Volume 19, Number 15
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Community speaks out on charter changes The biggest upset among attendees was the proposal By Ashley Kus to switch the Board of EdCitizen staff ucation from non-partisan to partisan. Several former More than a dozen board and present members of members, educators, and the board disagree with the community members packed change. the Town Council chambers “For the nine years that I was Monday night for a public on the board of ed., we never hearing concerning proreally talked about our party posed revisions to the town affiliations and, in fact, none charter.
of us really cared to know our party affiliations. It never really came into the discussion,” said former board member Julie Erickson, who explained that boards from surrounding towns envy Berlin’s board because of its non-partisanship. Current board member JoAnn Angelico-Stetson also spoke to the high-quality of
the non-partisan board. She voiced her concern that the switch to partisan may be “dangerous” in the outcome. Anne Reilly, Republican Town Committee Chair, disagrees, saying that the switch would benefit the town. Reilly compared Berlin’s board to other successful school boards that are partisan, such as ones in
The two-year term proposal for board members See Charter, A18
BHS valedictorian takes high school lessons to college
Resident starts mental health conversation By Ashley Kus Citizen staff
By Ashley Kus Citizen staff
Rachel Prior is on a mission to spread awareness about mental health.
Michelle Grieco believes in failure. It took two cuts from her elementary and middle school soccer teams for the Berlin High School valedictorian to work her way up to the varsity team as only a freshman.
“It affects everyone in some way,” she said. The Goodwin College student is organizing the first Mental Health Walk in Berlin. Because May is recognized as Mental Health Month, the event will be held in May 2017. She is considering two locations, Pistol
West Hartford and Simsbury. “They sometimes, unfortunately, have better student achievement results, but, never the less, those boards also have the ultimate goal to make education better for our students,” she said.
Grieco
Berlin resident Rachel Prior (third from the left) is working with Mental Health Connecticut on a mental health walk next May. Prior and other volunteers attended Memorial Day events at the American Legion post in Berlin.
See Mental, A12
| Rachel Prior, contributed
“In order to succeed in life you have to be willing to fail and if you don’t put yourself out there to take risks and to fail, then you’ll See Grieco, A2
GIVE YOUR CAR A REST. Transit at the speed of life
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