Board of Education Meeting Minutes

February 1, 2005

BOARD OF EDUCATION

FEBRUARY 1, 2005

ATTENDANCE: Rosa Murray, Chairman; Jody Bishop-Pullan, Thomas Vetter; Judy Rivas; Susan Hamilton; Rob Polley, Marina Rivera; Richard Fuller (8:15 pm); Mayor Alex Knopp.

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools; Dr. Karen Lang; Hugh McKiernan

OTHERS: Assistant Principals, Sue-Ellen O’Shay; Maureen Jones; Jason McKinnon; Mary Beth Crupi; Kimberly Beck

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:55 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 stated that February 1st is the beginning of the month where they try to create more awareness and sensitivity to the accomplishments of African Americans in the United States. He indicated that he thought it would be fitting to share some information about the first African American member of the Board of Education, Andrew Wise; he noted that this was suggested by Bruce Mellion and thanked Sheri McCready for her research. He read the information.

With regard to closing the gap, Dr. Corda said that tomorrow he would be attending a conference in Stamford devoted to this issue. When they talk about closing the difference in the scoresgap they are really talking about closing the difference in the scores on the standardized tests because those are the measurements people use when they talk about closing the gap. Instead of thinking about real learning they talk about performance differentials that exist between and within racial and ethnic groups, between children who come from poor families and children who come from wealthier families. When it comes down to it if that is the variable being used, unless there are other things being paid attention to the children coming from poor families will always result in having a gap unless there are things they do. Dr. Corda suggested that the following are things they need to pay attention to in schools; they need to make sure there are high expectations for all of the students, that there is a strong and rigorous curriculum, that they teach until students learn, that each of them are accountable for what they do and for what they don’t do. Students and families need to recognize that students must get to school on time, they must attend classes, work hard, honor the rules that govern appropriate behavior and recognize the fact that school is a family affair. Our community has to nurture partnerships among all of the different agencies that can support young people, that they provide the necessary financial support for the work that has to be done and that they support the work that takes place in the schools. The State and Federal Government must re-think using standardized tests as a sole measure of assessing progress, he stated that he was not against standardized tests or reporting the results of students, he said that he does take issue when determining whether or not a school is failing or not failing if standardized tests are the only measurement being used. The State and Federal Government must recognize while they have an obligation to meet the needs of English language learners and special education students they should assume that it is reasonable to include them in assessing the overall performance of the district because these students have special needs they must be taken into account when one tempts to paint the picture of the school system. The Federal and State Government must recognize that they need to provide the financial support they promised when the enacted legislation for special education for No Child Left Behind and without that support continually referring to tests as a means to assess schools is not a valid determination to make. All of us have to recognize that closing the gap, whether in test scores or in assessing all of the learning that takes place, only if there is consistent, high quality pre-school education that is properly funded and supported. They need to re-think if the school year makes sense if they are serious about every child succeeding. They all need to recognize that they need to have easily accessible family resource centers that enable a community to support children and they need to recognize the fact that this is very hard work. As Superintendent, Dr. Corda stated that he wanted the community to understand that they will pursue those partnerships that will enable them to serve all the children. That they in the school system will continually focus on the improvement of the system and the improvement on all of the children.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Bruce Mellion (NFT) echoed the comments of Dr. Corda regarding Andrew Wise; he noted that he had had the pleasure of working with Mr. Wise who not only was a fine gentleman but he was also a great community leader. Mr. Mellion said he hoped that a plaque could be placed in city hall to remember the accomplishments of Mr. Wise.

Rev. Lindsay Curtis agreed with the comments of Dr. Corda regarding partnerships within the community so that all children can succeed. He said they have to find ways in which they can work together so that the No Child Left Behind can become a reality.

ACTIONS A. CONSENT

Ms. Hamilton requested that the minutes of January 18, 2005 be removed from the consent agenda.

2. Personnel Actions

3. Approve change in per diem rate for long-term substitutes

4. Approve use of Nathan Hale Middle School for ACHIEVE summer program

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

1. Approval of Minutes (January 18, 2005)

** MR. VETTER MOVED APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 18, 2005 AS AMENDED. ** MS. RIVAS SECONDED.

The following correction was made: on page one to correct the name of Carol Seirup.

** MOTION PASSED FIVE VOTES IN FAVOR, TWO ABSTENTIONS (MS. RIVERA, MS. HAMILTON).

INFORMATION AND REPORTS

A. ETHICS DISCLOSURE FORM DISTRIBUTION

Dr. Corda distributed the Ethics Disclosure forms with regard to the substitute teacher contract. He said there had been a question about further action and after some investigation he stated that the opinion of the law department is that none would be required.

Mayor Knopp requested a written copy of the opinion.

Mr. Fuller joined the meeting at 8:15 pm.

B. DISCUSSION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL REPORT CARD BENCHMARKS

Mr. McKiernan said in June 2004 they had adopted the school report card and at the time they had stated that it would be a revolving document to make sure it is an effective tool. It was first used in November 2004 in grades 1-5 and will be introduced to Kindergarten in March 2005. He noted that they had received feedback from the teachers and the main concern was that it needed more concrete benchmarks and assessments. Together with the assistant principals of the elementary schools, Mr. McKiernan said they had discussed the options and come up with the following. He introduced Sue-Ellen O’Shea.

Ms. O’Shea referred to the first grade report card – she showed an example of the report card before meeting with the teachers and then she showed a proposed report card using spelling and writing as an example that clearly outlined the benchmarks.

Mr. McKiernan noted that the emphasis showed how the child consistently demonstrates the skills that become more rigorous as the year progresses. He introduced Maureen Jones.

Ms. Jones spoke about the second grade objective and the connection to the curriculum and CMT objectives. She distributed and went through the second grade report card including the scoring rubric.

Jason McKinnon showed an example of a third grade report card that had been filled out by the student noting that they had also scored themselves. He said they are giving teachers the performance-based assessments that they need.

Kimberly Beck said it was her charge to look at the academic ratings that have been forth and to reduce the level of subjectivity and to increase the level of continuity across the district so they will align with the learning expectations in the Norwalk Public Schools. She referred to the fourth grade report card to show the alignment to the objectives.

Mary Beth Crupi said they have really woven everything together by taking the academic ratings and made benchmark assessments for all language arts objectives; she showed an example. She concluded by saying that she and all of her colleagues have taken the curriculum connection looking at the progress report objectives to establish the academic criteria. She invited board members to ask further questions and to contact them.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan asked if this would be shared with parents.

Mr. McKiernan said they are not at that stage yet. They want to get it into the hands of teachers first and then to do further reviews.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan commented that she thought it would be good for parents to know what the assessments are based on. She asked how would they know if they are successful with the consistency.

Mr. McKiernan said as they have more regular meetings with the teachers that will achieve consistency.

Dr. Lang added that they are developing assessments so that teachers will all be using similar assessments and that will give them a much more consistent benchmark.

Mr. Polley asked if the progress reports would be entered into the student database.

Mr. McKiernan replied that they would under the genesis database noting that they hoped that teachers would be able to fill the report cards out online.

Dr. Corda commended this group for the work that they did; the level of discussion and interaction is outstanding and that they really appreciate it.

Ms. Murray recognized other assistant principals in the audience, Elizabeth McGoey, Herman Davenport and Kathy May.

C. DISCUSSION OF 2005/06 SCHOOL CALENDAR

Dr. Corda indicated that the first draft of the school calendar did not include the second day of Rosh Hashanah as a day that school is closed. There was discussion with the PTO Council to accommodate this and the easiest way to do this is to add one day at the end of the school year. He said if the Board is comfortable with this it will be added to the next agenda for adoption.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan confirmed that this calendar is similar to surrounding districts. She asked if the way the calendar is set up is to have maximum instruction time between the breaks as some of those questions had come up during the PTO Council meeting.

Mr. Fuller agreed with Ms. Bishop-Pullan’s remarks.

D. POLICY 1312 (A) PUBLIC COMPLAINTS

Ms. Rivas noted that some positions were not included as they did not exist before and they have been added.

Ms. Murray said it was in a memo form. Ms. Rivas confirmed this, however it had never been formally added.

E. BOARD MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mr. Fuller stated that February 1st kicks off Black History Month and mentioned there are a lot of community events that will be taking place.

Ms. Murray asked to save the date of February 26, 2005 for the Minority Prospective conference noting that an application form had been included in the packet.

ADJOURNMENT

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

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Kate Kye

Category: Minutes