City of Norwalk

Board of Education

Regular Meeting

November 17, 2009

 

ATTENDANCE:      Glenn Iannaccone, Jack Chiaramonte, Jody Bishop-Pullan, Heidi

                                    Keyes, Steve Colarossi, Susan Haynie,  Susan Hamilton, Erin                                              Halsey

 

STAFF:                      Dr. William Papallo, Interim Superintendent of Schools; Dr. Dan

                                    Cook, Anthony Daddona

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Mayor Moccia called the meeting to order at 7:46 p.m.  He then asked Rev. Mann to lead everyone in prayer.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

Mayor Moccia led everyone in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Oath of Office

 

The Mayor congratulated the newly elected Board members.  He then asked them to stand and raise their right hand.  Following this, he swore in the new members to the Board.

 

Nominations for Chairman of the Board of Education

 

The Mayor opened the floor for nominations for Chairman.

 

** MS. HALSEY nominated MR. IANNACCONE FOR CHAIRMAN.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

 

The Mayor asked if there were any other nominations for Chairman.  He repeated this two additional times.  No one came forward.  Following this, he closed the slate for nominations.

 

** THE NOMINATION OF MR. IANNACCONE AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Mr. Iannaccone came forward and Mayor Moccia turned the meeting over to him.

 

Nominations for Vice Chairman of the Board of Education

 

** MS. HAYNIE NOMINATED MR. ChiarAmonte AS VICE CHAIRMAN.

** MR. COLAROSSI SECONDED.

 

Mr. Iannaccone asked if there were any other nominations for Vice Chairman.  He repeated this two additional times.  No one came forward.  Following this, he closed the slate for nominations.

 

** THE NOMINATION OF MR. CHIARAMONTE AS VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Nominations for Secretary of the Board of Education

 

** MR. COLAROSSI NOMINATED MS. HAMILTON AS SECRETARY FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

** MS. HAINEY SECONDED.

 

Mr. Iannaccone asked if there were any other nominations for Vice Chairman.  He repeated this two additional times.  No one came forward.  Following this, he closed the slate for nominations.

 

** THE NOMINATION OF MS. HAMILTON AS SECRETARY FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Mr. Iannaccone thanked Ms. Murray, Ms. Mosby, Mr. Burnett, and Ms. Jimenez for their years of service.

 

He announced that the Norwalk Education Foundation was video taping the meeting and it would be broadcast on Channel 78.

 

Let it be noted that the comments from all speakers have been summarized and are not necessarily verbatim.

 

Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools

 

Ms. Hamilton then read the Spotlight report to the Board and the public present. Both Jefferson Magnet and Silvermine Elementary School were awarded the Third Fairfield County Academic Gains award from the Lone Pine Foundation.  Ms. Reynolds and Mr. Gallagher came forward and were congratulated by the Board.  Ms. Reynolds briefly thanked her Assistant Principal, the school staff and everyone for their help.  Mr. Gallagher also acknowledged his Assistant Principal staff at Jefferson and all the hard work that has gone into the project.

 

Superintendent’s Report

 

An update on the Superintendent’s Search, the focus groups have ended and the applications are out, along with the brochure.  The consultant group will review the applications that come in and hopefully by December the interviews will be underway.

 

Public Comment

 

Ms. Amanda Brown of 80 County Street, Unit 7-D, came forward and congratulated the new Board members.  She said that she had concerns about the composition of the Board, after reading the article in the newspaper.  She said that diversity was not longer being celebrated in the community but used as a weapon.  She said that not all the children who received free and reduced lunch are minorities.  She added that the composition of the Board does not reflect the composition of the City.  She then asked each member of the Board to have sensitivity training and to depend on this for maintaining excellence. She said that the new members are no longer parents that are not politicians, but now are politicians.

 

Mr. Richard Fuller of 100 Stuart Avenue came forward and said that he was a member of Norwalk’s diverse community.  He welcomed the new members but expressed his concerns about the lack of diversity on the Board.  He said that a group of “Board Watchers” has been formed to monitor the Board and keep it informed of issues.

 

Ms. Lauren Rosato of the Norwalk Educational Foundation came forward and stated that she lives on Perry Avenue.  She then introduced the PTO Counsel, and Ms. Burton, who also came forward.  Ms. Rosato listed the numerous participants who hosted a community wide conversation at NCC recently.  She said that there was a report that had been created summarizing the findings, both in Spanish and English regarding what the community wanted to see in the Norwalk Public Schools. Ms. Rosato then presented the Board with copies of the report for their perusal.

 

Ms. Caroline Fuller came forward and said that she lives at 100 Stuart Avenue.  She congratulated the incoming members and thanked the members who worked tirelessly over the years.  She said that she had been associated with education in Norwalk for over 35 years.  She said that one of her children needed Special Education, which was provided at Norwalk High School.  She then listed a number of ways that she had been involved in Norwalk’s education.  She added that while she would like to think that she represented all the students in Norwalk, when her phone rings, the parent on the other end is usually an African American or a Hispanic parent who needs help. This means that those two populations are underserved.

 

ACTIONS

Consent:

Mr. Iannaccone asked if anyone wanted to remove anything from the consent calendar.  Ms. Hamilton asked that the Personnel list be removed from Consent.  Mr. Colarossi asked that the Budget Transfers be removed for discussion

 

Personnel

 

** MS. Keyes moved THE following appointments:

 

RECOMMENDED FOR APPOINTMENT:

 

McKiernan, Hugh – Naramake – Assistant Principal,

            Effective 11/18/09

DiPalma, Kristen – Marvin – Assistant Principal,

            Effective 12/17/09

Soto, Sandra – Roton – Science Gr. 8 – Effective 10/28/09

Galan-Guzman, Jessica – Brien McMahon – Science Gr. 8 -              Effective 11/09/09

 

RESIGNATIONS FOR THE PURPOSES OF RETIREMENT

 

Bakes, Jennifer – Norwalk High School – Math –

            Effective 06/30/10

Gutowski, Kathleen – Cranbury – Special Education –     Effective 06/30/10

Friedlander, Janie – Central Office – Director, Special             Education & Pupil Personnel –        Effective 04/30/10

 

** MS. HAYNIE SECONDED.

 

Ms. Hamilton said that she would like to note Ms. Friedlander’s retirement and thanked Ms. Friedlander for all the hard work she had done over the years.

 

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS AS LISTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Budget Transfers

 

** MR. COLAROSSI MOVED THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

 

            RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE    SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF     EDUCATION APPROVE THE ATTACHED BUDGET TRANSFERS:

 

#9 -THE SUM OF $2,000.00 FROM CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION – SOFT COVER TEXTBOOKS (ACCT. NO. 15411050-645-54) TO CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION – INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 15411050-611-54) TO COVER THE COST OF DRA2 KITS FOR SCHOOLS. SUPPLIER – PEARSON.

 

# 10 - THE SUM OF $3,025.00 FROM NHS BUSINESS – HARD COVER TEXTBOOKS (ACCT. NO. 10511030-641-05) TO NHS BUSINESS – INSTRUCTIONAL EQUIPMENT (ACCT. NO. 10511030-730-05) FOR INDIVIDUAL COMPUTER KITS FOR THE STUDENTS.

 

#11 - THE SUM OF $1,000.00 FROM WEST ROCKS PROF. DEVEL. – OTHER PROF. TECH SERVICES (ACCT. NO. 11928320-330-19) TO WEST ROCKS PROF. DEVL. INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 11928320-611-19) TO COVER BASIC SUPPLIES, COPY PAPER.

 

#12 - THE SUM OF $1,000.00 FROM WEST ROCKS PRINC. –ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS (ACCT. NO. 11924100-301-19) TO WEST ROCKS PRINC.- INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 11924100-611-19) TO COVER BASIC SUPPLIES, COPY PAPER

 

#13 - THE SUM OF $3,000.00 FROM WEST ROCKS PRINC. – OTHER PROFESSIONAL TECH. SERVICES (ACCT. NO. 11924100-330-19)   TO WEST ROCKS PRINC. - INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 11924100-611-19) TO COVER BASIC SUPPLIES, COPY PAPER.

 

#14 – THE SUM OF $1,000.00 FROM WEST ROCKS AFTER SCHOOL – PURCHASED PROF. & TECH. (ACCT. NO. 11932002-300-19) TO WEST ROCKS AFTER SCHOOL STUDENT TRANS. SERV. PUBL. (ACCT. NO. 11932002-510-19) TO COVER THE COST OF TRANSPORTATION FOR INTRA-MURAL GAMES.

 

#15 – THE SUM OF $1,264.25 FROM NATHAN HALE LANGS. ARTS – INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 11411050-611-14) TO NATHAN HALE LANGS, ARTS – SOFT COVER TEXTBOOKS (ACCT. NO. 11411050-645-14)  FOR PAPERBACK SETS OF BOOKS FOR STUDENT USE.

 

#16 - THE SUM OF $655.00 FROM CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION – OTHER PROF. TECH SERVICES (ACCT. NO. 15412600-330-54) TO CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION – REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES (ACCT. NO. 15412600-430-54) FOR LAS LINKS EQUIPMENT SERVICE CONTRACT.

 

#17 – THE SUM OF $7,686.00 FROM CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION – OTHER PROF. TECH. SERVICES – (ACCT. NO. 15412600-330-54) TO CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION – INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES (ACCT. NO. 15412600-611-54) FOR THE PURCHASE OF LAS LINKS TESTING MATERIALS.

 

** MS. HAYNIE SECONDED.

 

Mr. Colarossi asked about Transfer Items # 11, #12 and #13, which amount to $5,000  for copy paper. Dr. Moore, the West Rocks Principal,  said that last year, the budget was severely cut and the school was out of copy paper.  She said that her materials and supplied had been cut by more than $10,000.  Parents are now bringing copy papers to the school.  Dr. Cook said that this was only the 17th budget transfer this year and that it was the discretion of the principal to transfer the money.  Mr. Colarossi said that the numbers were very high.  Dr. Moore said that there is a staff of 100 at the school and that the staff tries not copy the students to death.  Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the cuts were made after the budget was passed and that these transfers are to be expected.

 

Mr. Colarossi asked for an item break down of each of the items.  Regarding Transfer Item # 9, Mr. Daddona came forward and explained that DRA2 kits are testing kits for the students.  He then explained that the computer kits (Item #10) are textbooks for the students in the computer class. Without these text books, the class can not take place. Previously, the Central Office paid for these through Ralph Valenzisi, but the responsibility was transferred to the Business Office.  The Business Office did not expect this and had not budgeted for these items.

 

The LAS Links (#16 & #17) are testing supplies and equipment for the English Language Learners. 

 

Ms. Rivas said that when the packets were distributed, all the questions should have been asked in committee.  Mr. Colarossi replied that there was a delay in getting the packets.

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the transfers were usually time sensitive in order for people to get what they need. 

 

Ms. Rivas said that Dr. Cook had a list of the codes for the new Board members.

 

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE BUDGET TRANSFERS AS LISTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Approval of the Minutes (October 20, 2009)

 

The following corrections were noted:

 

Page 1, under Spotlight On Norwalk Public Schools, paragraph 5: please change “an exception administrator” to “an exceptional administrator”.

 

Page 7, paragraph 2, please change “Mrs. Millardo” to “Mrs. Bellardo”

 

Page 10, under Finance Committee, paragraph 1, line 1, please change “Roton School” to “Rowayton School”

 

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF OCTOBER 20, 2009 AS CORRECTED.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Approval of Field Trips

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that the field trip forms needed to be more uniform. She also pointed out  that trips of 3 days or more do not have to filed four months in advance, only trips abroad need to be filed that far in advance.  The forms should be changed to reflect this.

 

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

 

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE THE ATTACHED FIELD TRIP: NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL WINTER GUARD TO ROCHESTER, NY FOR WGI WINTER GUARD REGIONAL COMPETITION FEBRUARY 19-21, 2010.

 

** MS. HALSEY SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

Information and  reports

 

** Mr. Colarossi moved to suspend the rules to add a report to the agenda.

 

Mr. Colarossi said that the report was emailed to all the Board members.  Ms. Rivas objected and said that she did not receive it. Mr. Colarossi said that he had sent it out to all the Board members in the afternoon.  Ms. Rivas asked him how he knew that she had received it.  Mr. Colarossi replied her email had not bounced back to him.  Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that in order to add a report to the agenda the process was to send it to the Executive Committee, unless it is something time sensitive.  Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she had received the report late in the afternoon.  She said that she would like to make sure that the Superintendent was aware of it. 

 

** Mr. Colarossi withdrew the motion.

 

Mr. Iannaccone then suggested that this report be included in the Friday report.  Mr. Colarossi said that the new members were looking to post all the information on the website, including the Friday reports. 

 

Ms. Rivas said that since that this was supposed to be a bi-partisan Board and that she did not feel that the Board should be discussing anything through email.  Ms. Haynie said that two Board members did not receive action items with their packets in email.  Ms. Rivas said that the Board was talking about transparency but she felt that email communications were wrong.  She also told Mr. Colarossi that introducing an action this way was not right, either. 

 

Mr. Iannaccone then announced the following Committee Chair appointments:

Finance –Mr. Colarossi ; Negotiating – Jack Chiaramonte;  Policy –  Mr. Colarossi; Curriculum – Sue Haynie.  He then explained that the remaining committee assignments would be sent out the following day.

 

Ms. Rivas said that she was the only Board member of the entire Board that had been told that she was removed from curriculum or policy committees.  She said that she was removed without her knowledge and had been informed of it just before the meeting started.  She said that curriculum was the committee that decides what the children were being.  She said that she should be acknowledged as an elected official and that she was being disrespected.  Mr. Iannaccone said that he did not know she was on Policy.  Ms. Rivas said that she was surprised that he did not know this.  Mr. Iannaccone explained that he had asked her to stay on Curriculum because she did such a good job. Mr. Chiaramonte concluded the discussion by stating that the bickering would stop “here and now”.

 

NEF –

 

Ms. Hamilton said that with NEF she had attended the council last night and that she enjoyed her time there.  Although she would not be the liaison for NEF any more, NEF is working on a strategic plan.  They are working to raise funds for the Norwalk students.

 

CES –

 

Ms. Hamilton said that the CES meeting was in the beginning of November, which is a regional consortium serving all over the state.  They provide training for teachers in areas of special needs, a regional center for the arts and a preschool program. 

 

Finance -

 

Mr. Colarossi said that Finance was scheduled for Thursday when Dr. Cook would present a budget report.  Mr. Colarossi explained that the reason to postpone the meeting until Monday was to give the new members a chance to read the information.

 

BET/BOE Joint Services Study Group

 

Mr. Chiaramonte said that the next meeting was scheduled for Dec 3rd.

 

Norwalk Facility Construction Commission - 

 

Mr. Iannaccone said that the NFCC Commission met yesterday.  The request for $50,0000 for the elementary school was approved. This will  now be presented to Land Use next and then to the Council for approval.

 

Adult Education – Ms. Rivas said that she had not had a meeting with that committee.

 

Board member announcementS

 

Ms. Hamilton visited the Cooperative Educational Services this morning.  Anyone who is interested in visiting there is welcomed but they must call ahead.  She was impressed with the excellent team teaching there.

 

Mr. Chiaramonte said that he had served on the board for the last three years and that what he had liked was that it was apolitical.  There are new members who need to get up to speed.  Everyone that is sitting at the table is elected.  He said that he was offended when he was told that he had to be a certain race or background to value the children of the City of Norwalk.  He said that he cares about each and every child in Norwalk.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

** MS. Rivas moved to adjourn.

** Ms. Haynie Seconded.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Sharon L. Soltes

Telesco Secretarial Services