FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
Nicholas Mercier
mercier@mercierforeducation.com
http://mercierforeducation.com
Mercier to run for Board ofEducation
New Britain, CT, April 12, 2011 – Nicholas Mercier, Chairman ofNew Britain's Board of Finance and Taxation, announced that he will run for NewBritain's Board of Education this fall. Mercier, a Republican, said, “Weneed Board of Education members who understand what it takes to teach a childand who will work tirelessly to ensure that every child succeeds.”
Mercier, who has served for two years on the Board ofFinance and Taxation, is also an elementary music teacher in Naugatuck andlives in New Britain with his wife and young son. He expressed confidence inthe quality of New Britain schools. “We have a good system that can serve allof our children well. While New Britain’s school district may be consideredfailing under the guidelines of No Child Left Behind, those numbers do not tellthe whole story. I see so much potential in the New Britain school system. Someof our programs have take students who would have dropped out in any otherschool system and helped them move onto college.”
“My work on the Board of Finance and Taxation has alsotaught me that more funding is simply not the whole answer. Other urban schooldistricts spend far more and see far less success than we have. We need toimplement smart, targeted programs that have been proven to succeed. It isabout developing our teachers to be the most knowledgeable, highly trained, andmotivated work force of educators possible.”
In addition to his classroom work in Naugatuck's schools,Mercier has led workshops in areas of learning theory and technologyintegration in the classroom and served on the executive board of the KodalyEducators of Southern New England. “There is much we can learn from othersystem's successes to improve education here in New Britain”
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Our Comments...
ReplyDeleteCut Connecticut State spending and Connecticut Programs back to 1980, and don't raise Connecticut Taxes. Take away new Connecticut Entitlement Programs since 1980.
Great news!
ReplyDeleteChange we desperately need here!
ReplyDeleteTRENTON – After a year of proclaiming his goals for wide-ranging school reform, Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday turned in proposed legislation that would revamp tenure for teachers and significantly alter how they are paid.
The initiatives are similar to what other Republican governors and advocates have offered nationally, but they would represent a sea change in New Jersey and recreate the state’s 112,933 public teaching jobs as competitive positions without guaranteed annual raises or lifetime job protections.
Christie, a Republican, made the announcement at a news conference Wednesday with his usual verbal fusillade against the state’s largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.
The NJEA, in return, accused the Republican governor of attempting to take away union bargaining rights.
The seven bills face an uncertain future in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which recently has been emboldened by the legislative redistricting process that is widely perceived to have protected Democratic seats.
A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said that the Assembly would write their own bills for education reform. Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, the state Senate Education Committee chairwoman, said in a statement that she was still working on her own teacher tenure reform legislation.
One of Christie’s proposals would tie pay to teacher performance and revamp the common practice of allowing unions to set up salary schedules that offer not only cost-of-living raises, but regular pay increase “steps” and higher salaries for advanced degrees.
Christie’s other initiatives would enact an annual job review system and curtail protections so that school districts and administrators would have new powers in assigning, retaining or firing teachers.
does he say where he stands on school vouchers?
ReplyDeleteHes not even a candidate yet. What is he doing? Hes asking for a nomination you can't just declare your a candidate without the town committees nomination?
ReplyDeleteAs a point of clarification. Obviously the Town Committee has a process by which they nominate their slate of candidates. With my announcement of my intentions I submitted an candidate application seeking the party nomination. I will also be contacting all the members of the Town Committee personally to address any questions or concerns they may have.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me? this kid looks like peewe herman.Mr Mercier
ReplyDeleteyou will not make it on the Board of Ed,you will have to grow a set of balls first
I find it highly amusing that someone who would hide behind a juvenile pseudonym such as "Nicholas Prickulus" would accuse me of needing to grow as set of "balls".
ReplyDelete" Nicholas Prickulus said...
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me? this kid looks like peewe herman.Mr Mercier"
There was a big guy sitting in the audience who is known for calling people stupid names. You know the guy, he looks like a eunuch, the guys that were used to guard middle east harems.