Friday, May 24, 2013
 

Education

Conflict? UConn expansion needs OK from other college system

When the governor proposed a dramatic enrollment expansion at the University of Connecticut, concerns immediately arose as to whether that would siphon students away from the state’s other public college system already coping with steady enrollment declines.

But the governing board for the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities will need to sign off on many of those new or expanded programs for UConn, and has already begun. Last week, without discussion, the Board of Regents unanimously approved the first of many new degrees at UConn and its regional campuses.

New college president is no stranger to crisis management

Gregory Gray is familiar with crisis management.

Ten minutes on the job of leading a three-campus community college system just outside Los Angeles, his phone rang with an emergency message from the vice chancellor.

“We have to cut $16.5 million from our budget this week,” Gray recalled of the conversation. He was told he would need to shrink his budget by 8 percent.

“And I have been involved in that type of budget problem almost every day since that time.”

Gray is about to step into another storm in Connecticut come July 1 when he becomes the president of the state’s largest college system.

Gregory W. Gray, the new president of Connecticut's college system, has had to face budget crisis elsewhere.

One year later, lawmakers’ enthusiasm for education reform fades

Gov. Dannel Malloy signs the education reform law in 2012
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The state Senate unanimously adopted a measure Thursday aimed at improving coordination between a wide array of caregivers and support services for children with mental illness.

The bill, crafted in response to last December’s tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, lays the groundwork for a more comprehensive, coordinated response by mental health agencies, schools and emergency mobile psychiatric services.

Nearly half of the University of Connecticut’s full-time police positions are currently vacant –- a situation that is forcing some officers to work weeks without a day off and costing the school about $68,000 a month in overtime.

“What ends up happening is you force officers to work and they are more likely to get worn down,” said UConn Chief Barbara O’Connor. “We are running at minimum staffing numbers more often than not.”

A legislative task force has endorsed the repeal of Connecticut’s car tax, but -- like another group before them – doesn’t recommend relief for most taxpayers to begin before 2018.

The Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies Commission created by House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, also proposed a common statewide school calendar, new “master” regional planning agencies, and an end to the requirement that communities publish public notices in local newspapers.

The state's largest teachers' union has filed a complaint against Bridgeport, the state's largest school district, claiming the superintendent is shutting out teachers and parents from important decisions.

Jamey Bell has resigned as the state’s child advocate, she confirmed Monday.

Her decision to leave comes seven months after becoming head of the watchdog agency overseeing state departments responsible for abused and neglected children.

It started with a report to the state's Office of the Child Advocate that a child had been expelled from preschool.

Jamey Bell, the child advocate, saw no reason why a child that young should be suspended, and wanted to know how widespread the problem was. She also had learned that a 7-year-old had been arrested while at school.

Democratic Senators have decided they do want to hold hearings after all to vet the budgets of the state's public colleges and universities -- kind of.

Last week, a Republican proposal that would require officials from the University of Connecticut and the Board of Regents to come before lawmakers to explain their proposed budget before it is adopted was overwhelmingly defeated by Democratic legislators.

Still recovering from a letter critical of the president of the University of Connecticut that went viral, officials at the state's flagship university have decided to form a task force to "explore all matters related to civil behavior and speech at the university."