Page 2 - Barbara Meyer Mitchell News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

NORWALK, Conn. — Cries of “painful cuts” for Norwalk’s school system are sure to intensify with Tuesday’s Common Council decision: members voted 10-5 to set a budget cap that is $1 million lower than the controversial recommendation made by the City’s finance chief. “I think I speak for more than a few of us when I say that this was by far one of the most challenging budgets that we had to face in recent years, if not ever. We had to weigh the normal issues of the city that we were very familiar with but also account for many of the unknowns driven by COVID,” Council Preside...

Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Thomas Hamilton begins his rebuttal to comments made by Norwalk Chief Financial Officer Henry Dachowitz, at Wednesday’s Board of Education Finance Committee meeting. NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk’s CFO has cherry picked facts and presented misleading information to justify shifting taxpayer dollars to the City-side of the budget, Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Thomas Hamilton said Wednesday. Should Chief Financial Officer Henry Dachowitz’ recommended budget be approved, NPS will be forced into painful program cuts, he said, aft...

NORWALK, Conn. — Contrasting opinions on turf fields and a would-be welcome center, disappointment over another possible delay regarding Cranbury Elementary and a consensus that the Silvermine Elementary School is dangerous and some school bathrooms disgusting marked the Planning Commission’s virtual hearing Wednesday on the capital budget. More than 30 people spoke to the Commission, many of them responding to austere recommendations made by Chief Financial Officer Henry Dachowitz, characterized by citizen Jennifer Romano as “really disproportionate to the needs and ask, especially fo...

NORWALK, Conn. — The Board of Education’s facilities feasibility study, now underway, will do more than focus on wear and tear in Norwalk Public Schools’ buildings – in a “real exciting, innovative component,” it will “go beyond boilers and roof” and “take a very close look at what our classrooms are like and what they could potentially look like in the next five to 10 years,” NPS Chief of School Operations Frank Costanzo said. There’s also an emotional component. “If I think about what I’d like the Board’s legacy to be, it would be to create the infrastructure su...

Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Thomas Hamilton reviews updated 2021-22 capital budget request figures during Tuesday’s Norwalk Board of Education meeting on Zoom. NORWALK, Conn. — There’s hope that the Silvemine Elementary School driveway will be refashioned sooner than has recently been stated. Similarly, school bathrooms have moved up the list. Norwalk Board of Education members on Tuesday amended Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Alexandra Estrella’s recommended capital budget before unanimously approving it to send it along in the process. They also approved the re...