25 February—It seems I rushed to judgement a week ago after reading the news story about questions raised by Litchfield Selectman Jeff Zullo and Finance Board member Jim Stedronsky about big Litchfield joining little Goshen, small Morris, and tiny Warren to form Regional School District 20.

The big problem for me at the time was that each town would have three members on the regional board. That didn’t seem fair or right, given the considerable disparity in town populations and student bodies.

When I wrote the pregnant screed, I hadn’t known that the state mandates regional school boards to have weighted voting specifically to address the issue of disparate town populations. Peccavi et mea culpa. That’ll learn me.

The fact is, the three current weighted proposals of the Temporary Regional School District Study Committee give Litchfield 56.12 percent, Goshen 21.13 percent, Morris 14.60 percent, and Warren 8.15 percent. (Don’t bother checking, it comes out to 100 percent.)

The preferred proposal keeps the board at 12 members, giving each Litchfield member a vote weight of 18.71, each Goshen member 7.04, Morris 4.87, and Warren 2.72. (Multiplied by three, that comes to 100.02, but don’t quibble.)

The alternate proposals increase Litchfield’s representation and lower each Litchfield member’s vote weight commensurately. Each of four Litchfield members would have a vote weight of 14.30; each of five would have 11.22.

Of course, the weight would change annually, based on enrollment. In all events, eight of 12 affirmative votes would be required to pass any motion and must include an affirmative vote from each town. Seems fair to me. And the populace of each of the towns would have to vote on budgets anyway, giving gigantic Litchfield the greatest power to accept or reject.

At the study committee meeting the other night, Atty. Stedronsky again raised the representation issue. Hadn’t he done his due diligence?

And on the subject of schools, it seems that the kids at Torrington High School don’t like the idea of having to keep their mobile phones in pouches with magnetic locks while they’re in school. The pouches are ridiculous, totally unnecessary, and a waste of money, to be sure, as well as an insult to teachers and pupils alike. I don’t expect we’ll be seeing them in the schools of future Region 20.

But where is it written that school kids—I call them pupils, you call them students—have the right, let alone the legal or intellectual competence to make the rules? They’re (still) in school for a reason . . .