Town Council, School Board Members Hear From Concerned Students

The proposed $50.75 million municipal budget, a water bottle ban and the potential for yoga pants and leggings to be stricken from the acceptable attire list at THS were just some of the topics discussed during Saturday’s informational hour with members of the town council and school board.

Held monthly in the Library Program Room of the Tolland Public Library, the hour provides a venue for residents to ask questions and provide input about local topics of interest. On hand at the May 14 meeting were Town Council Vice Chair MaryAnn Delaney Tuttle and Board of Education member Andy Powell, in addition to four Tolland High School civics students who took the opportunity to share their concerns and ask questions about town government.

Erika Koiva, a senior at Tolland High School, kicked off the question and answer period expressing her concern that the dress code at the school appears to be becoming too stringent, and there has been talk that leggings and yoga pants are going to be banned. She said she felt the administration was cracking down on certain types of clothing because they deemed them to be too suggestive, and while she can understand concerns about shorts that are too short or tops that are too revealing, she felt yoga pants and leggings don't fit into that category.

"I'm sorry, but I think that's ridiculous. I wear yoga pants because I want to be comfy. That's it," Koiva said, adding that if yoga pants are banned, she fears additional items like skinny jeans might be next on the chopping block. "Then what happens? Will it lead to uniforms?" she asked.

Koiva also said she is worried about a ban on water bottles in class and a prohibition from carrying backpacks in school.

"My friends who do track are mad about [the water bottles]. Our track team is good. They run a lot and get dehydrated. You're supposed to hydrate all day, but you can't keep asking to go drink from a water fountain," she said.

While Delaney Tuttle said she was not sure if the prohibitions were board decisions or something the school principal enacted, she said she was aware of concerns that some students were adding alcohol to their water bottles. Likewise, the backpack issue involved concerns about the potential for carrying weapons.

Powell said he has not seen this issue come back to the Board of Education.

"Understanding the reason why [such rules were implemented] is going to be an important point," Powell said. He suggested students discuss their concerns with either the class president or president of the student council and have either of those individual present the issues on behalf of the student body to the principal. In the meantime, Powell said he would take their concerns on as an action item with the Board of Education.

Koiva also she is disappointed that the cap on "pay for play" sports had been lifted. The current fee for families per sport is $275, which, she said, can be particularly hard on families who have more than one child in the high school at the same time. 

"I think the family cap should not come off," said Koiva.

The "pay for play" fee discussion segued into a broader discussion about the upcoming budget referendum to be held Tuesday, May 17. 

Powell said he's had many conversations with parents of students, some who have had to pay as much as $1,200 this past year for their children to play in town sports.

"The first thing I ask them is 'Did you vote?'" Powell said, explaining that parents of school age children who don't support more robust budgets at the polls end up paying more in the end out of pocket. "There's a difference between running thin and anorexic. After a while systems break down," he said.

While federal and state budgets are important, Powell said the budget that affects Tolland residents the most is the local budget.

"Every single dollar of Tolland taxes paid is applied here," he said. While the 36.84 percent turnout for the failed May 2 budget referendum might be considered high compared to turnouts in other towns, Powell said the fact that little more than one-third of eligible voters came to the polls is disappointing.

"Our challenge to you, as you are turning 18, is to take the five minutes to vote and vote consistently," Powell said. "There's just no excuse not to," he said.

Explaining the process by which the two major components of a proposed town budget - the municipal budget and the Board of Education budget - come forward and are presented to the public, Delaney Tuttle asked the students if any of them had been following the budget discussions.

"The budget that was voted down [May 2] was a little more than a 3-1/2 percent increase over last year's budget," she said, adding that the revised $50.75 million budget to be voted on Tuesday represents a 2.9 percent increase over last year and a mill rate of 29.99 mills.

Delaney Tuttle said the Tolland budget assumes the town will receive a $10 million Education Cost Sharing grant from the State of Connecticut, unchanged from the amount the town received last year.

However, all eyes are on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who had previously recommended a 14 percent cut in the Education Cost Sharing grant if $2 billion in concessions from the state employee unions could not be accomplished.

On Friday afternoon Malloy stuck a deal with state employee union leaders that would save $1.6 billion over the next two years. If union members ratify the deal, the state would need to find an additional $400 million in savings.

It was not known Saturday how this will affect the ECS grant or other state grants for municipalities, including Tolland.