Bobroske to get national award tonight

A former chair of Bristol’s Board of Education has been picked for the National Association of State Boards of Education’s Distinguished Service Award.

Beverly Bobroske, who logged 17 years on the city’s school board before she stepped down in 2003, has served for many years on the Connecticut State Board of Education.

“Beverly Bobroske’s dedication to educating the youth of Connecticut is without peer,” said Brenda Welburn, executive director of the national group.

“We are proud to honor her for her devotion to education as a teacher, her decades as a guidance counselor helping young people navigate their lives, and for her service on the state board, where her efforts touch the lives of students statewide,” Welburn said, according to a press release issued Friday.

Bobroske, who is retired, worked as a guidance counselor at Harry S. Fisher School in Plymouth for 27 years after putting in several years in the classroom as a teacher. She also served as a member and president of the Plymouth Education Association.

Bobroske was initially appointed to Bristol’s school board, but continued to serve after it became an elected panel until she opted to step down at the end of her term in 2003.

She served as president of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education from 2000 to 2003.

She has served on numerous education committees on the local, state and national level, including a long stint as a director of the Capitol Region Education Council and various leadership posts with the National School Board Association, including a stint on its board of directors.

Bobroske serves as chair of the technical high school committee of the state education panel, a post she used to help Bristol’s technical school survive closure threats this year.

Bobroske’s national award is given annually to a state board of education member to recognize outstanding service to public education.

The award was slated to be presented during the group’s national convention Friday evening in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The National Association of State Boards of Education represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. Its goal is to strengthen state boards as the leading educational policymaking bodies.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Tech school to stay open under Rell's new budget

Press release from state Rep. Bill Hamzy, a Plymouth Republican whose 78th District includes northwestern Bristol:

Rep. Hamzy, CT BOE's Bobroske: Bristol Technical Education Center to Remain Open Under Gov's New Budget Plan

Funding for the Bristol Technical Education Center has been restored under Governor M. Jodi Rell’s most recent budget plan, making it unlikely that the facility will be closed as part of the effort to eliminate the state’s projected $8.5 billion deficit, said state Representative William A. Hamzy and state Board of Education member Beverly R. Bobroske.

Representative Hamzy and Mrs. Bobroske worked with Bristol Mayor Art Ward, Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce officials, former and current Bristol Tech students, Mike Suchopar of the Bristol Boys and Girls Club, local business people and other area legislators to keep the school open.

“When the Bristol Technical Education Center was threatened with closure as part of the state’s effort to eliminate its budget deficit, I worked with other area legislators, state education officials, and state Board of Education member Beverly Bobroske of Bristol in a bipartisan effort to save the school,” said Representative Hamzy, R-78^thDistrict. “I’d like to thank my Democratic colleagues in the state House of Representatives and the state Senate who represent towns that send students to Bristol Tech for the role they played in our successful effort to keep the school open. When we work together in a bipartisan effort on behalf of our towns, good things happen. Saving Bristol Tech was a very good thing.”

“Over the years, the Bristol Technical Education Center has provided a steady stream of well-trained graduates for jobs with area employers. Bristol Tech partners with businesses and industries throughout the Greater Bristol-Plymouth region to make sure its academic programs keep pace with local employers’ current, emerging, and changing global workforce needs and expectations. The Bristol Technical Education Center is located in my district and I have always worked with school and state education officials to ensure its students train on the most up-to-date equipment possible. Bristol Tech makes an important contribution to the regional economy. We could not afford to let it be closed down,” Representative Hamzy said.

“As a member of the state Board of Education, I am totally committed to ensuring Connecticut students not only graduate from our public schools with the skills they need to be accepted at the most academically rigorous colleges and universities or well-prepared to enter the workforce, but also that they have access to a variety of educational options – including technical high schools like the Bristol Technical Education Center, which I strongly support,” Mrs. Bobroske said.

“Bristol Tech plays a major role in educating a substantial number of students in Bristol, Plymouth and 20 other surrounding communities who want to go on to careers in business, manufacturing, or other skilled trades,” Mrs. Bobroske said. “College is not for everyone, and for many years, Bristol Tech has provided an alternative path to success for young people and adults with different career goals. There always has been a steady demand for Bristol Technical Education Center graduates from area businesses, industries and manufacturing firms and that will not change. The school is an integral part of Bristol and Plymouth’s education community and I was pleased to play a role in enabling it to continue serving our young people.”

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Strange politics at play

Taking into account that Gov. Jodi Rell is a Republican, it's strange that she's taking aim at a Bristol technical school championed by GOP stalwarts.
There are no shortage of state institutions in Democratic districts, after all, and the logic of the proposed closure of the Bristol Technical Education Center is shaky at best. The $2 million savings Rell anticipates almost certainly don't exist.
The school is located in state Rep. Bill Hamzy's 78th District. Hamzy, a former state GOP chairman, is an increasingly respected figure within state Republican circles who doesn't appear to have any personal conflicts with Rell.
He's also a big backer of the school.
And the head of the state's technical high school committee is yet another Republican with ties to Rell: Bristol's Beverly Bobroske. She's also a strong supporter of the school.
Throw in the insistence by the Greater Bristol Chamber of Commerce and a host of businesses throughout the region that hire the school's graduates and the political logic of targeting it gets even more odd.
The school has bipartisan backing, to be sure. Democrats say they love it, too, and have shown over the years that they mean it.
So what's the deal with it? The only critics of the place only argue that if something has to close to save painful cuts somewhere else, then shut it down.
But if there are no real savings from closure and political powerbrokers on both sides of the aisle want it to stay open, what's really going on?
It's hard to believe that Rell would, in the end, stick it to the Republican lawmaker who represents the school and shutter a school whose overseer is one of her GOP allies. That's just not how politics works.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com