The Wilton-organized Hands Off Our Schools group is preparing for this Friday, March 1 for the public hearing in Hartford on legislation to compel regionalization of school districts. They’ve set up several measures to help residents get involved:

Buses to Hartford

The group is organizing two buses to go to Hartford for the public hearing on Friday, March 1. Buses will depart from WEPCO (48 New Canaan Rd.) at 9 a.m. on Friday. The bus fare for the round trip is $25 per passenger. Seats are limited–to register, fill out the Google document created by the organizers.

Buses are only contracted for a limited time and organizers plan to be back in Wilton no later than 10 p.m., although they say they hope to return earlier if possible.

Sending Testimony to Hartford

Wilton resident Caroline Unger has put together a quick info sheet on “How to Send Testimony to the Education Committee.”

[Editor’s note:  Under has prepared this in opposition to all three bills. GOOD Morning Wilton is not advocating how readers should feel or opine on the issue.]

  • IMPORTANT:  Testimony must be received by 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28
  • IMPORTANT:  Include testimony as an attached PDF or Word Document. This is necessary so that it is included in the public record for all three bills

Email testimony to:  edtestimony@cga.ct.gov

Subject:  Opposition to SB 738, SB 457, and SB 874
IMPORTANT:  Make sure to reference all three regionalization bills in the Subject. This will ensure that this is added to the public record for each bill

Body of Email:
Clearly state your opposition, and restate all three bill numbers at the start of the email:
“As a parent of public school students, I strongly oppose SB 738, SB 457, and SB 874 and any other bill that opens the door to forced regionalization of Connecticut Public Schools.”

Include your reasons for opposition and let them hear your personal perspective, examples could include:
–We moved here for the schools, and existing school quality is what keeps us here
–If you have researched, provide evidence indicating that this will not ultimately save money given the costs of combining resources, or any other impact you’ve found
–None of these bills include even one mention of school quality
–Erodes the quality and the character of our local schools, which erodes the quality of our town
–Concern about potential impact of larger school sizes, decreasing administrator and community engagement, etc.
–Evidence that this is already preventing people from coming to CT, or is driving decisions of people to leave CT
–NOTE: declining property values is NOT likely to be something legislators care about, but the CT economy is

Include your name and your town

Close with a specific ask, e.g.:
“I hope you will oppose SB 738, SB 457, SB 874, and any other legislation that opens the door to forced regionalization of Connecticut public schools.”

Workshop on Providing Testimony

Hands Off Our Schools is offering a workshop on how to write, submit and offer testimony. It is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 27 at Comstock Community Center from 1-4 p.m.. There is a Facebook event page set up for more information on the session.

Phone Bank

The group has also set up a phone bank for supporters to call voters around the state to encourage participation in efforts to oppose regionalization legislation.  That phone bank is scheduled for today, Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Comstock Community Center from 12-2 p.m.. Interested participants are asked to bring phones; organizers will provide phone numbers to call and scripts.