Board of Education Meeting Minutes

January 7, 2009

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

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools

OTHERS: Leo Mellow, BET; Council Member Douglas Sutton, Dan Cook, COO; Bruce Mellion, NFT President, Anthony Daddona,NPS Administration

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 8:15 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

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

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO CHANGE THE AGENDA TO ALLOW THE PUBLIC COMMENT TO BE HELD BEFORE THE PRESENTATION OF THE 2009-2010 BUDGET PRESENTATION ** MR. KIMMEL SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Ms. Amy Kress came forward and said that she was a Nathan Hale teacher, a Norwalk resident and a taxpayer she was present to speak in favor of the reinstatement of the sixth teaching team at Nathan Hale. The teachers will not be able to follow the CALI model without the extra teaching team.

Ms. Jackie Hauge, Special Education teacher at Nathan Hale came forward and spoke in favor of having the sixth teaching team reinstated at Nathan Hale. She expressed concerns about class size and the student teacher ratio. Nathan Hale has a team teaching concept, but without the sixth team being in place, some of the teachers are not able to meet to discuss the curriculum and the students. She went on to state that the school was already understaffed and that Nathan Hale was a spotlight school.

Ms. Sal Bryk, a teacher at Nathan Hale, came forward. She then asked for the reinstatement of the five teachers who were cut when the student enrollment dropped. Ms. Bryk then pointed out that the enrollment has been increasing and that the school needed the teaching team that has been disbanded. She then reviewed the philosophy of the team teaching team method. Ms. Bryk said that having the seven person teaching team as proposed in the budget would not meet the need, but reinstating the fifth team would. Ms. Bryk said that the classes would be over capacity. She added that only a teacher who was in agreement with the Nathan Hale philosophy would be appropriate.

Ms. Christie Counts, a Language Arts teacher and the split team leader at Nathan Hale for the last four years. She then recounted the history of how the team was handicapped in the last two years by the cut backs. She said that she had two children in the Norwalk Public Schools and wished to express her support for having the five teacher team reinstated.

Ms. Maura Sterling, of 107 Chestnut Hill Road, came forward and said that she was a resident of the City, a taxpayer and a teacher at Nathan Hale. Ms. Sterling said that she was present to support the reinstatement of the five teacher team at Nathan Hale. She then gave a few examples of how various students were helped by the team teachers. She said that it takes a whole team to raise a child and repeated her request for the reinstatement of the teaching team.

Ms. Peggie Loris, a Nathan Hale teacher, then came forward and distributed a written statement about the teaching staff at Nathan Hale, which she had made at the previous meeting.

Ms. Joan Webster, a Norwalk teacher came forward and related her experience with team teaching. She said she was able to develop a scheduling method at West Rocks and that Nathan Hale still uses it today. Ms. Webster then gave a brief overview how the staff at Nathan Hale had managed two years ago with the five teachers being cut. She said that finding teachers with duel certification would be difficult. Ms. Webster said that without the extra teaching team, the middle school will be reverting back to the junior high model. Ms. Webster also pointed out that the District may be opening itself to lawsuits and strongly impact the student performance.

Ms. Webster then asked how the District could expect to have two people handle a job that had previously been handled by one person when there was a declining

Ms. Betty Bono came forward and said that she was a resident of Norwalk, taxpayer and a Norwalk Language Arts teacher. She said that she had taught in Ponus, and also at Nathan Hale. She then urged the Board to do everything possible to restore the teaching team back to Nathan Hale that was cut when the enrollment went down. Suggestions that larger class sizes and only two additional teachers would not serve the students well. She then requested that the five teaching positions be reinstated.

Ms. Phebe Fallon, the head counselor at Nathan Hale then came forward. She said that she has spent hours trying to make the system work with only two additional teachers, but it has not been possible.

Ms. Donna Ridell, President of the Norwalk Federation of the Educational Personnel. She then questioned the premises that the eliminations of the various educational personnel positions. She questioned whether other factors had been considered in making these decisions.

Mr. Jim McCaughey, a Language Arts teacher at Nathan Hale came forward. He then gave a brief outline of how the changes at Nathan Hale had positively affected the students at the school. He said that the students were individuals and it was important that the teachers have a full teaching team at the school.

Ms. Kerry O’Neill, a Norwalk resident, a taxpayer, a parent and a staff member at Silvermine Elementary came forward. She then outlined the points that had been presented at the previous meeting. She then asked what consideration had been given to the individual schools as to what was needed at each school. She then offered an alternative by giving a short history of her own school, which has a dual language emersion program. She listed a number of problems, such as failing to make safe harbor for the last four years, decreasing enrollment, resignations of the principal and the assistant principals, and declining parental involvement. The mainstream program enrollment is dropping and the dual language program is strained. A new principal has come in and the school is improving, along with the CMTs. She added that the Assistant Principal had not known that his position might be cut until this morning when discussions about last night’s meetings were held. Ms. O’Neill said that while she was the only person present from the Silvermine community, but that this was not indicative of the level of interest at the school. She asked how the District expected the school to face all the various challenges with further cuts.

Dr. Lynne Moore came forward and announced that she was the principal of West Rocks Middle School. She complimented Ms. O’Neill on her eloquent students. Dr. Moore then said that there were 25 students at West Rocks who were ELL students and that Nathan Hale does not have an ELL program. She then asked several questions about the placement determination of the ELL students.

Dr. Moore then addressed the sub-group data and said that it was important to consider. Dr. Moore said that the Board had not been provided with the full background information.

Ms. Diane Cano, a Nathan Hale parent came forward and said that she had a student at Nathan Hale. She then requested that the Board reinstate the teaching team at Nathan Hale. She then related that when she had called for a meeting regarding her child’s progress, she was surprised that she met with the entire team. Ms. Cano then expressed concerns about the class size in comparison to the other middle schools in the area. She then requested the Board reinstate the five teacher team at Nathan Hale.

Mr. Alvin Mosby came forward and said that he had worked as a custodian in the Norwalk Public Schools for many years. He expressed concerns about positions being cut at the High School and the poor economic outlook. While it is important to save money, it is also important not to cut jobs. He suggested that there be additional meetings in an effort to avoid cutting jobs.

Ms. Liljeane Clyburn came forward and said that she was the head custodian at Brien McMahon, which has recently been renovated and enlarged. She said that she was asking the Board to reconsider eliminating the head custodian at Brien McMahon because the school desperately needs more custodians

Ms. Bartush came forward and said that she was a teacher at Nathan Hale and a resident of Norwalk. Only having an additional two teachers will not give the students the individual attention they need. Middle school is unique and the students need small classes with teachers who have time to think and plan for each of their students. Middle school teaching teams met regularly to discuss their students’ progress. Ms. Bartush then pointed out that the school does not have a full time ELL program and just adding two teachers would not allow the teams to accommodate the increasing enrollment. Ms. Bartush praised Mr. McCain for his innovative and creative solutions, but feared that the District had become a district of separate schools rather than a School District.

Mr. Mellion came forward and said that there were some functional details that had to be examined. He then cited pages 11 and 12 of the budget. Mr. Mellion then asked a number of questions about the various positions listed on the pages 11 and 12. He stated that the data on these pages does not fit the explanations offered by Dr. Corda at the previous meeting. Mr. Mellion then said that the Board did not have the data necessary to make a decision on the budget without full details and explanations.

2009-2010 BUDGET PRESENTATION PART II

Dr. Corda then returned to the PowerPoint presentation of the budget, starting with the section devoted to Middle School. He then clarified some of the details regarding the ELL students who currently attend West Rocks because Nathan Hale did not have an ELL program prior to the 2009-2010 school year.

Dr. Corda said that in looking at the total enrollment of the schools, it appears that there is the need for an additional team at Nathan Hale when the enrollment is only 533 students as compared to Ponus with 684 and West Rocks with 708 students.

Mr. McCain then came forward and said that he had worked with others to come up with workable schedules for Nathan Hale. He then displayed some slides that illustrated the various schedules and listed their pros and cons.

Mr. Kimmel asked whether the other schools had the same scheduling issues. Mr. McCain said that as an administrator for the last twelve years, all the schedules he had done were all unique to the various schools.

Mr. McCain said the figures he was presenting were the most current available, but the figures for the budget were based on the October 1, 2008 enrollment. Dr. Corda and Mr. McCain then reviewed a scenario with a split team for Grade 8, which is the smallest class. Mr. McCain said that two additional teachers would not work because of contractual restrictions. Three teachers, however, may work. One of the problems is that the District needs to locate a teacher with a Language Arts/Math certification among the current staff.

Dr. Corda said that if this were possible, there would be some trade offs and that this would only be a one-year solution. The following year, the enrollments will increase and it may be necessary to add an additional two teachers to create a full five teacher team. However there would be a number of disadvantages, such a not being able to have the middle school team teaching model because it would be impossible to have heterogeneous groupings of students.

Dr. Corda then announced that tomorrow night the Board would be reviewing the elementary schools and the support staff budgets.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 10:11 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes