Board of Education Meeting Minutes

December 21, 2004

BOARD OF EDUCATION

DECEMBER 21, 2004

ATTENDANCE: Jody Bishop-Pullan, Chairman; Rosa Murray; Thomas Vetter; David Cole; Rob Polley; Richard Fuller; Judy Rivas; Susan Hamilton; Mayor Alex Knopp

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools; Stuart Opdahl; Craig Reichenbach

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Bishop-Pullan called the meeting to order at 8:00 pm.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

SPOTLIGHT

Mr. Vetter read the written report, Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Dr. Corda said that he was delighted to be able to announce that he had received information that all four comprehensive schools reform grants have been funded. He read the letter received detailing the quality of the staff of the schools, Fox Run, Ponus Ridge, Tracey and Briggs. This translates into $65,000 a year for each school for the next three years. Dr. Corda explained that the CRS Grant is designed to improve not only the outcome as far as student work is concerned but also the work that takes place in the school and requires that every staff member sign off and support the proposal.

Secondly, reporting on an activity he (and other participants) were involved in today at the Tracey School. Dr. Corda said they were involved in work that replicated a model that he had been involved with for the past three years where an instructional issue is identified, in this case by the teaching staff, and as result of process of observation information is provided to teachers about what the observers saw. They visited three classes in teams of four and they focused on the issue of academic rigor that manifests itself in the readers’ workshop model. The process, after the visitation occurs is one where the team de-briefs to identify themes that they would share with the teachers about different aspects of their observations. The teachers were asking for feedback on looking at the work they (the teachers) are doing is there evidence of academic rigor. Dr. Corda said they then met with the teachers directly to share their observations as colleagues so they could use the information in being reflective about their practice and how it might inform their instructional practice. Dr. Corda said the day was invigorating and represents a collaboration that existed between the teachers union and administration on focusing on issues that are related to the improvement of instruction.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Bruce Mellion (NFT) agreed with the previous comments of Dr. Corda regarding their day at the Tracey School noting that he had spent four hours before hand to become acclimated to the process to do it effectively and how to be involved in this very colorful experience; he added that it was a tremendous day. With regard to the 2005/06 budget said that the NFT would like Dr. Corda to strongly consider the following 1) the addition of one technician to support the information technology program in the 05/06 proposed capital budget; 2) to consider restoration of the instructional aid time in the elementary schools and also for the utility aids; 3) the addition of one secretarial position in each high school to support the instructional program.

ACTIONS

A. CONSENT

1. Approval of Minutes (December 8, 2004)

2. Personnel Actions

3. Approval of Field Trip(s)

** MS. MURRAY MOVED APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED. ** MR. VETTER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. APPROVE GRANT AWARD ($40,782) FROM STATE OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

** MS. RIVAS MOVED: RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AUTHORIZE THE SUPERINTENDENT TO SIGN A GRANT AWARD IN THE AMOUNT OF $40,782 FROM THE STATE OFFICE OF POLICY AND MANAGEMENT RELEVANT TO BURNER CONTROLS ON THE NEW BOILER INSTALLATION AT THE PONUS RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL.

** MR. FULLER SECONDED.

Mayor Knopp congratulated Mr. Opdahl for initiating this grant request. The City and Board of Education have both been trying very hard to find ways to accomplish more energy efficient savings and this is another good part of it.

Mr. Polley echoed the comments of the Mayor and asked if they were looking at this as a model to apply to other schools.

Mr. Opdahl replied that they have been working with Gilbane on the specifications for all of the schools. He added that this is a highly efficient system and will hopefully be used as a model for other schools.

Mr. Vetter asked with the price of oil going up, when doing renovations on the school buildings had thought been given to other energy saving alternatives.

Mr. Opdahl said they had spent hours going over the educational specifications on all elements going into the building including lighting, boilers, ventilation systems and heaters etc. Everything is being looked at.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan commented that there are people on the Ed Spec committee with expertise in those areas.

Mr. Opdahl agreed that they did but most of this is being worked out with Gilbane.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. APPROVE SUPERINTENDENT’S 2005-06 OPERATING BUDGET

** MR. VETTER MOVED TO APPROVE THE SUPERINTENDENT’S OPERATING BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF $134,097,768. ** MS. MURRAY SECONDED.

Mr. Vetter referred to the memorandum about the workers’ comp and asked if there was any resolution.

Dr. Corda replied that received a memo from Thomas Hamilton (Director of Finance) dated December 17, 2004 that indicated that he had some concerns about the fact that they did not budget any appropriation for workers’ compensation. He said their basis for not budgeting anything was based on the amount that is in the reserve fund in workers’ compensation and the demands that have been made on that fund over the past three or four years have lead them to believe that the fund had more than sufficient resources to handle any demands that would be placed on it. Mr. Hamilton indicated that he believed that it is necessary to allow the funds to grow to the point of covering ultimate incurred losses. Dr. Corda reported that Mr. Opdahl had met with Mr. Hamilton today and said that they have some questions about some of the numbers, the thinking behind it and whether or not it makes sense to them. If what Mr. Hamilton is saying is accurate then it would necessitate allocating $634,000 for workers’ compensation and would suggest that they would have to explore alternatives to providing workers’ compensation.

Dr. Corda stated that they are not recommending an increase to the recommended appropriation; the timing makes it difficult but the issue is there and they will do what they can to develop some understanding of the implications involved.

Mr. Fuller asked what the worse case scenario would be.

Dr. Corda responded by saying that cannot go back and add $634,000 once the budget has been adopted but it would be important for them that they would share this information with the Board of Estimate and Taxation and ask that it be taken into account as the appropriation is considered for the Board of Education. He said they would take it one step at a time and their goal is to examine the figures and the rationale to make a determination about a recommendation or a requirement and other alternatives.

Mr. Vetter said if they don’t put add this money it would put them in an area of having to cut it from somewhere else. He suggested that the prudent thing to do to put the money into the budget as they can always remove or reduce it.

Dr. Corda commented that that would be the wiser course of action. He said this was unfortunate in terms of the perception that has been created to present the budget to stay within certain parameters are now in jeopardy.

Mr. Vetter asked what the time frame was for this.

Mr. Opdahl said the deadline is the first week in January but he added that it would not take long to make a determination about this.

Mr. Fuller agreed with Mr. Vetter’s suggestion to put the money into the budget now.

Mayor Knopp said in order to try to get things off on a better foot than last year the City came out with some recommended guidelines and he appreciated the more realistic budget that had been recommended. The Board of Estimate does not have line item control over the Board of Education’s budget and therefore any particular line item it down to this Board. He said the Board of Estimate and Taxation is going to be sticking quite closely to the guidelines they submitted and therefore tonight when money is added they would have to ultimately deal with the fact that the Superintendent’s budget exceeds the guidelines, although not as severely as has happened in the past. To be clear, Mayor Knopp stated that the recommendation from the Finance Director came as soon as they had a copy of the Superintendent’s budget and they had no ability to be able to submit the memorandum any earlier; they had no prior consultation from Central Office about the budget so it was not really an eleventh hour intervention by Mr. Hamilton.

Mayor Knopp indicated that Mr. Hamilton had reported that the meeting today had been constructive and many issues were discussed with many on-going issues. Again, since the City has no line item control over this budget in the end it is the decision of the Board of Education on how to allocate the dollars that are provided.

Dr. Corda appreciated the comments of the Mayor regarding Mr. Hamilton’s timing but at the same time noted at the end of June when they had discussed the status of reserves they had talked about the possibility of shifting some of those dollars from the workers’ comp account to the health insurance reserve and there was no mention at that time until now that the Board of Education need to maintain a certain balance in the workers’ comp account. He said had this entered into conversation at any point they would have started to think in terms of budget preparation or given time to explore the issue in more depth.

Mayor Knopp said that he what he knew for sure was that this information had come from Mr. Hamilton and he was very surprised about it and his memo reflects his generally accepted accounting approach to the issue as opposed to disputing certain facts.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan confirmed that the end result would mean more discussion and research about how this can be handled.

** MR. VETTER MOVED TO AMEND THE MOTION BY INCREASING THE BUDGET BY $633,940 FOR THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION AND LIABILITY ACCOUNT. ** MR. COLE SECONDED.

Mr. Vetter said that he did not want to increase the budget more than he had to but said it was only fair at this point given the information they have. It also gives the Board of Estimate and Taxation the opportunity to see the full picture of what they are looking at.

Mr. Fuller agreed that if the account is left at zero even though they have ways to justify it. He said it was more responsible to put this in the budget as they can always take it out.

Mr. Cole said it was the only prudent thing to do at this point given the information they have.

Mr. Polley said in the interest of clear communication with the Board of Estimate and Taxation they want this number to be identified for that purpose even though the line item is their decision.

Ms. Rivas agreed with what has been said.

Ms. Hamilton noted that it is better to be up front with this.

** AMENDMENT PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that they receive money for enrollment; she asked if they still get that, as the class sizes are now lower in the elementary schools.

Mr. Opdahl said the deductions have been taken into account in the budget.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if this was only for elementary schools.

Mr. Opdahl replied that three elementary schools are eligible, not at the high school level.

Mr. Fuller asked if they were still getting the number of students for free and reduced lunches.

Mr. Opdahl stated that they have tried to make major modifications this year by adding a family option so everyone in the family can participate; he said hopefully this will get the numbers up.

Dr. Corda referred to questions asked of him earlier and elaborated by informing the Board that what they are trying to do is to use a more effective scheduling module; this has not been used before and will result in a more efficient schedule and with that it would increase the capacity for more electives to be offered. It is a segment that has not been used in the past and in addition, if necessary; there is some expertise they could bring to the district to work with the principals.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if this would include the creation of any new courses.

Dr. Corda said he could not be certain about new courses, but there may be more sections of courses that are presently offered. The way that they have structured staffing at the high school is to give the principals more flexibility in being able to engage staff. That would be accomplished by thinking about how they would deploy the opportunity for academic support classes.

Mr. Reichenbach said what they are also going to do next year is to add alternates to the schedule and by doing this would allow for better level of loading in the classes and it will help to free up the schedule.

Mr. Fuller asked how this would affect the No Child Left Behind requiring teachers to be certified in the subject areas that they are going to teach.

Dr. Corda replied that if it is an elective within the content area, it would not be a certification issue.

Mr. Polley asked Dr. Corda to address the issue of students who do not live in Norwalk.

Dr. Corda responded by saying that if information is provided to them that a youngster is not living in Norwalk there are a variety of means to establish residency. If they find that even with the information that is provided by parents it still raises questions, they would use a private detective to do the necessary surveillance.

Mayor Knopp noted his appreciation of the efforts made to create a more realistic budget but the guidelines adopted by the Board of Estimate are valid and therefore they will be looking for ways to come within those guidelines. The fact that this Board has added $634,000 to the budget will make that task more difficult. He said at that level of increase even with a no-growth city budget it would produce the biggest tax increase in Norwalk in the last twenty years and from the City’s point of view is not sustainable and they will be looking for suggestions about how to deal with that issue. Those guidelines are meaningful and realistic and suggested that perhaps in the future they could figure out some prior consultation before the Superintendent’s budget is released.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan referred to the time frame of the budget.

Mayor Knopp said if the charter revision is approved it would allow more time.

There was brief discussion of the high-end figure suggested by Mr. Hamilton and the number including debt service.

Mayor Knopp explained that the debt service is going up so significantly in the coming years because of the facilities improvement plan that it is going to push out every other spending item in the city.

** MOTION AS AMENDED TO APPROVE THE SUPERINTENDENT’S OPERATING BUDGET IN THE AMOUNT OF $134,731,708 PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. APPROVE BOARD MEMBER APPOINTMENTS TO AD HOC BUILDING COMMITTEES AT KENDALL, TRACEY, COLUMBUS, NORWALK HIGH AND ROTON.

** MR. POLLEY MOVED: RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVE THE APPOINTMENTS OF SUSAN HAMILTON TO THE KENDALL BUILDING COMMITTEE; ROB POLLEY TO THE TRACEY BUILDING COMMITTEE; JUDY RIVAS TO THE COLUMBUS BUILDING COMMITTEE; TOM VETTER TO THE NORWALK HIGH BUILDING COMMITTEE; AND RICK FULLER TO THE ROTON BUILDING COMMITTEE. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED.

Mayor Knopp indicated said they should be doing away with the term Ad Hoc. He said the other part of this that they would need action on is that under the Ordinance the Superintendent recommends to the Mayor members of the PTO and staff to serve on these.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan confirmed that the names would be forwarded to the Mayor.

Mr. Polley said by deleting the name Ad Hoc would all the construction projects be professionally managed.

The Mayor replied that essentially yes, in that it would reduce the confusion about the role of those advisory committees.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MR. COLE MOVED APPROVAL TO ADD AN ITEM TO THE AGENDA – AN APPOINTMENT TO THE ED SPEC COMMITTEE. ** MS. MURRAY SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MR. COLE MOVED TO APPOINT STEVE RUDOLPH TO THE ED SPEC COMMITTEE. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Cole said in January he would have another name to add to the Committee.

Mr. Vetter said he knows Mr. Rudolph noting he would make a wonderful addition.

Mr. Cole noted that members do not lobby for individual schools; they can bring information about certain schools; they are focused on all of the schools.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

INFORMATION AND REPORTS

A. CAPITAL BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS

By way of a preface, Dr. Corda informed the Board that Mr. Hamilton had advised him that the amount of money that would be available for the capital budget would be $875,000 and in as much as there is a technical reserve fund, if they have any appropriation left over for technology that would be the recommendation this year.

Mr. Cole left the meeting at 9:05 pm.

Mr. Reichenbach distributed copies of the Proposed Capital Expenditure and discussed the figures.

Dr. Corda clarified that regarding computers at the elementary schools, they are going to go into all of the elementary schools in grades four and five; not just the pilot schools.

Mr. Reichenbach responded by saying that even though those classrooms do have computers in them now, they will be moved down to the lower grades.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan noted that she received complaints about not having enough computers especially at Norwalk High School.

Mr. Reichenbach said that there was no money in the last budget for computers, so this year they decided to take the older units, they can be striped and rebuilt which will be better units and this should be more than enough.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if the schools know about the changes.

Mr. Reichenbach replied that they do not know the exact positions of the computers yet but when they get a request from a particular school or department they figure it out from there.

Mr. Reichenbach explained the Genesis system.

Mayor Knopp asked if was possible to have some field in the software that would account regarding pre-school experience.

Mr. Reichenbach explained that they plan to develop a screen of data so that it can capture all pre-school information; with this software it is very simple to add in information.

Mr. Polley referred to the new trends in computers as an educational tool especially regarding lap tops on carts and although they are more expensive they would have more use.

Mr. Reichenbach said what they are thinking about is utilizing classrooms seven periods of the day and the problem is that one computer would have to be left in that classroom so that teachers could get on.

Mayor Knopp asked where the cost was of purchasing the Genesis software.

Mr. Reichenbach replied that it was in the operating budget and it is in the region of $30,000.

Dr. Corda noted that would be presented in the form of a resolution during the first meeting in January.

INFORMATION AND REPORTS

Mr. Vetter encouraged everyone to go to the last night of the Candlelight at Norwalk High School.

Ms. Murray noted that the date of January 17, 2005 for Dr. Martin Luther King Day at West Rocks – 10:00am – 3:30pm.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. POLLEY MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MR. VETTER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Kate Kye

Category: Minutes