Rocky Hill has every reason to be proud of our teachers and students. Rocky Hill students have scored at the top of the District Performance Index for both Math and ELA on SBAC. We have students at the high school level who are attending Math and Science competitions. Our students are not only talented in the classroom, but out of the classroom in sports, theater and the arts.
These successes should make it clear what stands to be lost if we fail to support our school system as it needs to be.
Our schools need critical investment
Amidst our successes, our school system faces a growing challenge: the town has consistently underinvested in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), a fund which pays for necessary maintenance and improvements to town buildings.
For a number of years, the town government has failed to meet the Board of Education’s request to fund critical projects in the CIP, such as funding a HVAC system for Stevens school and most recently putting funds aside for a new roof for the West Hill school. This was finally brought to light when images of water issues were posted anonymously at West Hill school circulated on social media in April.
The town’s approach has been to pay for projects in “phases” – smaller chunks of money set aside for different parts of a big project. This lowers the yearly investment by the town, but at a cost: the projects are stretched out, and underlying problems take years to be resolved.
Breaking infrastructure projects into phases ultimately makes them more expensive to the taxpayers. Many important infrastructure projects can be partially covered by state and federal grants, but it is difficult to find grants that will cover phases instead of a full project. As we heard from Councilor Theroux, the town missed an opportunity to apply $1.6 million in grants to partially pay for the Stevens HVAC system. Instead, that money will likely have to be paid in full by residents of Rocky Hill.
This year, the Board of Education gave back $1.6 million to the Town Council, money returned from an insurance plan. This money is supposed to be earmarked for the West Hill roofing project so that the BOE can apply for grant funding from the state. However, in the most recent budget vote the Town Council again cut $150,000 from the CIP and cut $650,000 from the Education Budget as a whole for the 2025-2026 school year. How absolutely disappointing!
School buildings are a town asset. They are facilities that are used by the public not just for education. Oftentimes, these buildings are used for sports events, PTO events/ fundraisers, and many other town-wide events. These buildings must be maintained by the Board of Education with funding from the Town Council. When the Capital Improvement Plan is not funded fully, we fail to maintain resources that all of us depend upon, and increase their overall cost.
We need a school liaison who shows up
Imagine a relationship where one partner only shows up on the weekends for a photo-op or to go out for ice-cream, but when it comes time to buy school clothes or pay some bills, they are nowhere to be found. We all know of those relationships, right?
Most of us would call that a bad relationship and take steps to fix it. Unfortunately, this is exactly the relationship between Rocky Hill Schools and their current School Liaison. If we wouldn’t tolerate that situation in our personal lives, why would we accept it for the children in Rocky Hill schools?
The School Liaison is a position held by a member of the Town Council. His or her job is to periodically attend Board of Education meetings and keep an open line of communication with the Board. The purpose of this is to keep the Council informed of important topics before the Board of Education, such as facility, human resource and budget challenges. As evidenced by this year’s budget, where the town has struggled to fund necessary infrastructure projects, the need for an engaged School Liaison to advocate for school needs has become all the more apparent. An effective liaison would have made the Council, and town at large, aware of the urgency of addressing these looming issues prior to them becoming a crisis.
Currently, that position is held by Councilor Prakash. While nobody could accuse Mr. Prakash of not showing up as a fan for our school’s sports teams, he has been absent from Board of Education conversations and activities.
Since he was appointed as School Liaison nearly four years ago, Mr. Prakash has not shown up to a single Board of Education meeting. His consistent refrain at Town Council meetings has been “no meeting, no report”, or the occasional mention of an award. If he had shown up for a meeting, met regularly with the Superintendent, or the Board Chair, or even watched meetings online after the fact, he would have plenty to report.
Rocky Hill Schools need a School Liaison who actually attends meetings and budget discussions. Our commitment is that if we are elected in the upcoming elections with a majority, we will appoint a representative who will regularly show up for Board of Education meetings to support the Board and the district as a whole!
Our students deserve all the support we can give them
Did you know that West Hill School and Stevens School have recently been designated by the Connecticut State Department of Education as a “School of Distinction” based on high academic performance? Our high school’s Marching Band placed 1st in two regional band competitions. Two students qualified for the 2025 ARML National Math Competition at Penn State. GMS is a National Banner School for Special Olympics for 2025 – only one of five schools in the state – two in Rocky Hill now including Rocky Hill High School.
But we cannot take this success for granted. To continue to succeed at this level, the school system needs to be supported. We need to fund our Capital Improvement Projects, and be proactive in seeking out grants that will allow us to speedily address our infrastructure needs. We need to build a strong relationship between our Board of Education and our Town Council to reflect the importance of our students and these critical town buildings. It is not a coincidence that towns and cities with high-achieving schools, and excellent facilities also maintain high property values, and sustained economic growth. The two go hand-in-hand.
Jennifer Baron-Morfea
Thomas Cosker
Jessica Loffredo
Maria Mennella
Opinion piece:This article reflects the position of the authors and not necessarily those of the Democratic Town Committee.
