The election is over as are the inauguration parties. It is time to roll up the shirtsleeves and get down to work. Sure, some people are busy focusing on the 2010 elections, but it does seem like there is a lot of work to be done before hand before we get too involved in those elections.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot at the local level. Yes, some of this may be driven by the fact that Woodbridge will have municipal elections in May, but even before that, there is much to be done. I’m on a committee discussing technology and education at my local school. We’ve been talking about the importance of improving Internet based communication between the school and the parents. Whenever these sort of discussions come around, I always talk about the how significant a factor parental involvement is in students’ success. One teacher noted that research shows that it improves not only the success of the students whose parents are involved, but also the success of all the students in the classroom. It seems like we should be encouraging more parental involvement.

Then, today, I read a blog post that really got my attention. The blogger started off, “I don’t want to change the world…just one little school.” He then proceeds to describe the situation with his children and ends off with,

I think next year might be the year I get off my butt and actually open my mouth and I am trying to figure out where to start.

I could talk about procrastination and about how people always think about doing something next year, but there is something much more striking. The person writing this is the author of the second highest rated education blog for 2008. He writes a great blog about his experiences as a teacher. So, why is it so hard for even a great writer about education to figure out how to get involved locally? Perhaps some of it because he has seen inside the educational system and recognizes the barriers to change.

Tomorrow evening, there will be an opportunity for citizens of Woodbridge to get more involved. Dr. Stella will be presenting the proposed 2009-2010 budget to the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance. It is a 1.8% increase over the previous year. A presentation about the budget is also available online.

So, today, I’ll focus on the local school budget. Do you know who is on your Board of Education? Have you been to a Board of Education meeting recently?

Sure, I expect we’ll have some people show up tomorrow. I suspect many will be concerned about keeping their property taxes low. In this economic climate, that is understandable. Hopefully, there will be others there that recognize the importance of a good educational system in keeping the property values up. Maybe, if we're lucky, there might even be someone thinking about greater issues, like are we doing the right things for our children and how are we preparing for the future.

Later, I hope to focus more on bills being presented in Hartford. With all of this, what I really want to focus on is how we get more people paying attention to local budgets and state legislation.

Partly, this is because it seems to me that just as students do better in schools where the parents are more involved, communities also do better where the citizens are more involved.