CITIZEN’S PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION (CPOA) REQUESTS INFORMATION ON COSTS OF “THE NEW BRITAIN EDUCATOR” NEWSPAPER UNDER FOIA
NEW BRITAIN, Connecticut (July 7, 2010): The Citizen’s Property Owners Association, Inc. (CPOA) of New Britain has filed a Freedom of Information Act with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doris J. Kurtz requesting information on the publication and wide spread distribution of a twelve page color newspaper entitled “The New Britain Educator”
Michael Wanik, CPOA President used the newspaper as an example of mismanagement of funds entrusted the school district. Amongst other delivery systems, the newspaper was an advertising insert in two local newspapers at an estimated cost upwards of forty thousand dollars while teaching funding was being discussed and teaching positions put on the line. Wanik had stated at the June 23, 2010 Common Council meeting that perhaps the full costs of just one addition of the newspaper equated to one or more of the education jobs currently in limbo; illustrating the financial mismanagement which appears rampant. Although present at the meeting, no school administrator present made any attempt to correct the record, indicating to CPOA that the figure is either accurate or low.
Wanik states: “The results of this FOIA will speak clearly to taxpayers how their money is being spent in this tough economy. We can’t afford to throw more dollars into a wasteful, unchecked, out of control system. We ask the Council find common ground with the Mayor on the vetoed budget and work towards intelligent controls and full transparency of the school budget for the next fiscal year. While we want a solid educational system, we can not burden taxpayers with unnecessary expenditures not related to educating the student in the seat”,
/////// A full copy of the FOIA follows this release ///////
ABOUT CPOA: The objective of the association shall be “to foster, encourage and promote interest in all activities of local, state and regional agencies by local taxpayer groups as those activities affect taxpayers of New Britain and the State of Connecticut; also to develop and establish an agenda in support of certain legislative initiatives which would affect greater economy, efficiency and effectiveness in our state and municipal governments and disseminate information regarding such state and regional agency activities and legislative initiatives to the state’s and New Britain’s taxpayers.” (CPOA By-Laws 3.0)
July 6, 2010
Dr. Doris J. Kurtz
Superintendent of Schools
272 Main Street
New Britain, Connecticut 06050-1960
Dear Dr. Kurtz;
In accordance with the State of Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act, I, Michael W. Wanik, President of the Citizen’s Property Owners Association, Inc., formally request the opportunity to review and/or copy all receipts/records of any costs associated with producing and
distributing the New Britain Educator magazine for FY 2009, 2010 and 2011.
My request includes, but is not limited to, records of funds paid and/or encumbered that are associated with payroll/staff or vendor costs, printing and design cost, public relation firm consulting costs, web posting costs, or funds that have been paid or will be paid to distributors such as the New Britain Herald, Hartford Courant and other mechanisms. In other words, we wish to explain to the taxpayer what the “all in” cost of this publication is.
I also request the total number of New Britain Educator newspapers printed in each year above, as well as how those newspapers were distributed indicating how many went through each respective channel (e.g. through newspaper home delivery, distribution to staff and students, etc).
Lastly, please indicate if your initial budget submitted to the City for FY2010-2011 included monies earmarked for the Educator newspaper, and what that dollar amount was.
If you have any questions I can be reached at cpoanb@gmail.com.
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Respectfully,
Michael Wanik
on behalf of the Citizen’s Property Owners Association
Cc: Mayor Stewart, BOE President Sharon Beloin-Saavedra
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
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7 comments:
Their request should also include how much was spent on hiring a professional production company to produce television commercials selling the free schools of New Britain to parents, with the intent of discouraging them from sending their children to out of town or private schools.
This is a double insult to every taxpayer because we are paying for advertising to encourage parents to use the schools that we must pay for instead of paying for their own schools. I believe this was forcing the taxpayers to foot the bill for a union agenda meant to protect union jobs because if thousands of parents chose to send their children to private schools, then we could slash the number of teachers. Why should my taxes pay to keep a teacher that we would otherwise not need?
why won't the board of ed release this information to the council or even the mayor? what are they trying to hide? what are they ashamed of? it is OUR money they are spending!
Well it's about time. When this publication started, years ago, I contacted Doris Kurtz regarding the costs and she informed me that she had signed a printing contract that couldn't be cancelled, "that year", this full color magazine style still persists and it is being inserted into the local newspapers!!! Mailed home. This year it came out after school had closed.
It's about time we get some answers and taxpayers in this city need to push back.
Sally Eigenraam
how much did they spend hiring a caterer to feed them catered meals at their meetings?
no one seems to be asking about the cost to produce the TV commercial selling the school system to parents?
What a waste of money!! Who else but the parents whose children's photos appear in this advertising supplement?
The New Britain Educator alone cost $18k. The Public Relations budget is approx $100,000. Dr Kurtz indicated to me this woefully low for the size of her operation. Claims are that these documents will help stop the flow of children to magnet schools. Perhaps maybe returning acceptable test scores can be considered in the future.........
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