Board of Education Meeting Minutes

July 21, 2009

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

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools; Dr. Dan Cook, Norwalk Public Schools; George Gianitti, Norwalk Public Schools

I. CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:48 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

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

III. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT Dr. Corda said that this would be his last meeting with the Board. He then thanked everyone in Norwalk. He said that he had been surrounded by wonderful assistants and staff.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS Dr. Lynn Moore of Fox Run Road and the principal of West Rocks Middle School, came forward and said that she was present to speak on behalf of Ms. Sumpter, who could not be present due to a prior commitment. Ponus had received a Vanguard award that gave the school a financial grant. Dr. Moore said that West Rocks had also become a Vanguard Partner with Ponus two years ago. Dr. Moore then distributed copies of the State Education Resource Center (SERC) letter dated July 20, 2009 sent to Dr. Corda, which recognizes the accomplishments of these two schools in the program.

Mr. Bruce Mellion, the NFT president, came forward and said that he had left copies of the American Educator Summer issue for 2009 and another packet for each of the Board members. He said that the American Educator issue has several very informative articles. The blue folder, titled “How the Stimulus Affects You, Your School and Your Students” from the AFT Teacher Quest conference contained information about the ARRA funding, along with an ARRA Funding Chart for the Board’s information.

Regarding, the approval of the contracts for the HR officer and the Director of Curriculum, Mr. Mellion pointed out that there were a number of mistakes in the contracts, which he went on to list for the Board.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if there was anyone else who wished to speak to the Board.

Mr. Richard Fuller of Stuart Avenue came forward and said that he would like to take the opportunity to thank Dr. Corda for his service. Mr. Fuller said that he enjoyed working with Dr. Corda and that he felt the District had made a lot of progress in the last eight years with Dr. Corda.

Mr. Marcella Oneto of Camp Street in Norwalk came forward and said that he was present on behalf of the Spanish community. He said that he had heard there would be cuts made in the Central office and that having a bi-lingual staff member at Central Office was very important.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if there was anyone else who wished to speak to the Board. No one else wished to address the Board at this time, so Ms. Bishop-Pullan closed the Public Comment portion of the meeting.

V. ACTIONS A. Consent 1. Approval of personnel actions ** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. Approval of Minutes (July 7, 2009) **MS. HAMILTON MOVED THE MINUTES OF JULY 7, 2009 ** MS. MOSBY SECONDED.

The following corrections were noted:

Page 5, paragraph 1, line 2 – please change “ She added that she did not know what happened with the macaroni and cheese” to “She added that she did know what happened with the macaroni and cheese”

Pg 5, paragraph 4, line 2: please change “Board had requested a meeting with” to “Board had not requested a meeting with them.” Pg. 10, under Human Services Mentoring Committee – please change “Mr. Burnett said that there were between 300 and 350 currently mentored.” To ““Mr. Burnett said that there were between 300 and 350 waiting to be mentored.”

Pg 11, paragraph 1, line 2: please change “Ms. Freelander was not able to join the meeting due to a conflict in schedules.” To “Ms. Freedlander was not able to join the meeting because of family illness.”

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO BRING FORWARD THE JUNE 18, 2009 MINUTES FOR CONSIDERATION. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED THE MINUTES OF JUNE 18, 2009. ** MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the Finance Committee had reviewed minutes and that there were a few questions.

Pg. 7, paragraph 4, line 5: please change “The Board agreed to keeping the $6,375 in the budget, which made the reduction to Line Item #1 $6,000.” To “The Board agreed to keeping the $6,000 in the budget, which made the reduction to Line Item #1 $6,375.

Pg 25, Dr. Cook said that the reductions of plumbers should be changed to $60,664

Page 26, Dr. Corda suggested to 75, next line should be 2,804.

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JUNE 18, 2009 AS CORRECTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. Approval of Food Service provider for 2009-2010

** MR. BURNETT MOVED THE FOLLOWING:

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION SIGN A ONE YEAR CONTRACT, AS PRESENTED TO THE BOARD ON JUNE 2, 2009, WITH WHITSON’S CULINARY GROUP OF ISLANDIA, NY TO PROVIDE FOOD SERVICES TO THE NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR THE 2009-2010

** MS. RIVAS SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Approval of field trip

** MS. RIVAS MOVED THE FOLLOWING:

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE THE ATTACHED FIELD TRIP: NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL GRADES 10-12 SPANISH 3,4 &5 LANGUAGE CLASSES TO SPAIN, APRIL 8-17, 2010.

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

E. Approval of FMLA Policy #4152.5

** MR. BURNETT MOVED THE FOLLOWING:

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE FMLA POLICY #4152.5.

** MS. RIVAS SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

F. Approval of 2009-2010 contracts for Human Resources Officer and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED THE FOLLOWING:

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED.

Ms Bishop-Pullan said that the contracts were reviewed to be consistent and they are administrator’s contracts. The employees, instead of taking a raise will be taking furlough days. This will save the District money.

Mr. Burnett said that in light of the comments that were made earlier in the meeting, he needed to know if the Board would have the ability to address the issues brought forward. Ms. Murray said that the Board could move the item with the corrections noted.

Ms. Rivas said she agreed with Mr. Burnett.

Ms. Mosby said that Ms. Bishop-Pullan had answered one question and that knowing the corrections could be made, so she was satisfied.

Dr. Corda said that he wanted to provide clarification regarding the base salary. He said that the language that was identified as items #1 & #2 must be framed in that language in order to be included in the pension.

Ms. Murray said that the Board could bring the contract back for review.

** MR. BURNETT MOVED TO AMEND THE MOTION TO INSURE THAT ANY ADDITIONAL CORRECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS CAN BE MADE TO THE CONTRACT.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

G. Appointment of Interim Superintendent and Approval of Contract for Interim Superintendent

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT AND APPROVAL OF CONTRACT FOR INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT

** MS. MOSBY SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO ADD AN ITEM TO THE AGENDA. ** MS. MOSBY SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that due to Dr. Papallo’s available to start August 3rd, Dr. Corda would be leaving on July 31st.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO GRANT A PAID LEAVE TO DR. SALVATORE CORDA STARTING JULY 31, 2009. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

VI. Information and Reports

A. Columbus traffic pattern

Ms. Emily Lopez, the principal of Columbus, and Mr. Hal Alvord of DPW, came forward. She said that the parents had expressed concerns about the parking lot. Columbus has 12 buses and numerous cars dropping off students. She then traced route that the vehicles currently take. This current pattern has children crossing the parking lot, which is not safe. The proposed change will have the buses maintain the same route, but the vehicles would be entering King Kennedy with the approval of the Norwalk Housing Authority and dropping off the students in front of the main door. The bussed students will be entering the building via a side door.

Mr. Alvord then reviewed the details of the plan. Mr. Burnett asked about plowing and the chaining off of Perschino Way. Mr. Alvord explained that it was actually a pedestrian way, but would be open to traffic only during the morning and dismissal times.

Mr. Burnett said that while safety should always be a priority, he asked what the cost would be. Mr. Alvord said that he would be able to take down the dead tree with in-house staff, along with paving a short stretch, and installing the bollards and a chain to prevent Perschino Way from being used by vehicles during unscheduled periods.

B. BOE/City Cooperative efforts

Ms. Murray said that the title on the agenda should be BET/BOE Joint Services Study Group for consistency.

Dr. Cook reported that about three months ago, the Joint Services Committee had begun considering combining efforts and consolidation of tasks. He said that after some discussions, it became apparent that if the City and the Board divided the city into two sections and assigned one staff member to gather all the mail for the BOE and the City in each half of the City to bring it back to City Hall, the costs could be reduced.

Also, it has become evident that if the mail is brought back to City Hall and then bulked, marked and zip coded, the District could save about .05¢ per piece of mail. On the day that the Board mailed the report cards for the middle and high schools, the District saved $650 in that one mailing. There would also be savings on postage meters and vendor supplies. This could result in annual savings of $55,000 for the District.

Ms. Murray said that she had asked every step be evaluated. She said that she was referring to the payroll system. She said that it would need to be discussed and voted on before moving forward.

C. Update report of staff responsibilities who have been given extensions beyond June 30 termination

Dr. Corda said that there were three positions that had extension beyond the end of the school year. One of the positions concerned insurance and the employee chose not to return. Ms. Ruotolo then distributed information to the Board. She said that summer is the busiest time for the department. She said that she appreciated the extension that the Board had given the department, particularly as layoffs, health benefits, enrollment and maintenance were peaking. She then explained that there was a continued need for assistance in the department. There are several issues that have confidentiality issues associated with them. Ms. Ruotolo then outlined the additional responsibilities, including the CHRO cases. She concluded by stating that the Board would begin to feel the impact as the Department struggles to keep up.

Dr. Cook said that there had already been three positions reduced in the Finance Office. He said that a fourth position has now been cut. He then mentioned the department needs to have a bi-lingual staff member. Recently, 16,000 applications in English and Spanish have been handed out to the community.

The employee handles the debt collection and also works with the Free and Reduced Lunch programs. Dr. Cook said that he expected the outstanding debt for the lunches would be about $16,000. Next year, he expects to have the food program in the black. Dr. Cook concluded by saying that if the office loses this employee, there will be a major impact on the District.

Ms. Murray has some questions about the details of the employees who had been cut in previous year. Dr. Cook said that he did not know, but Dr. Corda then gave a brief overview of the cuts.

Mr. Chiaramonte asked whether or not three positions had been added to Finance Department. Ms. Ruotolo said that the Department had shifted some employees from Curriculum to Finance because the nature of the work was related to Finance. Dr. Corda said that one employee worked for the Athletic Department and was principally involved in purchasing equipment.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she needed to know what the transition plan would be. Dr. Cook said that the most important time period would be July, August, and September because after October 1st, no new applications are accepted. Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked what would happen after October 1. Dr. Cook said that the Central office would be relying on the schools more heavily for assistance. He said that the District would not fall apart at the seams, but it would be more difficult.

Ms. Ruotolo said that the Department was looking to the Board to possibly extend the temporary positions for an additional month. She pointed out that the next meeting

**MS. HAMILTON MOVED THAT THE BOARD CONSIDER AN ACTION ITEM REGARDING STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES WHO HAVE BEEN GIVEN EXTENSIONS BEYOND JUNE 30 TERMINATION

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. ** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO EXTEND THE TWO REMAINING STAFF POSITIONS UNTIL AUGUST 31, 2009. ** MS. MOSBY SECONDED.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that it was important to realize that the positions are going away and the decision was made to cut the positions in order to balance the budget. In light of that, the school community needs to understand that there will be a reduced level of service. She said that she was willing to extend the positions, but it was important to have a transition plan in place.

Ms. Mosby said that she agreed with Ms. Ms. Bishop-Pullan. The cuts were part of the reconciliation. She said that the point was to keep the cuts away from the classrooms. When the economy improves, the District can look at bringing people back.

Ms. Rivas said that she wanted to make sure that the transition plan was at the next meeting. She said that the translation piece was important for the Spanish community. This is important for clear communication.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Transition plan of action for staff responsibilities

This was discussed in conjunction with the update report on the extension of staff employment beyond June 30th.

E. ADHD Awareness Week

Mr. Daddona said that the Special Education department was looking at developing a program for ADHD Awareness Week. It is currently in the planning stages right now.

Ms. Mosby said that she was very excited about this and working closely with one of the parents on the program.

F. ARRA funding update

Dr. Corda said that at the present time, the District has been working the with State Education Department regarding what the District would have to do for some funding to balance last year’s excess costs and this year’s excess cost. The State informed the District regarding the amount of documents needed. Mr. Daddona said that there are 193 folders for students that have been identified as LD. The State will be down to review these folders. Dr. Corda said that if the funding is released, it would allow the funds to be used for Special Education, which would in turn allow the allocated funds for that to be used for other operating costs. The State audit is scheduled for August 20th. This means that the funds would not be released before September 1st.

Dr. Corda said that the Title One application needs to be completed. The State budget has not been approved and the District does not know what the Priority Schools funding. If the Priority Schools funding is reduced, as is expected, the District needs to consider how to work the budget in tandem with Title One funding.

Dr. Corda said that if the funds do become available, the Board needs to know which positions they would like to restore in order to be ready to do advertising, but until the

G. Committee/Representative reports

BET/BOE Joint Services Study Group –

This was discussed earlier in the meeting.

Finance Committee –

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that everything that was discussed has been presented to the Board, but there is a continuation of the discussion regarding the collections for the food service. One aspect is how to keep families from getting into too much debt. As the process is further defined, it will be presented to the Board.

Human Services Mentoring Committee –

Mr. Burnett said that the group continues to meet through the summer. At the celebration, there were 91 students and 65 mentors. Currently the Committee is looking at a software package to track the details and will cost about $4,000-$5,000 dollars. Currently the tracking is being done manually.

Curriculum Committee –

Ms. Mosby said that the Curriculum Committee did not have a meeting in July. The next meeting is scheduled for August 19th and will be focusing on ADHD. Ms. Mosby said that she would like to recognize and thank Mr. Spahr for all his hard work.

Ms. Murray said that she would like to thank the Board because they put a large number of hours in during the past few months. She appreciated all the hard work everyone has put in.

H. Board Member announcements

There were no additional announcements at this time.

Future BOE Meetings

August 4, 2009

August 18, 2009

ADJOURNMENT

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:19 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes