Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti, left, and Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan, right.
A committee of Ansonia and Derby residents to study whether to regionalize the school system won’t hold a first meeting Thursday as previously announced.
The meeting had been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Derby City Hall. The state education department sent word of the meeting to the Derby town clerk 3:30 p.m. Friday, after city hall closed. Derby City Hall was closed Monday, and the town clerk was off Tuesday, so Derby committee members were not aware of the meeting time until Wednesday morning.
“It was purely a scheduling issue,” said Jim Gildea, chairman of the Derby Board of Education. “We will be working with the state and setting up another meeting.”
The meeting, when it happens, will be open to the public, and the agenda will include a public portion.
The “Temporary Regional School Study Committee” has up to two years to explore whether Ansonia and Derby schools can merge in some form.
Any recommendations would have to be approved by the majority of voters in both communities.
The representatives appointed from Derby: Barbara DeGennaro, James Gildea, Tara Hyder, George Kurtyka, and Ronald Luneau, Jr.
The representatives from Ansonia: Lorie Vaccaro, Joseph Jaumann, Tracey DeLibero, John Izzo, and Steven Adamowski.
While Ansonia and Derby schools have talked about sharing services for years — and still are — the cities have now begun a formal process under state law that could, assuming it goes forward, result in referendums in both cities.
A $168,000 state grant administered by the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments will pay for the study.
Ansonia’s half of the committee includes Vaccaro and Jaumann, who come from the Board of Aldermen. John Izzo and Tracey DeLibero are on the city’s school board.
Steven Adamowski is an unaffiliated Ansonia voter currently serving as Norwalk’s schools superintendent.
Mayor David Cassetti said Adamowski will bring key experience to the committee.
“He’s got a plethora of knowledge, an abundance of knowledge when it comes to education,” Cassetti said. “I’ve met with him several times and talked to him over the course of the last year.”
“Adamowski is an education professional with a wealth of experience,” John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, said. “He brings a knowledgeable, unbiased viewpoint to the table.”
But Ansonia Democrats pointed out that while the appointees in Derby come from both sides of the aisle, Ansonia opted to snub local Democrats.
That does not represent the makeup of Ansonia, critics said.
Further complicating the matter — Ansonia’s school board is currently suing the city over education funding.
“The commission appointments are absolutely partisan and (it) doesn’t bode well for the collaborative approach needed to ensure we are able to realize regionalization that works for the diversity of stakeholders including teachers, students, and taxpayers,” said Tarek Raslan, the chairman of the Ansonia Town Democratic Committee.
Cassetti said he nominated the members he did because they’ve expressed support for consolidating school districts.
“I’ve been a proponent of regionalization for a very long time and so are they,” the mayor said. “That’s why I put them on.”
The committee’s members said they’ll be able to keep an open mind, even if they have expressed support for regionalizing school districts.
“I think there’s a wealth of knowledge on the committee between the folks in Derby and Ansonia and I think they’re going to debate and re-debate and consider all available options,” Izzo said.
“All we can do is try to come up with the best recommendation,” Jaumann said. “If it’s signed off by the state board then it goes to voters to decide, which is they way it should be.”
Derby’s half of the committee includes two members of the school board — Jim Gildea, a Republican who chairs the school board, and George Kurtyka, a Democrat.
Barbara DeGennaro, an attorney, is a member of the Board of Aldermen who last ran on the Democratic line.
Tara Hyder is a parent deeply involved in youth sports. Derby resident Ronald Luneau, Jr., a coach and teacher in West Haven, according to The Connecticut Post.
A representative from the state’s department of education will also be on the committee, bringing its roster to 11 people.
“It’s a clean slate. We don’t know what needs to be done, but maybe if we regionalize in some way we can get better classes and improve curriculum,” Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan said.
