WICC Radio’s Melissa in the Morning is wrapping up the second annual Diner Tour tomorrow, meeting members of the public in diners around Fairfield County. A number of educators have appeared on the show on Thursdays this spring discussing the role of technology in the classroom, budget battles, legislative priorities, and how teachers go the extra mile for their students every day.
During last week’s stop in Stratford at Blue Sky Diner, Stratford Education Association President Michael Fiorello and Vice President Kristen Record talked with host Melissa Sheketoff about the need to invest in education and how years of underfunding have negatively impacted their district and others.
Fiorello and Record said that both Stratford students and teachers have remarked on how unusual it is not to be gathering outside town hall with protest signs this spring—something that had become a yearly tradition.
“This is the first time in the last eight or nine years that we have not been out protesting something for our town and for our kids,” Record, a high school physics teacher, said.
Fiorello, who is retiring this spring after 35 years in the classroom, talked about how difficult it is to provide high-quality instruction to all students when education budgets are constantly on the chopping block.
“In the last few years we’ve had restrictions, retrenchments, losses of positions, or programs, and we’re still feeling it this year,” Fiorello said. “A board of education and a superintendent set their priorities and goals, and they may be very lofty, very visionary—but they depend on the town council to pass funding, Education Cost Sharing from the state, and federal funding. Not only do we depend upon that money, but the timelines are all different and staggered—it makes decision making very difficult.”
“Education has been so underfunded for years that even making a big investment in this particular legislative session just makes a dent in the larger problem that exists,” Record said. “I applaud the money that has been added into the state budget, particularly for special education, and the legislation around funding special education but also changing some of the rules and regulations about outplacements.”
She continued, “More investment is still needed. I don’t want our legislators to just congratulate themselves and think that their work is done. We will be back next session saying that more is still needed.”
While Fiorello and Record are grateful that the education funding situation is better in Stratford this year, they said that one year of stability isn’t something to celebrate.
“It’s a broken system when stability for a year is a win,” Fiorello said. “What you really want is growth, progress, and expansion of opportunities and services.”
He continued, “I think of it as an investment for the future—for the children in my family but also for the children I teach. There’s no way a town can grow without that.”
Listen to the full interview with Fiorello and Record. Other teacher guests during the Diner Tour have been Trumbull Education Association President Nick Banks, Joel Barlow Education Association Vice President Jordan Pinsky, CEA Treasurer Stephanie Wanzer, and Darien teacher and NEA Director Katy Gale.
Tune into WICC 600 AM or 95.9 FM at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow to hear interviews with Bridgeport teachers Jeff Morrisey, Mikeya Stovall, and Mia Dimbo.
