Board of Education Meeting Minutes Part II

May 5, 2009

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that this refers to students at risk, rather than students with special needs. There is a separate set of procedures for the students at risk in the policy manual.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

INFORMATION AND REPORTS

A. Committee/Representative Reports

Norwalk Facility Construction Committee (NFCC)

Mr. Iannaccone reported that the NFCC meeting was again postponed and is re-scheduled for this Thursday. Ms. Rivas asked what the miscellaneous items are that will be discussed. Mr. Iannaccone did not know.

Policy Committee

Ms. Hamilton said that there is a policy committee meeting on May 27th. The special education policies will be reviewed as they have become outdated. During the summer, the policy manuals will be reviewed to determine which policy should be reviewed next.

CES There is a CES meeting on Thursday, May 7. There will be a self evaluation of their Board and an evaluation of Dr. Pitkoff will take place. The last meeting will take place in June before the summer break.

NEF

Ms. Hamilton said that she was not able to attend the last event. Mr. Iannaccone said that he had attended the golf event and had a good time. However, his golf score will remain confidential.

Joint Services.

Mr. Chiaramonte said there had been a meeting between the BET, the Common Council and the Board last week. The Common Council members and BOE are working on identifying areas of work they have in common. As an example, the mail room operation will be looked into. The next meeting will be last Thursday in May.

Finance Committee

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said the Finance Committee met. An RFP went out for vendors for the lunch program, as required by the State. These are being reviewed by the staff and will be presented to the Committee on the 14th. The presentation to the full Board will be on the 19th. The next Finance Committee meetings will be on May 7, 14 and 21 regarding the recommendations for the reconciliation for the 2009-2010 budget. The Committee is doing an in-depth review.

Human Services Mentoring Committee

Mr. Burnett talked about the Mentoring Meeting Celebration to be held on June 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Calf Pasture. The Board is invited to attend. He said there will be an education element to the celebration.

He reported that on April 23rd, there was a school liaisons meeting that was good. There will be a September welcome breakfast. The next meeting will be on May 20th. The hope is to attract male mentors to the program because of the great need. Currently, there are nearly 300 students in need of mentors most of which are males.

Curriculum Committee

Ms. Mosby said that at the April 22nd meeting, the Mano y Mano program for the K- 5th graders was discussed along with the CREC Report and parents’ committee. Ms. Yvette Ellis, the new principal of Silvermine School gave an overview of the Mano y Mano program for K-5 where the focus is on instruction in both English and Spanish. The K-2 grade, the emerging program, has the reading materials in the student’s native language. In the 3rd grade, the transitional portion the dual language portion.

Ms. Mosby said she had been asked about the CMT testing and it is only available in English. Ms. Ellis said that this had not been a problem. By the time the student is in the third grade, their English skills should be established. She added that Ms. Ellis reported good gains in the test scores for Silvermine.

Ms. Mosby then gave a brief overview about some confusion regarding the program because there were some parents that thought the programs would be good for their child to learn English and then wanted to remove their child from the program once the child had mastered English. This is not a bi-lingual program, but a dual language program. Ms. Ellis said that she hoped to clarify this misunderstanding at the open house this Thursday. The progress that has been made has to be better defined.

Regarding the CREC Report Update, Ms. Mosby said Mr. Daddona reported that Mr. Cunnane had been assigned to work with the District. Several meetings have been held and Mr. Cunnane had expressed to see more progress in areas of concern. By the April 7th, many of the areas of concern had been addressed.

Mr. Cunnane said that he wants the SRBI training completed by February, but the State has not issued the criteria for this program yet.

Mr. Daddona then reported on the progress of the parental input group.

Ms. Murray asked Dr. Corda if the letters went out for the partnership program for the mentor program. Ms. Murray said that she had asked if the current Norwalk Public School mentors be notified about the partnership. Dr. Corda said he did not know, would check and report back to Ms. Murray.

Ms. Murray said that Board members have been to speak at the Middle School Graduation and she asked for those interested to let her know.

B. Discussion of textbook: Anatomy & Physiology

Mr. Seuch, a Brien McMahon teacher came forward to present the review of the text books. Mr. Daddona passed around the textbook. He said that Norwalk was one of the only Districts that did not have this course. Mr. Seuch said that the process started over a year ago and this was a very well thought out decision. He reviewed the process for selecting the textbook with the Board and said that the clinical applications were included in this textbook. Mr. Daddona said that originally, the plan had been for 25 students at each high school, however there was enough interest for two classes at each high school.

Mr. Burnett asked if there was a lab element included. Mr. Seuch said that it was a four year course. It is still considered an elective, but the lab element won’t be available until later.

Ms. Jimenez asked how it fits into the science program. Mr. Seuch said that next year all seniors would be taking it. Mr. Seuch said that this requires that the student already have biology and chemistry with a C average or better and is geared towards a junior or a senior who might be considering a career in a medical field. It could also be a step to an AP level course. With the accelerated program that started last year with allowing 9th graders to take biology, could be involved in this as they progress through the schools. Next year, all senior could be required to take this.

Mr. Seuch then reviewed the General Science courses and said that when the 9th graders that are taking Biology this year move to Chemistry next year, they will be in a separate section. Ms. Jimenez pointed out that biology and chemistry are tough courses. Mr. Seuch said that only higher level students would be taking this because of the bio-tech background required.

Mr. Daddona said that the District was now requiring that one of the three science credits be a lab science.

Ms. Rivas asked about the textbook. Mr. Seuch said that the company provides CDs with the images on PowerPoint and also is an electronic textbook. He said that the District tries to do more electronically than paper and print, but most of the teachers present with PowerPoint and send information to the students electronically.

When Mr. Seuch was asked if the book was available electronically, Mr. Seuch said that he did not know if the full text was available electronically. Dr. Corda asked if there was the possibility of using a CD rather than a textbook. Mr. Seuch said that personally, he would agree, but that the issue of access comes up. Dr. Corda said that he did not know whether the publishing companies charged more for a CD than a textbook, but asked if it would be possible to confirm whether or not the students had access to a computer with CD capabilities. Mr. Seuch said he didn’t know. Dr. Corda pointed out that the text book weighed about 8 pounds. He said that as the District takes more advantage of the electronic age, a CD would be much easier to carry around. Mr. Seuch said that there was a major effort in that direction, but he didn’t know if it would be realistic for the District.

Mr. Chiaramonte said that he picked up his daughter’s bookbag recently and it was very heavy for a little girl. He said that he felt that the District should explore more ways of presenting the material. The book is wonderful, but if there was another way to access it through a CD or online, it would be helpful.

Mr. Jimenez said that she had seen the textbooks come home and that the material is be presented via PowerPoint so that the students aren’t flipping through the pages, but engaged in the learning visually. She said that the backpack weight was an issue. In her house, when her children were in high schools, they did not have three computers. They had to take turns. This is important to remember because unless everyone is given a laptop, it would be a problem. CDs get lost or CD drives don’t work. Another comment was made that at Norwalk High School, while the sports team members are waiting for their time on the turf field, they are sitting in the halls doing their homework. They are not allowed in the computer lab unsupervised.

One issue was that AT&T did some research about the reading proficiency for high school students. This current text is not a college level text, but high school students are not exposed to a rigorous high reading level before they go to college.

Mr. Iannaccone asked the price of the book. Mr. Daddona said $117.97 each and this has been included in the budget. Ms. Rivas asked if it comes in a soft cover. Mr. Seuch said he teaches Marine Biology as well and for that course there are no hard cover books. A soft covered textbook has a short life as it gets damaged in a backpack. It does not hold its shape and the bindings go quickly.

Dr. Corda said that this will be on the next agenda for a vote.

C. Discussion of School Growth Plan review process

Dr. Corda said that the school growth plan is a State requirement. The State recommends that this should be completed as close to the end of the school year as possible. This is because the school will be looking at next year’s growth plan at the start of next year. He thought that there would be discussion at the Curriculum Committee regarding the process for the review.

Ms. Murray said that in the Friday Report, it stated that the Executive Committee made a recommendation. That discussion was actually the Executive Committee putting together the agenda and there was no recommendation from the Executive Committee. Ms. Murray said that they did ask to have this included on the agenda for the Board to discuss.

Mr. Iannaccone said that he would like to comment about the Executive Committee recommendation that was included. He said that he agreed the Board should act on recommendation by the District Data Committee for approval of the plan. The District Data Team has more information than the Board and the Board should act on recommendations.

Mr. Burnett said he is looking for more details on the recommendation. It states that the Board would have a detailed look at each school’s plan over a three year cycle. Mr. Burnett wanted to know why is it so long, and over a three-year cycle. If the District was able to come up with a standard template and a standard presentation, the Board should be able to cover multiple schools in one sitting without stretching it over a three year period.

Dr. Corda said that he thought that this was why Ms. Murray made the correction that the item be placed on the agenda, and not that the Executive Committee was making a recommendation. That was his error.

Mr. Burnett said that in light of the guidance that the Board received from the Board attorney regarding the interaction that should occur at committee meetings. It was stated that all board members should not have to go to the Executive Committee meetings. If there should be a presentation at the curriculum committee meeting, all the Board members would not have input. All presentations should first come to the full Board. Ms. Rivas said that she was confused about this. She said that this was the entire point to having committees. The whole board does not have the time to listen to all presentations.

Ms. Mosby said the Board attorney made suggestions on how we can condense our meetings. She said that the attorney had made some suggestions about the public comments and so forth, but that she was not taking everything he said as law. She said that she was conducting her committee as she felt was right and would be allowing public comment. She said that the attorney had made some suggestions and that was the extent of it and that the attorney did not say that the meetings had to be conducted a particular way.

Mr. Iannaccone said there are 19 schools, which are already having curriculum reviewed, are being monitored for the CREC report, monitoring for Spectrum Kids and other issues. Reviewing all the materials for the growth plans would be overwhelming. It would be acceptable to let the staff members who are trained in this make recommendation and make a presentation to the Board,.

Ms. Hamilton agreed with Mr. Iannaccone. The purpose of the growth plans have been reviewed by the District Data Teams and they meet the requirements. The schools follow a plan with specific requirements. Ms. Hamilton said that she simply did not know how one would go through each specific element for each school, questioning each item. If the school growth plan is accepted, what would it say to the Curriculum Committee that would not be included in the plan.

Ms. Mosby said the School Board was giving the directive to approve the school growth plans. She said that she would want to know more information before on the plan before voting to approve something. Ms. Mosby said that the Committee was trying to figure out a process rather than having everyone come out for all of the meetings. There are nine committee members and it is hard to coordinate to get everyone together. She said that she did not care, she would not approve something that she was not familiar with. She said that she would not sign off on anything until she knew what was going on. She said that she likes to know what is going on, but understands that there are people like the Data Teams, but she still wants to know what is going on. Just like when an attorney puts a document in front of someone, the attorney tells the client to read the document before signing it. She said that her committee has decided that this was the road to take, so that nine people would not have to be trying to coordinate their schedules.

Ms. Rivas said the Board is responsible for accountability to the school district. If someone comes and presents a report, the Board can not just rubber stamp it. She said the Board needs to hold the school district accountable for everything. This has been discussed before and now she didn’t understand what the problem was.

Ms. Murray said that the Administration had been asked to give the Board a date, which the Administration did do. Ms. Jimenez was the originator of the idea for the Board members to look at the plans. She said that the idea was to look at strategies and that was what was being asked for. The template is the type of idea that the Board would want to hear about. There are ways to condense this and make it flow and work. This is the point where the Board needs to come back and make a decision with the additional information.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that there are discrepancies in the plans from school to school in terms of how the plan was written, what was addressed, what was covered and what was left out. Some plans are detailed and others are not. Some address a broad range of students and other addressed only a few students. Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked why that happened. She said the Board needed to figure out a way to have a template of the presentation so that the Board can figure out what is in each plan and what makes it the plan for that particular school, which is based on what that school needs. There are aspects that could be highlighted by the staff that wrote the plan so that the Board knows how the staff did the evaluation and determined the needs along with the strategies developed on that. She said that she did not think it would take that long to do. This is the work of the Board and the Board should be looking at what the students are receiving. She said that she did not mind if it came to the entire Board, but thought that whichever way was decided, it needed to have a plan of who is presenting and what information will be presented in a concise and understandable way. In Ms. Bishop-Pullan’s opinion that would be the school staff with the guidelines developed by the Administration.

Mr. Burnett said this might be the single, most time-consuming item. It is important at the Board level. The Board should be able to develop a set of questions that each school should come in with the answers to present to the Board. If the school, staff and students are investing time and energy into these plans, then the Board should, too. The Plans needs to be concise and understandable and should be able to be presented in fifteen minutes.

Ms. Mosby said that she had no problem with the presentation coming to the full Board and that the Curriculum Committee got involved because of an earlier discussion about not having the presentations at the full Board. She wanted to make sure that someone was there to review these plans and make sure that everyone knows what is in it, and how it was changed. She said that it would be important to know how the plans were affecting the schools and how things were going. It is important to hold people accountable for things and that things are put on the table. Whether it comes before the full Board or in Committee, it is important to take the time to look into these plans.

Ms. Murray asked if the Administration would be able to develop a sample template to come back to the Board with for discussion. Dr. Corda said that he thought that there were four or five elements that could be presented briefly and asked Mr. Daddona to look into creating a template. Mr. Daddona said the next data team meeting is on June 2nd or 11. She said that Dr. Corda said that he would try to get something together for the Board as a draft for the next Board meeting.

D. Board member announcements

Ms. Mosby said that she had seen the play at Norwalk High School and encouraged everyone to go. The students were extremely talented and the presentation was very professional.

DISCUSSION OF NEGOTIATIONS (EXECUTIVE SESSION ANTICIPATED)

There was no need for an executive session.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MS. MOSBY SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m.

Future BOE Meetings

May 19, 2009 June 2, 2009

Category: Minutes