CITY OF NORWALK

BOARD OF EDUCATION

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

 

ATTENDANCE:      Rosa Murray, Chair; Jody Bishop-Pullan; Greg Burnett; Jack Chiaramonte; Shirley Mosby; Migdalia Rivas; Glenn Iannaccone; Susan Hamilton; Amy Jimenez

 

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

Dr. Dan Cook; Mark Gorian

 

OTHERS:                  Paula Palermo; Roz McCarthy; Doug Marchetti; Tony Daddona;  

 

I.  CALL TO ORDER – 7:45 P.M. – ROOM A300

 

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:50 p.m.

 

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

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

 

III.  SPOTLIGHT ON NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

 

Mr. Chiaramonte read the following information for the Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools: 

 

A school makes Adequate Yearly Progress through Safe Harbor by achieving a 10% reduction in their non-proficient population in reading and mathematics.  The following schools made Safe Harbor for the 2009-2010 School Year:

 

Columbus

Cranbury

Marvin

Naramake

Silvermine

Wolfpit

Roton

 

Dr. Papallo and Mr. Daddona then presented each representative from their respective schools with a certificate.

 

IV.  SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

 

Dr. Papallo said there was an error made in the aide’s paychecks on Friday while trying to update MUNIS.  In addition, there was a telephone line failure at Webster Bank.  The direct deposit customers were not affected.  The problem should be resolved shortly.

 

Dr. Papallo announced that the Search Committee for the new Superintendent met recently and the RFP’s were sent last week.  They contacted 7 firms and received 4 proposals.  The proposals have been reviewed, and the Committee will then meet with the firm to make their selection.  Once the selection is made, they will immediately be prepared to get the development of a brochure started.  The brochure will contain community input and the development of a profile of what the community and the Board of Education see as necessary characteristics in their next Superintendent.  Dr. Papallo said that within the next three or four months, they could possibly bring this to a conclusion if everything goes according to schedule.   

 

V.   PUBLIC COMMENTS

 

Please note that these public comments are not verbatim.

 

Ms. Paula Palermo, 7 Romindon Court, a Norwalk Education Foundation Board Member, thanked the Board of Education for their hard work in helping the students of the Norwalk Public Schools system.  She invited them to Community Conversations on October 17, 2009 at NCC from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

         

VI.  ACTIONS

 

A.  Consent

 

1.      Approval of personnel actions

2.      Approval of budget transfers

 

**  MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE CONSENT FOR APPROVAL OF PERSONNEL ACTIONS AND APPROVAL OF BUDGET TRANSFERS.

 

**  MS. MOSBY SECONDED.

 

**  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

B.  Approval of minutes (September 15, 2009)

 

      Minutes of September 15, 2009

 

**  MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF

      SEPTEMBER 15, 2009.

 

**  MS. RIVAS SECONDED. 

 

      The corrections to the minutes of September 15, 2009 are:   

 

On page 3, top of page, change “Mr. Iannaccone said this was unusual for a middle school class” to “Mr. Iannaccone said this was unusual for an elementary school class.”

 

      The corrections to Ms. Hamilton’s information regarding CES on page 7 are as

      follows:

 

“The CES Foundation will continue its work to support requests for special projects.  In December, there will be a CES gala at the Regional Center for the Arts.  Regarding Special Ed, the District will be able to defer the implementation of the SRBI model until June 2010.  In school suspension was discussed, and there is no law in effect as of this time.”  

 

**  MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN (7) VOTES IN FAVOR (CHIARAMONTE, BISHOP-PULLAN, IANNACCONE, MURRAY, HAMILTON, BURNETT, MOSBY) AND TWO (2) VOTES ABSTAINED (JIMENEZ, RIVAS.) 

 

C.  Approval of Field Trip (s)

 

      Norwalk High School to Germany and Austria

 

**  MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO APPROVE THE FIELD TRIP FOR NORWALK HIGH SCHOOL TO GERMANY AND AUSTRIA.

 

**  MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan reiterated that there has been extensive discussion at the Board level regarding the cost of the field trips, and the funding.  She asked the Superintendent to send the message back that there needs to be a concerted effort for fundraising so that a broad range of students are able to take advantage of the trips.  She said the Board has an expectation that this will happen. 

 

**  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

D.  Approval of NPS Facilities Audit & Analysis

 

**  MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO APPROVE THE APPROVAL OF THE NPS FACILITIES AUDIT & ANALYSIS

 

**  MS. JIMENEZ SECONDED.

 

Ms. Jimenez said she was unable to attend the previous meeting due to work constraints, and she didn’t know what transpired at that meeting, but she wanted to comment on this because of the concerns the Finance Committee raised about this plan.  She said the plan is put together every five years, and the City requested that they come together with some priorities regarding the $6M.  They did look at the priorities based on staff input.  The Finance Committee did raise the question about the elementary facilities, and that additions were to be excluded.  She said they were told not to approve them in this study.  She said she now sees that this recommendation does include a stipulation of $50,000 be reduced from the appropriation request to fund an elementary facility study, and she is comfortable with that.  She said the enrollment figures are not yet available for this year. 

 

Mr. Iannaccone agreed with Ms. Jimenez, saying that they wanted this in a resolution and now it can be forwarded to the NFCC.   

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan agreed with both Mr. Iannaccone and Ms. Jimenez, saying that the original 2004 plan from which this plan is built on includes discussion on needs for expansion.  She felt it was important to address this with urgency, and to move forward with the $6M.

 

She wished to propose the following two amendments to the resolution:

 

1)  Amend the 4^th line from “Send a modification of the NFCC” to

      “Send a modification to the NFCC”.   

     

2)      Add the following to the end of the resolution:

“That the staff be directed to meet with the City to discuss the issue of any changes that might be coming forth in the Facilities Plan.” 

           

Ms. Jimenez said that she is not sure she is comfortable voting on this now, as it doesn’t appear to address enough of the issues.  She understands that the City is ready to move this along, but her concern is how they are going to address the enrollment numbers, and with what funding.  She said that last year, out of operating funds, they had to fund portables.  She asked if they could instead make them a capital expense and buy them instead of renting them.  She was concerned that they were not signaling strongly enough to the City that they have a need and they need their help to resolve the problem. 

 

Mr. Iannaccone said that the purpose for adding the $50,000 was to do the study. 

 

Ms. Mosby agreed with Mr. Iannaccone, saying that they need to make sure they have something to go on.

 

Ms. Jimenez said her concern is that what they are saying is that they agree with the priorities that are set forth by Mr. Gorian and the study that he’s done as the priority, with a caveat.  She felt they needed to solve the space problems before they come to the remaining projects.  She said she agrees that they need the study. 

 

Dr. Papallo said the items mentioned in the City facility model were rated 5 by the Company that did the study.  He said he feels it’s crucial to move along, but didn’t want to give the feeling that they were ignoring the space needs. 

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked Dr. Papallo and Mr. Gorian if there was any possibility to appropriating some of this money to do the study before having the enrollment answers.   Mr. Gorian said he didn’t see a problem with that possibility.  Ms. Murray asked if this was time-sensitive.  Mr. Gorian replied that there have been no dates put forth, but the City asked them to do it ASAP.

 

Ms. Murray asked how this plays out as far as the capital budget is concerned.  Dr. Cook said that if the need is determined by the Facility study, then they have to establish and plan for a capital budget request for next year.  He said it would take approximately 4-6 months if they looked directly at the needs of the instructional programs and student population, and what each elementary school can support.

 

Ms. Bishop-Pullan then read the following resolution and proposed amendment.

 

**  MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE THAT RESOLVED UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE THE NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS AUDIT AND ANALYSIS AND PRIORITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT DATED JULY 1, 2009 WITH THE RESERVATION THAT THERE MAY BE A NEED TO SEND A MODIFICATION TO THE NFCC IN THE NOT-TO-DISTANT FUTURE.  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT THE PRIORITY 5 AND CRITICAL NEEDS PROJECTS BE APPROVED WITH THE STIPULATION THAT $50,000 BE REDUCED IN OTHER AREAS OF THE $6M BUDGET, AND INCLUDED IN THAT BUDGET IS THE STUDY OF ELEMENTARY FACILITIES ASSUMING NEW ENROLLMENT FIGURES ARE AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER, AND THAT THE STAFF BE DIRECTED TO MEET WITH THE CITY TO DISCUSS POSSIBLE FACILITIES RECOMMENDATIONS.

 

**  MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

 

**  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

**  MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MOTION AS AMENDED.

 

**  MS. RIVAS SECONDED.        

 

**  MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN (7) VOTES IN FAVOR (IANNACCONE, MURRAY, HAMILTON, CHIARAMONTE, BISHOP-PULLAN, RIVAS, MOSBY) AND TWO (2) VOTES OPPOSED (JIMENEZ, BURNETT).

 

E.  NASA Grievance Resolution 

 

**  MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO APPROVE THE NASA GRIEVANCE RESOLUTION.

 

**  MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

 

**  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

VII.  INFORMATION AND REPORTS

 

A.  Update on Portable Classrooms

 

      Dr. Cook said that at the current time, there are students, teachers and administrators in each of the three modular classrooms.  Ms. Jimenez thanked the schools and the administration for their adaptability during the frustrating time while they waited for the portables to be delivered.   

 

B.  Update on Norwalk High School Pool Funding  

 

      Dr. Cook said that they started working on this approximately 6 months ago, and he feels that they have a good plan to make the Norwalk High School pool self-sustaining.  Mr. Doug Marchetti presented information from the fee structure sheet that took into account the surrounding communities’ pool policies.  In many cases, he explained that the Parks & Recreation Department controls the pool, not the Board of Education.  Mr. Marchetti continued to explain the usage fees, projected revenue, groups using the pool, etc.&n Category: Minutes