VI.B.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

Regular Meeting

December 15, 2009

 

ATTENDANCE:      Glenn Iannaccone, Chair; Jack Chiaramonte, Vice Chair;

                                    Susan Hamilton, Secretary; Erin Halsey, Steve Colarossi,

                                    Heidi Keys, Jody Bishop-Pullan, Migdalia Rivas; Mayor

                                    Richard A. Moccia (7: 51 p.m.)

 

STAFF:                      William Papallo, Interim Superintendent of Schools

 

CALL ORDER

 

Mr. Iannaccone called the meeting to order at 7:50 p.m.

 

Pledge of Allegiance

 

Mr. Iannaccone led those present in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Superintendent’s Report

 

Budget Update

 

Dr. Papallo said that the budget was being put together.  Dr. Cook said that the preliminary budget should be ready by Friday and it will be available to the public by Monday.  Dr. Cook said that there would be an attempt to put it on the Website.

 

Mayor Richard Moccia joined the meeting at 7:51 p.m.

 

Dr. Papallo said that there had been meeting with the principals and the staff including Central Office for input. Dr. Papallo gave a quick overview of the figures and explained there were virtually no additions other than the in school suspensions. 

 

On January 4th, there will be a public meeting on the budget. The public is welcomed to give input at any time.  It is the goal of the Board and the District to get the information out to the public.  There are many changes in the way budgets are being done and it is a different dynamic than ever before.  The worldwide financial picture has changed.  While the State funds appear to be fairly stable, the District is working to develop contingencies. 

 

The budget must be to the city by mid January and this means planning now for mid-September.  The District is trying to protect as much as possible for all the Norwalk students.  Dr. Papallo said that he has been working on school budgets since 1973.  The District is moving forward and everyone is working very hard at this.

 

Status of the Interim Superintendent

 

The State of Connecticut decided that retired superintendents can only work as interim superintendent 45% of the compensation of the job. The Superintendent’s job is far from a part time job.  Dr. Papallo explained that if he took full days, his time would expire on January 8th.  By taking furlough days, Dr. Papallo can continue working until just until before the February vacation. 

 

The last time Dr. Papallo was in Norwalk as an Interim Superintendent, it was necessary to hire another interim superintendent for a short period of time.  He then explained that superintendents frequently have ninety day clauses in their contracts, but it is not uncommon for them to be released from their contract earlier.  

 

Public comment

 

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

 

Ms. Emily Aguilar of 84 Benedict Street, an executive member of the PTO Council came forward.   She then thanked Dr. Jacoby and Ms. Holcomb for their excellent work on the leadership profile for the next superintendent.  Ms. Aguilar said that she would like to see the documents from the CABE meeting posted on the website both in English and Spanish.  She said that the PTO had recently received the Spanish version from CABE and this would be posted on the PTO website. She said that NEF, PTOC and PLTI are willing to assist with community and candidate forums.  Involving the community would show initiative from the Board, Central Office and due diligence from the results of the community conversations that took place in October.

 

Ms. Aguliar said regarding the Communication Committee, her immediate observation was that the PTOC frequently plays the communication committee by acting as a communications channel.  Although they will continue to play the role, it was wonderful to hear that there would be a Communication Committee.  She suggested that the Committee include members of the community at large.  She said that understanding the resources and needs of the community are relayed.

 

Ms. Aguilar said that there was a suggestion regarding the translation of documentation on the website.  Someone pointed out that there was a free website translator.  While this may be true, the software is not always accurate. There are issues with cultural sensitivity.

 

Committees – There was a great outline of committees, but she suggested that a Board member be a liaison for the PTCO, as is done with other committees.

 

Calendar – Ms. Aguilar said that she had been part of the calendar committee and it was a great experience.  She said that if the calendar was modified in any way, she felt that the committee should be involved again because it is a great resource.  She then said it would be important to give them the courtesy of finishing what they started.

 

 

Ms. Kerry O’Neill, 10 Silver River Court, came forward.  She said that she was the PTO President of Silvermine Elementary School and a member of the Parent/Community Partnership Committee.  She said that was present to comment on Communication Committee.  She encouraged the Board to look at the Parent Partnership Committee (PCPC) as a potential resource.  Ms. O’Neill said that the work might support that of the Communication Committee or even overlap.  She said that were people who were willing to participate in various areas regarding communications.

 

Mr. Bruce Mellion, the NFT President, came forward and directed everyone’s attention to a handout that had been distributed earlier.  This was a survey done by the Norwalk Federation of Teachers that is done yearly on the preparation of the operating budget. He then went on to review the various points listed on the summary of the survey results. 

 

Mr. Mellion then spoke about the Communications Committee, and suggested that the Committee should include employees or teachers.  He said that this was one important aspect of the stake holders had been left out of the Committee.

 

Mr. Matthew Surapine, 8 Newfield Street, came forward and said that he wanted to read some portions from a book from Ponus Ridge library.  Mr. Surapine then read several excerpt from TTYL (Talk To You Later) by Lauren Myracle. He questioned the appropriateness of this book, which had many sexual references.

 

There was no one else present who wished to address the Board at this time.

 

ACTIONS

 

Consent

 

Approval of the Personnel Actions.

 

** MR. CHIARAMONTE MOVED TO APPROVE THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS.

** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO SUSPEND THE RULES TO ADD ITEMS TO THE PERSONNEL AGENDA.

** MS. HAYNIE SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

** MR. COLAROSSI MOVED TO APPROVE THE APPOINTMENT OF DR. ROBERT POLSELLI AS THE DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY.

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPOINT MS. CAROL MARINACCIO AS THE DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

** MS. KEYES SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN IN FAVOR (RIVAS, BISHOP-PULLAN, KEYES, HAMILTON, CHIARAMONTE, IANNACCONE AND HALEY) AND TWO OPPOSED (HAYNIE AND COLAROSSI).

 

Approval of minutes (November 17, 2009 and December 1, 2009)

 

** MR. CHIARAMONTE MOVED THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 17, 2009 AND DECEMBER 1, 2009.

** MR. COLAROSSI SECONDED.

 

Mr. Iannaccone explained that the December 1, 2009 minutes contained the corrections from the November 17, 2009 minutes.  Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that she did not under stand how both sets of minutes could be approved since the Board did not have a corrected copy of the November 17th meeting.  She then said that the expectation was that the Board would have received a new set of corrected minutes. Dr. Papallo said that there had been discussions about the November 17th minutes with the secretarial services. The November 17th minutes have not been updated because the corrections have been incorporated in the December 1st. 

 

The Mayor commented that occasionally the Council had this problem. He explained that the Board would technically be correcting the minutes of the previous meeting through the approval of the December 1, 2009.  

 

Ms. Rivas said that she had requested that the transcript tapes be reviewed. She said that the tapes were not reviewed and there was no hard copy.  She said that she wanted itemized corrections. The Mayor explained that the minutes were a summary of the actions, not a verbatim transcript. He then said that if she felt that the minutes were not corrected accurately in respect to the December 1st meeting, that would have to be addressed.  Ms. Rivas said that the approval of the minutes should just read December 1st.

 

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE DECEMBER 1, 2009.

 

Mr. Iannaccone said that there was a motion already on the floor.  He said that the secretarial service reviewed the video tape had been reviewed and that the corrections for the November 17th minutes had been made in the December 1, 2009 minutes.

 

** MR. COLAROSSI CALLED THE QUESTION.

 

Mr. Iannaccone then explained that calling the question would stop the discussion if there was a 2/3rd majority.

 

** THE MOTION TO CALL THE QUESTION PASSED WITH SEVEN IN FAVOR (HAYNIE, KEYES, HAMILTON, CHIARAMONTE, IANNACCONE, HALEY AND COLAROSSI) AND TWO OPPOSED (RIVAS, AND BISHOP-PULLAN).

 

Mr. Iannaccone asked if there were any further corrections to the December 1, 2009 minutes.

 

Page 1, under ATTENDANCE: please change “Heidi King” to “Heidi Keyes”.

 

Page 1, under SPOTLIGHT ON NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS, paragraph 1, line 2:

Please change the following from:

 

            “Local Hero Award winner, and designated the Norwalk Education foundation.”

 

to: “Local Hero Award winner, and Mr. McCain donated the $5,000 award to a Fairfield non-profit, which was the Norwalk Education Foundation as part of the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative by Bank of America.”

 

Page 12, under Curriculum Committee, please change from: “Ms. Haynie said that she” to “Ms. Haynie said that she would confer with the members to determine a date.”

 

Page 13, under Board Member Announcements, paragraph 1, line 2: please change “for the parents to review a tentative new Parent Handbook and Plans for Parent Orientations.”

** THE MOTION TO Approve the minutes of November 17, AND December 1, 2009 as Corrected PASSED WITH EIGHT IN FAVOR (HAYNIE, KEYES, HAMILTON, CHIARAMONTE, IANNACCONE, BISHOP-PULLAN, HALEY AND COLAROSSI) AND ONE OPPOSED (RIVAS).

 

Approval of field trips.

 

Roton Middle School

 

** MS. BISHOP PULLAN moved the following motion:

 

resolved, UPON the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, that the Board of Education approve the attached field trip: Roton Middle School grade 8 Green and Blue Teams to Washington, D.C., April 21-23, 2010.

** MS. HALSEY SECONDED.

 

Ms. Bishop Pullan said that she had been asked by parents about the various field trips in terms of who gets to go, how much impact and what kind of value it has and how many students are taking part in it. She said that there was a report that was in the policy that the Board should be receiving a report on the trip. The Board needs some way to evaluate the trip.

 

**  THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

APPROVAL OF COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE

 

** MR. COLAROSSI MOVED THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

 

RESOLVED, THAT THE NORWALK BOARD OF EDUCATION ESTABLISH A COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE IN AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS WITH AND AMONG THE PUBLIC, CENTRAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATION, THE SCHOOLS AND THE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

 

** MR. CHIARAMONTE SECONDED.

 

 

Ms. Rivas said that after the public comment it was important to include the staff and the community and that it should be added into the resolution.  Mr. Iannaccone said that there is a lot of feedback from the public, but if it is a board of Education committee must be comprised of Board members. Discussion followed.

 

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

APPROVAL TO UPDATE THE NPS WEBSITE

 

** MR. COLAROSSI MOVED THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

 

RESOLVED, UPON RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE POSTING ALL BOARD MEETING MATERIAL (EXCLUDING CONFIDENTIAL/PERSONNEL ITEMS) O Category: Minutes