The petitioners who forced a referendum on the plan to convert two city schools to magnet schools should not expect any help from the two city councilors who voted against the measure.
Deputy Mayor Wade Hyslop and Councilor John Maynard, both Democrats, were the dissenting votes in the City Council's 5-2 decision to authorize a $61 million bond issue-$58 million of which the state will cover-to renovate and convert Winthrop and Nathan Hale schools into magnet schools.
But for Hyslop and Maynard, merely dissenting is enough, and they will not join former City Councilors Charles Frink and William Cornish in campaigning for the plan's defeat at the polls on April 8.
"I'm not going to push it either way," Maynard said, "for or against it."
Maynard added that he is glad the issue went to referendum.
Hyslop, in an interview last week, reiterated the points made in his speech in council chambers before the February vote.
"My vote was a protest vote," he said. "I am strongly in favor of magnet schools, but I am opposed to the bill of goods that they are going to cure the school system."
Maynard, who at first voted against the plan because the Board of Education did not provide him with information he asked for in a timely manner, has been promoting an alternate, $11 million plan to renovate all city schools.
Maynard's plan, drawn from the Board of Education's 3-year-old facilities scheme, was criticized by Councilor Michael Buscetto as being obsolete, as prices for raw materials have increased since 2005.
Maynard's and Hyslop's votes put them at odds with others in the Democratic Party, including Mayor Kevin Cavanagh and Councilor Margaret Curtin, as well as Jay Levin, the lobbyist and former mayor, who wrote an editorial in The Day in support of the plan.
Cavanagh, an ardent supporter of the plan, said no official coalition has been formed to promote a "yes" vote at the referendum.
"We may see bipartisan support for the plan," he said. "It might be two separate coalitions, a Democratic one and Republican one, plus the Independents."
On recent budget referendums, most of the Democratic leadership, including Levin and Democratic Town Committee Chairman Anthony Basilica, marshaled its well-oiled organization to lobby people to support the council's action.
Basilica said the DTC would discuss forming a campaign to support the magnet plan at its next meeting.
"This is something that not only Democrats in the city support," he said, "but something the majority of the people in the city want."
Basilica did not criticize the two Democrats for voting against the magnet plan.
"They can be mistaken," he said. "They are entitled to their opinion; they don't have to be in lockstep."
Meanwhile, Republican Councilors Rob Pero and Adam Sprecace have been advocating for the passage of the plan on their public access television program.
"We got slammed," Pero said. "There are people [in the party] who don't want [the magnet plan] and that's their right."
Pero said the magnet plan makes sense from "a facilities and business point of view," although he is not absolutely convinced that the educational aspect of the plan would be best for New London.
"But I'm not an education expert," he continued. "The way we educated children 20 years ago is very different than it is now."
Sprecace said he's explained his vote to people at any opportunity he gets.
"I don't know if I'm going to go on tour to promote the magnet plan," he said. "[Pero] and I might do another forum."
Sprecace said he "got grilled" by members of the New London GOP at its most recent meeting.
"There were an awful lot of questions," he said. "A lot of people don't have all the facts yet."
Sprecace blamed the school board for the amount of questions people have about the plan.
"They did not do a very good job getting this story out," he said.
Bill Vogel, the newly installed chairman of the New London Republicans, said many of those in the party still have questions about the educational sense of converting the two elementary schools to magnet schools.
"There is some uncertainty," he said. "The magnet schools in Hartford have failed."
Vogel cited a recent Hartford Courant story noting that some of the city's magnet schools are looking to relocate to the suburbs due to violence.
Vogel defended the GOP elected officials' votes-school board member James Pearce also supports the plan-to approve the magnet plan.
"They voted their conscience and were sincere in their judgment," he said. "They think it will be a positive thing for New London."