Board of Education Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2004

NORWALK BOARD OF EDUCATION

FEBRUARY 10, 2004

ATTENDANCE: Jody Bishop-Pullan, Chairman; Pat Lawlor; Richard Fuller; Judy Rivas; Rosa Murray; Robert Polley; Minerva Rivera

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent; Roz McCarthy, Board of Education

OTHERS: David Cole; Christine Griffiths; Greg Burnett; Lorraine Cafero; Jenna Chrzanowski; Katherine May; Julianne Ross; Carmen Bula; Brenda Penn Williams; DJ Perry

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Bishop-Pullian called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Ms. Bishop-Pullian led the Committee members in the Pledge of Allegiance.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Update on Budget Status.

Mr. Corda said that he commended the Committee for the hard work that has been done on research for the presentation tonight.

Mr. Corda said that there is a meeting scheduled for February 18 with the Board of Estimate And Taxation to explain the needs of the Board of Education. He said that in addition there is a meeting on February 25 that the public can share their concerns and desires about the budget. Mr. Corda said that there are three priorities in this year’s Capital Budget. He said that they were textbooks, furniture and equipment and the arena of technology. Mr. Corda said that $1.2 million was requested for textbooks because the recommendation is a result of 2 years worth of work to make sure that the standards of curriculum are connected to the state standards.

Mr. Corda said that the second priority was $300,000 for furniture and equipment. He said that these expenditures were identified from the Operating Budget into the Capital Budget. Mr. Corda said the third priority was for the arena for technology for $1.3 million. He said that the amount was reduced to $500,000. Mr. Corda said that the BOE must push for the textbooks. He said that this was the BOE’s first priority. He added that if any reductions must be made it must not be textbooks. Mr. Corda said that if the BOE does not have the textbooks the BOE couldn’t continue in the implementation of curriculum that has been established.

INFORMATION AND REPORTS

Report from the Racial/Cultural Balance Committee.

Ms. Bishop-Pullian said that the report from tonight would be distributed to the schools within the next few months and the Committee would be able to answer any questions that anyone may have.

Mr. Cole, Chairman of the Committee, identified each member of the Committee and said that the Committee was diverse. Mr. Cole said that the Committee was an advocate and not a decision making board but was here tonight to present options to make wise decisions. Mr. Cole said that there should be 45% white and 55% minority in each school. He said that there were nine schools that required intervention. Mr. Cole said that the black population has been consistent and the Hispanic population has grown significantly. Mr. Cole said that a few of the goals of the Committee were to examine the existing school populations and identify where intervention was needed. Mr. Cole said that these options for the elementary schools would be presented to the Board of Education tonight. He said that the high schools were not out of variance too much.

Mr. Cole said that the important dates for racial and cultural balance in Norwalk were 1963 and 1980. He said that in 1963 an awareness of imbalance was recognized therefore some schools were closed. Mr. Cole said that 1980 was the year that the BOE formalized how to achieve racial balance. He said that students were bused out of their area to outside area schools to achieve racial balance. Mr. Cole said that from 1997 to 2004 the racial balance has become an issue once again and needs to be addressed.

Mr. Cole introduced the first presenter, Ms. Griffiths.

Ms. Griffiths said that she would address the existing plan tonight. Ms. Griffiths said that in 1980 Norwalk was notified that they were not in compliance with racial balance. She added that in 1997 four schools were out of compliance and now there are nine schools out of compliance. Ms. Griffiths said that the Board of Education was responsible for follow through and compliance.

Ms. Griffiths said that the core curriculum remains the same for all districts and the components were essential for equal education opportunities. Ms. Griffiths said that another consideration was financial consideration, which included busing, diversity materials and training and social workers at all schools. Ms. Griffiths said that the impact on families that had to be considered were neighborhood schools, parent participation, sense of community, affects of the students and out of district students. She said that the needed timeline for implementation was immediately. Ms. Griffiths said that the current two-year plan requires updating. Ms. Griffiths presented a chart of the kindergarten enrollment for this year. She said that for example the disparity between Jefferson school and Rowayton school shows that in Jefferson there are 21 white student and in Rowayton there are 45 white students. She added that in order to obtain balance students needed to be added and subtracted from the schools based on race.

Ms. Griffiths said that the existing plan continues to be the document that should be monitored closely.

Ms. Griffiths welcomed any questions or comments from the Board or Committee and since there were none she introduced Ms. Pat Lawlor.

Ms. Lawlor presented the magnet school option. She said that the magnet school started in Houston and was successful. Ms. Lawlor said that this allows both parents and students to learn about the styles of each other. She added that it empowers everyone involved. Ms. Lawlor said that some of the magnet themes were academic achievement, arts, instructional styles, technology and science. Ms. Lawlor said that financially this option does cost more and there are transportation costs, with public relation expenses and education to the public on the magnet school. She said that a magnet school assistance program could get up to $4million per year in aid and is highly competitive.

Ms. Lawlor said that the impact on families was that there was parental choice for both low and high-income families. She said that families could have children in different schools but there may be a sense of loss of community because of closure of community schools.

Ms. Lawlor said that for staffing considerations there were contract obligations and recruitment. She said a financial consideration was the professional development and start up costs.

Ms. Lawlor said that the timeline for implementation is either to roll out in six years or one class per grade level per year.

Ms. Lawlor presented a chart on the elementary schools and how to make them racially balanced by adding and subtracting white student or Hispanic students and transferring them to other elementary schools to make the school racially balanced.

Ms. Jenna Chranozwski presented the parental choice plan. She said that some of the choices were based on location, informational brochures, reputation, sibling priority and programs. She added that racial balance of an incoming class could be determined in this manner and that school enrollments would reflect the district racial percentages. Ms. Chranozwski said that the core curriculum would remain the same but that schools may wish to identify strengths.

Ms. Chranozwski said that some of the impact to the families would be transportation costs and sibling priority but could be a benefit to transient families.

Ms. Chranozwski said that the timeline would be prior to the fall of the year. She said that in January and February schools would develop registration procedures and information and brochures. She added that by June the communication of schools and assignments would be discussed.

Ms. Chranozwski said that the financial considerations would be transportation, registration center and staff and the staff of the individual schools.

Ms. Chranozwski said that some of the disadvantages of the parental choice were transportation costs, lack of first choice and the imbalance of the Hispanic population.

DJ Perry presented the Princeton Plan. She gave a brief history of how it was started and why it was called the Princeton Plan.

Ms. Perry said that the center of Norwalk has the most diverse population. She said that they looked at how to bring the diversity to the outer ridge schools. Ms. Perry said that she ran several combinations and pared schools. Ms. Perry said that she paired schools so that the students did not have to travel but stay within districts.

Ms. Perry said that for education soundness the schools would continue implementing present curricula. She said that the magnet schools would be Columbus and Silvermine School. She added that this strengthens professional development. Ms. Perry said that transportation, reducing competitiveness and disrupting the students were some on the impact on the families. She added that this limited parenting involvement. Ms. Perry said that there would be minimal financial costs if any to the BOE.

Ms. Perry said that facilities would have to be reviewed for compatibility and to make sure they were fiscally sound. She added that there may be the possibility of additional workspace in some buildings.

Ms. Perry said that at least one year would be necessary for the implementations.

Mr. Cole said that to achieve racial balance the BOE would have to add or subtract students for each school either by direction or by parent choice. He added that the Committee has diversity and expertise.

Mr. Cole said that the information would be distributed to the schools.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. FULLER MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. ** MS. RIVERA SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Lane Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes