The Ribbon Cutting for the Kucinskas Loop, originally uploaded by Aldon.

In a recent blog post about local news coverage, I noted a problem with volunteer citizen journalism. Volunteer citizen journalists only cover things that they are interested in when they have time to do it. There are many things going on in our communities that we should be interested in. In that blog post, I talked about the ribbon cutting for the Kucinskas loop at Beecher Road School in Woodbridge CT, an Ice Cream Social run as a fundraiser by the local Parent Teachers Organization, and the Woodbridge Commission on the Use of Publicly Owned Property meeting.

When Dr. Stella became the Superintendent at the Beecher Road School people advised him to engage the community. Previous school administrations had failed to do that one administration quickly succeeded the next. The annual school budget for Beecher Road School is over eleven million dollars, and unless you have a child in the school, are a realtor, or are trying to sell your house, you may not appreciate the great value that the town is receiving for its educational expenses.

The ribbon cutting for the Kucinskas loop was a great example of engaging the community. The school band and the local scout troops brought in kids and their parents that were already involved, as did representatives from the board of education and the parent teacher organization. The noted public figures, such as First Selectman Ed Sheehy, State Senator Joe Crisco, and State Representative Themis Klarides attracted those interested in the political side of things. Mr. Kucinskas’ daughter recalled stories of her father and the dedication brought back some of his older students, families and friends.

Mr. Kucinskas was a great runner, and Dr. Stella talked about how the loop would be used not only for student classes and events, but added to the recreational opportunities for the whole town.

The town of Woodbridge has other great recreational activities and a vibrant parks and recreation commission. Many people take long walks or runs out on around the cornfields. Others swim or play golf and the town’s latest new property, the Country Club of Woodbridge. Yet too few people appreciate the great opportunities in town or take up roles to make sure that these properties are used as extensively and responsibly possible.

On Tuesday evening, I attended the Commission on the Use of Publicly Owned Property’s monthly meeting. This too often overlooked commission has the important task of making sure that the town’s properties are used according to the deeds and covenants placed on the properties when the town received them. At this meeting, two people spoke an effort to create an ADA compliant playground that would be attractive to many more families than currently use the choo-choo playground. The commission spoke about the best places to place such a playground. While some on the commission suggested that the cornfields might be a better location, all of the work done so far had been focused on the athletic fields on Pease Road as the best possible location.

When there was an opportunity for public comment, I spoke about the Country Club of Woodbridge property and asked what was being done to make sure this property would be used as extensively and responsibly as possible. There was a good discussion about issues around the success of this property and I hope to see the town work closely with the current property manager to make sure that the club is a success for both the town and the manager.

Dr. Stella has done a great job of promoting community engagement with Beecher Road School. Those who are involved realize how valuable his work is to the school and to the community as a whole. Hopefully, the managers of the Country Club of Woodbridge will do a similar job in promoting community engagement in the club so that more citizens of the town will appreciate how valuable the club can be to the town as a whole.