There's no doubt that many residents are unhappy with plans to push forward with a $115 million plan to build two new schools to house kindergarten through eighth grade students, one in Forestville and one in the western part of town.
It would seem that the primary defeat of Ellen Zoppo might have dealt a blow to those plans.
One of Zoppo's main supporters was Tom O'Brien, the Board of Education member who pushed strongest for the new schools. Barbara Doyle, the school board's chairwoman, was also in Zoppo's camp, along with at least a couple more of her board colleagues.
Both the Democratic mayoral primary winner, Art Ward, and Republican mayoral hopeful Ken Johnson, are far less tied in to the educational establishment that shoved the plan onto the agenda -- and got it through the first round of approvals at City Hall.
Johnson and Ward each have said they would like to see big ticket projects voted on by the public, which would appear to include the K-8 plan that's now before state education regulators for their approval.
At the very least, that would appear to give opponents a far better shot of putting the plan on the ballot for voters to decide if it deservers a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
I'll be exploring the issue with the candidates, of course, in the weeks ahead. But it's obvious that the project -- the biggest the city has ever contemplated -- faces tougher times ahead with Zoppo out of the picture.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
9 comments:
Weel Ellen attached herself to what she thought were people to get her ahead - it only helped her get defeated!!
Ward will not, has not, will never, kiss the butts for so called strong people to get ahead.
For the record Ellen lost. We all know that. Move on already. What we want to know is what Art Ward will do for Bristol? You know the issues....
This type of posting does not help Art Ward.
amazingly after the report from the Federal/ State Government on "no child left behind" that some of the Bristol schools failed.....
where does Art Ward stand on this?????
Does Ward even know what No Child Left Behind is?
As long as the Attorney General is fighting the no child left behind battle, there is some playing room as long as the schools are showing improvement in the areas that NCLB found them lacking.
I beg to differ with the comments the Press made regard Zoppo's ties to the project. Sure she is well-acquainted with Barbara Doyle and Tom O'Brien, but that doesn't make her any more "attached to the project" than Ward or anyone else. I'm sure Ward is friends with people on the Board of Ed, but of course he is not referred to as being someone who is "attached to the project." It wasn't her idea, but, as usual, anything that people don't want is always played up as being something Zoppo wanted. Zoppo does her homework and only advocates for something if she feels it is in the best interest of the city. Let's give the poor girl a break. Besides, there's plenty of data to backup the Board's reasoning for having the large schools which people choose to ignore. Let's not, again, find obscure ways to connect the dots, so to speak. I suggest we do a poll to find out exactly where people stand since a referendum is out of the question for now since it is not in the Charter.
O'Brien, Doyle and some other Board of Ed folks were campaign workers and advisors for Zoppo. Ward knows them, but they were not in his camp. It's not saying anything bad about Zoppo to say that her departure lessens the likelihood this K-8 plan will come to pass.
Maybe the K-8 wasn't Ellen's idea, but she was a strong supporter of the proposal and she didn't hold the BOE accountable for leaving the public out of the decision to pursue it. When asked about it after the public hearing they kind of had, she said "that ship has sailed".
It is not Ellen's job to hold the BOE accountable. It is up to the public to show up at BOE meetings and voice their opinions before things get too far along instead of waiting until the 11th hour, as usual, to voice their opinions. I'm all for a referendum, but blaming one person who isn't even on the BOE is a bunch of bunk. If there was an earthquake tomorrow, some of you would find a way to blame Ellen. If you have forgotten, the council sent it back to the BOE, because the BOE didn't even have any public hearings. If you want anyone to be angry at, go after the BOE. The idea was born there and nurtured there. It will either live or die at the hands of the two committees. Go after them, because that's the group you need to address.
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