Enfield's School Audit: A Breakdown in Communication and Oversight

Image
The newly released audit of the Board of Education's $5.6 million cost overrun makes one thing clear: this wasn't a simple mistake. It was a systemic failure — the result of siloed operations, weak internal rigor, and missteps by both the school district and the town. And here's the hard truth: Enfield still hasn't actually paid for this failure. Town reserves covered the gap, shrinking our financial cushion and limiting our ability to soften future tax hikes. Next year's budget will reveal just how vulnerable we are. What this incident tells us is that Enfield isn't managing its risk very well — and that should worry everyone. Fundamentally, this was a costly risk-management failure, and nothing in the audit suggests it can't happen again.  [ Audit link , and Council  slide deck ] CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), the audit firm, outlines eight major problems, many of them rooted in communication breakdowns between the town, the school district, and the state. The ...
Post a Comment

Climate change impacts in Connecticut




I can imagine mowing my lawn by next weekend, which seems early. Already the weeds are racing ahead. This is not surprising.

Temperatures in Connecticut have increased 2.8 degrees since 1970. Our average annual temp that year was about 48, it's now nearing 51. This coincides with a dramatic rise in CO2.

In 1970, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was at 325 ppm; it's now at about 410 ppm. Pre-industrial was 280 ppm. 

Connecticut is ranked 10th among fastest warming states by Climate Central. Alaska is first.

I'm not entirely sure why Connecticut, along with Rhode Island and Vermont, are seeing faster temperature rises.

Clearly, we're seeing an increase in extreme weather in the U.S., which includes fires. We have been fairly lucky so far in Connecticut.

It's hard to know for sure what climate change will mean for Connecticut specifically. But a 3 degree increase since 1970 does not bode well. We're doing nothing globally to address the problem, and CO2 emissions are accelerating with economic growth. The New York Times recently described the increases in carbon as a speeding freight train. 

In Enfield, we will likely hear lawn mower engines by next weekend. It will seem that all is normal, but what we once considered normal is disappearing and rapidly. 

Comments

Post a Comment