a recession, and that's what many people need to do before they buy homes again. Homeowners need to build back up to have a down payment for their next house, and renters will need to save more than before to become homeowners."

Burns believes home ownership will return by 2025 to around 67 percent, as previously foreclosed borrowers return to the housing market, cyclical trends improve and positive demographics start to carry more weight.

One thing Burns doesn't mention, though, is negative equity, or borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

"It's not just negative equity that we often focus on, but it's also insufficient equity. All the people who have those primary loans that are somewhere between 80 and 100 percent LTV (loan-to-value) also basically don't have don't have access to the credit markets," notes Mark Flemming of CoreLogic, which today reported negative equity at 22.1 percent of all homes with a mortgage at the end of the third quarter.

As home prices refuse to stabilize, and in fact continue to fall, negative equity will only increase. The vast majority of the ten plus million people who are underwater are still paying their mortgages, but they are deeply underwater, 30 percent and higher. That will take a long time to correct, and will stagnate much of the market for years to come, as these owners are unable to sell.

Which leaves us to ask, is a 62 percent home ownership rate so bad? It's still far higher than in most European countries. Why is home ownership so intrinsic to the "American Dream?" I'll leave that to you faithful readers to discuss.

AMATEUR HOUR IN REDDING

2011-11-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

A measly $5,000, this guy is an amateur. He should have lived and worked in New Fairfield, would have been given an award by our 1st Selectman.

Ex-Redding official charged with stealing from town

John Pirro, Staff Writer

Updated 09:55 p.m., Thursday, November 24, 2011

Former Redding Highway Superintendent Bruce Sanford, already accused of stealing money from an elderly New York City woman who employed him as a caretaker, was charged Wednesday with embezzling money from the town.

The 59-year-old Sanford surrendered to Brookfield police, who conducted the investigation, after being informed they had obtained a Superior Court warrant charging him with first-degree larceny.

According to information previously made public, Sanford, who resigned abruptly from his Redding town post in July, was being investigated for allegedly ordering highway department employees to work on an antique truck that he was restoring and for using town funds to maintain a lawn tractor he owned.

He was released on a written promise to appear in state Superior Court in Danbury on Dec. 8.

"As the town of Redding was the victim, we asked another police department to conduct the investigation," said Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs, explaining Brookfield's involvement in the case. "The Redding Police Department did assist Brookfield with certain portions of the investigation."

Sanford, who also serves as chief of the Redding Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, has already been charged with two counts of larceny and one count of attempted larceny of a person over 60, accusations that were brought by Redding police in September as a result of information they said came to light during the embezzlement inquiry.

In that case, police said Sanford billed 83-year-old June Kay of New York City about $4,300 for tree-cutting and other maintenance work that was never performed at her summer home on Lee Lane in Redding over the past several years.

Sanford has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and his attorney, Michael Corsello of Norwalk, has accused police of omitting information from the arrest warrant application that would have cast doubt on those allegations.

Sanford is scheduled for a court appearance Monday in that case, and Corsello previously said he will be asking the judge to hold an evidentiary hearing that could lead to dismissal of the charges.

Corsello could not be contacted Wednesday evening.

A search warrant application unsealed by court officials in September alleges that Sanford not only directed highway department subordinates to work on his 1977 Mack truck, he also used town funds to purchase parts for the vehicle's restoration and for maintenance of his Club Cadet lawn tractor.

A partial inventory of purchases included in that document showed at least $5,000 had been spent on the truck, but investigators said at the time it was written that a final total hadn't yet been determined.

Under state law, first-degree larceny involves the theft of $10,000 or more.

Contact John Pirro at jpirro@newstimes.com or 203-731-3342.
Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Ex-Redding-official-charged-with-stealing-from-2286918.php#ixzz1ejXsEcrq

CORONATION SCHEDULED ....

2011-10-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

MONEY TALKS AND TALKS AND TALKS!!!

2011-10-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

AND THE ORDER ... NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY, AND DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

WHY AND WHAT ARE THE LONG-TERM ISSUES?

2011-10-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Towns can consider buying Candlewood Lake

Robert Miller, Staff Writer

Updated 10:35 p.m., Thursday, October 20, 2011

WOW! A MILLION QUESTIONS FLOOD THE MIND! INTERESTING IS THE FIRST THOUGHT. FIVE TOWNS TAKING ON THE STEWARDSHIP OF A NATURAL RESOURCE. BREATH-TAKING IS THE SECOND THOUGHT. COULD A REGIONAL GOVERNMENT BE FAR BEHIND? THE AMALGAMATION OF FIVE TOWNS INTO A "QUASI-GOVERNMENT" OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE. COULD THIS BECOME A BETTER BASS FISHING DESTINATION FOR NEW ENGLAND? THINK OF THE TAX GENERATION POSSIBILITIES! DOES THIS MEAN LOWER TAXES FOR THE REGION? HOW WOULD THIS NEW ORGANIZATION RULE THE REGION ... BY POPULATION REPRESENTATION WHICH IS ONLY FAIR. DANBURY AND NEW MILFORD OF COURSE WOULD HAVE THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTING POWER IN THE SCENARIO OR PERHAPS BY ACREAGE OF LAKE IN EACH TOWN IN WHICH CASE NEW FAIRFIELD BECOMES TOP DOG WITH MAJORITY RULE. BUT LET'S NOT GET AHEAD OF OUR SELF ... PERHAPS THERE IS A BETTER WAY AS THE FLOOD OF QUESTIONS RECEDE ITS DECEMBER AND THE DRAW-DOWN IS IN FULL SWING REVEALING THE MUD, MUCK AND MISERY OF THE STEWARDSHIP. WE MUST WAIT UNTIL SPRING THAW TO CONTINUE.

Towns bordering Candlewood Lake will begin talks about buying the lake. Photo: ST, File Photo/ David W.arple / The News-Times File Photo

BROOKFIELD -- Built more than 80 years ago to produce electricity, Candlewood Lake may become a publicly owned lake managed primarily for recreation and the environment.

The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials on Thursday authorized its executive director, Jon Chew, to set up meetings to discuss purchasing the lake from its current owner, FirstLight Power Resources. Candlewood Lake, at 5,420 acres, is the largest inland body of water in the state.

The council met Thursday at Brookfield Town Hall.

New Fairfield First Selectman John Hodge, chairman of the council and a member of Candlewood Lake Authority, told the council that FirstLight officials raised the purchase issue during discussions FirstLight between and the authority this week.

"They're very agreeable to selling it off," Hodge said

The buyers and owners would be the five towns that border the lake -- Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford and Sherman. Hodge estimated the lake might cost $10 million, based on FirstLight's estimates of its worth.

Hodge said ownership would allow the towns to control what he called "a jewel of the region."

Charles Burnham, spokesman for FirstLight, said Thursday that FirstLight mentioned the sale to town leaders as something they might find advantageous.

"We welcome the discussion of this option," Burnham said.

Hodge said Thursday the authority and area town leaders want to manage the lake to increase its value to western Connecticut.

"As the lake goes, so goes the region," Hodge said.

Hodge said FirstLight, as a company interested in increasing it profits, has less interest in the lake as a center of recreation.

"FirstLight is there to make money," he said.

Hodge said, the towns and Candlewood Lake Authority would like the annual drawdown of the lake to last a full 60 days or longer. The drawdown lowers the lake by several feet every year to kill the Eurasian watermilfoil growing near its shoreline.

"In an ideal world, the drawdown would begin the first week of December and last for 60 days or so," he said. "But FirstLight has told us one of the most profitable times to make electricity is near Christmas."

Burnham pointed out that FirstLight agreed this spring not to pump water into the lake to reduce the chance of zebra mussels getting into the lake. That meant the company wasn't generating power at its Rocky River hydroelectric plant in New Milford.

"It's been difficult to make it profitable," Burnham said.

Hodge said Thursday it might take five years to discuss all the issues surrounding a purchase and reach a deal with the utility.

The towns will have to decide whether they would continue to generate power at the Rocky River plant or simply use it to raise or lower the lake, he said.

"But let's see where it leads," Hodge said.

More Information

A Candlewood Lake timeline 1926: Connecticut Light and Power Co. begins work on creating Candlewood Lake. 1928: The lake is filled with water pumped up from the Housatonic River via the Rocky River hydroelectric plant in New Milford. 1999: As electric utility deregulation begins in Connecticut, CL&P and area towns sign an agreement to guarantee the lake's future existence. 2006: Northeast Utilities, the parent company of CL&P, sells its five hydroelectric plants on the Housatonic River in Connecticut and one in Massachusetts to Energy Capital Partners for $1.34 billion. Energy Capital Partners sets up FirstLight Power Resources to manage its operations here. 2008: Energy Capital Partners sell FirstLight to the multi-national Suez Energy North America for a reported $1.9 billion. 2011: Towns begin discussing possible purchase of the lake from FirstLight.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Towns-can-consider-buying-Candlewood-Lake-2228417.php#ixzz1bQ9q1Uiz

Contact Robert Miller

at bmiller@newstimes.com

or at 203-731-3345.

USE IT OR LOSE IT ... HOW FAR BEHIND THE CURVE ARE WE?

2011-10-19T06:40:00.000-07:00

Digital textbooks open a new chapter

By Gary Eason

South Korea's classrooms will be switched to digital textbooks over the next four years

Knowledge economy

South Korea, one of the world's highest-rated education systems, aims to consolidate its position by digitising its entire curriculum.

By 2015, it wants to be able to deliver all its curriculum materials in a digital form through computers. The information that would once have been in paper textbooks will be delivered on screen.

South Korea's Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee, said that his department was preparing a promotion strategy for "Smart Education", focusing on customised learning and teaching.

The project, launched during the summer, will involve wireless networks in all schools to allow students to learn "whenever and wherever", as well as an education information system that can run in a variety of devices including PCs, laptops, tablets and internet-connected TVs.

He said the government would support an open content market containing a variety of learning materials, aimed at keeping up quality while keeping down costs.

"Smart Education will change how we perceive textbooks," said Mr Lee.

"The transfer from the traditional paper textbooks to digital textbooks will allow students to leave behind their heavy backpacks and explore the world beyond the classroom."

Tech-friendly teenagers

The intended benefits include extending the choice of subjects for students in rural areas who previously have lacked specialist teachers and to make it easier for pupils to study from home.

South Korea's teenagers should be particularly receptive to such educational technology.

SOUTH KOREA

South Korea is second in global rankings for reading, fourth for maths and fifth for science
Family spending on education is the highest in the world, as a proportion of household income
It has been among the most improved education systems in the world. In 1945, 78% of the population were illiterate. It now outperforms all European countries and the US at reading
In the 1980s, South Korea banned private tutoring
This year it introduced a ban on corporal punishment

An Organisation for Economic Co-ordination and Development (OECD) international assessment found that 15-year-olds in South Korea were the most competent users of digital technologies in a survey of 16 developed countries.

They were best at evaluating information on the internet, assessing its credibility and navigating web pages.

South Korea's pre-eminence has not come about by chance.

Unesco has documented the way that South Korea has carefully controlled the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education.

The government has understood the importance of having formal standards, so that systems can work with each other and quality can be assured.

The United States, alarmed by its relative international educational decline, is now also increasing the resources it devotes to digital learning.

But its move appears to be an acknowledgement of a lack of joined-up thinking in the past.

President Barack Obama's "Digital Promise", announced last month, involves a new national centre to advance technologies that can supposedly transform teaching and learning.

The remit is "to determine quickly what is working and what is not, and transform today's fragmented learning technology market, paving the way for the widespread use of learning technologies that deliver the best results for students, parents, and teachers".

Teaching gap

"With more than 14,000 school districts, and an outdated procurement system, it's difficult for entrepreneurs to break into the market, and it's also tough to prove that their products can deliver meaningful results," the White House said.

DIGITAL CLASSROOMS

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is giving 6.8 million free laptops to school pupils
Uruguay plans to be the first country where all school pupils are given their own laptop
Apple says 600 US school districts are switching to digital textbooks on iPads
Amazon has launched a rental service in the US for digital textbooks for students

Given the way education in the US is so highly devolved there are bound to be continuing questions over how much the initiative can achieve.

Another question is whether technology in the classroom is what really makes a difference.

A study by the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University found that digital technology in the classroom might help to engage pupils in their learning and could save schools money.

But the Achilles' heel - commonplace with educational technology - was the teachers. They felt they needed far greater training in how to integrate the resources into their lesson plans.

"The sad truth is that students can learn just as badly with a class full of computers, interactive whiteboards and mobile technology as they can with wooden desks and a chalkboard," said science and ICT teacher David Weston, founder of the consultancy Informed Education.

There might be enormous potential for software or gadgets to engage and challenge students in new and imaginative ways.

"But unless there is a focus on developing the teaching expertise to support this then you run the risk of wasting time, money and opportunity," he said.

And it may be that technology is seen as a way to achieve cost savings by - to put it crudely - replacing teachers with robots.

Digital tutor

Setting out its Digital Promise ambitions, the White House said: "For years, researchers have been working on developing educational software that is as effective as a personal tutor."

Digital Promise has been launched by US President Obama to keep up with global competitors

Preliminary results from a US military "digital tutor" project suggested the time needed to become an expert in information technology could be reduced from years to months, said the White House.

"Achieving similar results in subjects such as math would transform K-12 [primary] education." It certainly would.

And although children tend to be quicker on the uptake than their teachers where anything with a screen is involved, this cannot be taken for granted.

The OECD's study of the technology-friendliness of 15-year-olds highlighted crucial differences between printed and digital texts, with their non-linear navigation.

"Individuals who develop the skills needed to use these texts efficiently and effectively will be at an increasing advantage in accessing higher education, finding and succeeding in a well-paid job, and participating fully in society."

So policy makers must guard against creating a new "digital divide" between those who could and who could not use these new technologies, it warned.

Big Brother?

But is there a bigger, darker concern about such a centralised digital curriculum? If you put all your educational eggs in one digital basket you might hatch a monster.

An unscrupulous government could relish the fact that everything a child learns is controllable through one, easily manipulated, digital portal.

Do we trust the written word in digital books in the same way as the traditional printed editions?

Such fears have been examined in the novel, The Book, by M Clifford. The US author presents a dystopian civilization in which all information is accessed through an e-reader. The people discover that the digital content has been subtly altered by a corrupt government.

"There is something about paper that commands trust," Mr Clifford said. "And reading is very personal. A bonfire of books used to make us cringe because it represented the destruction of that trustworthy bond."

In an increasingly paperless society, we can trust the technology, but questions need to be raised when governments are involved, he says.

"The scare for me was always the subtlety. The delicate manipulation, one word at a time, to alter someone's perception of the truth.

"Not only is there a fear of changing historical record, but of tailoring someone's perspective on the world. If you think that what you are reading is authentic, then your guard is lowered and you accept it as reality."

He debunks his own dark scenario - but has doubts. "As we've seen, the world is becoming more interconnected on an individual level and so it is unlikely that factual information could be so widely altered. We are probably safe.

"But the fact that it could happen without anyone knowing is the real nail-biter."

ONE-TO-ONE ... WRAPPED IN AN END-TO-END SOLUTION OF INDIVIDUAL STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

2011-10-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

One-to-one computing programs only as effective as their teachers

Experts say 1-to-1 computing research needs to focus more on classroom practices—and less on equipment

By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor
Read more by Meris Stansbury

Studies show that 1:1 success depends more on teachers than on the equipment itself.

A compilation of four new studies of one-to-one computing projects in K-12 schools identifies several factors that are key to the projects’ success, including adequate planning, stakeholder buy-in, and strong school or district leadership. Not surprisingly, the researchers say the most important factor of all is the teaching practices of instructors—suggesting school laptop programs are only as effective as the teachers who apply them.

The studies were published in January by theJournal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, a peer-reviewed online journal from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.

Despite growing interest in school 1-to-1 computing programs, “little published research has focused on teaching and learning in these intensive computing environments,” say editors Damian Bebell, an assistant research professor at BC’s education school, and Laura O’Dwyer, an assistant professor of education.

According to Bebell and O’Dwyer, a big mistake that both researchers and educators make in talking about 1-to-1 computing programs is assuming that by adding computers to the classroom, nothing else has to change.

One-to-one computing “refers to the level at which access to technology is available to students and teachers; by definition, it says nothing about actual educational practices,” say the editors.

The studies they present are intended to shed more light on how 1-to-1 programs influence, and integrate with, teaching practices.

The studies found improvements in student engagement and modest increases in student achievement among classes using laptops effectively. But results varied widely among the various programs.

For example, in a study of laptop programs in five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts, Bebell and Rachel Kay, a doctoral candidate in the Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation program at BC’s Lynch School of Education, found that teaching and learning practices changed when students and teachers were given laptops, wireless learning environments, and other ed-tech resources.

Bebell and Kay found that while the implementation and outcomes varied across all five schools and across the three program years, access to 1-to-1 computing led to measurable changes in teacher practices, student engagement and achievement, and students’ research skills. Specifically, seventh graders in the second year of the program showed statistically significant gains on state test scores in English and language arts after controlling for prior achievement.

But one school struggled with laptop implementation so much that students weren’t using technology any more frequently by the third year of the program than were students in non-laptop classes.

It’s “impossible to overstate the power of individual teachers in the success or failure of 1-to-1 computing,” Bebell and Kay write. “Teachers nearly always control how and when students access and use [the] technology during the school day. In addition, teachers must make massive investments in time and effort to adapt their teaching materials and practices to make the 1-to-1 environment effective and relevant.”

Similarly, a study of laptop use in 21 high-need Texas middle schools noted that “teacher buy-in … is critically important, because students’ school experiences with [the] technology are largely dictated by their teachers.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 Next

10 Responses to One-to-one computing programs only as effective as their teachers

dmaas327
February 16, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Yes, we reached this conclusion as well. As such, LPS has not engaged in a 1:1 project, but rather an Inspired Writing project. Our 1:1 laptop classrooms are in language arts enabling us to focus on real results, effective training and transformative pedagogy. Seehttp://tinyurl.com/y888dvx for a summary of our achievement results in year one of our pilot project.
http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/DISTRICTINFORMATION/Technology/tabid/238/Default.aspxfor complete details.
-Dan Maas, CIO Littleton Public Schools
dmaas327
February 16, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Yes, we reached this conclusion as well. As such, LPS has not engaged in a 1:1 project, but rather an Inspired Writing project. Our 1:1 laptop classrooms are in language arts enabling us to focus on real results, effective training and transformative pedagogy. Seehttp://tinyurl.com/y888dvx for a summary of our achievement results in year one of our pilot project.
http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/DISTRICTINFORMATION/Technology/tabid/238/Default.aspxfor complete details.
-Dan Maas, CIO Littleton Public Schools
csidell
February 17, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I am trying to initiate a 1:1 program at my school. Any suggestions on where to go to find ideas to inspire the less tech sav-vy teacher?
csidell
February 17, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I am trying to initiate a 1:1 program at my school. Any suggestions on where to go to find ideas to inspire the less tech sav-vy teacher?
donhamj
February 19, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Consider engaging the school librarian to co-teach with technology- anxious teachers. Also look to this person to contribute ideas for integrating technology across all curricular areas. See for example:
https://sites.google.com/a/vmbulldogs.com/van-meter-secondary-library-voice/
donhamj
February 19, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Consider engaging the school librarian to co-teach with technology- anxious teachers. Also look to this person to contribute ideas for integrating technology across all curricular areas. See for example:
https://sites.google.com/a/vmbulldogs.com/van-meter-secondary-library-voice/
jborgen
February 28, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Check out a successful 1:1 program in Arkansas where teachers are required to embark on 40+ hrs of PD relating to PBL.http://www.portical.org/tv/systemic-improvement-using-netbooks/78.htm
jborgen
February 28, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Check out a successful 1:1 program in Arkansas where teachers are required to embark on 40+ hrs of PD relating to PBL.http://www.portical.org/tv/systemic-improvement-using-netbooks/78.htm
cathy_wolinsky887
March 8, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Great teacher professional development available athttp://k12onlineconference.org/ for free. Follow presenters online for even more.
cathy_wolinsky887
March 8, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Great teacher professional development available athttp://k12onlineconference.org/ for free. Follow presenters online for even more.

THE THEME SONG OF A POLITICAL PARTY ... IF THE SHOE FITS

2011-07-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dead Horse Political Theory

If you don't understand this theory, you haven't lived long enough.

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course....

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

POLITICAL CUL-DE-SAC

2011-07-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

NEW FAIRFIELD HAS FINAL ARRIVED AT THE POLITICAL CUL-DE-SAC ... WITH A NEW PREMIUM DURING THIS ELECTION CYCLE THE CLOTHESPIN ...

OUR STEP BY STEP DRAWING TUTORIALS FOR KIDS

CLOTHESPIN CRAFTS FOR KIDS : Ideas for Arts & Crafts Activities & Instructions for Making Cool Projects with Recycled Clothes Pins for Children, Teens, and Preschoolers

Recent Arts and Crafts Projects for Kids

Home > Arts and Crafts Projects for Kids > Clothespin Crafts for Kids

Below you will find many arts and crafts projects for kids made with recycled clothespins. You would be suprised at how many cool crafts activities there are for children to make with clothespins such as jewelry, cars, creatures, people, and other fun crafts.

Making Clothespin Dolls
There are all sorts of ways to dress clothespins up to make wonderful dolls. For the one shown in the above picture, use the clothespins with flat sides—they give more surface for the head and face. Mark in the face with ink or colored pencil. Glue some tiny bits of yarn on top for hair. For the doll's dress, fold a paper cupcake wrappers in 4. Cut a small hole at the center, just large enough to go over the head, and slash it, as shown in Figure a, for the sleeves and skirt. Use a piece of ribbon for a sash—to hold the dress in place—and tie a tiny piece at each wrist.The doll can be dressed in much the same way by using a circle of crepe paper instead of the paper cupcake wrappers. Fold and cut the crepe paper as directed above, and stretch the crepe paper around the bottom of the dress to make it ruffle and stand out. To make the dolls stand up, bend a narrow strip of cardboard, as shown in Figure b, to provide a sturdy base.
How to Make Miniature Barrels with Clothespins

You can use wooden clothespins or platic clothespins...however the wooden clothespins are the ones that make the barrel look real.To make this craft, find a nut-sized can and some clothespins. Firstly, remove the springs from the clothespins by holding it in your hands (image a) and just twist apart. You will be using one half of a clothespin for each wooden stick you see around the can in the final picture above. Place all of the clothespins around the can (the outside of the clothespin is facing outwards) and hold it in place with 2 rubber bands...fitting one in each groove. Then when all the clothespins are covering the can, then wrap copper wire around the clothespins...again inside the grooves. Twist the wires together to hold them in place. You would use pliers to do this...you might need Mom or Dad to help you with this.

Make a Cute Giraffe with Clothespin Legs

This is a great craft for Preschoolers, Kindergarteners, and Children in the Earlier grades. Firstly, print out either acolor giraffe or black and white giraffe diagram. Then cut out the giraffe on the black outline (picture a). If you printed out a black and white pattern, then you might want to color it at this time. Then grab the giraffe's neck and lightly bend it forwards and backwards like you would a paper fan (it is called an accordion fold). Cut a piece of yarn or string and glue or tape it to the back of the giraffe as a tail. Then lastly, take 2 clothespins and attach them to the bottom of your giraffe. You now have a standing giraffe. A fun thing to do is to write a message on the folds of the neck...then when you pull the neck upwards, you can see the message. When you push the neck down, you no longer see the message any more.

Clothespin Camels

To make these clothespin camels, just print out either a black and white diagram or a color diagram and then cut it out and hook on 2 clothespins for legs.

Clothespin Donkeys or Mules

To make these donkeys just print out either a black and white or color pattern and then cut him out and hook on 2 clothespins for legs.

A WHIFF OF OTHER PROBLEMS ... HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

2011-07-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

July 11, 2011

A Small City’s Depleted Pension Fund Rattles Rhode Island

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and ABBY GOODNOUGH

The small city of Central Falls, R.I., appears to be headed for a rare municipal bankruptcy filing, and state officials are rushing to keep its woes from overwhelming the struggling state.

The impoverished city, operating under a receiver for a year, has promised $80 million worth of retirement benefits to 214 police officers and firefighters, far more than it can afford. Those workers’ pension fund will probably run out of money in October, giving Central Falls the distinction of becoming the second municipality in the United States to exhaust its pension fund, after Prichard, Ala.

“Time is running out,” warns Robert G. Flanders, the state-appointed receiver, who recently closed the public library and a community center to save money. He has no power to cancel the city’s contracts with workers, so instead he has begun approaching retired police officers and firefighters with what he describes as “the Big Ask”: will they voluntarily accept smaller benefits in the name of saving Central Falls?

Some of the retirees are in their 90s, and Central Falls, like many American cities, has not placed its police and firefighters in Social Security. Many have no other benefits to fall back on.

State lawmakers are trying to contain the damage, mindful that it would be a bad time for any state to seek help in Washington. Last month they rescinded an offer of state aid to Central Falls, just after Moody’s downgraded the city’s credit to “possibility of default.”

But the state still has risks related to the woes of its municipalities, risks that have gone largely unnoticed because it is not as big as, say, Illinois and California. Several other Rhode Island cities are sinking under big debt burdens. Even Providence, the capital, risks running out of cash in September, according to its auditor, and if it scrapes by until October, it must then come up with $60 million for its own municipal pension plan.

Some analysts fear that a Central Falls bankruptcy, and a whiff of other problems out there, could scare nervous investors away from bonds issued by Rhode Island’s other municipalities, perhaps setting off a chain reaction that could push the state itself to the brink. There is a precedent: the last American state to default on its bonds, Arkansas in 1933, got in over its head by trying to help struggling municipalities.

More recently, when local governments have veered toward bankruptcy — Orange County, Calif., in 1994; Cleveland in 1978 — neighboring municipalities have found it harder to sell their own debt. During the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975, New Jersey suddenly found its bonds harder to sell.

“That type of contagion is what you’re trying to avoid,” said James E. Spiotto, a bankruptcy specialist at the law firm Chapman & Cutler, who is not involved in Rhode Island’s problems.

Rhode Island has an investment-grade credit rating, but it is in no position to bail out a string of teetering cities, or take over their shaky local pension funds the way the federal government does when some companies go bankrupt. The state treasurer, Gina M. Raimondo, says Rhode Island must first stabilize its own pension fund, which continues to require more and more cash each year, despite four overhauls since 2005 that were supposed to get the cost under control. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating. If the state turns out to have understated its commitments, it could deliver a new jolt to bond markets still nervous after two traumatic years.

Lawmakers in Rhode Island are trying to reassure investors. On July 1 they passed a law giving certain bonds, known as general obligations, legal priority over all other payments that municipalities must make, including retirement benefits. The measure, awaiting Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s signature, also requires Rhode Island’s cities, towns and districts to dedicate their general revenue to paying bondholders first, and to raise property taxes as much as necessary to make all payments to bondholders on time.

It gives less secure types of bonds priority, too, and makes local officials personally liable for any losses they cause by failing to comply with the new requirements.

When the city of Vallejo, Calif., declared bankruptcy in 2008, no one thought it would ripple out over the whole state. Partly that’s because California has shock absorbers: laws on the books that assure bondholders they will be paid and a big, diverse state economy that could bail out a distressed city if need be.

Rhode Island is different. There are only 39 cities and towns in the state, so one troubled city cannot easily fade into the background. And there is not just one troubled city. Recent tests found one in four in some degree of distress.

A startling number have stumbled by trying to operate their own tiny pension funds for selected groups of workers, rather than participating in a state-run pension system for municipalities. There are 36 of these local pension funds, and 23 have been designated at risk, with Central Falls the most endangered. A legislative report found that eliminating all their shortfalls would cost more than the total statewide property tax levy.

In Central Falls, the receiver looked into whether the state-run pension system for municipalities could take over the local plan, but found that a radical restructuring would have to come first.

The city, just north of Providence, is small and poor, but over the years it has promised police officers and firefighters retirement benefits like those offered in big, rich states like California and New York. These uniformed workers can retire after just 20 years of service, receive free health care in retirement, and qualify for full disability pensions when only partly disabled.

Just over one square mile, Central Falls has a tightly packed population, filled mostly with immigrant families, that struggles on a median household income of less than $33,520 a year, according to the Census Bureau’s 2005-9 American Community Survey. The typical single-family house, after a recent revaluation, is worth about $130,000. It is hard to see how anyone thought such an impoverished tax base could come up with an additional $80 million for retirement benefits. If the city were contributing the recommended amount to the plan each year, it would take 57 percent of local property tax revenue.

Daniel L. Beardsley Jr., executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, said it was not the city’s idea. Other states limit what can be decided in collective bargaining, but Rhode Island’s law says that for police and firefighters, “wages, hours and any and all terms or conditions of employment” are subject to negotiation.

“That means even the length of a mustache,” said Mr. Beardsley, who over many years has represented Central Falls and other municipalities in contract negotiations. Talks broke down more often than not, he said, and then the same state law called for binding arbitration, which for many years was a clubby process that emphasized comparable benefits all across the state more than any city’s ability to pay.

“It was a domino effect,” he said, leaving Rhode Island with the nation’s highest per capita spending for fire services and sixth-highest for policing. (The binding arbitration law does not apply to public workers other than police officers and firefighters in the state, although some want it extended to teachers.)

Central Falls is already spending about a fourth of its budget on employee benefits, and that will rise sharply when the pension fund is exhausted. Mike Andrews, president of the local firefighters’ union, said about one in four of his men now qualified for retirement, but were afraid to retire, concerned that their pensions would be chopped in bankruptcy.

“We’re always willing to come to the table and try to work something out,” he said. “We want to get this corrected as much as anyone, because if it doesn’t get corrected, we suffer.”

UNFAIR ... DEFINED AS ... HONOR, FAIRNESS AND OBLIGATION

2011-07-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Owner should not renege on financial contributions

Published 05:16 p.m., Thursday, July 7, 2011

The owner of Candlewood Lake should take the honorable approach and continue to make its annual payment to the Candlewood Lake Authority to help pay for services provided by the CLA.

FIRST AND FOREMOST THE LAKE IS A STORAGE CONTAINER FOR KINETIC ENERGY IN THE BUSINESS PLAN OF FIRSTLIGHT ... THE FIVE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES HAVE OTHER INTERESTS RANGING FROM RECREATION, SPORT FISHING, AND MOST IMPORTANT AS A PREMIUM TO THEIR TAX BASE OF THE HOMES DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY WITH A VIEW OF THE LAKE.

Instead, FirstLight Power Resources, part of a multinational company, is pinching pennies and shamefully reneging on its agreement.

The five communities surrounding the man-made lake -- Danbury, Brookfield, New Milford, New Fairfield and Sherman -- plus the lake's owner have shared equally in paying for the Candlewood Lake Authority's services. The arrangement goes back to the mid-1980s with FirstLight's predecessors, Northeast Generation Co.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, a share amounted to $60,500 for each of the six entities.

Sherman, the smallest of the municipalities, paid, as did Danbury, the largest. New Milford, Brookfield and New Fairfield paid. (NOTE: 60% OF THE LAKE IS WITHIN THE TOWN OF NEW FAIRFIELD)

But FirstLight, with electricity-generating plants in Connecticut and Massachusetts, decided days before the close of the fiscal year that it would pay only $15,000 of its 2010-11 obligation.

It is totally unfair to ask the authority at the last minute to plug in a $45,000 shortfall of expected income.

Worse yet, FirstLight does not intend to contribute its share for this 2011-12 fiscal year.

FirstLight has not entirely ignored the lake. The company has undertaken projects to try to control the invasive watermilfoil plants and zebra mussels, as a spokesman pointed out.

That is appreciated, but such maintenance also comes with ownership of a lake. Both environmental menaces could pose problems for intake valves and the operation of hydro-electric plants.

And it is not like FirstLight shoulders the expense alone. New Fairfield, for example, spent $10,000 last fall to study whether lake drawdowns affect the watermifoil.

The Candlewood Lake Authority, faced with the cutback in funds from FirstLight, now must consider rolling back services, including its necessary public service, marine patrol. (PERHAPS COLLECTING FEES FROM SPORT FISHING WOULD HELP IN FUNDING OF CLA BUDGET, INCREASING OTHER FEES PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE LAKE)

At 5,420 acres (60% OF THE ACRES ARE IN NEW FAIRFIELD) -- the largest inland body of water in Connecticut -- Candlewood Lake is a valuable environmental, economic and recreational resource for the region. (WHAT ROLE, OBLIGATION OR POSITION DOES THE STATE HAVE RELATIVE TO THE LAKE?)

No law orders the lake's owner to honor its agreement with the Candlewood Lake Authority and the five municipalities.

(PERHAPS THE AGREEMENT NEEDS TO BE REVISITED BY ALL PARTIES!)

But honor, fairness and the obligation to be a good neighbor would dictate that FirstLight should help pay for services to Candlewood Lake. (IS THE BEST NEIGHBOR IS A FENCE OR PERHAPS A LEGAL RELATIONSHIP ... OH, BUT ISN'T THAT WHAT A FENCE IS? IF FIRSTLIGHT FENCED IN THE LAKE AT THE 440 LINE ... OR CAN THEY? IF NOT, THEN ISN'T THAT A GOOD START AT REVISITING THE AGREEMENT?)

MAYBE THIS STORY DOESN'T REALLY PRESENT PROVIDE FAIR AND EVEN BALANCE TO THE OVERALL ISSUE?

PORTABLE CELLULAR ANTENNAS ... WIRELESS COVERAGE $45,000

2011-07-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

AT&T starts selling 'cell tower in a suitcase'
By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer
Monday, April 25, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time, AT&T is selling small, portable cellular antennas that will allow corporate and government customers to provide their own wireless coverage in remote or disaster-struck areas.

Usually, cellphone companies have to restore service after disasters like hurricanes by sending in their own trucks that act like mobile cell towers. But AT&T's new product would let first responders such as police and emergency workers immediately control where they have coverage.

One of AT&T's options is a unit that packs into a suitcase, with a satellite dish carried separately. The unit requires outside power, such as a generator, to work.

The Remote Mobility Zone can handle 14 simultaneous calls, and data at less-than-broadband speeds. Coverage extends up to half a mile from the unit. The "portable cell tower" can also be mounted in a car or truck.

The Remote Mobility Zone's satellite dish makes it independent of broadband service. AT&T also sells smartphones that can talk directly to satellites. The Remote Mobility Zone would be able to be used with any AT&T phone.

The cost of the units will range from $15,000 to $45,000, AT&T said Monday, plus some monthly fees.

Like other carriers, AT&T also sells "femtocells," even smaller cellular antennas that users can place indoors. Connected to broadband service, they provide added coverage inside a home.

AT&T Remote Mobility Zone

SOURCE: The Associated Press

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

2011-06-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Two guys came down my driveway this afternoon (McCue was one of them) "measuring the performance" of the new communications system. It's on the air, and their testing consists of a sophmoric "can you hear me now" protocol. Recall we had to look at countless coverage maps demonstrating a very specific level of signal strength and told that any alternatives did not meet those very critical levels of signal strength. So here they are now driving the system just like the Verizon Guy. This method of system performance is unacceptable in any cellular hearing process (numerous case law decisions) and I never accept such in any application I review. The system should be measured by scanning receivers coupled to computers logging thousands of data points, the points then reduced to coverage pixels on a base map.....just like the nonsence we saw at the hearings. So if, as the song goes "Is that all there is?" then they will have no problem with 95% or maybe 98%. The vendor will be off the hook.

Recall, after the 175 foot monopole was built and I put the FD and Police on top, we also did such drive tests with hand helds and identified coverage and non coverage areas. At that time, as there was no 1.5 MM contract for a new system, the sophmoric method was pretty good, and the FD was pleased....better than they ever had. Wonder what this system will sound like in 5 years? I know, we'll need a digital system with more sites.

I'm afraid, no matter how it goes from now on the the court, the deed is done and it is probably irreversible.

Sorry for all the good news.

ANOTHER FAIRY TALE ... PERHAPS A HOUSE OF CARDS HORROR SHOW?

2011-06-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

From the Opinions page of the News-Times.

IN A RELATED STORY ... OR PERHAPS THE REAL STORY:

Two months ago Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Murphy made public a survey regarding manufacturers in Connecticut. It determined we have 5,003 different manufacturing businesses that employ 171,207 in all levels of manufacturing and have an average annual income of $70,238.

This report offers an opportunity to focus on the P.E.A. (Region 15) teachers' union's perpetual outstanding negotiating expertise that dominates our inadequate, amateur board of education.

This situation is exacerbated by state statutes that allow regional school districts to bypass our other elected selectmen and finance boards and go directly to referendum with budgets.The teachers contract parameters further marginalize the voter. Done in secrecy, the voter is deaf, dumb and blind until the contract is already signed and becomes a three-year taxpayer obligation.

Exactly what has the teachers union managed to accomplish when negotiating with our inept Board of Education?

Here are the parameters comparing the private sector employee with the P.E.A. public-sector employee.

Private sector: 40 plus hours per week, 2,000 plus hours per year, spread over 250 work days. Average salary $70,238.

Public sector: 25 hours per week teaching, 900 hours per year, spread over 180 school days. Average salary $81,693.

How about justifying this aberration! Will somebody on the boards of education, selectmen or finance please explain the rationale that justifies a P.E.A. teacher working 28 percent less time annually and getting 20 percent more salary than the equivalent private-sector employee?

Shouldn't a teacher be paid proportionately? Isn't the teacher working 70 fewer days at $454 per day getting paid $31,780 ($454 times 70) too much?

If not, why not? I expect our elected officials, having a fiduciary responsibility, to respond to these legitimate questions.

Frank Pellegrini

Southbury

FAIRY TALES ... AN ENDLESS SOURCE OF LESSONS ... NEXT LESSON

2011-06-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

New Fairfield schools honored for property management

NEW FAIRFIELD -- The New Fairfield public schools were honored by the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency for their exceptional property management at its Risk Management Achievement Award ceremony May 26 at the Rocky Hill Marriott. School superintendent Alicia Roy, building and grounds superintendent Phil Ross and the school staff were praised for their ongoing dedication to preventive maintenance. The school system has used the Environmental Protection Agency's "Tools for Schools" indoor air quality program since 2001 and in 2009 implemented a "Green Clean" initiative with Green-Seal certified paper, soap and commercial cleaning products. The New Fairfield public schools have had no school facility property losses in six years.

THE ROAD TO THE PROMISE LAND OR JAY LENO'S WALK OF THE ALL STARS?

2011-06-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

Students Stumble Again on the Basics of History

(the title of the article sums up the take-away)

HERE'S MY QUESTION: JUST WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOL?

Fewer than a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea's ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.

Don't Know Much About History?

Try your hand at some of the questions on the NAEP history tests.

The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America's role in the world.

Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were "proficient" or "advanced," unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.

The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient, unchanged since 2006. More than half of all seniors posted scores at the lowest achievement level, "below basic." While the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders have seen a slight uptick in scores since the exam was first administered in 1994, 12th-graders haven't.

One bright spot in the data was the performance of African-American and Hispanic students in fourth and eighth grades. The average score of Hispanic fourth-graders jumped to 198 last year, versus 175 in 1994, which helped shrink the gap with their white counterparts. In eighth grade, black students improved to 250 points in 2010 from 238 in 1994. At the fourth-grade level, the gap between Hispanic and white students was 39 points in 1994 and 26 points in 2010. In eighth grade, the black-white gap narrowed to 23 points in 2010 from 28 in 1994.

Only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.

The overall lackluster performance is certain to revive the debate about whether history and other subjects, such as science and art, are being pushed out of the curriculum because of the focus on math and reading demanded under the No Child Left Behind federal education law. The federal law mandates that students be tested in math and reading.

Sue Blanchette, president-elect of the National Council for Social Studies, a national association of K-12 and college social-studies teachers, called the results disheartening and said history education has been marginalized in the last decade.

"Everyone is going to participate in civic life by paying taxes, protesting against paying taxes, voting, and we must teach our children how to think critically about these issues," she said. "Clearly, we are not doing that."

Ms. Blanchette said her group wants the history test administered every two years, like the national math and reading exams, instead of every four years. "What gets measured, gets taught," she said.

The U.S. Department of Education administered the history exam to a representative sample of public and private schools, testing 7,000 fourth-graders, 11,800 eighth-graders and 12,400 high-school seniors. The test is scored on a 0-500 point scale, and those scores are broken into "below basic," "basic," "proficient" and "advanced."

In fourth grade, students who scored at or above basic are likely to know how to interpret a map about the Colonial economy. Fourth-grade students who scored proficient are likely to know that canals increased trade among states, and students scoring advanced probably would be able to explain how factories changed American work.

A THOUSAND CUTS ... NO NOT WHAT YOU "THIMK" ... JUST A SPRING THUNDERSTORM

2011-06-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

THOUSANDS CUT OFF FROM GETTING HOME AFTER AN AFTERNOON THUNDER STORM LEAVES THE AREA IMPASSIBLE ... HERE'S MY QUESTION WHY WOULD YOU BURY A CRITICAL LINK OF YOUR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DEEP INTO THE FOREST ON A NARROW DIRT ROAD DEPENDENT UPON WIRES CONNECTED TO TELEPHONE POLES?

Authorities in Danbury, Ridgefield, New Fairfield, Brookfield, New Milford and Southbury reported dozens of road closures after a line of thunderstorms struck the area yesterday, toppling trees and downing wires, and left thousands without power.

The storms hit during the late-afternoon rush hour, instantly turning day into night and felling trees and power lines, which blocked numerous area roadways.

School officials in Brookfield, New Milford, Newtown, New Fairfield and Sherman have announced that schools will be closed today.

Connecticut Light and Power Co. reported more than 60,000 households without power statewide at 5 a.m., including about 39 percent of homes in Bridgewater.

At 6:35 a.m., CL&P reported more than 1,300 homes in Danbury were still without power, and about 1,350 in Newtown, 4,580 in Brookfield, 2,670 in New Milford, 3,275 in Southbury and 1,260 in New Fairfield.

"We are working as quickly and safely as possible,'' CL&P spokeswoman Katie Flint said on Thursday. "But we know this will be a multi-day restoration effort. The damage was violent and widespread.'' -- AN EXAMPLE OF A SPRING/SUMMER/FALL EMERGENCY
Flint said CL&P is asking for out-of-state crews to help in the work.

According to fire officials in Danbury, there are about a dozen roads, mostly on the north end of town, that are closed due to storm-related damage or debris.

Several sections of New Fairfield were hit hard, with roads near the Sherman border with Wanzer Mountain are largely inaccessible due to downed trees. The storm also brought down many trees at the Candlewood Hills community near Squantz Pond.

New Fairfield First Selectman John Hodge said Thursday that 20 to 30 trees in town were down. HOW MANY TREES DOES IT TAKE TO CRITICALLY INCAPACITE A MICROWAVE TOWER BURIED A HALF-MILE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST THAT DEPENDS UPON WIRES CONNECTED TO TELEPHONE POLES TO A COUNTRY ROAD? QUICK ANSWER: 1

"I told the public works guys to come in with their chain saws,'' Hodge said. "They're going to be working all night.'' -- What a guy!

Route 25 in Brookfield is closed from Long Meadow Hill Road to Oak Grove Road, officials said. Federal Road is closed near the First Assembly of God Church. Long Meadow Road is also shut down from the New Milford town line to Brookfield High School.

Meanwhile, Route 133 is closed from North Obtuse Road to the Bridgewater Bridge. The section of Silvermine Road near the town police station is currently closed.

A "possible tornado" showed up on the Weather Center radar over the southern end of town of New Milford, Bill Jacquemin, chief meteorologist at the Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury, said Thursday.

"It's a very explosive situation," he said. "There were wind gusts of over 40 miles per hour at the Weather Center. For not even being the worst part of the storm, that's pretty impressive." -- a typical hurricane has much higher sustained winds along with soaking rain.

At least two eyewitness reports on Twitter described possible funnel-cloud sightings in Newtown.

In Ridgefield, Regan Road remains closed, between Ridgebury Road and Mopus Ridge Road, officials said.

On Stadley Rough Road in Danbury, Katie Quinn huddled yesterday in the lower floor of her home with family and friends as the storm hit.

"It was crazy," Quinn said. "The sky was, like, green, and it was very windy." -- Toto we're not in Kansas we're in New England!

The storm took down a large tree, completely blocking Stadley Rough Road and bringing down a power line transformer.

In Brookfield, a downed tree blocked Federal Road north of the Costco market, taking power lines down with it.

Suzanne McDonald and John Anderson were at Creative Bath on Federal Road when the storm hit.

Heavy winds came and then hail "like peas, then like cherries,'' McDonald said. -- Toto it was raining Fruit Loops!

"No wonder we couldn't get our computers up and running," she said after hearing about the downed tree. -- Electricity has a compelling effect on things electronic!
Next door at the Eurolux Salon and Day Spa, staff fretted about something else.

"Our main worry was to get the power back on so we could wash everyone's hair," said Laura Briganti. With power on, she said, every appointment was saved.

Thwarted by closed roads several times while trying to get from Bethel to the Four Corners in Brookfield, Chris Martoni, of Brookfield, made the best of the situation and stopped to eat at La Familia Pizza & Pasta on Federal Road.

In New Milford, police and firefighters were attempting to reach a home on Sherry Lane where a tree had crashed into a house and car as the family reportedly huddled in a basement.

At the same time, emergency crews were responding to numerous reports of trees and wires down on Route 7, with at least one lane closed near New Milford High School.

But as soon as the storm ended, people emerged, cell phone cameras in hand.

Alexandra Edwards was on Stadley Rough Road in Danbury, taking pictures of the downed tree. -- Its not nice to fool Mother Nature.

"This is fabulous,'' she said. "I'm definitely going to put this on Facebook." -- I've almost got a life ... can't wait to see my friends on Facebook!

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Nearly-16-000-in-Greater-Danbury-still-without-1417562.php#ixzz1OxvGVirI

WHAT IS THE ZIP CODE FOR DETROIT ... ? GOOGLE DETROIT.

2011-06-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

Delinquent Homeowners to Get Mortgage Aid from Government - AGAIN!?

"IF A RAISING TIDE RAISES ALL BOATS ... WHAT DOES A FALLING TIDE DO?"

Published: Saturday, 4 Jun 2011 | 6:20 PM ET

The Obama administration wants to help more struggling Americans stay in their homes by reducing the amount they owe on their troubled mortgages, a top Treasury official said Saturday. GIVE A MAN A FISH FEED HIM FOR A DAY, TEACH HIM TO FISH FEED HIM FOR A LIFE TIME. THE LESSON IS SIMPLE, THE FAILURE IS PAINFUL. WITH 70% OF OUR DEBT NOW BEING BOUGHT (!) BY THE FED ... THE PAIN OF REPAYMENT EFFECTS MANY GENERATIONS AND THE LIBERTIES AND FREEDOM OF THOSE GENERATIONS YET UNBORN. IS THAT RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT? THE CURRENT HOUSING PROBLEM AND REDUCED VALUE WILL BE WITH US FOR AT LEAST A GENERATION (20 YEARS) ... IN EFFECT THOSE BABY BOOMERS WHO THINK THEY HAVE REACHED THE 'PROMISE LAND' OF RETIREMENT HAVE JUST COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE PAIN OF FAILURE. GENERATIONS FEEDING ON GENERATIONS.

Fuse | Getty Images

"We are very definitely trying to facilitate more principal reductions," said Timothy Massad, Treasury's acting assistant secretary for financial stability. "It is a very important piece of the overall solution," he said.

The administration is trying through taxpayer-funded programs to prevent homeowners from losing their homes. Nearly $50 billion has been set aside from the $700 billion bank bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to help distressed homeowners. NOW THE OTHER SHOE WILL BE DROPPING ... PROPERTY TAXES! HERE'S MY QUESTION, IF HOMEOWNERS ARE INTO THE MIRROR OF FAILURE WHERE'S THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM TO PAY TAXES?

Persistently high unemployment and a weak housing market pose a threat to President Obama's re-election prospects next year. -- WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY ... STUPID?

So far, one of the programs has helped some 670,000 distressed homeowners win lower mortgage payments. But that has done very little to help the overall housing market, which remains depressed even as other parts of the economy have started to recover.

A glut of houses for sale, foreclosures, tight credit and little demand have impeded the housing recovery. Recent data showed that home prices dropped below the low seen in April 2009 during the financial crisis.

HI FELLOW ... CAN'T YOU SPARE AN EXTRA $20 FOR AN APPLE

2011-06-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

US house price fall 'beats Great Depression slide'

By Stephen Foley

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

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The ailing US housing market passed a grim milestone in the first quarter of this year, posting a further deterioration that means the fall in house prices is now greater than that suffered during the Great Depression.

The brief recovery in prices in 2009, spurred by government aid to first-time buyers, has now been entirely snuffed out, and the average American home now costs 33 per cent less than it did at the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. The peak-to-trough fall in house prices in the 1930s Depression was 31 per cent – and prices took 19 years to recover after that downturn.

The single largest investment most families make during a life-time was their home. The new runner up is their children's education. Downsizing the 'family home' after the nest was empty was a sure fire way to settling in to retirement often in a new part of the country where taxes were low and the weather warm, the retirement trifecta. Well, with a 19 year recovery during the great depression, consider that 'Up In Smoke' as a popular movie title put it.

The latest Case-Shiller house price index was just one of a slew of disappointing economic data from the US yesterday, which suggested ebbing confidence in the recovery of the world's largest economy. The Chicago PMI manufacturing index showed a sharp slowdown in the pace of expansion in May, missing Wall Street forecasts and sending the index to its lowest since November 2009.

And in the latest Conference Board consumer confidence survey more people expressed uncertainty over their future economic prospects. The confidence index fell unexpectedly to 60.8 from a revised 66.0, when economists had expected it to rise to 67.0. (SO MUCH FOR EXPERTISE FROM A TALKING HEAD) Falling house prices and negative equity combined with high petrol and food prices and a still-weak jobs market to raise consumers' fears for the future.

So that expensive Sheep Skin did what,
other than saddle you with debt?

Thomas Di Galoma, the managing director of government securities at Oppenheimer & Co, said: "Based on the weakness in housing prices, Chicago PMI and consumer confidence, it appears as though the economy could be headed for a double dip, especially as federal and state spending slows rapidly over the next six months."

Economists warned not to expect any immediate relief to the gloom from the housing market. Banks continue to demand high deposits from potential buyers and are pressing on with foreclosures against those who have fallen behind on mortgages, adding to the glut of unsold homes on the market.

Prices are back to their 2002 levels, according to the Case-Shiller National House Price Index out yesterday. "The national index fell 4.2 per cent over the first quarter alone, and is down 5.1 per cent compared to its year-ago level," David Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said. "Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight."

D-DAY, JOHN HODGE, COURT JUNE 6, 2011 ... COMMUNICATIONS TOWER PURCHASE

2011-06-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

All - FYI - court date is Monday. Keatings request to delay was rejected. Monday 9:30 Danbury Supreme Court.

THIS DAY, JUNE 6, 1944, MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE LIBERATION OF WESTERN EUROPE FROM NAZI CONTROL DURING WORLD WAR II.

Although the term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.

With Hitler's armies in control of most of mainland Europe, the Allies knew that a successful invasion of the continent was central to winning the war. Hitler knew this too, and was expecting an assault on northwestern Europe in the spring of 1944. He hoped to repel the Allies from the coast with a strong counterattack that would delay future invasion attempts, giving him time to throw the majority of his forces into defeating the Soviet Union in the east. Once that was accomplished, he believed an all-out victory would soon be his.

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day's end, 155,000 Allied troops--Americans, British and Canadians--had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.

For their part, the Germans suffered from confusion in the ranks and the absence of celebrated commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was away on leave. At first, Hitler, believing that the invasion was a feint designed to distract the Germans from a coming attack north of the Seine River, refused to release nearby divisions to join the counterattack and reinforcements had to be called from further afield, causing delays. He also hesitated in calling for armored divisions to help in the defense. In addition, the Germans were hampered by effective Allied air support, which took out many key bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as efficient Allied naval support, which helped protect advancing Allied troops.

Though it did not go off exactly as planned, as later claimed by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery--for example, the Allies were able to land only fractions of the supplies and vehicles they had intended in France--D-Day was a decided success. By the end of June, the Allies had 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy and were poised to continue their march across Europe.

The heroism and bravery displayed by troops from the Allied countries on D-Day has served as inspiration for several films, most famously The Longest Day (1962) and Saving Private Ryan(1998). It was also depicted in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers (2001).

All - FYI - court date is Monday. Keatings request to delay was rejected. Monday 9:30 Danbury Supreme Court. Parking is difficult, Car Pooling anyone?

Regards,
Steve

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
(C) 917 513 1871

TOM CORBETT A RARE BREED OF SELFLESS VOLUNTEERS ... THANKS TOM!

2011-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Tom Corbett, 65, checks the equipment in his Red Cross bags to make sure they are ready for immediate response to an incident. Corbett has been a disaster relief volunteer for almost 30 years. He is shown at his New Fairfield home on Thursday, May 19, 2011. Photo: Michael Duffy / The News-Times

Sometimes the offer of a toothbrush or a hot cup of coffee is just what is needed when one's life is quite literally in flames.

It may not seem like much to most people, but local American Red Cross disaster relief volunteers and those they serve say such simple gestures can seem more precious than gold to a family watching their house burn down. They are tangible comfort -- instruments of hope, they say.

"You're bumping into people at the low point in their lives, the worst they've ever bumped into ... and a lot of the time you can't do an awful lot," said Tom Corbett, of New Fairfield, a disaster relief volunteer for 25 years.

His role and that of the other 1,000 Red Cross volunteers in the state is not to do a big fix, but to provide emergency provisions -- food, clothing, shelter -- to help an individual or family survive from one hour to the next until they can begin to grapple with the bigger picture.

He said he has arrived at house fires in the winter to find people standing outside in pajamas, with no shoes.

"It's all about reaching out to people, to let them know there is someone who cares and is willing to help them get through the red tape," said Corbett, a retired New Milford school administrator and New Fairfield civic leader.

He started with the Red Cross in the mid-1980s, when the gymnasium of the former East Street School, where he worked, was used as an emergency shelter for flood victims.

"You do a lot of listening and sharing with them, and then try to give simple advice based on your experience," he said.

From their first call, Corbett said, the volunteers' job is to reach the scene as quickly as possible, assess the immediate situation, and ensure the individual or family is safe and has someplace to go -- even if it's inside a Red Cross vehicle or van for a few hours.

Depending on the victims' needs, Red Cross volunteers can provide gift cards that allow them to purchase essential clothing and toiletries, as well as arrange motel stays and places to eat until more permanent arrangements can be made, Corbett said.

Once the immediate crisis has been addressed, the volunteers begin helping people contact other family members, address insurance issues, and determine if they are eligible for local and state social service assistance, Corbett explained.

If a fire alarm in a house goes off at 2 a.m., Connecticut Red Cross chapter spokesman Mario Bruno said, it is unlikely the occupants stop to pick up their wallets and a folder of insurance documents.

If such key information is lost, victims must go through the ordeal of proving who they are so they can access their insurance, get medication refills, even pick up children from school, Bruno said. The Red Cross can help navigate the bureaucracy.

The goal of the disaster action teams -- volunteers usually work in teams of two or three or more, depending on the situation -- is to get people through the first 48 to 72 hours.

After that, the Red Cross can be relied upon to help families assess what must be done on a longer-term basis, including getting counseling, Bruno said.

"The idea is to provide a compassionate presence so (disaster survivors) don't feel alone in their recovery," he said.

The Red Cross, a nonprofit relief organization, relies strictly on the generosity of the American public for all the services it provides, including disaster relief.

Nationwide, its staff and volunteers respond to some 60,000 disasters a year, Bruno said. In Connecticut, the Red Cross handles between 500 and 600 disaster cases, and 90 percent are single- or multi-family home fires, Bruno said.

For each case, the Connecticut Red Cross typically provides about $1,000 in direct financial assistance. Last year it gave about half a millionthinkable.

They "bring some sort of order and control into the chaos," Facey said. "They are excellent. They dollars to disaster survivors statewide, Bruno said.

New Milford Fire Marshal Karen Facey said Red Cross volunteers offer a brand of "friendly assurance" and comfort to people confronted with the unare a really nice resource for us."

Contact Nanci Hutson at nhutson@newstimes.com or at 860-354-2274.

SCHOOL ENROLLMENT TO SURGE ... REALLY?

2011-05-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

NEW FAIRFIELD IS HAS AN INTERESTING DEMOGRAPHIC ... OF ALL THE HOMES IN THIS RECREATIONAL COMMUNITY ... HOW MANY CHILDLESS SECOND HOMES ARE THERE ? PERHAPS THE SECOND HOME IS A REASON FOR LOW VOTER TURNOUT. WHAT IF ALL THESE SECOND HOMES BECAME PRIMARY RESIDENTS WITH CHILDREN, WOULD THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IS LARGE ENOUGH? FREAKONOMICS QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS INTERESTING AND OFTEN REVEAL ANSWERS THAT SHOCK AND AMAZE. NONETHELESS, THESE TYPE OF QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS INTERESTING TO ASK. ANSWERS TO THESE AND OTHER QUESTIONS OF A SIMILAR NATURE ARE AVAILABLE ~ BUT YOU FIRST MUST ASK THEM!

Private school enrollment declines as struggling families opt for public education

By KEVIN D. THOMPSON

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 10:10 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011

Posted: 9:47 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011

Four years ago, Robin DeLisser could easily afford to pay more than $20,000 in tuition for her two children to attend private school.

At the time, DeLisser, a single mother, said she was earning more than $200,000 a year running her own information technology staffing agency. But after the economy tanked, so DeLisser's income - and lifestyle.

To make ends meet, DeLisser, 34, traded in her 2006 BMW for a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. She moved from her three-bedroom Boca Raton home, where her monthly mortgage was $2,500, to a $1,500-a-month, two-bedroom townhome in Delray Beach.

What hurt most of all, DeLisser said, was pulling her two children - Dillan, now 9, and Kaelyn, now 8 - out of Summit Private School in Boca Raton and enrolling them in S.D. Spady Elementary, a public school in Delray Beach.

"It was extremely difficult to take them out," DeLisser said. "Summit offered a loving and nurturing environment."

After 24 years in business, financial problems are forcing Summit to close at the end of the current school year.

The tales of DeLisser and, to some extent, Summit are becoming familiar in Palm Beach County.

Endowments, donations falling

According to the U.S. Department of Education, private school enrollment dropped by about 174,000 from 2006 to 2010 while public school enrollment increased by 718,000.

Operating a private school in a recession has become an increasing challenge as more belt-tightening parents pull their children out of school. Hefty private school tuitions that can run as high as $22,000 are often the first to go from a family's budget.

Schools also face anemic endowments and dwindling donations.

"This recession has been a game-changer," said Barbara Hodges, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools, a professional education association in Tampa. "There are new norms. We went through a period where Americans had extra income, but that period has ended."

The King's Academy, a pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade school in suburban West Palm Beach, has seen its student enrollment drop from 1,377 in 2007 to 1,230 for the 2010-2011 school year. Enrollment at the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in West Palm Beach, is 330, down about 15 percent from previous years.

"We are all suffering the same way individuals and families are suffering," said Robert Goldberg, head of school for The Benjamin School, which has campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.

Schools 'think outside the box'

To make up for the lost tuition, private school administrators are finding creative ways to generate revenue.

Jefferson Burnett, vice president for government and community relations for the National Association of Independent Schools, an advocacy group in Washington, said schools are holding more fund-raisers, tapping endowments and even renting their facilities.

"For many of these schools, a little bit of money makes a huge difference," Burnett said.

Hodges said schools are also relying more on social media to market their schools and to help boost enrollment.

Since 2007, The King's Academy has opened two preschools in Greenacres and one each in Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. That has helped generate additional revenue. A fifth preschool in Boynton Beach is scheduled to open in August.

"The good part about the recession is that it's forced us to think outside the box," said Jeff Loveland, president of The King's Academy. "This helps to offset losses and it also helps funnel kids into our elementary school. I'm not sure we would have been thinking about this if there wasn't a recession."

The preschools are providing about $850,000 a year in additional revenue, said Randy Martin, the school's chief financial officer. Much of that goes toward paying staff, making contributions to hosting preschool churches and other academic expenses.

More financial assistance sought

Not surprisingly, more families who are keeping their children in private schools are seeking financial assistance. The independent schools association reports that between 2008 and this year, the amount of financial aid awarded to families increased 36 percent. But more families are asking for money, so less aid is being awarded per student.

At the Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy, financial aid requests have gone up 20 percent, said Nammie Ichilov, the school's headmaster. To keep up with the demand, Ichilov said the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, the school's primary benefactor, has made money available to award more financial assistance per student. Ichilov declined to provide figures.

Meanwhile, schools also have been forced to make tough choices when trimming their budgets.

Two years ago, The King's Academy cut employee salaries by 2.5 percent. About 25 positions have been eliminated since 2007, 10 of which were faculty and support staff.

The Arthur I. Meyer Jewish Academy is evaluating how it buys supplies in order to operate more efficiently. Meyer, for example, used to offer six entrees for lunch.

"We just offer the staples now," Ichilov said. "That has reduced our operating costs."

Despite budget cuts, administrators stress they are not cutting educational programs .

The King's Academy added five advanced placement courses, online classes and lacrosse. The Benjamin School offers a program for 3-year-olds that teaches students Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, among other things.

Although private school enrollment is down slightly nationwide, not everyone is convinced the recession is to blame.

"It's tough to link fluctuation to specific causes like the recession," said Joe McTighe, executive director of the Council for American Private Education, a Maryland-based coalition serving private elementary and secondary schools. "If you look at the data over the last 10 years, it tends to fluctuate anyway from year to year. The impact of the recession on private school enrollment is very complex."

Not for DeLisser.

"I just couldn't afford it anymore," she said.

VERIZON'S COVERAGE IN NEW FAIRFIELD ...

2011-05-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE BUT SOMEHOW NEW FAIRFIELD'S REIGNING MONARCH KNOW SOMETHING THAT THE LARGEST CELLULAR PHONE COMPANIES IN THE WORLD DON'T KNOW! HINT: YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME AND IN NEW FAIRFIELD ALL THE OF THE VOTING PUBLIC ALL THE TIME!

THE WHITE AREA'S REPRESENT NO COVERAGE FOR MOBILE BROADBAND AND CELLULAR SERVICE. SO THE QUESTION IS DOES THE PROPOSED EMERGENCY NETWORK WITH THE NEW YORK TOWER COVERAGE INCLUDE ALL THE AREAS? IF NOT, WHY NOT? WHY DOES THE LARGEST CELLULAR PHONE COMPANY SPENDING BILLIONS ON NETWORK NOT COVER THOSE AREAS?

AT&T shows off 'real-world' 28.8 Mbps LTE download speeds

During a media tour at an AT&T research lab, the carrier demoed its upcoming 4G Long Term Evolution network, which appeared to be significantly faster than rival Verizon, reaching download speeds of 28.87 Mbps and 10.4 Mbps for uploads.

GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham toured AT&T's Foundry space in Plano, Texas on Wednesday with Jon Summers, the company's senior vice president of application and service infrastructure. Given that the lab is home to one of AT&T's trial LTE networks, Higginbotham asked for a demo.

The lab's LTE download speeds were more than seven times faster than the 3.77 megabits per second rate reached on AT&T's current HSPA network. Uploads over LTE posted an even more impressive improvement, with more than eight times the current speed of 1.21 Mbps over HSPA.

The test was conducted using a Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna setup and two swaths of spectrum: 700 MHz and the Advanced Wireless Spectrum band. AT&T hopes to acquire more AWS band from its proposed purchase of T-Mobile USA.

AT&T engineers noted that the 28.87Mbps data rate is meant to model "real-world situations" for the Foundry lab, rather than the merely theoretical 150 Mbps speeds often demoed by carriers. However, the report did note that "sharing those speeds with others on a cell tower will bring them down."

Earlier this year, AT&T revealed plans to accelerate the deployment of LTE so that the network will be "largely complete" by the end of 2013.

By comparison, Verizon says its LTE network, which launched late last year, will have real-world data rates of between 5 and 12 Mbps downstream and 2 to 5 Mbps up. Verizon has also said its LTE network will be nationwide by the end of 2013.

Recent reports have suggested that Apple pushed back the launch of LTE-enabled iPhones to 2012 due to production issues with LTE chips and limited customer access to LTE. China Mobile announced Thursday that it had "reached consensus" with Apple toimplement support for the carrier's 4G TD-LTE in a future version of the iPhone, but specific timing details remained unclear.

Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said in February that Apple is working on an LTE iPhone. "You'll see more coming from Apple on LTE," he said. "They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it.

ROBERT FROST SAID IT WELL: “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

2011-05-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED NIGHT SCHOOL, G.I. BILL, COMMUNITY COLLEGE ... TECHNICAL AND TRADE SCHOOLS AND CERTIFICATIONS ...

READ THE STORY HERE: college-student-debt-grows-is-it-worth-it

So where is the failure in our society as this conversation hits the 6 O'Clock news and becomes the agenda at the dinner table of so many families pressured to provide the funds so their children can have the opportunity that they had? The dreams of my family can become a financial nightmare for each of us!

Assessing the value of a college degree

By Michael Regan

What's a college education worth$ Two new studies take a look at that question, and come up with somewhat different answers.

One study, based on surveys done by the Pew Research Center this spring, concludes that a "typical" college graduate will earn $650,000 more than a "typical" high school graduate between the ages of 25 and 64. Subtract the potential earning college students forgo while in school--about $100,000--and the cost of college, and the net benefit is somewhere in the half-million-dollar range.

Still, only 40 percent of Americans believe colleges and universities deliver good value for the money spent to get a degree. (Not surprisingly, 76 percent of college presidents say higher education is worth the cost.)

The other survey, described by the Hechinger Report, puts a lower value on a college degree: While graduates of the most selective institutions can earn $550,000 more than those with a high school degree, it says, the premium for graduates of the least selective institutions is just $230,000.

But the real losers, according to the study by Nexus Research & Policy Center and the American Institutes for Research, are taxpayers, who subsidize private non-profit as well as public institutions. Those subsidies outstrip incremental tax gains from the higher incomes of college graduates, according to the study.

One caveat: Hechinger notes that Nexus is funded by foundations set up by the for-profit University of Phoenix, and the study was framed to highlight the benefits of for-profit education, which has come under fire lately. Despite some flaws, said Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, “It’s a reasonable study.”