To the Editor,

In response to longtime Wilton resident and town leader Ray Moskow’s letter detailing the way in which “Sensible” has been wasting the time and resources of our town on a futile and useless effort respecting a Miller-Driscoll revote, “Sensible’s” president can do no better than to devote his attention to some gibes at IBM’s former leadership (of all things) and then repeats a canard of “Sensible’s” that “…school enrollments are projected to significantly decrease here in Wilton.”

According to the best available and latest projection information, he’s wrong on the “significantly” part of that, but even if he weren’t — as Mr. Moskow pointed out in his letter and as “Sensible’s” president chooses to ignore apparently since he has no rebuttal for it — you don’t plan a rebuild designed to carry this building for another half-century based solely on enrollment projections for the next eight years, which is as far out as any professional projector feels one can reasonably go with any hope of reliability.

In fact, the comprehensive survey just completed last month by enrollment projectors Milone & MacBroom (30 pages long and well worth the read) presents in its three enrollment projections a modest 8-year change (through the 2022-23 school year) in enrollment of Miller-Driscoll age-range students of from -8.5 percent (“low enrollment projection”) to -7.1 percent (“medium,” and they believe the most likely:  “In our judgment, the medium growth scenario presents the most appropriate model for long-term projections over the eight-year planning horizon of this study…” (p. 24)) to -5.3 percent (“high”) (pp. 26-28, charts).

“Sensible’s” president also points to the “over 1100 citizens” who signed the original petition (actually 1,070 registered town voters signed it according to our Registrars of Voters, and of those 1,070, fully 750 had not even voted in the September rebuild vote about which they complained, also according to our town Registrars of Voters). However, “Sensible’s” president conveniently omits reference to the far more paltry number who signed “Sensible’s” latest petition effort. Barely more than one quarter (27 percent) of the number who signed “Sensible’s” original petition signed “Sensible’s” latest petition, and 64 percent of those latest signers also had not bothered to vote in September. Specifically, of the 291 town electors whose signatures were verified on the latest petition, 187 who signed did not vote in September, again according to our town Registrars of Voters.

What better evidence than the number who signed this new petition that Wilton residents are coming to realize how bankrupt “Sensible’s” ideas are concerning this project and that it’s time to bring closure to “Sensible‘s” great waste of our town’s time and resources.

Sincerely,

Steve Hudspeth

6 replies on “Hudspeth: Sensible Wilton Ideas are ‘Bankrupt,’ and Its President is ‘Wrong’”

  1. For a person who cannot get titles correct at Yale School of Law in important client white papers that were distributed by a major Endowment Fund of Funds, I would take whatever that person is saying with a grain of salt.

  3. That’s one way to look at it, graupner. Another way to look at it is that the issue was discussed and debated literally for years. Countless meetings were held and were open to the public. Thanks to online forums and social media, the actual vote was advertised in more ways than any former town referendum. There were information sessions before and on the day of the vote. Engaged voters turned out and voted. We have an answer, and now it is time to move on. We’re only wasting more time and money by discussing “second looks” for people who failed to look the first time.

    We’re essentially replacing a school for 800+ kids, completely changing the footprint, replacing nearly every bit of infrastructure, re-equipping it for an online, digital future concerned with energy efficiency and physical security. Such a project is tens of millions of dollars no matter how you look at it. Given the extent of the project and the unknowns, and given the same cost estimate of the smaller Newtown project, $50 million is a reasonable cap for this project. So let’s just listen to the voters and get on with it, ensure the project is well managed, and that it delivers all the required benefits within the budget.

    1. Hi Rick, I think Mohammed stumped you at the Board of Selectmen meeting. Would you like to set a debate up with him?

  4. I’d like to remind everyone participating in this dialogue that this conversation needs to follow the guidelines that GMW has established in our Terms of Use. Please refrain from insulting other commenters or individuals and stick to discussing this issues and facts. I’d prefer not to delete comments but will if needed.

  5. Rick- If there were so many discussions and meetings about the vote then why was it necessary to send someone to give a “vote yes” presentation at the Middlebrook open-house for incoming 6th graders last September? That was inappropriate and a waste of my time, particularly because the teacher presentations and discussion were cut short.

    Does anybody know who sent that person and/or what the vote had to do with my child entering Middlebrook?

    Scott Robichaud

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