Hanging Shad: Daily politics

http://scullycommunications.com/archives/4475?utm_source=Coffee+and+Politics+No.+432+May+30%2C+2013&utm_campaign=Issue+432+%7C+Morning+Coffee+%26+Politics%3A+Licenses+for+Undocumented+Immigrants+Bill+Heads+to+Gov%27s+Desk&utm_medium=email

No Freeze Community Campout

The Windham No Freeze Project is holding its 2nd annual Community Campout at Lauter Park, 625 Jackson St., Willimantic from Saturday, June 22 – 23, 2013. Enjoy one of the most beautiful vacation spots in the area starting Saturday at 11am with the Covenant Soup Kitchen’s Strawberry Festival featuring homemade shortcake, live music for the family, face painting, vendors and prizes! Bring your family and friends and explore the rest of the park and swim in the Natchaug River, let the kids play in the Splash...See More

Memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day 2013

From Main Street to Hollywood: A tale of Main Syreet Cafe/ Willibrew

The State of Conn Office of Film, Television & Digital Media recently featured David Wolner's Willimantic Brewing Company on their web site

Link to photos

Office of Film, TV, Digital Media 

Victorian Home Tour, 2013

                    
Victorian Days in Willimantic

Visit Us during the Annual Victorian Home Tour Victorian Days in Willimantic!

               Saturday & Sunday, June 1st & 2nd, 2013, 11am – 4pm.

                                     brochure 

Guided Tours through Willimantic’s Beautiful Victorian Gems and Beautiful Gardens.

…featuring

Guided Tours throughout the Weekend

Victorian Homes * Elks Lodge * Windham Mills * Windham Town Hall * Historic So.
Windham 

* Lantern Tour * Garden on the Bridge * Wright’s Garden * Old Willimantic Cemetery * 

Railroad Museum

*NEW THIS YEAR*
Homes of Windham Center

Highlight of Events

Art Space @ 480 Main Street
Windham Regional Arts Council – MEMBER ART SHOW
Opening reception: Friday, May 31st, 7-9 pm
Music. Refreshments. Open to Public – Free
Gallery opens weekends 1-4:00 through June 22nd

Windham Mills Tour
Saturday, June 1, 10:00-11:30 am – Guided Tour with Historian, Jamie Eves
Walking Tour of the Windham Mill Complex including mill buildings, raceways ,worker 

& manager housing with emphasis on 19th century mill ecosystem.  Free.

Lantern Tour
Thursday, May 30, 7:00pm
Walking Tour of North Windham Village
Historian Bev York discusses different styles of architecture and village history.
Meet at the cemetery on N. Windham Rd. Ext.
$10.00 per person

Victorian Tea
Saturday and Sunday, June 1 & 2: 11:30, 1:00, & 2:30 PM
Call 860-428-7573: Reservations only.

 +++++++++++++++

Advance Tickets, information and brochures are available at Potpourri Quick
Copy (700 Main Street, Willimantic) or by calling the Event Manager Lynn
Duval at: 860-428-7573.  For directions,click here.

Event Days: Ticket sales are located at the Kramer School Exhibit Hall, 322 

Prospect Street, Willimantic. The hall opens at 9 AM.  Home Tours run from 11 AM until
4 PM.  House Ticket includes Complementary Gardens & Tour Program

Included with Ticket:

• Tour Programs $3.00 (complementary with purchase of a home tour ticket)
• Gardens
• Entrance to the Exhibit Hall at Kramer School
• Architectural Talk & Slideshow
• Free Parking
• Horse & Wagon Ride
• Brass Band Concert (at First Congregational Church)
• Garden on the Bridge Tour
• Museum Cafe – where you can purchase desserts & beverages

++++++++++++++

Victorian Days Event Manager: Lynn Duval: 860-428-7573

Victorian Days Chair: Pam Horrocks: 860-456-1666

If you would like to volunteer for this event, please contact: Pam Horrocks
 @ 860-456-1666 or email: Rhorrocks@snet.net

                   

Shocking: Ct Kindergarten, First Grade Suspensions including Windham

From the Connecticut Mirror

The state's Office of the Child Advocate's office heard  that a child had been expelled from preschool.  She also had learned that a 7-year-old had been arrested while at school.

Jamey Bell, the child advocate, saw no reason why a child that young should be suspended, and wanted to know how widespread the problem was. She would soon find out  there were 1,967 incidents of students age 6 and under that were suspended last year  from Ct schools.

The district-by-district suspension data compiled by the Connecticut State Department of Education show some districts have much higher rates of suspensions . For example, New Haven had 89 incidents of students 6 years old and younger last year being suspended, while Waterbury, which has an almost identical student enrollment, had 173 suspensions. Windham comes in with 27 suspensions, (See Q & A's with Windham's central office)

Read Entire Ct Mirror report
Hartford Courant on Child Suspensions

cafemantic

Gatsby's Backyard Ball: Cafémantic Patio Grand Opening

• The Champagne Soiree of the Season in the Style of the Great Gatsby To Celebrate the opening of Cafemantic’s Backyard Patio 948 Main Street • Willimantic, CT. Champagne Toast & Period Inspired Hors d’oeuvres Beer & Wine Cash Bar 6:00 pm start / 6:30 pm toast Following the Reception, a 1920s Inspired Dinner Menu Will be Available A Portion of the Proceeds to Benefit Willimantic Victorian Neighborhood Association $25 in advance • $30 at the door Tickets & Dinner Reservations 860.423.4243 • cafemantic.com  Cafemantic on facebook Attire Reminiscent of the Roaring 20s is Welcomed

Be sure to watch gatsby; the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RqtjacYasA

St Mary's Church Fire. May 16, 2013

See Saint Mary's before fire

   
                                                          May 16, 2013
The sound of breaking glass broadcast through the tower truck's communication system
                                        The buzz of the saws venting the church

                                           Sometimes you have to hurt to help

                                                 Views of the St Mary's Fire

St Mary's before the fire from Gerry Dougherty's Connecticut
Gerry Dougherty's Windham

Sewall: Cuts to school funds contradict state intervention

Chairman Sewall (UConn photo)

 Nearly two years ago the Connecticut's State Board of Education moved into Windham's schools, appointed a special master to take over school operations.The school redo has been expensive and extensive. The school board claims while the state mandates improvements it has not provided adequate funds to accomplish those improvements. At least that’s Windham school board chairman claims regarding the district’s share of state dollars.

The problem centers around Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) funds. ECS is the state’s largest driver of state education aid to towns, accounting for 12.6% of the state’s FY 2011 budget. The formula behind the ECS Grant was originally intended to provide grants to towns progressively to ensure that all students had equal educational opportunity, regardless of their town’s ability to raise revenue to fund public education.  Several flaws in the ECS formula  prevents it from achieving its objective.  Originally, the grant was supposed to be funded at $2.7 billion by FY 2008 but has only been funded at $1.9 billion since FY 2009. This under-funding has led to wide variation in the amount of funding towns receive. 

Windham received $24,933,574 (2012-13). Under Gov. Malloy's proposed 2013-14 education budget Windham will not received  an increase. With a smaller transportation allotment and no increased ECS funding Windham  could see a $100,000.00 net funding decrease although a competing budget proposal from the state education committee could over ride the governors budget proposal. If it should win, Windham could see a 3.9% increase in ECS funding.

Connecticut's education funding has been tight  for the past four budget cycles.   Windham's educators  don't realize that they must share resources with 168 other school districts. Mr Sewall goes so far to claim there are too many school districts in Conn. grabbing too much of Windham's grant "pie." Murphy Sewall is incredulous that the state  would short the Windham system $100,000.00 when the state has mandated that Windham improves its dysfunctional system.

Because Windham is one of the poorest towns in the state, the Connecticut Board of Education and state taxpayers pick up a great part of Windham's education tab. While an average Connecticut school district contributes 66% of their school costs (2009-10) and the state contributes 28.8% Windham taxpayers contribute28.2% (2009-10) and the state pitches in 50.6%. Federal grants and tuition income makes up the difference. Windham qualifies for every education grant known to man.

It is commendable that our school board fights for every last cent to educate our kids but lets face it, $100,000.00 when plugged into a $43 million dollar education budget shouldn't send Sewall  ranting.

While  Sewall mourns the the possible loss of $100,000.00 in state funding he neglects mentioning the bonanza funding that Windham will receive in  2013 - 2014 . 

Between 2007 and 2012 Windham's student population has decreased by 685 students. Some of the decrease is attributed to the region's hard economic times, the remainder to the fleeing of families to towns with successful schools. While WPS no longer has the responsibility of educating these students the ECS grant  continues to be fully funded.

In the end, if the governor's proposed budget succeeds and Sewall loses his $100,000.00 in grants he will end with with an ECS increase of up to $957,855.00, even more if the education committee proposal is adopted.

When Special Master Adamowski arrived in Aug. 2011 to make WPS whole again the understanding was that he would control all aspects of the system during the rehabilitation process. Lately he has allowed Sewall to act as school spokesmen. If credibility is part of the making whole process, he definitely is not using the right person.

May 1, 2013
Windham School PopulationProjections through 2020

(Scroll down to Klepper-Smith Study)

Willimantic Chronicle Story

Opposition Growing to Malloy's Ed Funding Plan Ct Mirror

.

Proposed 2012-13 ECS funding by town  

warren mill stafford springs

Saturday May 25, 2013

4pm (rain or shine)

Sponsored by:  Windham Textile & History Museum

Mill of the Month Program

Stafford Springs, CT

Join us on May 25^th at 4pm, rain or shine, as Jamie Furness leads a walking tour of factories and sites that were located in the village of Stafford Springs on the Willimantic River.  Learn about one of the last textile manufactories, the Warren Mill (Loro Piani), which is still producing high end wool fabrics including camel hair and cashmere. We will meet on the sidewalk near the old train station next to the rotary on Route 32.  Parking is available in the municipal lot next to the railroad tracks.  Cost is $8 per person.  Registration is suggested by calling 860-456-2178.

For information contact:  860-456-2178

For more information, contact the Windham Textile and History Museum, 411 Main Street, Willimantic, CT 06226, 860-642-7306,  www.millmuseum.org.

A Great Chuckle-Watch It

Dramatics on the 405

The making of the movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/405_(film)

a Fill-anthropic Get Togeather

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Karen J Gilbransen <kjgilbransen@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, May 2, 2013 at 7:57 AM
Subject: A FILL-anthropic Get Together for the Windham Garden Club, Wed., May 8th, 6 - 9 pm at Willibrew
To: Karen J Gilbransen <kjgilbransen@gmail.com>

The next FILL-anthropic will be held on Wednesday, May 8th, from 6-9 pm, at the Willimantic Brewing Company. 

We'll be raising money for the Windham Garden Club.

You see quite a bit of their efforts throughout Willimantic Downtown including in the gardens in the parking lot outside of Willibrew and the Garden on the Bridge!

For more information about the Garden Club: http://www.gardenclubofwindham.org/

About FILL-anthropic:

Leigh Duffy, Executive Director of The No Freeze Project described FILL-anthropic as:

"Thanks Fill-anthropic for figuring out how to create community, have fun, enjoy great food and raise money for local nonprofits!"

To see what our generous hosts have got cookin': www.willibrew.com

See you there?

Textile Museum Tag Sale This Weekend

The Fiscal Times

BUSINESS + ECONOMY

How Cookies Sweeten the Pot for Girl Scouts

Photo: iStock Photo

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By CNBC Staff, CNBC

April 30, 2013

On a recent sunny Thursday afternoon in midtown Manhattan, a local troop from the Girl Scouts of Greater New York was busy setting up shop to sell their famed cookies to passersby, just as their selling season was winding down.

It wasn't just any street corner, though. The outpost at Park Avenue and 51st Street was nestled between the headquarters of some of the biggest Wall Street banks. Main offices for JP Morgan Chase , UBS, and the Blackstone Group, to name a few, were all within a three block radius.

The Fiscal TimesFREE Newsletter

Don't let America's youngest sales force fool you. The 3.2 million Girl Scouts run a juggernaut business in a limited, eight-week period allotted to each troop. This year cookie sales are on pace to exceed last year's record $790 million, which beat 2011's $760 million. By comparison, the U.S.'s most popular cookie is Mondelez's Oreo , which posts annual U.S. sales of more than $1 billion. Girl Scout cookies are second, followed by another Mondelez brand, Chips Ahoy.

About half of cookie revenues are earmarked for Girl Scout trips and outings for local troops. About 25 percent goes toward operational costs for the national entity, and the rest goes to the girls.The troop in front of St. Bartholomew's plans to throw a pajama party when the selling season wraps up.

The billion-dollar mark for Girl Scout cookies isn't far off, especially if the organization's CEO Anna Maria Chavez's vision comes to pass: e-commerce.

"We're looking at a couple of years… we'll probably have a prototype (in the) next calendar year for girls to test out," Chavez said in an interview with CNBC. "Right now, we're at the front end of that design."

But scouts selling cookies online is a controversial idea – one critics call "unthinkable" – for a business built a century ago to help sow entrepreneurialism through interpersonal relationships. So controversial that one of the Girl Scouts' digital experts unequivocally denied the project would happen in a recent New Yorker story.
To Chavez, the main goal of the business and its extension to sell cookies online is still to build financial acumen – something that young girls have lacked, she said.

Two years ago, Chavez commissioned a study to map the girls' knowledge of financial topics. The results showed nearly all girls surveyed were optimistic in their financial future and ability to provide for a family. Only 12 percent, however, expressed high confidence in making financial choices.

"Even though they are fully confident that they can do this, there's a gap in their skill set," said Chavez.

Taking momentum from the "Lean In" movement, Chavez's financial literacy program has gone full-throttle. Among all the badges young girls can earn, there are now 26 business badges, ranging at the young end from "Money Counts" to—at the more sophisticated end – "Profits & Losses."

And among the activities now availed to the young troops: Meetings with mortgage bankers to discuss how to save for a house; briefings from financial advisers about credit scores and how to build a good one; and visits to corporate headquarters to meet with female CEOs and discuss how to run a business. One recent video shows a boardroom where Kay Krill, CEO of Ann Inc., talks to scouts about running her retail business.

An overwhelming majority of the girls on duty outside St. Bart's on that Thursday afternoon said they did, indeed, want to run their own business someday. What type of business? For most of them, the answer was obvious: "Cookies."

This piece by Kayla Tausche originally appeared at CNBC.com

Read more at CNBC

Girl Scouts: Year Round Sales By Bakers Don’t Affect Sales

Robot Reality: How Robots Will Change Our Lives

Slideshow: 8 Wacky Business Ideas

Read more at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/04/30/How-Cookies-Sweeten-the-Pot-for-Girl-Scouts.aspx#qdHs4hmIhU4OxXRq.99