Board of Education Meeting Minutes

January 13, 2009

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

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools

I. CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 8:05 pm

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

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

III. BOARD DISCUSSION WITH THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CONSULTANT, MARTHA SUMMERVILLE

Ms. Martha Summerville came forward and greeted the board and audience. She said that because it had been awhile since she had spoken with the board individually she would refresh everyone’s memory and reminded everyone that last summer the commissioner of education suggested to the board that it might be helpful to have an extra consultant work with them, someone who would be committed to organizational effectiveness. Deb Richards followed up by sending a letter to each of you that included my bio. We talked individually last fall and completed that cycle right after the election. The purpose of my being here tonight is to introduce myself so you can see what I look like and to talk with you about how she may be of assistance to the board. Ms. Summerville said she has served on many education boards and feels confident that she can help the board reach and achieve their goals. She is an independent business owner living in New Haven. She has been in the consulting business for 8 years. She asked for comments and questions. Mr. Burnett asked her what her time line is and what her next step is. Ms. Sullivan said the next step is for the board to decide if they want to hire her as a consultant. Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if she would be available to return for further discussion once the board has talked about how she can assist them. Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the board members should each note what areas they feel Ms. Summerville could be of assistance to them and then schedule her to return for further discussion. Ms. Summerville agreed that this was a good plan and she would be happy to come back anytime. Ms. Rosa thanked Ms. Sullivan for her presentation.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON 2009-2010 BUDGET

Ms. Bishop-Pullan addressed the public and reminded them the public comments would be limited to 3 minutes and thanked everyone for coming out.

Ms. Denise Moses came forward and said she was concerned about the post budget decision to split the assistant principal position. She reviewed highlights of the assistant principal job description. She stated that her concern as a single Mom is that she knows it is not possible to be focused on two things at once. She stated that she does not think it manageable and is not an ideal solution. She said with test scores suffering, they need a full time assistant principal in place. She said the school needs the assistant principal to help both teachers and students. She plead with the board to re-think splitting the assistant principal position.

Ms. Natalie Alonso came forward and stated that she would ask a few hard questions. She asked how has leadership and accountability at Silvermine school been established. The state department education data shows Silvermine has not been meeting standards for no child left behind for 4 consecutive years. She asked when the recommendations from Cambridge given to the central office be given priority and implemented. She said that removing the assistant principal position would be detrimental to our children, our teachers and our community. She asked the elected officials of the board to do what is right for our children and community.

Mr. Rafael Tejada, a Norwalk resident and a guidance counselor a West Rocks School, came forward and stated he was present to speak about the importance and value of Mrs. Coto’s position at West Rocks School. He said that. 50% of the student is attending West Rocks come from homes where English is not their first language. He said they are Hispanic and talked about the assistance Mrs. Coto provides to them and their parents. He said that when immigrants are able to speak to someone about their concerns in their first language it puts them at ease and enables them communicate more effectively.

Ms. Marge Cavannaugh, guidance office secretary at West Rocks, came forward to say that West Rocks has the same number of staff in their guidance office as the other schools and express her concern about the removal of Mrs. Coto’s position. She talked about the office responsibilities and how they desperately need 2 people working in the guidance office. She reminded the board that the office has had two people working in the guidance office for 20 years, a secretary and administrative clerk, for 20 years. She said that Mrs. Coto is not the least senior person in the office. Ms. Cavannaugh said she hoped they would reconsider removing Mrs. Coto’s position.

Ms. Dolores Cunningham, an educator at West Rocks with 19 years of tenure, came forward to express her concern about the importance of Mrs. Coto’s position at West Rocks School. She said that she had come before the board to request that Mrs. Coto’s position be reinstated in the 2008 -2009 budget and thanked the board for reinstating Mrs. Coto’s position. She stated that she returned this evening because she understood that Mrs. Coto’s job is once again on the chopping block. She said she understands that we are facing difficult economic times and that the budget needs to be reduced. Dollar for dollar Mrs. Coto’s salary is money well spent. The student body is 33% Hispanic and Mrs. Coto wears many hats in her capacity and is a vital source of help for the Hispanic student’s and their parent’s. She is always very happy to accommodate an ESL parent in registering their children and setting up meetings for parents. She acts as a translator whenever needed and thanks to Mrs. Coto, parents of these children feel more connected to the school and are more invested in their children’s education. In the interest of equity Ms. Cunningham stated she wanted to know why West Rocks was being slighted. She encouraged the board to reconsider their decision.

Nazira Coto, part-time secretary for the guidance office at West Rocks School, came forward to say that she finds it unbelievable that she is once again in this position and that her job is once again planned to be eliminated. She said she became very confused after the January 9th meeting when the board said West Rocks had one more person staffed in the guidance office than any of the other schools. She said West Rocks has two people, a secretary and a clerk like every other school. She asked why West Rocks was being punished. She said she was not the least senior person in the union. She asked how the office would be able to accommodate Spanish speaking students and parents and needed translation. She said this is not the right place to cut and asked the board to reconsider their decision to eliminate her position.

Mr. Lou Constantinople, BMHS Dean of Students with 39 years of tenure, came forward to defend his position as the disciplinarian of BMHS. He stated that in 2006-2007 he handled 2406 incidents which did not include suspensions. All detentions come through his desk and in 2007-2008 he handled 2691 incidents and has handled 1130 incidents the first quarter of 08 -09 and 766 incidents the second quarter as of January 12, 09. In 2007-2008 he assigned over 19 Saturday’s with 490 students. If the students did not come to Saturday detention they would have been suspended. In 2008-2009 he assigned over 8 Saturdays through January 10, 2009 for 89 students. He invited the board to come and spend a day with him so they could walk a mile in his shoes and they would then realize the importance of his position.

Ms. Catherine Hynes came forward as the parent of a daughter that has been attending Norwalk Schools for about four years. She made a plea to have the board re-consider reducing the full-time assistant principal position to a part time position.

Ms. Katherine Williams, a single parent of a son attending Brien McMahon High School, came forward on behalf on Mr. C. She said her son survived not being suspended because of the help and guidance given to him by Mr. C. She said she was sure that if any other parent out there knew that Mr. C’s job was being cut they would be at the meeting speaking out. Ms. Williams said Mr. C acts as her eyes when she can not be there for her son. She made a plea to the board re-evaluate the plan to eliminate Mr. C’s position.

Mr. Roger White, in his 44th year as Norwalk resident, tax payer and employee for the Norwalk Board of Education came forward to discuss his support for Mr. Constantinolple. Mr. White retired as the Housemaster at Norwalk High School in 2001 and has come back every year in the capacity of a substitute administrator. His most recent assignment has been at Brien Mc Mahon High School where he has had the privilege to work with Mr. C., as he affectionately known.

Through this experience, he has been able to evaluate the importance of Mr. C’s position. There is not a day that goes by without students being referred to him. He addresses disciplinary issues immediately, as they occur, before the student returns to the classroom. Mr. C is thorough in his process by reading the disciplinary complaint, speaking to the teacher and student, and then contacting the parents.

Mr. Tony Ditrio, a 40 year employee at Kendall School, presently the principal of elementary school. He took this opportunity to ask that the board not put the reduction of the assistant principal position in their budget. Last spring when this same issue was on the table they all witnessed an outpouring of support. . He doesn’t envy the board’s position to reduce the budget. He believes eliminating any assistant principal position is a bad idea. Last year the school was recognized for the Top 10 list for Spanish students and African American students. He stated that without an assistant principal they probably would not have achieved this recognition. This has been a very good year and we are proud of our accomplishments. He said he knew they could never have these achievements without the assistant principal. He believes that all the schools, regardless of their size need an assistant principal position.

Ms. Loui Jean Clyborne, head custodian in Norwalk. She said she is only there tonight because of rumors going around the school and the city that she plans to retire in June in 2008. She is assuring the board she has no intention to retire in June 2008 and that she and everyone else needs their jobs. She thanked that board.

Ms. Michele Hackett came forward to discuss the guidance office at West Rocks School. Once again, a position in the guidance office is under consideration for termination. The guidance office at West Rocks provides an invaluable service to students and parents. Cutting this position means the remaining staff will be forced to pick up the slack and to cover Mrs. Coto’s job responsibilities which will take away from the ability to fulfill their own responsibilities thereby interfering with their job performance. She said, if you have ever scheduled meetings with 3 people or more, you can appreciate how time consuming and difficult this job is. The student ratio at West Rocks School is higher than the other schools, yet the board is looking to cut further into that deficit. She has a 7th grade son attending West Rocks and is concerned his education is being slighted. She thanked the board for their time.

Ms. Eva Bartush came forward and recited the following poem: This is the tale of Nathan Hale. The number of teachers we need is FIVE so we can continue to touch children’s lives. Please give us what we need for the students to succeed. Reinstate our six teams and give our students their academic dreams.

Ms. Sue Remson, a Norwalk resident who has children attending Norwalk schools, is also a teacher, and has been for the last 18 years in Norwalk. She came forward as a stakeholder. She feels all the children in Norwalk deserve a level playing field and that all the parents of students in Norwalk feel the same way. One of the most important factors is the student to teacher ratio. She reviewed the current ratios by school. She said that despite the continuously increasing attendance at Ponus, no new teachers have been added to the staffing. It is difficult to understand why a very conservative request for two additional teachers has been ignored. As a taxpayer, she requests that the board do everything possible to ensure equity among the schools. She asked why does the school with the greatest population and highest teacher to student ratio get less than every other school?

Ms. Madeleine Carroll, a speech language pathologist for 10 years came forward to thank the board for their support and to ask them for help. The city provided her with many professional opportunities. Last year she had five additional days when she was able to attend seminars to learn more that she could share with her school. One of the things she learned and wanted to share is that teacher effectiveness is the most important factor to improve student achievement. At Ponus School, we have sixth graders bursting at the seams. This year our class size increased 20 % over last year increase in class size. Forty-three percent of our students are economically deprived. Forty-one percent of our students are from homes where English is not the primary language spoken. Thirty-one percent of these students are below state required reading levels. She said they have the highest percentage of student who arrives to school hungry and many have no one at home to help them with their schoolwork. These kids do not have a level playing field. They are standing a great big hole. We have more students like this than any other middle school in the Norwalk. Our classes are at maximum capacity and our student’s have the greatest needs of all. We are asking you for your support.

Mr. Joe Giandurco, a 6th grade teacher at Ponus School for 8 years, came forward to say he is concerned that the increase of students will prevent him from performing, as he should. He has 25 students in a homeroom. His largest class is 28 students and the smallest is 22 students. With these size classrooms, he is unable to differentiate students

individual needs and give them the attention they need. Smaller classrooms promote an environment for better prepared for testing, increased scores, and inspire children to become lifetime learners. This year he found the size of his classrooms to be the result of many problems. I ask that you as the board step forward and demonstrate support for Ponus.

Ms. Rebecca Bieler, came forward to discuss the possibility of losing Lou Constantinople, Dean of Students. Mr. C is a vital and essential part of the Brien McMahon staff. We cannot adequately express to you his value for the students and the administration. Mr. C has a wonderful relationship with the students and teachers. His absence would dramatically affect the students and faculty. She spoke of her second concern, the possible elimination of the secretary position at BMHS. Losing that position would cause a real hardship and Ms. Bieler does not believe Brien McMahon can function effectively without this position.

Mr. Stanley Shuler came forward to express his concerns for the projected cutting of custodian’s. He believes this will compromise the cleanliness of the school. He said they are already short staffed and to keep cutting custodian’s is a real concern.

Ms. Martha Prarrie came forward on behalf of Nathan Hale and ask that the board reinstate five teaching positions and the six teams.

Mr. Bob McCain came forward to state that the data he submitted to the board last October was accurate in spite of the fact it was suggested it was not. Over thiry teachers and parents have come forward to express their concerns about staff reductions at Nathan Hale Middle School. That demonstrates a serious issue that clearly needs to be addressed. Fairness means that every person gets what he or she needs. Equity is class sizes that are the same throughout all of the schools. He outlined various examples of the hardship and inequity the short staffing at Nathan Hale has caused.

Ms. Deborah Bell-Johnson, assistant principal at Nathan Hale Middle School, came forward to ask that the 5 member team be reinstated at her school. Student achievement is directly related to teacher performance. Throughout the last four years under the leadership of Mr. McCain she has seen improvements in academic areas, they are now outperforming other schools. They are consistently receiving awards. We are very proud of them and take pride in closing the achievement gap. She urged the board to reinstate the five member team.

Ms. Sam Alesevich, technology instructor for 36 years came forward to discuss his concerns for the recommendation to reduce staffing in the technology Education Department at Norwalk High School. This will result in a potential overage of 200 students. The diverse population of students whom have historically enrolled in Electronics and Graphics will no longer have the opportunity to take these classes due to Mr. Valenzisi’s recommended elimination of two Technology Education positions at Norwalk High School.

Mr. Mike Carroll came forward to speak as a parent of a student at Nathan Hale Middle School. He begs the board to consider the needs of the students when they make their cutting decisions.

Ms. Joanie Webster, a Norwalk Educator for 36 years came forward to urge the audience to check their emails. She asked if all schools are being staffed fairly with equity. Have the needs of our school system shifted? Are all of our children getting the same education opportunities in Norwalk public schools? These are tough questions and there are no easy answers. She said we need to think outside the box. She talked about staffing equity among the schools and asked if there are wise staffing decisions taking place. She asked the board to give all Norwalk students the same chance of receiving a quality education in Norwalk Schools.

Ms. Phebe Fallon, a guidance counselor at Nathan Hale, spoke about her concern of the inequity among schools and requested that Nathan Hale reinstate the five teaching positions that were lost. She asked that the board do what is right for the school.

Mr. Bruce Mellion came forward to discuss his concerns of the budget cuts for Brien McMahon School. He state that wholesale reductions are not acceptable. He asked the board to look at the list of eliminations planned for the school, a dean, teacher, clerical position, and secretary and head custodian. The school with the largest number of students would will have the biggest impact on the building. There has been zero discussion about revenue. He talked about various areas of waste and revenues that are not being collected. We have buses being sent out for high school students who never use the bus service.

Mr. Louis Socci, teacher at Nathan Hale Middle school, teachers 7th and 8th grade social studies discussed being a public servant. He feels the students are slipping through the system without being challenged with class sizes as big as they are. He wanted to remind the board to consider teaming and class size with equity and fairness.

V. DISCUSSION ON 2009-2010 BUDGET

Ms. Murray requested to open up discussion on a part of this budget that has no financial impact on the budget. She requested that organization charts be pulled out of the budget.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan suggested that if the board does decide to go forward in making a decision to eliminate an assistant principal position, her recommendation that they would not name the school at this time. She recommended the same process for the teacher positions at the high school. That was her recommendation in general terms.

Dr. Corda responded by saying he was in agreement with to the two points Ms. Bishop-Pullan raised. He said that the documents he sent to the board stated that they did need to examine specific details before making determinations. With respect to the high school staff the board may recall that in times past the specificity is not something they would need to agree on at that point.

Mr. Chiaramonte suggested at this point they need to determine which schools are more in need. He said they should look into being fair and equitable.

Ms. Rivas expressed her concern on the impact on certain cuts and from what she heard from the public comments, especially on the clerical positions. At West Rocks she does not think the issue is simply a translation problem, she thinks it is much more than that.

Ms. Rivas said they have not taken a vote on the organization and does not think it should be included in the book.

Mr. Iannaccone asked for clarification on caveat for one year. Dr. Corda does not recall that there was a caveat associated with that. There was a discussion that was held when they retained the two teachers in grade 8 that in this coming school year the numbers would not necessitate that they would continue with the same number of teachers. To his recollection a caveat about the number of secretarial staff they review on a building to building basis. So for example if there are 3 people in main office and 2 people in the guidance office they would look at it as 5 people as opposed to how it is that they are deployed. They don’t direct the principal as to how he or she would deploy the staff.

Dr. Corda added that just for clarification, the issue was not about the clerical position, it was about the total number of staff. He wanted the board to keep that in mind.

Ms. Rivas it said she was concerned about the overall impact on the guidance office. The service is not just about the translation issue.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan looked for clarification on the elimination of 2 custodial positions at the high school. She asked what the plan was.

Mr. Gorian stated that the high school would remain with two fewer custodial positions at the high school.

Ms Bishop-Pullan asked him to confirm that although there would be two fewer coordinator custodial positions, a head custodial position would remain.

Mr. Gorian said he thought he understood her question and the answer was yes.

Ms. Mosby asked for clarification that the two positions he wanted to add would not be part of the collective bargaining unit.

Mr. Gorian said they would part of another bargaining unit -- ESG.

Ms. Mosby asked for clarification that the two positions he wanted to add would not be part of the collective bargaining unit.

Mr. Gorian said they would be part of another bargaining unit and not the bargaining unit they are in now.

Ms. Rivas had two questions. She asked, if this collective bargaining, can you just eliminate these positions? And she asked how do you determine the savings? By eliminating those positions what kind of savings are you talking about? Are you going to bump people down to lower levels because they’ve been there a number of years?

Mr. Gorian stated that they maintain the right to reduce the work force and reduce salary, a combined savings of about $72,000.

Ms. Rivas responded by saying she there was no documentation in the board packages outlining this savings.

Dr. Corda responded by saying the information was included in the packages sent to the board. He told Ms. Rivas to look on pages 2 and 3 and she would see the savings and cost associated with the entire reconfiguration.

Ms. Rivas said she understood from the central office that the person was going to leave or retire.

Dr. Corda stated that had nothing to do with the issue. The issue was not about an individual, the issue is about the position.

Ms. Rivas then asked how he concluded the custodial position should be eliminated.

Mr. Gorian answered by stating it was based on the manpower needs at the high school and there was justification that they could do without the positions.

Mr. Burnett inquired to Dr.Corda and Mr. McCain about the teachers at Nathan Hale. He applauded all the teachers at Nathan Hale and all the middle schools for all the fine work they have done with the resources they have. When we look at the request for five teachers when perhaps three teachers would work we look at a difference of money that could possibly cover other positions. His question was that if they receive three teachers this year instead of five teachers, and possibly more next year, what would be the impact?

Dr. Corda wants to not only put it in the context of Nathan Hale but what they say they believe staffing at middle school should look like, regardless of what it looks like. They said that we believe our middle schools should have teams of teachers serving students because we believe that a team approach is more appropriate for the students. He said we agreed that the concept is to have heterogeneous grouping. There are times when youngsters with similar needs can be together, but they agreed the groups should generally be heterogeneous. The opportunity to come together and operate on an assumption that says it makes good sense for a Math teacher to talk to an English teacher to talk to a Science teacher about that group of kids. This says we are not only teachers of subjects, but teachers of kids. That is the assumption. That’s what we want. Now, the question became how we can achieve this with fewer numbers of teachers. This is the philosophical believe that this is the best way to educate our kids. Let’s talk about Nathan Hale. There is not doubt that we have to add staff at Nathan Hale. If we don’t add staff at Nathan Hale the groups will be too big. The question becomes the ideal situation; one that would honor our commitment to middle school kids would be to add five teachers. Because of the reality of budget constraints we can’t do it. Mechanically having three additional teachers would work. But the kids that are in K2 would have to stay together. You can’t work it a different way which means in the remaining number of teams, you have a narrower group of students. These youngsters would be confined to AT teachers. That is the trade off. The question is let’s decide what we want. If we want to honor the commitment that we have made as a district, then the decision is to have five teachers. If what we want are three, because we have a serious budget situation, in anticipation of hiring a total of five the following year that is what we can do. He wants everyone to be clear that they are not just playing a numbers game. He said we are talking about an articulation that we said we aspire to for middle school kids. If we don’t buy that, if we want to do something else, we can go to a junior high model and eliminate the teams and he guarantees you, you will use fewer teachers.

Mr. Mc Cain agreed with Dr. Corda. But his question is what will happen next year. He thinks we will be in the same position again. There is no guarantee that we will get this next year and his recommendation is that it is taken care of this year.

Mr. Burnett stated that if they hired five this year and the economic situation got worse they could essentially pull two teacher positions next year so the point is mood. Going with three teachers they would minimize the goal but not eliminating. They can get by with 3 additional teachers.

Ms. Rivas said she wanted to say that according to the 5 year projection of attendance at Nathan Hale, 574, then 559, 531, 524, indicating a decline. She doesn’t understand the numbers that she was given are different than the district numbers. The numbers she had were given to her from Dr.Corda and are different.

Dr .Corda responded by saying he thought the attrition ratios that are applied to the five year projections. He thinks the numbers that Ms. Rivas alluded to are carried over from one year to the next.

Ms. Rivas said she should have received different numbers. She was told that these numbers do not agree with the numbers from the district. She said she would strongly consider adding two teachers to Ponus.

Mr. Iannaccone asked everyone to turn to page 31 and look at the breakdown of class sizes.

Dr. Corda said what they did was they divided the projected enrollment by 10 teachers. We shared the information the other night to the extent that they were able, he thinks the sizes were projected within an 8 person group.

Mr. Chiaramonte said that he thinks that the rationale of saying you’ll give Nathan Hale five teachers and none for Ponus is an inequity and not fair to them. The way the economy is right now, we have to do what we can with as little as possible. Let’s take care of one year at time and learn to crawl before we walk. He recommends that they give Nathan Hale and Ponus what they need to get by.

Ms. Mosby said she is concerned that some of the documentation she received is not clear. She is concerned because they are in a budget process and decisions are based on facts received. It makes it difficult for the board to make decisions. They are gett Category: Minutes