Parents take issue with Malloy plan for Connecticut tech school control

By Pamela Mcloughlin
Register Staff
pmcloughlin@nhregister.com
MILFORD — Hundreds of parents gathered in the Platt Technical High School cafeteria recently to object to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to shift control of the state’s technical schools to the municipalities where they are located.
School officials stopped short of calling the recent gathering a rally, but it had a pep rally tone, with speakers that included Jerry Clupper, executive director of New Haven Manufacturers Association, Joe Grabinski, a union leader from Sikorsky Aircraft and state Rep. Paul Davis, D-Orange.
Malloy has said his plan would decrease the state’s budget deficit and improve the quality of state technical schools, but those are fighting words at Platt, where test scores outdid most of those in surrounding local school districts and it has the distinction of having been named a Vanguard School a few years ago.
One of those opposed to a change in control is Parent Faculty Organization President Gerri-Lynn Konwerski, who along with her husband and daughter, are graduates of Platt. She also has a son who’s a junior at the school.
“I just think it’s a bad idea because the towns are having problems,” with budgets and won’t know how to run the schools, she said.
Konwerski said Platt has a successful and unique learning environment and she fears that would change under local control.
She said her daughter, Rebecca, was an average student when she started at Platt, then soared academically because having shops was perfect for her individual learning style and kept her engaged.
“These kids are employable when they get out of here,” she said.
Principal Gene LaPorta trumpeted the school’s successes, as a screen in the background showed images of students engaged in special activities that conveyed school spirit. LaPorta talked about high test scores, Platt’s unique formula in achieving those scores and how, “despite a tough economy and a lingering recession,” students are getting jobs in their fields before and after graduation.
Klupper, there on behalf of manufacturers who value Platt graduates, said although manufacturing in Connecticut has changed, it’s still “one of the most important parts of our economy,” and companies desparately need highly skilled workers.
Grabinski, of Sikorsky Aircraft, which developed a partnership with Platt under LaPorta’s leadership, said Platt produces some of his company’s finest workers. He gave the example of a 16-year-old girl in Platt’s plumbing program who mastered a job at Sikorsky in three days under the guidance of a Teamster mentor.
Davis, who became a legislator after a 34-year education career, said he takes “special pride” in Platt.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to support this school,” Davis said.
He said the proposal doesn’t appear to be popular among his colleagues in the General Assembly and he urged parents and opponents of Malloy’s proposal to contact their state representatives and be heard.
“If it’s not broke, don’t mess with it,” Davis said.
If the legislature adopts Malloy’s plan, four schools would be transferred to local control July 1. Four more would make the switch in July 2012, and the rest would be turned over by July 2015.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.