Board of Education Meeting Minutes

March 7, 2006

ATTENDANCE: Thomas Vetter, Chairman; Richard Fuller; Susan Hamilton; Rob Polley; Greg Burnett; Bruce Kimmel; Jody Bishop-Pullan; Mayor Richard A. Moccia.

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools.

OTHERS: Rose Emro; Dr. Angela Vicenzi, RN, EdD, Team Leader of State Department of Education Grant.

I. CALL TO ORDER

Mr. Vetter called the meeting to order at 7:50 p.m.

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mr. Vetter led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. SPOTLIGHT

Mr. Polley read the Spotlight into the record.

IV. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

Dr. Corda reported that the bids for the Roton Middle School project came in much higher than expected, and as a result of this, the Facilities Commission voted to rebid the work in the fall. He said this makes sense because with the bids the way they are, the scope of the work would have to be cut back.

This summer the work will be completed on the heating systems at West Rocks and Nathan Hale Middle School and the bids will be going out shortly. The portables will be eliminated at Tracey and Kendall Schools but they will be placed at Jefferson School, which will make eight portables there. The reason the portables will move to Jefferson is to give the school four additional classrooms in order to get some of the programs currently held on a cart, such as music, into rooms that are more suitable for educational purposes. In addition, there will be one more section at Jefferson. Beyond that, they would like to create a computer lab there, which Jefferson doesn’t have now, as well as a science lab, which will serve the purpose of the magnet school. This will make a total of eight additional rooms to be used if the enrollment is significant in terms of students outside the Jefferson area. Dr. Corda said that the cost implications of this is a wash because of what had been budgeted for at Tracey and Kendall; the need for the portables at Jefferson will enable them to divert the funds and move the portables.

Dr. Corda said there are four buildings that will not be available for summer programs this year, including Kendall, Tracey, Columbus and Norwalk High School. Also, Brien McMahon will be finishing up the project there. Dr. Corda said this is all being factored into the location of summer playgrounds, and he wanted the Board to be aware of the situation.

Dr. Corda requested that a Board member make a motion to table the calendar, which was sent out with a revision. There was a request received from the NFT to couple the professional development day and the night conferences that take place in March. Dr. Corda said this makes sense and will be relatively easy to do; however, in addition to that, the parent conferences and the CMTs are all happening in March. Dr. Corda said they don’t know if they can unclutter the calendar but would like a week or two to study it and see if things can be adjusted if possible. The biggest difficulty is that the CMT dates are established by the State and the parent conferences are tied in with the marking period, and they are unsure if anything can be done about it.

Dr. Corda stated that the school year will be extended by three additional days due to snow days, and at Brien McMahon, there will be a fourth day, in order for them to meet the State requirements. This pushes the school year towards the latter part of June and raises some concerns on the part of parents regarding summer camps and job requirements. Dr. Corda said he would like to convene a small group of parents, teachers and administrators, and if the Board so decides, perhaps a Board member, to take a look at the problem, not for the 2006-07 year, but for the 2007-08 school year to see if there might be a way to construct the calendar that would put less pressure on the end of the year. Dr. Corda said some districts have eliminated the February vacation and the school recess and have constructed a week in March and made Easter a long weekend. He was not suggesting that Norwalk do this, but said there may be different ways of looking at the calendar, or suggestions people might have that might take some of the pressure off and relieve some of the anxiety about the end of the school year. This was a relatively mild winter and yet they ended up using three days. He feels this is worth exploring.

Dr. Corda said they have been focusing on issues related to closing the achievement gap. Part of understanding issues related to the achievement gap is spending time and energy in trying to learn as much as they can about issues relating to student achievement across the board. Dr. Corda said he was delighted to tell the Board that on Monday, April 3rd at 7:30 p.m. at Norwalk High School, in the auditorium, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, a well-respected author and expert in urban education will be spending the day at Norwalk High School, meeting with administrators prior to the 7:30 presentation, but will be addressing the community. He urges members of the community to attend as Dr. Kunjufu is well worth listening to.

Dr. Corda also wanted to call attention to the date of March 29th, which is the public hearing on the budget, which will be held before the Board of Estimate in the Norwalk Concert Hall at City Hall.

Mr. Kimmel questioned Dr. Corda about why they want to wait so long to rebid the project, and said that usually when this is done, bids come in higher, not lower. Dr. Corda said they believe the difference is that the summer is when everyone wants to get their work done, and the contractor is somewhat limited because of commitments that are being made in various places across the state; therefore, contractors will many times submit higher bids in order to get more money to make it worth their while, whereas in the fall the work availability is less and there is more competition for projects. Dr. Corda said they hope this will result in generating bids that are more in line with what the architects have estimated. Mr. Kimmel asked if bids went out at all. Dr. Corda said the bids went out with an anticipation of summer work. Mayor Moccia said they didn’t receive a bid at all on the mechanicals.

V. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Ms. Rosemarie Emro addressed the Board on the importance of allowing anaphylaxis on school trips in case of severe allergic reaction by students or staff. She distributed a report to the Board, which discussed Public Act 05-104, An Act concerning Food Allergies and the prevention of Life Threatening Incidents at Schools. Ms. Emro worked with Rhonda Riggott-Stevens to get the bill signed by Governor Rell in June 2005. Ms. Emro suggested school staff should be trained to handle severe allergic reactions including the use of a double Epi-Pen from the janitors on up. She stated that before assisting in writing the new policies for the Norwalk Public Schools, she would like to go through the existing policies already in place. Ms. Emro suggested an allergist be on this committee as well.

Mayor Moccia commented with regard to the importance of knowing how to react when faced with a severe allergic reaction and stated that he supported Ms. Emro’s efforts in educating staff and students about peanut and tree nut allergies.

Dr. Angela Vicenzi, RN, EdD, Team Leader of State Department of Education Grant, distributed a letter to the Board regarding the Wellness Summit – Policymaking in Action grant, which she read into the record. In it, she stated that Norwalk Public Schools are ahead of the curve on many health-promoting policies, specifically the ban on vending soda in the schools. She indicated she has a tape of the Summit. Dr. Vicenzi asked that as they finalize the operating budget, the Board keep in mind the nurses’ identified needs in order to give the best care to Norwalk’s students.

VI. ACTIONS

** MR. FULLER MOTIONED TO INSERT ADDENDUM 373 TO THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS FOR MARCH 7, 2006. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

A. Consent

1. Approval of personnel actions

** MR. POLLEY MOVED TO APPROVE THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS AS AMENDED. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

2. Approval of budget transfers

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOTIONED TO APPROVE BUDGET TRANSFERS. ** MR. POLLEY SECONDED.

Mr. Polley questioned the transfer of $4,000 to purchase instructional equipment including a smart board. He asked if the smart board would include a projector or was just the smart board alone, because it seemed very expensive to him. Dr. Corda said he did not have an answer to that question.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. Approval of Minutes (February 7, 2006)

Mr. Burnett suggested the Board insert the time that the meeting adjourned after executive session, on Page 10 of the February minutes, as it was not stated in the minutes. There was some confusion as to when the meeting actually ended and very brief discussion followed. Dr. Corda said if it turns out that there is a significant difference between what they add now and what time the meeting actually ended, they can correct it at the next meeting.

Corrections to the minutes of February 7, 2006 are as follows:

Page 10, Adjournment, change to read, “The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 p.m.”

** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 7, 2006 AS AMENDED. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** MOTION APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY

C. Approve Renaming of Central Kitchen

** MR. FULLER MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE RENAMING OF CENTRAL KITCHEN FOR MR. FRANK HARRIS. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Approve revised calendar for 2006-2007 school year

** MR. FULLER MOTIONED TO TABLE DISCUSSION OF THIS ITEM UNTIL THE NEXT BOARD MEETING ON MARCH 21, 2006. ** MS. HAMILTON SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

E. Approval of field trip(s)

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE. ** MR. FULLER SECONDED.

Mr. Burnett pointed out that the field trip was scheduled to take place on March 19th and the Board was only receiving the notice tonight and noted the information hadn’t been received by the administration until March 1st. Dr. Corda concurred. Mr. Burnett suggested that, in the future, field trips be presented with enough lead-time to enable the schools to inform the Board of the process. Dr. Corda explained that this trip was a sort of special circumstance as originally the students had agreed not to take the trip at first, and then changed their minds at the last minute. He assured the Board that future trips would be planned with time for the Board to review them.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

VII. INFORMATION & REPORTS

A. Center for Global Studies – Awarding of dual diplomas

Dr. Corda said that the basis for this recommendation was because in the past, students from other districts had the choice of participating in athletic and extra-curricular activities from either McMahon or their own schools. The CIAC has now ruled that students may only participate in athletics in the district from which they receive their diploma. This ruling has made it very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, for students to participate because of the distance and the starting time of practices and games. Also, it is reported that many prospective CGS students have opted not to attend because they will lose this part of their high school experience.

Dr. Corda stated that having both school districts award a diploma can solve the problem. Students will have to meet the graduation requirements of both schools, and he recommends that the Board approve the awarding of a BMHS diploma to their CGS students from other districts that meet the requirements.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan said that this is a good idea because it will attract more students from other districts to come to the CGS. She said that if students can’t participate, it interferes with their ability to feel a part of the school. She thinks the Board owes it to the program to do what they can to be sure students will want to come to the district and to the CGS.

Mr. Fuller said being able to participate in athletics or other activities is a critical part of a student’s all-around experience and feels that this is an important recommendation.

Mr. Kimmel said up to now he had been unaware of the problem, and agreed with the other Board members to support Dr. Corda’s recommendation.

B. Board Members Announcements

Dr. Corda announced that he and Mayor Moccia had attended the “Courage to Speak” public meeting at West Rocks Middle School earlier in the week, and said he has noted that Mayor Moccia attends almost every meeting he is invited to. He said he was consistently amazed at the consistency of the Mayor’s attendance,

Mr. Fuller thanked Mayor Moccia for attending the Carver Black History Month program.

VIII. DISCUSSION – PERSONNEL MATTER

Mr. Vetter announced that the Board will recess from the regular meeting and go into Executive Session.

** MR. BURNETT MOTIONED TO CLOSE THE REGULAR MEETING AND GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION. ** MR. POLLEY SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The regular meeting was closed at 8:28 p.m.

IX. ADJOURNMENT

** MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. ** SECONDED. ** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda J. Hayes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes