WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS Board: If voters pass levy, limited busing will return

The district's superintendent will go to the top Niles schools post.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Board of Education says limited busing in the district will be restored if an emergency levy passes in August.
At its meeting Wednesday night, the board stressed the need for voters to approve a 5.5-mill, five-year emergency levy to generate $538,168 a year. It will appear on a special ballot Aug. 3.
The board voted unanimously to restore limited busing, acting on a motion worded at the meeting by Superintendent Rocco Adduci.
Board member Bruce Bacak said three buses would be used for transporting pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade, the Trumbull County Technical Center and some high school students.
Discussion on restoring busing began with new member Fred McCandless, who said the board had been discussing restoring limited busing if the levy passes.
Survey was mailed
The board had mailed a survey to 380 homes with high school students on the need for busing. Only 31 families responded, with 34 students indicating they needed district transportation.
Dr. Douglas Darnall, board president, said there were four bus accidents this school year, but no parents who were driving their children to school got into accidents after busing was cut in January.
Weathersfield schools are under state-imposed fiscal watch. The board will be going to voters for the third time in August for a levy approval. A 9.5-mill levy failed in November, which would have generated $919,000 annually. A 1-mill income tax presented to voters in May 2003 also was defeated. That measure would have generated $860,000 a year.
The board also accepted the resignation of Adduci effective July 31.
Adduci has accepted the position of superintendent of Niles schools. His contract with the Weathersfield district was until 2008.
He will take over the top Niles school district post from Patrick N. Guliano, who is retiring.
Search for new official
Residents asked the board how it would make a selection of a new superintendent. Darnall said the board will know in less than a month if it will advertise statewide or look inside the district.
A qualified applicant inside the district can be given a temporary certificate as a superintendent provided he or she completes work for a superintendent's certificate within a specified amount of time.
Adduci came to Weathersfield in 2000. He was assistant principal at Niles McKinley High School for 11 years.
In other business, Adduci said the district's performance audit will be made available to the public May 11. The audit will be available through the superintendent's office and through board members, Adduci added.