In February 2012, the administration of the Retirement Board was transferred to the Human Resources Department under the able leadership of Alison Graham and Melissa Crowther. Together, they have corrected numerous errors in benefits and beneficiaries while at the same time converting the Defined Benefit administration from an in-house system to Transamerica.

The current Capital Improvement Plan doesn't have any real money allocated to New Lebanon until 2021 ($1M) and even then it is not for capital improvement but only for maintenance upgrades. Per the Superintendant's overview of options, a reasonable $400,000 to enclose the courtyard area for new administration space would enable two classrooms to be remodeled from the current administration space. The budget the Superintendant submits in Fall 2013 must have money allocated to add a second floor addition of some size onto the school to address the long-standing and long-term needs. The taxpayers and voters of this community pay the same mill rate as any other part of Town and deserve the local infrastructure to educate our children here in Byram. Byram has paid the taxes and deserves to have a school facility comparable to the other Town elementary schools. By creating the proper physical space needed many things will be achieved, most important of which is giving our children the right learning environment. On Wednesday evening, Dr. William McKersie, Superintendant of Greenwich Public Schools, addressed the New Lebanon School PTA regarding our school's severe overcrowding. For too long our various superintendants, the Board of Education, and the BET and RTM have denied our pleas for a logical and thoughtful solution to this problem, which negatively affects the ability of our children to learn. Additionally, unless emergency reserve funds are available (and they SHOULD be made available for this emergency) there is no funding available from the district or the town, nor is there time to do any construction or site work that could permanently alleviate the pressures on our children. If parents had been informed then of the possible outcomes, we would have had time to consider other magnet schools or private and parochial schools and would have had more time to seek out alternative solutions, lobby the BET and RTM and better advocate for our children. The proposal to move our current fourth grade students to Western Middle School next year, which seems to be Dr. McKersie's favored solution despite his claims otherwise, was clearly and forcefully rejected by the parents at New Lebanon at Wednesday's meeting. Options that would have been available to us if Dr. Lulow, our previous superintendent who was also made aware of our overcrowding, had included them in the budget for this year are modular classrooms at $275k or constructing new administrative offices, which is unlikely to occur in four months and is also unbudgeted $400k. Another option, allowing families to have the choice to transfer their children to other, less crowded schools in the district and to cap enrollment, sending new families to other schools are yet more options that don't appear to have been considered. By fall of 2014, the town will need to address the racial imbalance that particularly affects our school. Because our school is one of those at the heart of the racial imbalance issue, it is hard to believe that any temporary solution being proffered by Dr. McKersie isn't taking into consideration the not-yet-public plans for solving this problem. Any and all Greenwich residents should consider how they would feel if this was happening to their own children and speak up on behalf of New Lebanon School, which is a vital part of our larger community. On behalf of the Greenwich Historical Society's Landmark Recognition program, I want to thank Greenwich Citizen, and particularly Anne Semmes and Jim Wolfe, for its coverage of the 25th anniversary of the society's program of recording architectural and ownership documents of the town's landmark properties and presenting owners with a plaque that shows the name of the original owner and the date of construction.

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut would like to thank our local legislators, the leadership of the General Assembly and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for their commitment to achieving meaningful legislation on gun violence prevention -- and to do so in a bipartisan fashion. Guns used in crimes may start out as legal guns -- but then are diverted into criminal activities, most frequently through "straw purchases" where someone buys a firearm on behalf of a convicted felon, a juvenile or other person prohibited from gun ownership. [...] gun owners who store loaded firearms in their homes will be held responsible for locking up or otherwise securing their firearms if they should know that someone else in the household is not eligible to have a gun for any reason (under age 21 for a pistol, 18 for a rifle, a criminal record, etc.), or that person poses an imminent risk of harm to himself or others. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut has long supported measures to protect the health and safety of citizens through regulating the ownership of firearms.

With my daughter on the verge of obtaining a learner's permit, the dangers of driving are on my mind. With car accidents the leading cause of death among teens, we owe it to our children to treat distracted driving with the same vigilance we did with drunk driving starting a generation ago. Through increased public awareness, coupled with tougher penalties, the percentage of fatalities attributed to DUI has declined substantially since the 1980s. Half of young drivers have seen their parents driving while talking on a cellphone; one-quarter of adults have sent or received a text while driving.

The Republicans have been in disarray, since Obama's re-election; conservatives & libertarians divided by their conflict with the RINO's and "establishment Republicans," it seems Paul's filibuster has caused a line to be drawn in the sand from which to distinguish the sheep from the goats. Another sudden phenomena is President Obama's public relations attempt to reach out to Republicans in a non-partisan way. Reminiscent of the democrats getting George Bush senior to compromise against his promise; "Read my lips; I will not raise taxes, " and then using the betrayal by his own words to defeat him in the next election.

Dr. Kareem Adeeb, Imam, The American Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies, Stamford,; and Rev. Dr. Heather Wright, Greenwich Center for Hope and Renewal. The moderator of the panel, Alexis Bedos, noted the respect and friendship shown by the speakers for each other and their respective faith traditions. [...] Alex observed that the good attendance seemed to point toward a latent desire for people of faith to be able to understand and interact constructively with other faith traditions. Elizabeth Parker, chair of the St. Catherine's Social Justice Committee, attended a meeting of the American Muslim Women's Association as a guest of Farzana Habib Levy shortly after the event. An invitation was extended to participate in the Sholom Center for Interfaith Learning's weekend of study on the "Torah of Reconciliation."

CL&P has just announced plans to cut down trees on private and public property along the New Haven railroad line. The Tree Conservancy is very sensitive to the community-wide need to keep trees healthy so they may withstand the ravages of future storms and not succumb to heavy winds, again witnessed this week, that can lead to downed power lines. Trees are vital in reducing air pollutant particulates, minimizing radiant heat from the sun, inhibiting soil erosion, sequestering carbon dioxide, and providing a habitat for a plethora of diverse species. The Tree Conservancy does support the removal of sick and unhealthy trees that we deem "hazardous," which is why we submitted testimony at the recent budget hearing in support of funding the town's "At Risk Tree Program." Removal of a large number of trees along a corridor such as this can result in increasing wind velocity vectors enough to increase the collateral damage of nearby trees.

In addition to being one of our most strident "community partners," Porricelli's Market employees and the Porricelli family have been gracious and professional in all of our dealings with them. On behalf of the board and staff at Greenwich Emergency Medical Service, I would like to offer our sincere gratitude to everyone who has contributed to our GEMS fundraising efforts through the years. The writer is executive director of Greenwich Emergency Medical Service. Christmas Day, 11 days after the killing of the children at Sandy Hook, the Sports Authority had a sale of toy assault rifles.

If a tree has come down on public property in front of your home or there is a suitable location for a tree, please notify the Greenwich Tree Conservancy so we can evaluate the location. Neighbor to Neighbor would like to thank the Greenwich community for the outpouring of support we received following Hurricane Sandy and leading up to Thanksgiving. Kings Food Market donated many cases of fresh bananas, cereal and canned fruit -- items always in demand. Thank you to the many, many schools, businesses, religious organizations and civic groups who provided us with donations of food, clothing and much needed funds: Brunswick School, Christ Church of Greenwich (Alter Guild), Cos Cob firefighters and Greenwich Youth Football and Cheerleading Leagues, Eagle Hill School, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of Greenwich, Glenville School, Greenwich Country Day School, Hamilton Avenue School, International School at Dundee, Julian Curtiss School, Kiwanis Club of Greenwich, Knights of Columbus, Lulu Lemon, Mothers for Others, Old Greenwich School, Order of Redmen, Prudential Connecticut Realty, Riverside PTA, St. Catherine's Church, St. Patrick's Church of Armonk, N.Y., St. Paul's Day School, Stanwich School, Sotheby's International Realty, Temple Sholom, Trinity Church and the YMCA of Greenwich. [...] thank you to the countless individuals who filled your cars with groceries for our pantry, who showed up to help us restock our shelves or sort clothing, and who called simply because you wanted to make a difference. Nine teams designed and built sculptures made of canned goods, raising $76,000 for our food pantry and clothing room.

Despite the cold blustery weather on Nov. 24, more than 650 enthusiastic runners and walkers worked off their Thanksgiving calories at our Greenwich Alliance for Education Turkey Trot 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk. Tony DeVita/Luxury Mortgage, Equinox, Icy and Scott Frantz, Morgan Stanley - The Markey Group, Stamford, Serendipity, Shepard Insurance Group, Law Office of Erin Spiess Chang LLC, Chase, Cushman & Wakefield, CRAVE, Cynthia DeRiemer - Coldwell Banker, Eleven14 Kitchen, Fresh Green Light, Garden Catering, The Gibbons Family, Greenwich Teen Center, Ivey Barnum & O'Mara LLC, Kings Food Markets, Lightfoot Running Club, MBI, Inc., The Reform School Pilates Exercise Studio, David S. Roth - RBC Wealth Management, Pepsi, Pizza Post, Splurge, Threads & Treads, Upper Crust Bagel Company, Greenwich Track Club, Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery Specialists, PC.