Community Services covers publicity, the First grade Recycling Program, the Seventh grade Civics Program, the high school Voter Education Program, Staples Tuition Grant, publications, and marching in the Memorial Day Parade. Voter participation is emphasized with presentation role-playing class given to all 7th graders at Bedford and Coleytown Middle Schools. This is an interactive presentation demonstrating the importance of voting and the history of voting rights.
      The Power of One expands this educational platform at the high school level. The Power of One, demonstrates the importance of one vote by holding a mock election on an issue of concern to high school students. The program was presented to all American Government classes at Staples. This is done in coordination with voter registration at the high school. We would like to thank Lisa Shufro for providing training classes for the volunteers needed to make these two programs successful.
      Lisa Shufro is an indispensable part of our recycling program. Lisa and several volunteers will visit all the 1st grades in April and present their lively program on the basics of recycling. This is the twelfth year for this program.
      Publicity and marching in the Memorial Day Parade have both been ably handled by Winnie Balboni.
      Our scholarship student will be invited to speak at the annual meeting in June.
Karen Curtis and Barbara La Joie, Community Relations Vice Presidents

      Voter Services reached out to the community in several ways in order to promote citizen education and participation in the electoral process. The Voters Guide was published in conjunction with the Minuteman Newspaper and mailed to subscribers prior to Election Day. Supplemental copies were also available at several sites in town, including Westport Town Hall and The Westport Public Library.
      In October 2004, Voter Services held two candidates forums. Both events were co-sponsored by The Y’s Women and held at The Westport Public Library. Candidates for State Assembly District 136 participated in one forum and candidates for State Senate District 26 participated in the other. Both were well attended. In addition, Voter Services co-sponsored, along with other Fairfield County leagues, SACIA and the Connecticut Bar Association, a forum in Stamford for candidates for the Fourth Congressional District.
      The annual voter registration drive for newly eligible voters took place on two days at Staples High School. New this year, Voter Services registered eligible voters at Greens Farms Academy, which was highly successful. Both events were held in conjunction with the Registrar of Voters.
      Voter Services will continue these activities in the upcoming year.
Lynn Crager and Cathy Walsh, Voter Services Vice Presidents

Program: The Education Study, which is investigating the effects of “standardized/high stakes” testing on teaching, curriculum development, learning, scheduling and funding, has received approximately 85 responses to the teacher questionnaire distributed to all teachers in the Westport public schools in the past year. We have attempted to improve our response rate, interview school administrators and interview members of the Board of Education. We have had only modest success with these efforts. Looking toward the future, we are ready to begin data analysis and draw our conclusions based on the responses we have received.
      Our two-part Legislative Breakfast and State Program Planning Meeting, held on Friday, January 21, 2005, was a combined meeting with the LWV of Weston. The five state Legislators who attended were State Senators Judith Freedman and John McKinney, and State Representatives Joe Mioli, John Stripp and Cathy Tymniak. The four incumbents showed a wide depth of knowledge and experience as they spoke to their top priorities and their roles on key committees. Recently elected Representative Joe Mioli added an already informed newcomer’s perspective to the mix. Each legislator spoke to the LWV question, “How will you convince other legislators to support correction of the critical transportation situation in Fairfield County?” The second half of the program consisted of the LWV Westport’s review of all LWVCT positions, and the majority voted in favor of retaining all of the state positions. The three state positions voted by the Westport LWV as top priorities were Transportation, School Finance, and Quality Integrated Education.
      Our annual Local Program Planning meeting took place on March 9 and resulted in the retention of all positions, the continuation of the Education Study into a third year and a new study proposal on Westport’s Town Budgets. Our delegates to state convention were authorized to support two concurrence study proposals: on the death penalty in Connecticut and on school start times.
Observer Corps: Under the joint stewardship of Winnie Balboni and Rose Anne Preston, members of the Observer Corps attended Westport town board and commission meetings throughout the year. Pertinent issues were discussed at monthly meetings, and appropriate items were identified for possible action. Two items referred to the Action Committee were the funding of the upgrade of the town’s sewage treatment plant .and  the Human Services budget. The Observer Corps has proposed observing selected RTM committee meetings in order to understand better the process through which some town issues are resolved. In addition, observers are being recruited to cover issues as they wind their way through successive commission, board and committee meetings.
Advocacy: On the basis of our Town Department Funding position adopted last year, LWV Westport spoke to the Board of Selectmen regarding the funding of the upgrade of the sewage treatment plant, advocating 100% town funding. Using our Health and Human Services position, we spoke to the Board of Finance about the need to increase the budget for the Human Services Department due to their greatly increased responsibilities. The League and the Westport PTA Council co-sponsored a public information program on September 26, 2004, at which Connecticut’s Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg spoke about testing and the No Child Left Behind Act. Several Westport League members joined transportation reform advocates from across the state at a Transportation Rally with state legislators at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on January 19, 2005. Subsequently, Governor Jodi Rell proposed a budget that would address many transportation issues. More work is needed, and the League continues to keep transportation as a priority for the coming year.
Action Committee: Led by chairman Pat Porio, the Action Committee formed an Ethics Committee to investigate establishing an Ethics Commission in Westport. This is an issue that our League has addressed in the past and one that the LWVCT has asked each local league to look into on the local level. The Action Committee was also responsible for the two public statements on the funding of the sewage treatment plant upgrade and the Human Services budget described in the Advocacy section above.
Marge Dunham and Eileen Flug, Program/Advocacy Vice Presidents