The crowd was estimated at more than 500 and filled the auditorium at town hall and much of the hallway on the first floor Monday night for the Town Council meeting to set a tentative budget.
And even after Republican council members announced that they intended to support Town Manager John Salomone's recommended spending plan for education, many stayed on to speak at the podium. At the insistence of the fire marshal's office, the council was finally able to convince enough people to leave so the meeting could proceed in the chambers.
In the end the Town Council set a tentative budget that left intact the recommendation of the town manager to fund the Board of Education budget at $57,548,306, a 3 percent increase over this year's $55,872,142.
Still, the public portion of the meeting went well over an hour as dozens of residents, teachers and students chose to speak at the meeting, many to rounds of applause.
"I'm here this evening to speak up for the children and teachers in this town," said Rossella Rizza. "Because of your actions tonight, our children will not suffer. We do live in a different time since many of us walked the halls of Newington High School."
Many residents expressed similiar thoughts although some said funding levels should be higher and others expressed concern over what may happen next year.
The response came on the heels of two actions by the Board of Education. One was the issuance of "pink slips" for 24 positions in the school system. Although the town's budget has not been set yet, the school system has a contractual requirement to issue those by April 1. Board of Education members said there would not have been time to begin issuing them on Tuesday - after the council's tentative budget.
The other motivating factor for education advocates was a letter that was sent home to parents listing potential areas that could be cut if the council reduced the budget. Those included "increasing class sizes at nearly every school/level; reducing remedial reading services throughout the district; reducing computer education instruction at the elementary level; reducing health instruction at the middle school level; reducing social worker /psychological/ counseling services; reducing media services throughout the district; eliminating school resource officer services; and eliminating field trips."
Some took issue with the letter and at a recent council meeting Council Jay Bottalico said it used scare tactics.
"I'm very appalled," he said.
Board of Education Chairman Daniel W. Carson Sr., maintains those cuts and layoffs would have been implemented if the council reduced the budget to some of the levels mentioned at a recent Town Council meeting with the entire Board of Education. At the meeting, councilors asked questions of the school board, including some scenarios of how would a zero percent or 1 percent increase would impact the schools.
Mayor Jeff Wright defended those and other questions at the meeting and said the councilors were simply asking questions to better understand the process and where the board was in its thinking. And this week, he said Republican councilors supported the 3 percent level.
"We felt it was important to give a 3 percent increase to the Board of Education," Wright said.
Carson, however, feels that the questions raised at that meeting - the difficult economy, the uncertainty that the state legislature will maintain the current level of "Educational Cost Sharing" as Gov. M. Jodi Rell has proposed - were enough to make the board unsure of what the council would do with education spending.
"There was no assurances," Carson said. "It was the prudent action to take."
"At that point in time we weren't sure where the council was coming from," said Board of Education member Meg Casasanta.
Although Republican councilors had voiced their support before the meeting even took place Monday, Carson, also a Republican, feels that the reaction from the education community - including phone calls, e-mails and then the attendance made an impact.
"Basically they turned the tide," Carson said.
Not everyone at the meeting spoke in favor of keeping the education budget at the meeting. A couple residents spoke against the spending level, one calling it "business as usual."
The majority, however, were in favor of keeping the budget the same and some even requested more or expressed concern that it would be an uphill battle next year.
BOE members Stephen Woods was impressed at the turnout.
"I've never seen so many people in this chamber," he said.
Some criticized the council for not moving the meeting.
"People should not be sent home because there's not enough room in the Town Council chambers," said Judy Igielski.
Wright said other venues were considered when so many people showed up but other factors - such as a basketball game in the high school gymnasium - made it difficult to move the meeting.
The budget is "tentative" at this point. A public hearing is set for 7 p.m. on April 6 in the town council chambers and the council is expected to adopt the budget in a meeting that starts at 7 p.m. on April 14.