City of Norwalk

Board of Education

Finance Committee

December 9, 2009

 

ATTENDANCE:      Steve Colarossi, Chair; Glenn Iannaccone, Susan Hamilton,

                                    Jack Chiaramonte (7:32 p.m.)

 

STAFF:                      Dr. Dan Cook, Tony Daddona, Fay Ruotolo

 

OTHERS:                  Mary Budrawich, NPS Early Childhood Instructional

                                    Specialist; Betsy Bain, Early Childhood Council Chair;                                            Jody Bishop-Pullan, Board of Education Member; Bruce

                                    Mellion, NFT President; Bob McCain, Nathan Hale Middle                                     School Principal; Rosa Murray, Moina Noor

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Mr. Colarossi called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

 

Pledge of Allegiance

 

Mr. Colarossi then led those present in reciting Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Introduction of Members

 

He then called roll and announced that a quorum was present.

 

Mr. Colarossi explained that he had discovered that the Expulsion Officers not only protect the District, but also the students.  He said that the Officer has been very creative in terms of working with the students and that the parents were generally pleased with him.

 

Mr. Chiaramonte joined the meeting at 7:32 p.m.

 

Dr. Cook then updated the Committee about the travel time expenses. He noted that he would be attaching his report to the November set of minutes.  He said that Sullivan and Shone was charging $600 per round trip from Hartford.  Bertram and Moses does not charge for travel and the charges only start accruing when the attorney enters the District offices.  Sullivan and Shone handles everything but special education.  The bulk of the time is negotiations.  Mr. Daddona said that they also handled the OCR and teacher complaints.  Mr. Colarossi asked if the other services could be flat rated. After a brief discussion, it was the consensus of the Committee that a draft RFP should be created for the Committee to review and possibly recommend to the Board.  Mr. Colarossi then asked when this could be done.  Dr. Cook explained that he thought that by the end of January after the budget is presented, the draft RFP could be reviewed by the Finance Committee. 

 

Mr. Colarossi asked if there were any comments from any of the non Board members.  Mr. Daddona asked if the RFP would also cover the Special Ed services.  Mr. Colarossi said that he felt that only one portion of this project should be handled at a time.

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked how the Board would be informed about this. She said she that was concerned about this.   Ms. Hamilton then suggested that Mr. Colarossi inform the full Board during the report section of the meeting.

 

Mr. Mellion commented that it might be important to break the charges down into the component parts. 

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan pointed out that there were only a few law firms that dealt with educational specialties when this started.  Ms. Ruotolo said that there are a few more firms in Connecticut but they are not as large as the current two firms.

 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 23, 2009

 

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 23, 2009.

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED.

 

The following corrections were noted:

 

Page 1, under STAFF:  please include “Fay Ruotolo”

 

Page 1, under OTHERS: please replace the following:

           

            OTHERS:                  Jody Bishop-Pullan, Board member; Carol

                                                Marianaccio, NPS; Dr. Lynn Moore, West Rocks

                                                Principal; Richard Fuller, Donna Patchen, NPS; Mr.

                                                Noor, Kim Graham, Kathy Lesko, Bruce Mellion,

                                                NFT President

 

WITH:           

 

            OTHERS:                  Jody Bishop-Pullan, BOE Board member; Carol

                                                Marianaccio, NPS; Dr. Lynne Moore, West Rocks

                                                Principal; Donna Vaccarella, NPS; Bruce Mellion,

                                                NFT President; Farhan Memom, Richard Fuller

                                                Kim Graham, Kathy Lesko

 

Page 3, under Corrections, please change the following from:

 

            Page 1, HEADER:  Please change the following from:

 

            Board of Education

            Finance Committee

            Regular Meeting

            October 22, 2009

 

TO:

 

            Board of Education

            Finance Committee

            Regular Meeting

            HELD AT ROWAYTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

            October 22, 2009

 

 

Page 8, under Discussion of the Possibility of Providing 1 Bus for the Norwalk Students (60 Students) Attend the Rogers Magnet School in Stamford, for 2010-11 and Possibility that the Transportation is Grant Funded, paragraph 2, line 4, please change the following from: “but they wished to see if “ to: “but they wished to see if they could get transportation.”

 

Page 8, under Discussion of the Possibility of Providing 1 Bus for the Norwalk Students (60 Students) Attend the Rogers Magnet School in Stamford, for 2010-11 and Possibility that the Transportation is Grant Funded, paragraph 3, line 1: please change “was legal required” to “was legally required”

 

Ms. Murray asked what the definition of the “OTHER” category was.  It was explained that the “OTHER” category contained the names of people who were in attendance at the meeting and addressed the Committee or Board, but were not members of the staff or committee.  FOI regulations forbids the secretary from taking attendance of those members of the public who are in attendance at a meeting but do not address the Committee or Board.

 

 

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 23, 2009 AS AMENDED.

** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED WITH THREE IN FAVOR (COLAROSSI, IANNACCONE AND HAMILTON) AND ONE ABSTENTION (CHIARAMONTE).

 

Review of Staffing needs in the Early Childhood Education Program and the Brighter Futures Summer Program

 

Mr. Colarossi said that there were concerns about the funding for staffing needs for the Early Childhood program.  Mr. Daddona explained that Ms. Budrawich would be retiring and that her position provides the foundation for many students’ education in the City.  The Early Childhood Instructional Specialist works with many of the City agencies. Ms. Budrawich said that the instructional specialist focuses on the best practices in the field.  It behooves the school district to work with the providers of early childhood education.  Funding was allocated in 1997 to focus on the early childhood education.  The Early Childhood Council looks at the broader picture of what the public school’s role is along with the role of early childhood providers.  Not every accredited early childhood program receives School Readiness funding, just the ones that apply and meet the criteria.  She said that it is important that the Council continues to help to coordinate the various programs. 

 

Ms. Budrawich then distributed copies of a proposal for the Early Childhood Council program. She reiterated that this document was a draft proposal. She said that Norwalk has worked very hard for the last twelve years to establish a good Early Childhood program. 

 

Ms. Budrawich directed the Committee member’s attention to then page that had a listing of the staff responsibilities and the amount of time the various tasks consumed.  Ms. Budrawich then displayed a copy of the Early Childhood Plan.  She emphasized that this also was tentative and just a proposal. 

 

Mr. Colarossi then said that there were a few inclusion classrooms in Norwalk and asked if they were part of the program.  Ms. Budrawich said that those particular classrooms were not included in the program.  She said that she was involved in work at Brookside and with the Brighter Futures program.  Mr. Colarossi then asked about the various grant management strategies.  Ms. Budrawich directed everyone’s attention to the third page of her handout.  She said that there was a proposal for a position that was mandated by the School Readiness Grant. 

 

The discussion then moved to the position that had been previously handled by the Director of Youth Services.  Ms. Budrawich said that the two positions that will remain are the Instructional Specialist for Early Childhood and the School Readiness Assistant.  The Coordinator’s position and the position of the Early Childhood Program Manager have been restructured.  Ms. Budrawich indicated that unless the new position is approved, the Brighter Futures program and the Brookside program would end when she retired. 

 

Ms. Budrawich said that there has already been positive interest expressed during discussions with the Coastal Fairfield County United Way, and the Children’s Foundation about the Early Childhood programs.

 

Mr. Colarossi then asked how the fees were collected at Brookside.  Ms. Budrawich said that she collects the fees because she did not want the staff to be responsible for the money, and explained that there were privacy issues since there is a sliding fee scale.  The instructional specialist should be a leadership position.  The restructuring would provide for the program to take the next step. 

 

Mr. Colarossi then asked if there would be classroom space for these programs and how the various schools would accommodate the programs.  Ms. Budrawich said that it depends on how much the individual school wants to contribute towards the program.

 

Ms. Bain pointed out that one of the reasons that Norwalk was being viewed as a major success was because it has been able to establish a public/private partnership.  It has consolidated what was part time attention into full time programs.  She said that as the staff turns over, it is important that a system is left behind that can continue on.  Mr. Daddona said that as if the District can expand the program, it would be good.  However, the study that is being done is very important because the program needs space, but also needs the staff and structure, too.  There is also the special Ed component for early education.  Mr. Colarossi asked if the inclusion classrooms were part time. Mr. Daddona said that this was so.

 

Mr. Colarossi asked about the chain of authority in the schools.  Mr. Daddona replied that if the program is located in any given school, it would be under control of the principal for that school, but frequently, the principals will look to the instructional specialist for advice and direction.  Ms. Budrawich explained that because the Early Childhood program is different, the systems are not in place. She gave an example of the difficulty in finding substitute teachers or paraprofessional when a staff member is ill because of the qualifications necessary for the Early Childhood programs.

 

Ms. Budrawich said that there was an urgency in terms of submitting the proposal for the RFP to the State.  This means that the proper management must be in place.  By February, Brighter Futures needs to have the final budget, the recruitment and the student selection done.  Mr. Iannaccone asked if the funding was the issue.  Ms. Budrawich explained that the flat funding would have an impact.

 

Mr. Mellion said that the top circle on the first page is where the closing of the achievement gap would be accomplished.  He encouraged everyone to visit Brookside to see the program. He said that it would be a very important thing to keep the program moving forward. 

 

Ms. Bain said that the instructional specialist position was important because it is important to continue the public/private partnership.  Mr. Colarossi asked if this could be included in the budge.  Dr. Cook said that he works closely with Mr. Daddona on this.

 

Review Literacy Specialist Program

 

Mr. Daddona reminded everyone that last year, all the funding for literacy specialists had been cut.  The District was able to pay for a .5 literacy specialist out of the Priority Schools funding in all the schools.  The District was able to recommend that the Title One schools provide for the other .5 literacy specialist position out of their Title One funding for their facility.  Mr. Daddona said that while he would like to have a full time literacy specialist in all the schools.  The District needs to have 12 full time literacy specialists.

 

The discussion then moved to the definition of “literacy specialists” and “literacy coaches” and whether or not the assigned literacy specialists were providing enough support.  Mr. Colarossi then had several detailed questions about the grant guidelines. 

 

When Mr. Colarossi asked, Mr. Daddona said that the CAPT scores needed improvement. He then said that there had been a major effort to consolidate the curriculum to address the problem.  Mr. Daddona said that it was very important to capture the students who have difficulty reading in elementary or middle schools.  He said that having all the middle schools using the same curriculum would be critical.  By buying a site license for the reading program, it could be made available to all the Norwalk students. 

 

Ms. Murray asked about how the dollars were allocated for the program and why the District was not consistent across the Board.  Mr. Daddona said that the principals chooses to use the program.  Sometimes, the PTOs help with the funding for the programs.  The current charges for one particular program are around $690 per seat.  A site license would cost $395 per seat.  Mr. McCain then explained that the particular program came out with a new Web based curriculum.  He said that a school might have 20 seats and this means that twenty students from that particular school could be on the program at any given time.  The

 

Ms. Murray expressed concerns about the fact that certain schools would have the program available due to finances.  Mr. Daddona said that last year, the District had pooled resources for Study Island, which the District made available to all the schools. That particular program helped with the CAPT scores.  He said that he was not ready to purchase the program for all the schools until there were some feedback reports.  The discussion then moved to how to purchase the program for all the schools without supplanting the program with federal funding.

 

Ms. Murray said that her issue was equity and that the Board worked hard to make sure that all the schools had equity.  She said that this was the kind of thing that feeds quietly into the inequity issue. 

 

Mr. Mellion said that Mr. Daddona had referred to funding issues.  He said that he could speak about staffing. He pointed out that two years ago, there were 18 literacy specialists and then the literacy specialists were cut to 12.  Following that, the model changed.  The second aspect is the size of the high school classes because it becomes difficult due to lack of resources.  He went on to speak about delivering the programs and how equity is created.  He gave an overview of how the teachers perceive the issue.

 

Review any Post-employment Benefit Obligations

 

Mr. Colarossi then asked Dr. Cook about this issue.  Dr. Cook said that if the District cuts positions, it did not eliminate all the employee position costs.

 

Ms. Ruotolo said that when positions were eliminated, some of the employees ended up on unemployment.  The State recently extended the unemployment period.  Also for those employees who chose to extend their health insurance, the District is responsible for 65% of the monthly health premium.  Most of the positions that were eliminated last year will have their benefits terminate on December 31st. Mr. Colarossi said that for every job position that was eliminated, it would cost the District about $500 per week.  The employee is now entitled to about 46 weeks of unemployment.  Ms. Ruotolo said that there had been a concerted effort to contain the post-retirement benefits.

 

Discussion about 2009-2010 budget-projected shortfalls, if any

 

Dr. Cook said that currently, there have been no major deficits identified in any of the current accounts.  The claims in the health insurance for the first four months of the year have been reviewed and the account is in better shape than it was last year.  A great deal depends on what happens in the next eight months. The budget will be tracked monthly.

 

Dr. Cook reported that there had been a major power failure in South Norwalk and two schools were without power and heat.  Communications and the handling of this went well. 

 

Regarding the elementary facility study, there were five certified architects that were identified.  The RFPs are being evaluated.  A short list will be presented to the committee and the committee will be able to interview the candidates. 

 

HIRING FREEZE – IS THIS PRACTICAL

 

Mr. Colarossi asked what the current open positions were. Dr. Cook said that his positions was an interim position and Ms. Vacarella also has an interim position, along with the Superintendent.  Ms. Ruotolo then listed the various job positions that were open and the remaining positions that were currently filled by interims.

 

Mr. Colarossi asked about the IT position.  Ms. Ruotolo said that there were some serious candidates and explained that it was a NASA position, which is governed by the salary steps. 

 

Mr. Colarossi asked about Coordinator of Health Services and a brief discussion then followed.

 

The discussion then moved to the status of the various interim job positions.  Ms. Ruotolo then reviewed all the details associated with the positions.  Ms. Ruotolo pointed out that filling all these positions would take months, but the staff needs to work on the budget and other issues, also.  There is a plan to have the parents and others involved, also. Ms. Ruotolo said that she had attempted to put together a training packet for the parents.  She then asked if there could be some outreach from the Board to the public.  Ms. Ruotolo commented that there were several questions and concerns expressed from candidates as to whether their job positions would survive the budget process.

 

Next BOE Finance Committee meeting: January 7th, 2010, 7:30 p.m., Room A-330

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:14 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Sharon L. Soltes

Telesco Secretarial Services