Bethany Man Named Chairman of Amity Board

The Register didn't update its web site today, which is strange. Here's what I filed, however...from the front page of the Local section. Look for another story in this Sunday's Style section.

Bethany Man Named Chairman of Amity Board
By Thomas Kaplan

William Blake of Bethany was unanimously elected Chairman of the Amity Regional District Board of Education at the Board’s monthly meeting on Monday night.

Blake succeeds Ken Downey of Woodbridge, who had been Chairman of the Board but did not seek re-election this year. His term ended on June 30th.

Personnel Committee Chairman before ascending to the role of Board Chairman, Blake was elected to the Board in July 2003 and is currently halfway through servicing a four year term. At Monday’s meeting, Board Member Shelia Wade of Bethany nominated Blake for the job. No other nominations followed.

“I certainly appreciate the Board’s confidence,” Blake said. “I’m going to work to try to achieve the ambitious priorities that we have over the next few years. We will have a full plate in front of us.”

“It’s my belief that strong public schools are vital to our community, so that’s why I’m here,” he said. “I hope to be able to make a positive difference.”

“I’m very pleased,” said Amity Regional School District Superintendent John Brady, who first got to know Blake during his own salary negotiations. “I worked very closely with Bill, and I’ve come to realize that his only interest is to improve Amity for the students, and I respect that.”

Brady lauded Blake as a “sincere, honest, and genuine person.”

Blake, a married father of two and 15-year Bethany resident, is a lawyer with the Milford firm of Harlow, Adams, and Friedman.

The Amity Regional District is currently in the midst of a massive $75 million construction project to expand and renovate Amity High School in Woodbridge and the District’s two middle schools, Bethany Middle School and Orange Middle School. The two middle schools are expected to reopen for the 2006-2007 school year, while the high school’s renovations are planned to come to a close a few months later.

“We have a very, very solid Board of Education that is focused like a laser beam on two things: providing the finest education program possible and providing the most efficient and effective construction project that we’ve ever had,” Brady said.

The construction project, Brady said, will need Blake’s shepherding. “We need to make sure it’s finished on time, under budget, and with the quality that the residents of the Amity District expect,” he said. “The Chairman has a large responsibility of ensuring that this happens.”

“We need to make sure accomplish [the renovations] safely, within our budget, and in a timely fashion,” Blake said. “That’s going to be a challenge.”

Having construction at all three of Amity’s schools, he said, “can be a distraction unless we have the necessary concentration on continuing to achieve and educate.”

“But I know our administration has that concentration,” he said.

Blake says that the “strong building committee” has done an “excellent job” thus far, and with the “strong support from the community” that he has observed, he has great confidence in the success of the project.

Two of his other priorities, Blake said, will be to further establish financial control over the District and to carefully and completely implement the “middle school model” at the District’s two middle schools, which this year began switching over from the junior high school model. The new model will put just eighth and ninth grade students together at the middle schools, while ninth graders will attend Amity High School.

“Those are some pretty big items we’ve got and we have to make sure we accomplish them,” Blake said.

Brady said that he hopes that under Blake’s leadership, the Board’s “collegial workings will continue.”

Beyond maintaining the Board continues to “work well together,” Brady emphasized the function Blake will serve as an important conduit between the Board and the residents of Woodbridge, Bethany, and Orange. “[Blake] has a key role with communicating to the public that we’re moving in a very positive direction,” he said.

As for Downey, the departing Chairman, Brady had nothing but praise for the man who inherited a Board of Education that had been plagued with turmoil after the revelation of a two-year, $2.8 million budget deficit in August 2001, which eventually brought the resignations of former Superintendent of Schools Rolfe Wenner and five board members. The aftermath of the scandal was said to have contributed to the inability for the District’s 2002-2003 budget to be approved after 17 votes.

“Ken was deeply committed to Amity,” he said. “Everything he did was geared toward improving and restoring Amity in the eyes of the public. He saw his role as to restore credibility and veracity, and he was very, very successful.”

“He deserves a lot of credit,” Brady said. “He was Chairman at a very difficult time.”

Blake echoed Brady’s sentiments. “Ken accomplished more in the past couple of years than I thought was possible. He did a great job,” he said, praising Downey’s “ability to organize and educate the community about the issues.”

“He’s taught me a lot about leadership,” Blake said. “He’s going to be missed. I tip my hat to him.”