Shaboo Nightclub Fire, 1982

Fourteen photos of the 1982 Shaboo Nightclub Fire
Photos taken by Jay Crum
See Photos Here

For Facebooker's see
Shaboo Group

So what is this path academy?

Only two new charter schools have opened in the state in the last six years, although 20 applications were filed during that period. Despite the long odds, Our Piece of the Pie's proposed Path Academy has been approved to provided educational opportunities to students from Windham and surrounding towns.

The Path Academy goal will focus on over-age, under-credited students  who have fallen behind in credit accumulation and have therefore fallen behind their original graduating cohort by failing to be promoted from grade-to-grade. 

Path Academy students will earn credits at an accelerated pace with mastery-based progression versus “time-in-seat” to achieve credits. With a maximum size of 200 students, the school will integrate technology, project-based learning and extended learning time opportunities to ensure mastery of skills and concepts aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

With Windham’s graduation rate of 62.8% (state average 81.8%) and English Language Learner (ELL) incidence at 26.7% (state average 5.5%), the Path Academy will enhance educational options for struggling students in Windham and the region.

The Path Academy will eventually serve 200 over-age, under-credited students, the inaugural semester (Fall 2014) the academy will host 100 students. The host district, Windham, will be guaranteed 75% of the seats while 19 sending districts will provided
students for the remaining 25%. Targeted sending districts are:
Andover, Ashford, Bozrah, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Franklin, Hampton, Hebron, Lebanon, Mansfield, Marlborough, Norwich, Scotland, Sprague, Tolland, Vernon and Willington.

Transportation

Windham Public Schools will be responsible for providing transportation for Windham students attending Path Academy. With the academy's unique schedule and calendar dedicated bus transportation will be necessary most afternoons and days when the high school is closed  Blended bus transportation with Windham High School in the mourning maybe feasible. It is Windham Schools responsibility to provide the necessary arrangements, so Path Academy can operate its extended day/year schedule without delay or restrictions. Sending towns are responsible for transporting their own students to Willimantic. The Path Academy will work with out of district towns to determine busing availability.

Governance 

The Path Academy will be run by a board of directors appointed by Our Piece of the Pie.This board will be made up of (up to 11) Windham-area community members, representing any combination of higher education, business, legal, faith-based, and social service communities. Additionally one each of the following: School teacher, a member of the Pathway staff, Path Academy Leader, Academy student, Parent, Chairman of WPS or his designee.

Marketing and Recruitment Strategies

Our Piece of the Pie founding members have already developed plans and lines of communication with the host district of Windham . Similar relationships will be formed with all sending districts to ensure high quality service provision for every student.

Path Academy’s marketing and recruitment strategies have been designed to target a diverse student body. The academic program has also been designed to maximize student success for students from diverse backgrounds. In particular, Path Academy has the capacity to attract, enroll, and retain students from the diverse populations of Eastern Ct.

Path Academy will engage in widespread marketing andr ecruitment. The academy will specifically target to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds and who have a:

• History of low academic performance. 
• Students who have been recommended by their home district
• Students receiving free or reduced lunches
• ELL students
• Behavioral and social difficulties
• Students with special needs
• Special education students

School Calendar & Hours

Students attending the Path Academy will spend 400 more hour, per year, at their desks then a Windham High student. Path Academy will operate on an extended year calendar. Students will attend school from the first week of August through the third week of June, with intermittent vacations. In addition, students will attend one Enrichment Week in June and another in July, to support their learning and combat the “summer drift” phenomenon.

Path Academy will operate on an extended day schedule, running from 8am to 4pm daily, with the exception of Wednesdays (students leave at 2pm, (teachers stay for professional development). A student’s week will generally consist of several major activities.

Discipline Policies

See pages 150 - 157 of  application to state education commissioner


Facilities

Bob Rath
Facebook photo

Our Piece of the Pie proposes to purchase the former Jillson Square Cinemas and convert the now unoccupied building into a charter school. Purchase price and renovations are estimated to cost $4 million. Our Piece of the Pie will own the building initially and lease it to The Path Academy. As the pie people are a 501(c)(3) they are not liable to pay taxes on the building or contents. The present owner,Suba Group LLC currently pays $13,751.50
on the vacant theater building

For the past two weeks windhamweek has heard rumors that Our Piece of the Pie is in second position to purchase the unoccupied theater.  Apparently a national retail chain 
has first dibs on the property. We contacted Bob Rath, president and CEO of Our Piece of the Pie. Mr Rath denied and refused to comment on the matter. Since that conversation OPP has looked at two locations on Willimantic's Main Street, one being the former Willimantic Trust Building now owned by ECSU.

So, What's it going to Cost?

$11,700 per student according to OPP's application for a state charter. The state will pick up $9,400 for each seat filled. Federal assistance and foundation grants may add more to the pie. Our Piece of the Pie claim that they don't know what the local contribution will be.
From OPP's information officer: "Funding revenue streams for students are complicated and come from many sources so it’s hard to give a simple answer. We won’t know any more information until we know the individual students."

Original Story; Windham to get Charter School
OPP Aplication to Commissioner of Education

  

http://windhamweek.blogspot.com/2013/06/windham-to-get-charter-school.html

Two organizations vying to open charter schools in Waterbury and Windham are expected to get final approval this week from the State Board of Education.

“I assume there will be action” Wednesday, State Board of Education Chairman Allan B. Taylor said during an interview.

The expected opening of these new charters defies the odds; only two new charter schools have opened in the state in the previous seven years, although 27 applications were filed.

And the expansion is not likely to end there. The state budget approvedby the General Assembly this week provides $10.2 million to open four new charter schools overseen by the state over the next two school years.

“Obviously this is an area I had a pretty big disagreement with the legislature on,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told reporters Monday, explaining how he was able to get all the money for new charter schools included in the final adopted budget.

With the two new schools, 450 additional charter school seats would be added to the 6,451 seats in charter schools already available throughout the state -- a 7 percent increase in enrollment.

But Connecticut is still behind the national trend; only 1 percent of public school students in Connecticut attend charter schools, reports the U.S. Department of Education. Nationwide, 3.6 percent of all public school students were enrolled in charters in the 2010-11 school year, the most recent year for which data are available.

It’s not for lack of demand: According to the most recent report by the State Department of Education, charter school enrollment would double if everyone on the waiting list got a seat.

Taylor said growth of charter schools has been restrained because of how they're funded, which is largely with state money.

“That almost inevitably creates limited growth,” Taylor said.

The first school of choice in Waterbury (kind of)

For the last four decades, Children’s Community School, a private, non-parochial school on the east side of Waterbury, has served about 140 students from low-income families. Tuition is $350 a year.

Ct board of education to review schools suspending 6 yr olds

A math teacher at Achievement First's middle school in Hartford works
with a student

"If in Doubt, send them out

The State Board of Education plans to review the suspension and discipline policies of two charter schools run by Achievement First -- which manages the majority of charters in the state -- and decide this month whether to renew the contract for the schools in Hartford.

This follows disclosure that the discipline procedures Achievement First Hartford Academy outlined in the manual for their charter schools -- “If in doubt, send them out” -- have led to twice the rate of suspension of elementary and middle school students than for students attending traditional public schools.

Story From
Connecticut Mirror
By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The State Board of Education plans to review the suspension and discipline policies of two charter schools run by Acheivement First -- which manages the majority of charters in the state -- and decide this month whether to renew the contract for the schools in Hartford.

This follows disclosure that the discipline procedures Achievement First Hartford Academy outlined in the manual for their charter schools -- “If in doubt, send them out” -- have led to twice the rate of suspension of elementary and middle school students than for students attending traditional public schools. It also follows its Hartford middle school settling a complaint with Greater Hartford Legal Aid that addresses the impact its policies have on students with disabilities and special education needs.

                             __________________________________________________

                                  Q & A: On Child Suspensions at Windham Schools
                             __________________________________________________

“I imagine [discipline policies] will play a significant role in our decision,” said Allan B. Taylor, chairman of the state education board. Achievement First “really had a high rate [of suspensions]. It is something the board should be, and will be, concerned about.”

The State Department of Education reports that one in two students who attend the middle school in Hartford will be suspended at some point during the year, the highest rate in the state.

Of the 6,500 students enrolled in charter schools across the state, the majority attends one of the nine schools operated by Achievement First in Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven.

Stefan Pryor, the state’s education commissioner, who opened the first Achievement First charter school in the state, said Wednesday that because of his past involvement, he does not comment on situations related to the network.

Dacia Toll, the co-president of Achievement First, said that while each of her schools in the network have individual discipline strategies, it has become apparent that changes are necessary at many of her schools to curb suspensions.

"We believe in high levels of expectations and high levels of support, but what has happened is there are high expectations and uneven levels of support," she said during an interview. "We admit suspension rates are too high. That's the bottom line."

But the Hartford attorney who represents a handful of students affected by the schools' policies think the problem may be statewide.

"Based on information and belief, the network utilizes a consistent discipline policy, with minor variations across all of its charter schools,” the complaint reads.

In New Haven, where hundreds of students attend Achievement First charter schools, a lawyer representing students from low-income families says these discipline issues exist there, too.

“They are very strict,” said Erin Shaffer, an attorney with New Haven Legal Assistance, who has represented some students attending the schools. “I have been told, ‘We can’t change our discipline policy for one student’… I see parents being told the school is not appropriate for their student and hope they withdraw from the school.”

The school system denies this.

"Our schools do not encourage struggling students to leave," reads a brief by Achievement First on the system's use of discipline.

After it became clear that the Hartford school would not be changing anytime soon, Cochrane said she was left with no option but to file a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights.

“It was an ongoing tango. After waiting a year it just seemed like we weren’t making any headway. We weren’t changing anyone’s mind over there… They wanted their policies to apply to the disabled students the same way,” Cochrane said of the school’s “no excuses” motto.

The filing of the complaint led the Hartford middle school to voluntarily enter into an agreement that lays out steps for the school to change its approach. The federal office will oversee those changes over the next nine months.

Toll said the complaint and state department report putting several Achievement First schools at the top of the list for rates of suspensions was a wake-up call.

"We need to look at alternatives for suspension. If a kid misbehaves they should get more class time, not less class time," she said. Suspension rates "will be lower a year from now."

A discipline policy on display

After not completing his homework, Cochrane’s client “B” was disciplined. After putting his head down on his desk in class after he fell behind with no help from the school, he was again disciplined.

The problem, his lawyer said, is that the homework was not modified to accommodate his special education needs, as required by his education plan.

“B grew increasingly anxious and depressed over the difficulty of work at [Achievement First], and the constant fear of earning demerits,” the complaint reads.

This student was subsequently suspended for multiple days and failed every one of his classes during the 2011-12 school year.

The complaint details four other instances of similar “discriminatory practices” involving other students at the middle school.

Achievement First’s discipline policies are based on the use of “demerits” and pulling students out of class into “Isolation” or suspending students from school for nonviolent, non-safety-related issues.

The network's School Culture Manual reads, “We trust your gut, better to refer than to ignore. If unsure, please refer. If in doubt, send them out.”

The complaint says that once a student is pulled out of class into “isolation,” there is no proof that any instruction is provided. State law significantly limits when school officials are able to suspend students from school, and the lawyers at Greater Hartford Legal Aid think the charter schools rely too heavily on this method of discipline.

In a statement, Jeff House, the principal of the middle school, said, “We recognize that during the founding years of our school we have struggled at times to develop services to best support some of our most challenged students. We have worked to support all of our students, with and without disabilities, in good faith, but nonetheless we recognize that there are times where we have fallen short and students’ academic experience has suffered as a result.”

Part of the agreement the school entered into with the Hartford lawyers includes training staff on educating special needs students and obligations the school has. The school also agreed to better track the use of discipline given to students.

Finding a state solution

Several members of the State Board of Education last week said they were “alarmed” by the rate of suspensions of the state’s youngest students, including kindergarten students. In an attempt to curb unnecessary suspensions, the board decided that discipline policies would be a key factor when determining whether to renew a charter school’s five-year contract.

Aside from Hartford’s charter, which is set to expire before the end of the month, many charters have years before their contract will need to be renewed by the state board. (See renewal calendar).  Achievement First's schools in Bridgeport and New Haven won't need to be renewed until 2017.

Toll said she welcomes a more regular review of the network's suspension rates.

"The department could raise this with us at any time," she said.

Pryor, the state's education commissioner, during a board meeting last week when disscussing the issue of suspensions broadly he said he is working to create a sysem to routinely track and detect problems.

"We cannot lose our sense of alarm and our sense of outrage," he said, adding that a tracking system will be developed over the summer.

Read Achievement First's contract that is up for renewal (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4)

RELATED LINKS

State Education Department: Charter schools suspend elementary students twice as much

School suspension rates drop, but minority students still over-represented

Hundreds of kindergarten students suspended from school

Connecticut's budget deficit, and why you should be worried, A Three Part Series

, 

Connecticut's budget deficit, and why you should be worried, 
 A Three Part Series
by Connecticut Mirror budget reporter Keith Phaneuf

A 3 Part Series

As the smoke cleared Wednesday on the 2013 General Assembly session, Malloy was left trying to put the best face on a new two-year spending plan riddled with controversial choices.

Thursday, less than 24 hours after the end of the 2013 legislative session, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis issued a report that Connecticut was last – 50th – in the nation in economic growth.

• Expiring taxes would be extended and new limits placed on tax credits, costing taxpayers an extra $220 million over the biennium.
• With Connecticut headed for a 4-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax hike July 1 -- the result of a law passed eight years ago -- the new budget siphons all of the $120 million collected at the pumps over two years out of the transportation system and into the general fund.
• That’s just one of about $550 million worth of fund raids, account sweeps and other one-time gimmicks like amnesty for tax delinquents used to balance the new plan -- leaving a serious deficit after the 2014 election.
• It took a new interpretation of Medicaid spending that shifted more than $6 billion off the books to bring the budget under the spending cap.
• And Connecticut will borrow -- rather than gradually collect through savings -- about two-thirds of the $1.2 billion it needs to complete its GAAP conversion.

Part 1 Promises, gimmicks and historic shortfall

https://www.ctmirror.org/story/major-concessions-deal-undermined-bad-guesses-secrecy

Part 2 Part Two: "Major concessions deal undermined by bad guesses, secrecy 

https://www.ctmirror.org/story/major-concessions-deal-undermined-bad-guesses-secrecy

Part 3 Part Three: Serious deficit awaits Malloy -- or his successor -- after 2014

https://www.ctmirror.org/story/serious-deficit-awaits-malloy-or-his-successor-after-2014

Claire's Italian Garden June 9, 2013

Claire's Italian Garden

Clair's Italian Garden

Dick Kelly has never stopped giving to Windham
It's about time we recognize him

Italian Garden, a fixture on Main St Willimantic for over fifty years was known for the best pizza and pasta in our world. It was common occurrence to see several tour buses parked in front of the restaurant. Usually alighting, visiting athletes on their way or leaving an UConn athletic event. Big East Basketball teams seem to camp out at IG's especially if the couches last name was Pitino. Massimino or Carnescsca.

Between 1975 and 1985 Claire Meikle served up the best pasta and salads seven days a week Along with friendly advice, a big smile and a little gossip she managed to keep a constant flow of hungry customers happy, In addition she recorded the coming and going of her most favorite customers with her Kodak Pocket Instamatic.

Today we add the 16th batch of nearly 1400 photos that Clair will share with us. Please help us identify the unknowns in the comment section. Thankyou

Flickr, the  company that provides the software for Claire's Italian Garden, has changed the format and just about everything else of this site. You may notice that it runs slower and there are an assortment of problems. For this we say sorry but can't do anything about it.  Hopefully things improve or they go back to the old Flickr. Thankyou

Visit Claire's Italian Garden

A Portrait of a Town - Willimantic USA

Riverside Drive, Willimantic Ct

The Portrait of a Town

Willimantic, USA

The Portrait of a Town – Willimantic USA is a photo and digital media project exploring the story about a small city with a big personality, Willimantic, Connecticut. Willimantic was built out of industry, and grew to become one of Connecticut’s wealthiest cities. Now almost 30 years have passed since Willimantic’s main economic engine, the American Thread Company, closed its doors, leaving Willimantic with a large economic deficit. This story is about post industrial America, localized in a 5-square-mile slice of eastern Connecticut. Still a depressed community, Willimantic is now growing into the shadow of what it once was. True to the spirit of social media, I welcome anybody to help contribute to this story about the fabric of a community that is diverse and independent.

Taken from the introduction, The Portrait of a Town - Willimantic USA

A Portrait of a Town is one of the few quality informational  sites featuring Willimantic on the web. Gregory Hartzell, its proprietor,chooses topics, many of which, we are familiar with but know little about. He brings stuff to life. A Main Street barber shop, a town bureaucrat, a former hot dog stand turned rib purveyor. Just the tip of what Willimantic is about. Beautiful photography, superlative prose  If Portrait of a Town was a book, it would be on your coffee table.

Portrait of a Town keeps a low profile
Bookmark it, we have:
http://www.theportraitofatown.com/

Treason

That kid that gave stuff to wikileaks.  He should not be killed, of course not.  But he should be jailed...perhaps for the rest of his life.  you know...if you worked for APPLE and had run out to the New York Times to tell all the stuff that went down ...and continues to go down...these APPLE people crying their taxes are too high, would have prosecuted you to the full extent of the law which would probably include incarceration and or re compensation as well.

But we, my American friends, we are in the business of War.  And one of the bi-products of war, it may shock you to know...is death.  And death without rationale even. 

Unless we say, finally, no war.  None.  None. like the Swiss.  One must understand that we are going to do things which will ultimately kill those undeniably innocent.

As my uncle once would say after I was taking my time:  Either Crap or get off the Pot.

If this kid gave away secret information.  Information at which level he had been cleared.  If he really cherry picked and chose specifically what stuff to give to wiki leaks, if he was editorial and mainly provided the damning... any business would sue him.  Given that there was the, if even trivial, possibility of making Americans less safe (which it undoubtedly did, if only by flaming the fires of jihad) that kid should be in prison until breath has left his body and let that be known to those who have signed on to defend this country and would consider doing what this guy did.

It costs to do the right thing.  Make no mistake.  People should know that.

They should also know that it is still often so the better choice.

Ultimately, if Manning feels in his heart that he did the right thing, then he should also find contentment in his interminable incarceration for such an act and be happy for his life.

D Fenn