Join annual LWV Legislative Breakfast and bring your questions

Pictured are (front row L-R) Rep. Bryan Hurlburt, Rep. Tim Ackert, Sen. Don Williams and (back row) Rep. Gregory Haddad and Rep. Susan Johnson. Silly graphic © 2011 by Brenda Sullivan

You are invited to attend the annual Legislative Breakfast hosted by the Mansfield League of Women Voters that begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.

State Sen. Don Williams and State Representatives Tim Ackert, Bryan Hurlburt, Gregory Haddad and Susan Johnson are among the legislators planning to attend.

Meet with us in the Community Room of the First Church of Christ in Mansfield Center, 549 Storrs Road (Rte. 195, opposite the intersection with Rte. 89).

Expect a lively presentation of information from area legislators, followed by an opportunity to quiz the legislators about issues.

The legislators will talk about their goals for the coming session, and their sense of the major issues facing the state in general and northeast Connecticut in particular.

The LWV especially encourages those who haven’t yet attended this annual event to come and enjoy a great opportunity to connect with community members and make their concerns known to local legislators.

Registration for the Legislative Breakfast is required by Tuesday, Jan. 18.

The breakfast is $10 per person. *

To register, please send your name, phone number, and payment to:  LWVM, PO Box 85, Mansfield Center, CT 06250.  Or for more information, call Joan Neuwirth at 860 429 5798.

The moderator and organizer of this year’s Legislative Breakfast is Sondra Astor Stave.

Posted Jan. 15, 2011

* Editor’s note: Speaking from experience, you’ll get your $10 worth.

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Man accused of killing UConn student pleads no contest to manslaughter

John Lomax III, who is accused of stabbing and killing former UConn student and football player Jasper Howard, has entered a plea of no contest* to the charge of first-degree manslaughter.

Lomax, 22, of Bloomfield, entered the plea before Judge Terence A. Sullivan in Rockville Superior Court on Friday, Jan. 14, according to court records.

According to a story published in the Courant, Lomax apologized to the Howard family, who traveled to Connecticut from their home in Miami for the proceedings.

Lomax – who was not a UConn student – is accused of stabbing Howard on Oct. 18, 2009 outside UConn’s Student Union building after an argument. The football team had just scored a victory. Howard was attending a dance at the Student Union.

Everyone was evacuated from the building when a student pulled a fire alarm. Police reports say Lomax and a friend went to his car for weapons and returned to resume the fight, during which Howard was stabbed. He was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital.

If found guilty, Lomax could be sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison.

Another man, Hakim Muhammad, is accused of stabbing another UConn student during that fight, Brian Parker, who recovered from that attack. Muhammad faces a number of charges, including assault.

Jasper "Jazz" Howard, A UConn student and football player who was stabbed to death on Oct. 18, 2009 on campus. UConn photo

Howard’s fellow teammate, Kashif Moore, is said to have held Howard in his arms as he lay bleeding. Moore was chosen by former Head Coach Randy Edsall to wear Howard’s jersey at the Fiesta Bowl game, in his honor.

Former UConn President Michael Hogan left the university for another job months after the stabbing. Edsall left for another coaching job the day UConn lost the Fiesta Bowl game, and said goodbye to his team by phone.

Posted Jan. 15, 2011

*No contest – A plea in a criminal case that allows the defendant to be convicted without admitting guilt for the crime charged. Also called nolo contendre.

Although a finding of guilty is entered on the criminal court record, the defendant can deny the charges in a civil action based on the same acts.

Connecticut drops Educational Technology from teacher preparation

Concerned parents take note: the Connecticut State Department of Education has omitted Educational Technology as a requirement in its revised regulations for teacher preparation programs.

As a consequence, your child’s teacher may have no formal training in engaging and effective uses of technology in education.

This is significant, as other states have had well-developed standards, academic requirements and corresponding certifications in place for teachers for over a decade.

To see how neighboring state initiatives compare, just Google the words “Educational Technology” for Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

Then try the same exercise for Connecticut, which though purporting to subscribe to the National Educational Technology Standards (ISTE-NETS), does not list them, nor assessments for demonstrating student mastery, nor teacher certifications in the specialty.

In 1998, Connecticut ratified General Statute 10-145a(e), that requires students in collegiate teacher preparation programs to take at least one course falling under the catch-all term “educational technology.”

This was a step in the right direction, but compared to other states in the last 10 years, little progress was made in integrating technology into the curricula of Connecticut K-12 schools.

Today’s students are digital natives. Generation WWW has a comfort level with technology, having grown-up with the Internet, social media, HD TV, iPods and cell phones, to name a few. They require and expect multimodal forms of instructional delivery. That is why the omission in the new regulations is absolutely a step in the wrong direction.

If this upsets you, and it should, contact members of the Connecticut State Board of Education, the Commissioner of Education, the State Regulatory Board, the Attorney General and the newly elected Governor. Request that they restore educational technology to its rightful place in the curriculum, and then expand upon it as other states have done. Visit http://techregs.org for further information.

Jerald D. Cole

Educational Technologist

Posted Jan. 15, 2011