Board of Education Curriculum Committee Meeting

May 13, 2009

ATTENDANCE: Shirley Mosby, Chair; Glenn Iannaccone,

STAFF: Marilyn Liberatore, Norwalk Public Schools

OTHERS: Bea Krawicki, Early Childhood, Bruce Mellion, NFT President; Lisa Rivieccio, School to Career Program; Denise Evon, School to Career Program.

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Mosby called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.

Review and approval of minutes (April 22, 2009)

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED THE MINUTES OF APRIL 22, 2009 ** MS MOSBY SECONDED. ** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF APRIL 22, 2009 AS SUBMITTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

DISCUSSION

a. School To Career

Ms. Evon and Ms. Rivieccio distributed packets of information to the Committee members and those present. They then narrated a PowerPoint presentation. Some of the School to Career (STC) program aspects is paid internship, job shadowing, company visiting/field trips, post secondary school visits, career fairs and application basics. One key component is the Interest Inventories.

Ms. Rivieccio showed a number of slides that pictured students at various locations where they had expressed interest, such as veterinarian school, culinary arts, and various other programs.

Ms. Evon then reviewed the details of the 31 students internships currently in progress. She also gave the key points for job shadowing, which include unpaid career exploration activities, first hand observation, networking opportunities, exposure to their interest and industry and opportunities to broaden their horizons. There were several slides that showed the students at various locations observing various jobs. Sites visited included the Hyatt Hotel, the Fire Department, Stamford Nature Center and both the regular Courthouse and the Juvenile Courthouse.

Another component of the program are the company visits which allows for opportunities to visit and observe a job in motion. This allows the student to see what they learn in the classrooms come to life and the ability to visualize themselves in their dream career. Some of the sites visited were the Norwalk Hospital for Certified Nursing Certification. Twelve of the thirteen students that attended were invited back to participate with the next level of Nursing Certification.

Post Secondary School Visits given the students an opportunity to visit different schools that have their interested majors. Students have an opportunity to speak with admission regarding entrance criteria. The focus of this program is to let the students know that there are more choices than just the State Universities. Some of the campuses visited include visiting NCC, SUNY Purchase, Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and some of the trade schools, such a Porter & Chester Institute in Stratford and the Stratford School for Aviation Maintenance.

Mr. Iannaccone asked if the program had a means of tracking the students after they leave the program in order to see if they follow through on the program. Ms. Rivieccio said that this issue has been discussed and a number of possible plans for implementing this type of tracking are under discussion.

The Career Fairs and Guest Speakers allow career exploration activities in the schools, having the opportunity of ask questions & speak to professionals. All the students and facility were invited to participate. DeVry came to speak about how important it is to match the personality with the job career. Areas covered were Fashion Design Day, Medical Career Day, Engineering, Probation Officer Career Day, Criminal Defense Career Day, Women to Women Career Day and Parent Career Day. These fairs are held at both NHS and BMHS. Mentoring is also available at both high schools.

Ms. Rivieccio said that there were links on the NHS, BMHS, and the BOE website to the School to Career program.

Mr. Iannaccone asked how the program receives funding. Ms. Rivieccio reviewed the various grant funding sources that the program uses. Mr. Iannaccone asked if Briggs High School was included. Ms. Rivieccio explained that the Briggs students have more intensive needs and that the school generally handles their own career programs. They are provided with all the information and with invitations, but the school operates independently of the program.

b. CREC Report Update

Ms. Liberatore then read the CREC report created by Ms. Friedlander, Director of PPS and Mr. McGrath, the Assistant Director. Key points outlined in the report were the fact that the District had significantly reduced the disproportionate number of African American students who were identified as Seriously Emotional Disturbed, an agenda was developed for the initial Parental Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting, Dr. Hayden was selected as facilitator and the composition of the PAC membership was determined, follow up letters were sent out to all parent volunteers and the initial date of the first meeting on June 3rd was finalized. Copies of the letters sent to the parents by the District were included in the packet.

Mr. Iannaccone asked how the District had managed to reduce the number of emotionally disturbed students. Ms. Mosby added that she would also like to know the method that was used for this. Ms. Liberatore said that she would look into this.

Ms. Mosby said that it would be important to somehow involve all the parent volunteers because of their level of interest.

Ms. Liberatore then briefly reviewed the priorities as listed in the report. Mr. Iannaccone said that at the next Curriculum meeting the Committee should have some feedback from the initial PAC meeting.

Mr. Mellion asked about the CREC report meeting. Ms. Mosby said that the budget would probably be the focus of the remaining meetings.

Mr. Mellion then expressed major concerns about the professional development not being presented to the teachers about the CREC training until the first day of school. He stressed that some form of communication needed to be made to the teaching staff before the fall. He said that it would be important to let the staff know that the footprint of delivery will be changing. Discussion then followed about this issue.

Ms. Liberatore said that the administrators would not be receiving training but they would be receiving an overview of the training. Ms. Krawiecki said that there were supposed to be designated administrator at each of the elementary schools who would be training and then disseminate the information to the staff. Mr. Mellion then said that it would have to be done consistently across the District so all the students and staff benefit.

ADJOURNMENT

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

The meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Committee Minutes