Board of Education Meeting Minutes

November 20, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Mayor Richard A. Moccia, Chair; Shirley Mosby, Migdalia Rivas, Gregory Burnett, JodyBishop-Pullan, Susan Hamilton, Rosa Murray, Bruce Kimmel, Glenn Iannaccone, Jack Chiaramonte

STAFF: Dr. Karen Lang Assistant superintendent for Curriculum.

OTHER: Ralph Valenzisi, Norwalk Public Schools IT; Bruce Mellion, Norwalk Federation of Teachers, Mary Budrawich, Norwalk Public Schools

I. CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Moccia called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mayor Moccia lead those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. OATH OF OFFICE – NEW BOARD MEMBERS & ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The Mayor then administered the oath of office to the new members of the Board of Education and conducted the following election of officers.

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO NOMINATE MS. HAMILTON AS CHAIR. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

The Mayor then asked if there were any additional nominations.

** MR. CHIARMONTE MOVED TO NOMINATE MR. KIMMEL AS CHAIR. ** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

** MR. BURNETT MOVED TO CLOSE THE NOMINATIONS FOR CHAIR.

** THE MOTION TO NOMINATE MS. HAMILTON PASSED WITH SIX IN FAVOR (MOSBY, BURNETT, BISHOP-PULLAN, HAMILTON AND MURRAY) AND THREE VOTING FOR MR. KIMMEL (KIMMEL, IANNACONE AND CHIARMONTE).

The Mayor then said that he had to leave for another appointment and turned the meeting over to Ms. Hamilton.

The Mayor left the meeting at 7:05 p.m.

Ms. Hamilton asked if there were nominations for Vice Chair.

** MS. MOSBY MOVED TO NOMINATE MS. MURRAY AS VICE CHAIR. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

Ms. Hamilton asked if there were any other nominations. There were none.

** THE NOMINATION FOR MS. MURRAY AS VICE CHAIR PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MS. HAMILTON MOVED TO NOMINATED MR. IANNACCONE AS SECRETARY. ** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN SECONDED.

Ms. Hamilton then asked if there were any additional nominations.

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO NOMINATE MR. CHIARMONTE AS SECRETARY. ** MR. KIMMEL SECONDED.

Ms. Hamilton asked if there were any other nominations.

** THE MOTION TO NOMINATE MR. IANNACCONE PASSED WITH SIX IN FAVOR (MOSBY, BURNETT, BISHOP-PULLAN, HAMILTON AND MURRAY) AND THREE VOTING FOR MR. CHIARMONTE (KIMMEL, IANNACONE AND CHIARMONTE).

IV. BOARD MEMBER EMAILS – TRAINING

Mr. Valenzisi came forward and quickly reviewed the email system and informed the Board members that they would have an email address provided by the Board of Education. He said that he would review the process for changing passwords after the meeting. Mr. Kimmel asked if this was the same system that had been in place in September when a teacher returned to school and discovered 10,000 emails in his box. Mr. Valenzisi replied that it was.

V. SPOTLIGHT ON NORWALK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Mr. Iannaccone presented the report on the public schools.

VI. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Mr. Mellion came forward and distributed copies of Norwalk Federation of Teachers E-mail survey concerning letter to the Editor from Mr. Valenzisi. Mr. Mellion then quickly reviewed the items on the document.

He then encouraged the Board to support the Agenda Item VII. C – approval of a posting for a Social Worker.

VII. ACTIONS

A. Consent

1. Approval of Personnel Actions

** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO HAVE THE ITEMS OFF CONSENT. ** MS. BISHOP PULLAN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE THE PERSONNEL ACTIONS. ** MS. BISHOP PULLAN SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. Approval of field trip(s)

1. Brien McMahon High School to Virginia Beach, VA

** MS. BISHOP-PULLAN MOVED TO APPROVE THEBRIEN MCMAHON HIGH SCHOOL FIELD TRIP TO VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. ** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

2. Norwalk High to Dayton, Ohio

** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED TO APPROVE THE NORWALK HIGH FIELD TRIP TO DAYTON, OHIO ** MR. BURNETT SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

3. Brien McMahon to Monmouth Junction, NJ

** MS. MOSBY MOVED TO APPROVE THE BRIEN MCMAHON FIELD TRIP TO MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ ** MS. MURRAY SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. Approve posting for Social Worker

** MS. RIVAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE POSTION FOR A SOCIAL WORKER. ** MS. BISHOP PULLAN SECONDED.

Mr. Kimmel said that he did not believe that anything had changed regarding the need for the social worker. Mr. Chiarmonte asked for a quick review of the position, which Dr. Lang provided. Ms. Bishop Pullan commented that parents have mentioned the need for more social work time.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

D. Approval to seek School Readiness funding to support preschool education services in the public school for three- and four-year-olds in Norwalk

** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE SEEKING SCHOOL READINESS FUNDING TO SUPPORT PRESCHOOL EDUCATION SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR THREE- AND FOUR-YEAR-OLDS IN NORWALK. ** MR. BURNETT SECONDED.

Dr. Lang said that there had been a few recent developments. In the identifying the budgets, there may need to be a closer look at the facilities and the RFP needs to be very specific. Mr. Opdahl has been visiting schools and there may be some space problems next year. Dr. Lang said that she fully supported this item, but would like to suggest that the item be tabled until December 18th. By then, there may be more information available to allow the Board to make a more informed decision.

Mr. Kimmel said that he would like to verify the number of students. Ms. Budrawich confirmed the numbers. Mr. Kimmel said that he would be willing to support a new line item in the budget to support this to the fullest extent possible.

Ms. Bishop Pullan asked Ms. Budrawich to come forward. She then asked if this would be necessary for the RFP. Ms. Budrawich said that she needs a very specific resolution with the exact location and the precise number of children for the RFP. Ms. Bishop Pullan asked what the time frame was. Ms. Budrawich said that she felt confident that if a detailed resolution was presented on the 18th, then a vote could be done in January and would allow sufficient time for the RFP to be filed by March.

Mr. Kimmel asked if there would be a request for less than 48 slots. Ms. Budrawich said that there were questions that still needed to be answered. He then asked if it was possible to be presented with more than one scenario. He also asked what it would mean in terms of the operating budget. Ms. Budrawich said that multiple options could be done, however when the grant was written it would not allow multiple options.

Mr. Burnett said that without seeing several different items in the operating budget, it would be difficult to make an informed decision. He said that he supported it, but until all the other initiatives were presented, it would not be clear. He then said that he would prefer a specific scenario.

Mr. Kimmel replied that he did not believe that this was of equal important with other initiatives. He said that he did not believe this was a debatable issue. He said that he wished to find out how much this would cost if there were multiple scenarios. This could make in roads on student achievements. He repeated that he did not see treating this as equal importance with the other initiatives.

Ms. Rivas said that when the data was presented, there was no doubt that this would narrow the achievement gap. This will allow all the children coming into the system to start on same page. Ms. Budrawich said that she wants to make sure that the program that is proposed will be successful. It was never the intent to tap into the Operating Budget. The money was coming from the School Readiness Grant funds and from parent fees. She said that the goal is to establish a self-supporting program if possible.

Ms. Bishop-Pullan had several questions about the amount of funding, which Ms. Budrawich reviewed with her. Ms. Budrawich said that she was not anticipating an array of various options, but simply two or three scenarios. If there is only one viable option, Ms. Budrawich said that this would what would be presented.

** MR. BURNETT MOVED TO TALBE THE APPROVAL TO SEEK SCHOOL READINESS FUNDING TO SUPPORT PRESCHOOL EDUCATION SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR THREE- AND FOUR-YEAR-OLDS IN NORWALK UNTIL THE DECEMBER 18, 2007 MEETING. ** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED.

Ms. Murray asked if the item would be brought back under Information/Reports. Ms. Budrawich said that it would appear under Information/Reports.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

VII. INFORMATION AND REPORTS

Ms. Murray was asked to organize the committees and the assignments will be handed out before the next meeting. Mr. Iannaccone asked what the size of the committee was. The numbers were reviewed with him.

A. Board members’ announcements

Mr. Chiarmonte pointed out that the next meeting would be the first night of Chanukah. There was a brief discussion about this. Ms. Bishop Pullan pointed out that by changing the time, this would be a special meeting. There was some further discussion on the details of this. The Board decided to leave the meeting as scheduled.

Mr. Iannaccone read an article about NCLB where certain cities are using new software to analyze the data. Mr. Iannaccone said that he had made copies for everyone of this article “Testing Past the Test”, which he then distributed.

Mr. Kimmel said that this was a growth model. He said that in New York this has been used successfully measuring the amount of accomplishment that the students had made.

Mr. Burnett said that he wished to acknowledge the recent presentation at the CT Associations Board Annual meeting. The Norwalk ACTS and the collaboration between several agencies with the focus on the students insure that the students have the best possible education possible. Ms. Murray moderated; Dr. Corda, Mayor Moccia, Ms. Bain and a number of others were there.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT

** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MR. IANNACCONE SECONDED. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.

Future Meetings: December 4, 2007 December 18, 2007

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services

Category: Minutes