Goal is to improve quality of education by improving communication

by Ruth Melville

After years of wrangling over the annual budget for Botelle School, Michael Sconyers, chairman of the Board of Finance, felt it was time to try something new. “It’s no secret,” he says, “that there’s been a lot of tension between the Board of Finance and the Board of Education. We’d lost the ability to talk to each other.”

In an effort to bridge the gap and bring some fresh thinking to the problem of school funding, Sconyers proposed a solution: to form a committee that would serve as a liaison between the two groups, a place for both sides to talk with each other in a less confrontational manner.

Both boards approved the idea, and the Botelle Advisory Group was formed. The group is made up of two members from the Board of Education, John DeShazo and Virginia Coleman-Prisco; two from the Board of Finance, Nina Ritson and Leslie Battis; and two from the Norfolk Foundation, Libby Borden and Joe Hurst.

Although the group has had only two meetings so far, Sconyers says the feedback he has received has been positive. In addition to working out a new budget, two of the issues he hopes will be addressed are coping with a declining student population and improving test scores. 

Libby Borden is pleased with the group’s preliminary discussions. “We just seem incredibly compatible,” she says. “We have such a wide variety of people, with different points of view, but everyone has great respect for each other.” Feeling some sense of urgency, the group plans to meet frequently.

John DeShazo, who is chair of the Board of Education’s Finance Committee, also thinks the advisory group has gotten off to a good start. To his mind, “the main goal is to make sure we are open and transparent about the budgeting process.” The Board of Education needs to be sure the school budget is sound and sustainable within the town budget.

DeShazo also talked about the importance of looking at the big picture—the future of the school. With the student population continuing to decline, “we’re going to look at all possible options to provide the best education we can,” he says.

At their meeting on Feb. 20, the advisory group had two items on the agenda. The first, to review the Botelle budget for next year, which has not yet been finalized; and second, to have First Selectman Matt Riiska come talk about his conversations with his counterpart in Colebrook about revisiting the idea of consolidating the two schools. In the four and a half years since the previous attempt at consolidation failed, Botelle’s enrollment has fallen to just over 70 students.

Borden is confident that the advisory group will help the school by improving communication. She says, “I’m very, very excited. Everyone in the group is energetic, smart, cooperative and interesting. We feel we can make things happen.”