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What those yellow signs indicate is that you have an uneducated and partisan group in Shelton who feel that the Board of Education should have a blank check to spend lavishly on whatever they want. That almost always includes more lucrative salaries and benefits for teachers and administrators (which comprises 82% of the education budget), REGARDLESS of the general economic situation.
Ironic how it's all about the kids when more taxpayer money is being requested, and it's all about threatening the kids when that money is not forthcoming. I am sure if some charter schools came to Shelton, the B.O.E. would miraculously find ways to more efficiently spend the funds they receive. Catholic schools have done it better and for far less money for many years. It is time people stopped the hysteria over fully funding B.O.E. requests for our money, and instead made their kids STUDY instead of texting calling friends hundreds/thousands of times per month or playing with X-Box, or wasting time on Facebook, etc.....
Any thinking person knows that hard work and study are the primary driver of improved student grades and school district test scores, not money. Shelton has the facilities, the kids need to study, and education related unions need to share the pain of the taxpayer in hard times. Forget 3-4% raises year after year; many should be glad they even have a job.
What those yellow signs indicate is that you have an uneducated and partisan group in Shelton who feel that the Board of Education should have a blank check to spend lavishly on whatever they want.
It is time people stopped the hysteria over fully funding B.O.E. requests for our money, and instead made their kids STUDY instead of texting calling friends hundreds/thousands of times per month or playing with X-Box, or wasting time on Facebook, etc.....
Any thinking person knows that hard work and study are the primary driver of improved student grades and school district test scores, not money.
Ahh, that's what it is? I wonder why the Westport, Wilton, Avon, Weston, Redding, Ridgefield, Middlebury, Simsbury, etc. students know how to work hard and study so much that they are awesome school districts and Shelton students not so much? I guess those better districts have students that are too busy to text or be on Facebook or play video games.
I'll tell the Shelton parents at the field next weekend not to worry about the 2 school closings, losing 75 teachers and eliminating all sports and music at the high school....all that needs to be done is to have their kids work harder and study more.
Hi, I think your best bet is the Huntington area of Shelton. Schools are good here and the price of homes is probably more reasonable than in Monroe. The library in Huntington is a branch library, Plumb Memorial Library is the main one and is located on Wooster Street, as you enter Shelton coming from Huntington, great library. They have terrific children's programs. Go to http://www.sheltonlibrarysystem.org/ to see what they offer. Downtown is slowly being updated. There are plans for new condos to be built next to the Birmingham condos. Several new places have opened up lately in town. All the malls and stores you could possibly want are within driving distance in Milford, CT. This is about a 12 mile trip from downtown Shelton. Also, the driving distance from Shelton to work would be closer, something to think about during our New England winters. Howe Avenue is being cleaned up and can only get better. Also on the plus side, the folks in Shelton are terrific. During the summer months there are movie programs at the Slab in downtown Shelton and programs on the green in Huntington. We have great Christmas tree farms, wondcerful flower nurseries, and you can't beat our cider stands. Welcome to Shelton, you will like living here.
What those yellow signs indicate is that you have an uneducated and partisan group in Shelton who feel that the Board of Education should have a blank check to spend lavishly on whatever they want. That almost always includes more lucrative salaries and benefits for teachers and administrators (which comprises 82% of the education budget), REGARDLESS of the general economic situation.
Ironic how it's all about the kids when more taxpayer money is being requested, and it's all about threatening the kids when that money is not forthcoming. I am sure if some charter schools came to Shelton, the B.O.E. would miraculously find ways to more efficiently spend the funds they receive. Catholic schools have done it better and for far less money for many years. It is time people stopped the hysteria over fully funding B.O.E. requests for our money, and instead made their kids STUDY instead of texting calling friends hundreds/thousands of times per month or playing with X-Box, or wasting time on Facebook, etc.....
Any thinking person knows that hard work and study are the primary driver of improved student grades and school district test scores, not money. Shelton has the facilities, the kids need to study, and education related unions need to share the pain of the taxpayer in hard times. Forget 3-4% raises year after year; many should be glad they even have a job.
I do NOT agree with your statement that Catholic schools have "done it better and for far less money for many years". There is no evidence that the quality of education offered at Catholic schools is any better than a quality public school. In fact, I don't think it is at all better from what I have seen.
The major difference between them is that Catholic schools only have students whose parents require their kids to do well and are willing to pay for it. Catholic schools do not have very many if any of the problem students that public schools have. They also do not offer the programs that are needed to deal with these students. Also quite frankly, Catholic schools do not have as good facilities or offer advanced programs as public schools and parents are always paying for a lot of things beyond just the tuition. There is also the requirement in Catholic schools for families to make "donations" to the schools which end up costing families that can afford it a lot more than meets the eye.
As for some of your other comments, lets just say I do not really agree with them either. This is 2010 and the world is a lot different than even just 10 years ago. Students are not just sitting around "texting" each other, playing XBox or wasting time on Facebook. From what I have seen, they actually do study and study hard. I think that they even have it harder than I did when I went through school. Furthermore, teachers need to earn a wage that allows them to live as comfortable as anyone else. If you do not offer a reasonable salary, quality people will not go into the teaching profession and the students will suffer. Already it is hard to get good people into the profession when others are offering more money.
As for the raises, if you look, teachers are getting 3 and 4% raises on contracts that were negoiated several years ago. Most school systems I know of have been reasonable about keeping raises to a minimum. 3 to 4% was about average back then so I don't think you can complain that this is what they are getting. Remember when times were good a few years ago, raises for teachers were 1 or 2%. You can complain all you want but that is just the way the system works. Jay
Thank you everyone for all the feedback. I think I read everyone's comments at least 100 times. I did A LOT of research on Huntington and Monroe and we decided to buy the home in Huntington. I researched the school systems including all the budget issues that are plaguing both the Shelton and Monroe school districts. At the end of the day it does seem that Monroe schools have better test scores which helps them rank higher when compared to Shelton. However, the results were not drastically different and Shelton schools score consistently higher than the state average scores. Nevertheless, I decided to visit the schools myself since I did not want to base my opinion solely on test scores.
Elizabeth Shelton ES is a wonderful school and all the teachers and kids seemed great. They rank 8 out of 10 In GreatSchools.com which is pretty good in my book. Mohegan and Booth Hill also have excellent ratings. I also visited Shelton Intermediary and Shelton High and they also seemed like great schools. They all had excellent after school activities for the kids. And yes I am aware that there is talk about charging for activities next year. But then again, Monroe is also thinking about charging due to their budget cuts. I talked to many of the teachers and some of the kids and didn't see anything to be concerned about. I even like the fact that they are building Perry Hiil for 5th and 6th graders. I think this should greatly improve the school system since it creates a great transition between elementary school and middle school. I know there is talk that there might be 150 teachers laid off, but I highly doubt that the school board will make such drastic cuts. Do they even have 150 teachers? That’s almost 20 teachers per school their talking about. The last I checked, Elizabeth Shelton only had 35 teachers. I am sure this was more of a scare tactic so Lauretti would give in to the budget.
My kids will be going to Susanna Wesley next year which is probably one of the best pre-schools in the area. Even some of the Monroe parents send their kids to Susanna Wesley because of its great reputation. All the activities that occur on Huntington Square were also very appealing and the town and people seemed great.
What attracted me most about Shelton is that they seem to have a plan for business and economic development in order to spur the local economy. Many great businesses are located in Shelton that help keep property taxes down. Also, it seems that a lot of “money” is moving into Shelton. I couldn’t believe some of the homes that have been built in that area and what they are selling for. My home of $600K pales in comparison to some of these other homes. Property taxes were definitely a deciding factor for me. Paying an extra $2000+ in property taxes a year to live in Monroe can add up very quickly. I also had a hard time finding newer homes in Monroe that did not require some type of HOA fee. The funny thing is that I found a home in Monroe that would have cost me $50K less than the home in Huntington, but my monthly mortgage would have been more due to higher taxes and HOA fees. The total for the two was about $1,066 per month. THAT’S INSANE!!!! I would rather my money go toward the principal. The home that we purchased is less than 2 miles from the Monroe line and we have easy access to Wolfe Park (probably less than 4 miles). Jones Farms is less that a mile away which will be great for my kids. They love picking fruit in the summer. We are close to all the shopping in Milford and Trumbull and my commute in only 15 miles away. I currently drive about 40 miles each way in Maryland, so this will be a great stress relief and I can spend more time with my kids.
Once again, thank you everyone for the great feedback. I can see that both Monroe and Shelton are great places to live. Just the fact that so many people responded to my thread is proof enough.
Thank you everyone for all the feedback. I think I read everyone's comments at least 100 times. I did A LOT of research on Huntington and Monroe and we decided to buy the home in Huntington.
My home of $600K pales in comparison to some of these other homes.
Not quite. The most expensive home on the market right now in Shelton $1m for 4k square feet. The second most expensive is 985k for 4100 square feet. 600k would "pale in comparison" to homes in lower FFC, but not Shelton.
Don't even consider Shelton. Our mayor and board of Alderman has just decimated the school system- we who have a 5 million dollar surplus. Instead their laying off 150 staff/teachers at once - but the mayor states -" I had 40 students in my class when I was in school". We only had One security guard when I was at the high school ( we have 1700 kids at our high school)He's ignorant and lives in the past. He will not increase taxes just .49 mil which would equate to $125 per family per year which would help ensure the growth and vitality of this city- instead he gave the board of ed 1.2 mil to lay off teachers - classrooms will increase, no sports, no activities for kids to be involved in so you know where that leads in this modern day. Sure our taxes are low- so low we have "rif raf" moving in including the lastest Terrorists as you may have seen all over the news. He dodged jail time recently so now he's wants to sock it to our kids. Too bad - it could have been different. Know many who are moving out.
Hi, I think your best bet is the Huntington area of Shelton. Schools are good here and the price of homes is probably more reasonable than in Monroe. The library in Huntington is a branch library, Plumb Memorial Library is the main one and is located on Wooster Street, as you enter Shelton coming from Huntington, great library. They have terrific children's programs. Go to [URL]http://www.sheltonlibrarysystem.org/[/URL] to see what they offer. Downtown is slowly being updated. There are plans for new condos to be built next to the Birmingham condos. Several new places have opened up lately in town. All the malls and stores you could possibly want are within driving distance in Milford, CT. This is about a 12 mile trip from downtown Shelton. Also, the driving distance from Shelton to work would be closer, something to think about during our New England winters. Howe Avenue is being cleaned up and can only get better. Also on the plus side, the folks in Shelton are terrific. During the summer months there are movie programs at the Slab in downtown Shelton and programs on the green in Huntington. We have great Christmas tree farms, wondcerful flower nurseries, and you can't beat our cider stands. Welcome to Shelton, you will like living here.
You obviously did not attend any Budget workshops or meetings in the City of Shelton. What you state about Shelton will no longer exist. Glad my children are finished with the school system here. It can only go downhill fast from here.
Don't even consider Shelton. Our mayor and board of Alderman has just decimated the school system- we who have a 5 million dollar surplus. Instead their laying off 150 staff/teachers at once - but the mayor states -" I had 40 students in my class when I was in school". We only had One security guard when I was at the high school ( we have 1700 kids at our high school)He's ignorant and lives in the past. He will not increase taxes just .49 mil which would equate to $125 per family per year which would help ensure the growth and vitality of this city- instead he gave the board of ed 1.2 mil to lay off teachers - classrooms will increase, no sports, no activities for kids to be involved in so you know where that leads in this modern day. Sure our taxes are low- so low we have "rif raf" moving in including the lastest Terrorists as you may have seen all over the news. He dodged jail time recently so now he's wants to sock it to our kids. Too bad - it could have been different. Know many who are moving out.
The town to the south of you would love to have a mayor that has the cojones to say no to the BOE.
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Moving to CT
