Board of Education Meeting Minutes

December 2, 2008

ATTENDANCE: Rosa Murray, Chair; Jody Bishop-Pullan; Greg Burnett; Jack Chiaramonte; Jodi Bishop-Pullan; Shirley Mosby; Migdalia Rivas; Glenn Iannaccone; Susan Hamilton

STAFF: Mayor Moccia; Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools; Sheri McCready

OTHERS: Sue Haynie; Margaret Bustell; Kim Graham; Ms. Supraja; Melvin Silverstein; Jeffrey Spahr; Paul Blumenthal; Peg McDonald; George Duwallabe

I. CALL TO ORDER – 7:45 P.M. – COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:52 p.m.

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Ms. Murray led those present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. SPOTLIGHT ON NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Mr. Chiaramonte read the following information for the Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools:

Dr. Patricia Lawler, a Housemaster at NHS, was honored and represented Norwalk at the Northeastern Educational Research Association’s 39th Annual Conference in October at Rocky Hill, CT. Dr. Lawler presented a paper, “Effect of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act on Student Performance in Connecticut Schools.” This paper was based on Dr. Lawler’s research and dissertation on Federal Policy and its impact on student performance. Dr. Lawler earned a B.S. and MBA from St. John’s University. Dr. Lawler earned her Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.

Ms. Leah Turner, NPS health services coordinator, was honored at the Western Connecticut School of Professional Studies Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award Celebration. Ms. Turner, who became the coordinator in 1989, was nominated by the Western Connecticut Nursing Department. Ms. Turner earned a B.S. and M.S. from Western Connecticut State University. She has been a NCSN – Nationally Certified School Nurse since 1990. She was awarded the 2003 School Nurse Supervisor of the Year from the Association of School Nurses in Connecticut.

West Rocks and Ponus Ridge Middle Schools, identified as schools in need of improvement, have achieved the designation of safe harbor as defined by the No Child Left Behind standards. Safe Harbor is identified as schools that achieved a 10% decrease in the number of students below proficiency in specific subgroups. The designation is all or nothing, i.e., all subgroups must make the target or reach safe harbor in order for the school or district to be considered in safe harbor. If West Rocks and Ponus Ridge Middle Schools reach safe harbor on the March 2009 testing, they will no longer be in need of improvement.

Dr. Corda and the Board members extended congratulations to Dr. Lawler, Ms. Turner, and administrators from West Rocks and Ponus Ridge Middle Schools.

IV. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT CREC Assessment of Pupil Personnel Services Department

Dr. Corda said the Norwalk Public School District serves approximately 1,000 students who have special needs, and the services cover a range of very intensive support to support that may be less rigorous. Each of the students is important, and it is critical to make sure that the level of service provided is appropriate, efficient and effective. Organizations that are committed to excellence require periodical, objective reviews of the procedures and policies that they follow. This is the only way to get better.

Dr. Corda said the next steps after the Board hears the report is to review it with the school principals on December 9. It has already been reviewed with the supervisory staff of the Special Education Department. The executive summary of the report and the entire report are available for the public on the District’s website. Representatives from the State Education Department will offer their assistance, and that will be shared with the staff to begin strategies for implementation in order to take maximum advantage of the report. An informational meeting for the public will take place either right before or right after the winter recess.

Dr. Corda then introduced Ms. Peg McDonald, who presented the report on the CREC assessment. Ms. McDonald introduced her colleague, Mr. George Duwallabe, one of the 9 project team members who conducted the evaluation.

Ms. McDonald said the Norwalk staff was very cooperative in working with them, and they always made Ms. McDonald and the team feel welcome. She complimented the staff on their willingness to work with the team.

The intent of the review was to help provide the Norwalk Board of Education and the school personnel with information about the programs and services for special ed students, and some recommendations for the future. There are five priorities presented in the report that everyone will hopefully feel are equally important, and be completed within 2 or 3 years. The review was a five month process that began in July and ended in December, and there are six questions that the Norwalk Board of Education asked them to answer. They are 1) organizational structure, 2) processes, 3) communication, 4) compliance, 5) impact on student learning, and 6) cost effectiveness/efficiency. A total of 339 people were interviewed. This number includes 100 parents, 26 building administrators, 10 central office administrators, 58 general education teachers, and 77 special education teacher interviews and 36 related services staff, 3 paraprofessionals, and 16 staff from outside agencies and business, 8 board of education members. All 19 schools were visited and observations of services and programs for special education students were conducted. 63 files representing different disability categories and different service options and locations were reviewed. 20 students were selected for an in-depth review which included parent and staff interviews and student observations in their education program. 1,800 surveys were sent to parents of special education students. 160 were completed and returned.

Ms. McDonald went on to provide information from the report, saying that there have been numerous administrative changes in general and special education that, combined with a long and cumbersome hiring practice for administrators, has resulted in inconsistent leadership. The job descriptions for all pupil personnel administrators and for building principals are “outdated” and do not accurately reflect the current special education job responsibilities. Historically, Norwalk operates in a decentralized organizational structure in both general and special education. Schools primarily operate independently of the central office and the lines of authority between and among schools, central office, and board of education are unclear. There was inconsistency among the schools, a feeling of “it depends on the school”, and this can cause huge problems. She said they understood it to be a long-standing problem, and it is not particular to special education.

Ms. McDonald said the report found a lack of decision-making ability for people who had accountability, with buildings making their own decisions regarding budget issues and special education processes. The central office for special education hasn’t been doing as much quality assurance that they should be. It was noted that it was inefficient to have the special education teacher perform clerical duties. Special education teacher responsibilities for confidential file maintenance are not an effective or efficient use of their time.

Regarding Special Education Processes, the procedure manual for special education is outdated and not regularly used. Due to the inconsistencies of processes in special education found so prevalent in Norwalk, the following five processes must be consistently practiced across the District: 1) early intervention; 2) identification for special education eligibility; 3) procurement and/or reallocation of anticipated and/or unexpected resources (budget process), 4) IEP development and monitoring process and continuum of services, and 5) staff hiring, assignment, staff development, and evaluation process.

Some schools were found to be doing the SRT model, others did the RTI model for early intervention. A district leadership initiative plan needs to be put in place. Inconsistencies were found in the process of the identification of students across the schools, and sometimes within the schools regarding lack of materials for testing, lack of training on new testing materials, and lack of a districtwide testing protocol. There isn’t a process in place or a guideline for a special education teacher to obtain new resources. The IEP development was the most striking difference they found. Of the 63 files they reviewed, it depended on the school the child attended for what services they received. One student got 20 hours more per week of special education than a similar student with a similar profile. The staff hiring/supervision appeared to be different throughout the schools. Speech and language therapists are hard to find, and Norwalk needs to get ahead of this and become proactive. There were pervasive issues across the district regarding communication, including inadequate “reaching out to parents”, few opportunities for formal feedback, and a lack of trust between and among groups. Some of the same problems were found in the Cambridge Report in 2007.

Ms. McDonald mentioned that there were a number of compliance issues, which were identified by the State Department of Education in 2005-2006, and they related to the number of special education students being suspended for more than 10 days, or being expelled from school. Of the 63 files, 75% of the time they were in compliance. 25% of the time, they were not in compliance. Violations appeared to be in place for the lack of confidential files being in a classroom and not being locked.

The educational benefit (impact on student learning) is not documented well in the record/IEP. The CMT scores indicate that Norwalk special education students are below the state average in math, reading, and writing in all grades. The biggest gaps are in grade 5 for math, grades 3, 4 and 5 for reading, and grade 3 for writing. The district needs to consider assisted technology. Some concerns were raised at the high school level, where the special education classrooms were located in the basement, among piles of discarded computers and many distractions.

Mr. Duwallabe presented some information on resource allocation, saying that 18.8% of the total budget was committed to special education, whereas the State average is just over 20%. Some budget issues include lack of cohesion and communication between the special education department and the budget/finance area. Documentation and record keeping regarding federal funds needs to be improved.

Ms. McDonald went on to report some commendations, including the response to the intervention model, collaborative partnerships, an electronic IEP system, the data driven decision making and effective teaching strategies initiative (districtwide), and the CMT/CAPT participation figures. There is an intervention/inclusion specialist who works in the three high schools. She also mentioned that Rowayton and Tracy did well across 11 data sources. Lastly, the Assistant Superintendent and the Director of Pupil Services are working well together as a team, in a united approach to district initiatives.

Ms. McDonald spoke of recommendations, saying they strongly recommend 5 goals be put into the district improvement plan, and that the State works collaboratively with the State Department of Ed, similar to the Cali project. They also recommend that there be a system of reporting, meaning that the Director would report monthly to the Assistant Superintendent, followed by quarterly updates to the board, website posting, etc. The five goals they recommend should be a 2-3 year implementation of a strategic plan. The five goals are 1) improve organizational structures for greater efficiency and effectiveness; 2) improve consistency across the district in the following special education processes; 3) improve communication within district on all levels and with outside agencies and parents; 4) increase educational benefit to students with disabilities; and 5) review and revise, as needed, budget processes, management and authority for both the federal IDEA funds and for the local district special education budget. She said that in order for the recommendations to be successful, the five goals need to be met, or else the report is useless. For the action plan to be successful, there will need to be 1) improved collaboration between and among the Board of Education, district administrators, staff, parents, and the union; 2) shared responsibility and accountability for the plan; 3) an atmosphere and culture of support rather than control and intimidation; 4) proper funding for action plan implementation, and; 5) a sense of urgency, a need to go “above and beyond”. She provided information on timelines and activities for each of the five goals from the report, with some having a recommended implementation/target date of within a month.

Mayor Moccia thanked Ms. McDonald and Mr. Duwallabe for the report. He said that Norwalk is the 6th largest city in the State of Connecticut. The ECS funding is below what other cities/communities receive. The situation is beyond the Board and beyond him, who lobbies extensively.

Some discussion took place among the board members and the CREC representatives, mentioning sub-groups, funding, the CALI model, full integration, reference to the Cambridge report and its similarities to this report, and the sense of urgency for implementation.

V. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Please note that these public comments are not verbatim.

Ms. Sue Haynie said she thought the CREC report was excellent but hoped that it doesn’t get marginalized. She said that everyone in Norwalk has the right to ask “What’s in it for me?”, and “What’s in it for the special education students ?”

Ms. Kim Graham said the CREC report is disheartening, and swift and significant change is needed. She has stood before the board for three times regarding the Stacy Lore/Spectrum Kids issue. She urged Dr. Corda to release the findings of the report. She said she would like to volunteer her time and be part of the process.

Ms. Margaret Bustell said she agreed with Ms. Graham’s comments. She feels that there needs to be a mechanism in place for outside consultants to be evaluated. She would also like to volunteer her time. She would like to be seen as part of the solution, not as part of the problem.

Mr. Melvin Silverstein urged the committee to consider a recommendation of collaboration with other towns to share information on special education. He was involved with special education in Westport 25 years ago. He said that IEP’s should be looked into to avoid time differences (i.e. lack of services).

Mr. Jeffrey Spahr said he had a chance to review the report. He understands the budget constraints. He mentioned that there is a lack of information on the website. It could become an information/resource center. He said that since the Cambridge report was published in 2007, there has not been much progress made. He instituted a parent workshop series, free of charge, at Columbus school. He referenced some points from the CREC report, and said that he would like to bury the hatchet and move on and help each other.

Ms. Supraja said she would like to volunteer some hours to help in the classroom and the building. She mentioned that English is not the language of many children in the class. She said that 6 out of 8 special needs children spoke another language.

Mr. Paul Blumenthal said he has spoken before the Board on many occasions on a variety of topics. He said there is perhaps an inherent structural defect in the Norwalk Public Schools, and the structure has to be changed in order to be effective. There are morale issues and these were mentioned in the Cambridge report.

VI. ACTIONS

A. Consent

1. Approval of personnel actions

Ms. Murray said that Mr. Kimmel called this evening, saying he was ill and could not attend the meeting.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE PERSONNEL ACTIONS.

** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. Approval of minutes (November 18, 2008)

Minutes of November 18, 2008

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 18, 2008. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

The corrections to the minutes of November 18, 2008 are:

Under Technology Report, it was reported that Mr. Valenzisi said attendance, but it should be “staff” attendance.

** MOTION PASSED WITH EIGHT (8) VOTES IN FAVOR (CHIARAMONTE, BISHOP-PULLAN, IANNACCONE, MURRAY, HAMILTON, BURNETT, RIVAS,) AND ONE (1) VOTE ABSTAINED (MOSBY).

C. Approval of Field Trip (s)

a. Ponus Ridge Middle School to Washington, D.C.

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO APPROVE THE PONUS RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL TRIP TO WASHINGTON, D.C.

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

b. BMHS Center for Global Studies to Egypt

** MR. BURNETT MOVED TO APPROVE THE BMHS CENTER FOR GLOBAL STUDIES TRIP TO EGYPT.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

Mr. Iannaccone said he wouldn’t approve of this trip, as it didn’t come before the Board for approval within the 4 month time frame, which is board policy. Ms. McCarthy from BMHS said that it took longer to get approved this time, and that the trip is planned for February instead of April because of exams being taken in Egypt.

** MOTION PASSED WITH SIX (6) VOTES IN FAVOR (CHIARAMONTE, HAMILTON, BISHOP-PULLAN, MURRAY, BURNETT, MOSBY), ONE (1) VOTE OPPOSED (IANNACCONE) AND ONE (1) VOTE ABSTAINED (RIVAS).

c. BMHS Center for Global Studies to China

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE BMHS CENTER FOR GLOBAL STUDIES TRIP TO CHINA.

** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

d. BMHS Center for Global Studies to Japan

** MS. RIVAS TO APPROVE THE BMHS CENTER FOR GLOBAL STUDIES TRIP TO JAPAN.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Approval of reallocation of Capital Funds

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE REALLOCATION OF CAPITAL FUNDS.

** MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

E. Approval of partnership with Human Services Council re: mentor program

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE PARTNERSHIP WITH HUMAN SERVICES COUNCIL RE: MENTOR PROGRAM.

** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

Ms. Mosby asked for a more defined and more detailed transition plan as well as a copy of a written agreement signed by the Human Services Council and a representative of the Norwalk Public Schools.

Mr. Burnett said the biggest concern was how Norwalk was going to get the funding to properly receive the program back.

** MS. MOSBY MOVED TO TABLE THE APPROVAL OF PARTNERSHIP WITH HUMAN SERVICES COUNCIL RE: MENTOR PROGRAM.

** MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED WITH SIX (6) VOTES IN FAVOR (IANNACCONE, CHIARAMONTE, BISHOP-PULLAN, MURRAY, RIVAS, MOSBY) AND TWO (2) VOTES OPPOSED (HAMILTON, BURNETT).

F. Approval of settlement agreement re: NPS employee #10176

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT RE: NPS EMPLOYEE #10176.

** MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN (7) VOTES IN FAVOR (IANNACCONE, HAMILTON, CHIARAMONTE, BISHOP-PULLAN, MURRAY, BURNETT, RIVAS) AND ONE (1) VOTE ABSTAINED (MOSBY).

G. Approval of budget transfers

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE BUDGET TRANSFERS.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

VII. INFORMATION AND REPORTS

A. Policies and bylaws: #5131.91 Bullying, Bylaws #9320 & #9326

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said the bullying policy has to be updated according to State statute. She said that Mr. Daddona met with the administrators and Mr. Mellion has attended the meetings. She said that they hope to vote on this at the next meeting.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said they were made aware by way of a change in the State statute for bylaws #9320 and #9326 that meetings, agendas and minutes had to be posted to the website.

B. ING 403(b) Plan for NPS

Dr. Dan Cook said that this plan was put together by ING, a 3rd party administrator and has been accepted for the first time in over 40 years by the local Board of Education.

C. Board Member Announcements

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she would like to schedule a public hearing between now and the holiday break regarding the budget adoption. Some discussion took place regarding the timing. It was decided to have a public hearing in January, and meet at 6:30 p.m. prior to the December 16th Board meeting.

Ms. Murray said she asked the Committee chairs to take the assignments for 6 months. Ms. Bishop-Pullan will chair the Policy Committee; Mr. Kimmel will chair the Finance Committee; Ms. Mosby will chair the Curriculum Committee, and Ms. Murray will chair the Negotiations Committee. She said she asked the Committee chairs to get in touch with the Central Office staff, as well as strengthen the meeting structure and communication.

VIII. DISCUSSION OF SETTLEMENT WITH NFT RE: EVALUATION OF ATHLETIC COACHES (Executive Session Anticipated)

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS SETTLEMENT WITH NFT RE: EVALUATION OF ATHLETIC COACHES.

** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN (7) VOTES IN FAVOR (IANNACCONE, CHIARAMONTE, HAMILTON, MURRAY, BISHOP-PULLAN, RIVAS, MOSBY) AND ONE (1) VOTE ABSTAINED (BURNETT).

Dr. Corda and the Board members went into Executive Session at 11:00 p.m.

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO EXTEND THE TIME PAST 11:00 P.M.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

IX. ADJOURNMENT

Respectfully submitted,

Carolyn Marr Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes