Board of Education Meeting Minutes

October 6, 2005

BOARD OF EDUCATION

OCTOBER 6, 2005

ATTENDANCE: Rosa Murray, Chairman; Rob Polley; Bruce Kimmel; Thomas Vetter; Jody Bishop-Pullan; Richard Fuller; Judith Rivas.

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools.

OTHERS: Stuart Opdahl; William Birdsall, Gilbane Construction.

I. CALL TO ORDER

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

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Ms. Murray led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. SPOTLIGHT

Mr. Vetter reported on two Brien McMahon High School students, Dipti S. Dedhia and Jenny Hu who have been named commended students for the 2006 National Merit Scholarship program. In late September, more than two-thirds or about 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT receive Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commented Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year. The National Merit Scholarship program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) – a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.3 million entrants each year – and be meeting published program entry/participation requirements.

IV. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Dr. Corda’s report was a continuation of his previous reports in the past three months. He indicated three guiding principles: ensure that students learn; create and sustain a culture of collaboration; and focus on results. His findings were based on an article written by Richard DuFour, “What Is A Professional Learning Community?” which appeared in the Educational Leadership, Vol. 61.

Dr. Corda elaborated his three points. The first point discussed a shift away from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning – what do we want students to learn? A focused curriculum. How will we know when each student has learned it? Focus on meaningful assessment to inform instruction. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning? Focused student support, timely; intervening; directive.

His second point was explained as a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and improve their classroom practice supported and led by administrators. This means more than camaraderie and congeniality; more than consensus about operational procedures; and emphasis on instruction.

The third point was explained as working together to improve student achievement becomes the routine work of everyone involved with the schools. This requires the use of data which is turned into relevant and useful information; requires that subgroup performance is reviewed regularly; and the use of SMART goals is encouraged.

Dr. Corda said that this was the hardest task schools could do and it is the work that schools must do in order to see that students are able to achieve. Mr. Polley said there was a concern among teachers that these points could be used as an evaluation of teachers. Dr. Corda said the goal is to help teachers get better at what they do to help him get better at what he and his administrators do, which in turn will help all students achieve.

V. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Ms. Bishop-Pullan stated that there were no members of the public signed up to speak. She asked if there were any members of the public who hadn’t signed up that would like to address the Board.

Mr. Robert Sodaro of 6 Linden Woods Road addressed the Board. He said he had a child who attended the AITE in Stamford, and his issue concerned the busing situation. He said his child was picked up each day in front of All Saints School on West Rocks Road at 6:15 a.m., then the bus proceeds to pick up other children on the route. When the buses return at the end of the day, the children picked up last were the first ones dropped off. Mr. Sodaro felt that to be on the bus from 6:15 a.m. was too long of a day. He also asked that, since he lived on Linden Woods Road, the bus had to go up Linden Street every day to return the children to All Saints, who then had to walk back down West Rocks and Linden Street to get home. He said the streets have no sidewalks and are unsafe. He wanted the Board to speak to the bus company about having the children dropped off on Linden Street instead of at All Saints School. Mr. Sodaro also pointed out that due to increased enrollment, there was only one bus picking up approximately forty students. He wanted to know if two buses could be used to pick up the children and said that if it was a monetary issue, could the Board please appropriate money in the next year’s budget to accommodate two buses.

VI. ACTIONS

A. Approval of Minutes (September 6, 2005 and September 20, 2005)

Mr. Vetter stated that his name needed to be added to the attendance list for the meeting of September 6, 2005.

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 MEETING AS AMENDED, AND TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 AS WRITTEN. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. Consent ** MR. FULLER MOVED TO APPROVE THE CONSENT ITEMS. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

1. Approval of Personnel Actions

** MR. FULLER MOVED TO APPROVE PERSONNEL ACTIONS. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. Approval of Field Trip(s)

** MR. VETTER MOVED TO APPROVE THE FIELD TRIPS AS A GROUP. ** MS. RIVAS SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Approval of final plans and professional cost estimate for the Roton Middle School Extension and Alteration Project SDE Project No. 103-0232 E/A

** MR. VETTER MOVED TO APPROVE THE FINAL PLANS AND COST ESTIMATE FOR THE ROTON MIDDLE SCHOOL EXTENSION AND ALTERATION PROJECT SDE PROJECT NO. 103-0232 E/A. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

E. Approval of new rates for community use of school facilities

** MR. VETTER MOVED TO APPROVE THE NEW RATES FOR COMMUNITY USE OF SCHOOL FACILITIES. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

F. Approval of NASA Contract

Mr. Kimmel indicated page three of the contract and asked if the employee coverage was comparable to other towns. Dr. Corda said that some towns were higher and some lower, and that Norwalk was comparable. Mr. Kimmel questioned the salary schedule for principals on page twenty-five and asked if the salary increments were steps. Dr. Corda said they were, and indicated that after the last step is reached there is no further increase. Mr. Kimmel said he thought the contract was a good deal for the City.

** MR. FULLER MOVED TO APPROVE THE NASA CONTRACT. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

G. Approval of Executive Support Group Agreement

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE EXECUTIVE SUPPORT GROUP AGREEMENT. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

VIL. INFORMATION & REPORTS

A. Enrollment Update

Mr. Opdahl said they have almost reached their enrollment goal for the year. He indicated that in the K-1-2 grades there were twenty-four students per class, and in the 3-4-5 grades there were twenty-eight students per class. He said that Brookside was the only school requiring an extended 1st Grade class. He said that at Cranbury the 3rd and 4th Grades shared a lab teacher; at Marvin and Jefferson there was lots of available space; Kendall had lots of open space across the board. At Marvin there were problems with special ed students in 3rd and 4th Grades. Naramake was average at the kindergarten level which was being taken care of with additional aides and priority handling. Silvermine had large numbers, partly due to the Mano-a-Mano program. Tracey was one student over in kindergarten. Wolfpit had plenty of space.

Mr. Polley asked if there were systems in place sufficient to manage the process as efficiently as possible or did Mr. Opdahl need the Board’s help to arrange things. Dr. Corda said the things the Board is looking at, they did not finalize the elementary school staffs until August 9th. He said this year they held a central registration instead of through the schools, which was very successful. Kindergarten registration was held in late April. He said notification went out to families regarding out-of-district placement and was subject to revision. Mr. Opdahl said they need to speed up the lottery process for Columbus.

Ms. Murray asked about foreign language courses. Dr. Corda said there was a large Greek community and Greek language courses were popular but questioned if it was still reasonable to offer the course or were there other options they should explore. He said that French was once popular with a large draw, Spanish had a draw. Chinese was proposed. Mr. Fuller said that schools could teach the culture without teaching the language. Dr. Corda suggested following up on ideas for languages.

B. Board Members Announcements

There were no announcements.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT ** MR. VETTER MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. ** MS. RIVAS SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda J. Hayes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes