Enfield's School Audit: A Breakdown in Communication and Oversight

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The newly released audit of the Board of Education's $5.6 million cost overrun makes one thing clear: this wasn't a simple mistake. It was a systemic failure — the result of siloed operations, weak internal rigor, and missteps by both the school district and the town. And here's the hard truth: Enfield still hasn't actually paid for this failure. Town reserves covered the gap, shrinking our financial cushion and limiting our ability to soften future tax hikes. Next year's budget will reveal just how vulnerable we are. What this incident tells us is that Enfield isn't managing its risk very well — and that should worry everyone. Fundamentally, this was a costly risk-management failure, and nothing in the audit suggests it can't happen again.  [ Audit link , and Council  slide deck ] CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), the audit firm, outlines eight major problems, many of them rooted in communication breakdowns between the town, the school district, and the state. The ...
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Did Enfield make a mistake by opening its schools?

Enfield High School
Enfield High School, fall, 2020

On Sept. 23, a covid case was reported at Enfield High School. The school is closing for the next two days. It will shift to remote learning.

Health authorities are contact tracing. Other schools in this state have reported covid cases. Some think this is just the start and schools will be all virtual soon enough. Perhaps not.

The CDC has argued that it’s important to reopen schools for the health and well being of children. It warns of everything from “severe learning loss,” which includes their social development. The schools are also a steady source of nutrition. Those are real problems.

Can Enfield control this? Will contact tracing be effective? Will the school covid cases lead to an increase in adult covid cases in town?

All the school districts are trying their best to get through this, and we will just have to see what happens next.

Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA

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