Board of Education Meeting Minutes

December 18, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Susan Hamilton, Chair; Gregory Burnett, Jody Bishop-Pullan, Bruce Kimmel, Glenn Iannaccone, Rosa Murray (6:52 p.m.)Shirley Mosby, (6:54 p.m.), Jack Chiaramonte (7:00 p.m.)

STAFF: Dr. Salvatore Corda, Superintendent of Schools

OTHERS: Donna Riddell, NFEP; Dr. Angela Vicenzi, R.N.; Ms. Tami Green, R.N.; Sharon Cadden, NHS parent; Mark Robinson; Bruce Mellion, NFT President; David Davidoff

CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Hamilton called the meeting to order at 6:51 p.m.

PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE

Ms. Hamilton led the group in reciting the pledge

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Ms. Donna Riddel came forward to address the Board about the Norwalk Federation of Educational Personnel. She said that many of her comments were the same comments that were made in December 2005 and 2006. There has been no forward progress on professional workshops. Workshops during the day have not been provided as requested. She asked why the NFEP had to beg for professional training.

Ms. Murray joined the meeting at 6:52 p.m.

Ms. Riddel said that the NFEP is the second largest bargaining unit in the school system.

Ms. Mosby joined the meeting at 6:54 p.m.

Ms. Riddel then reviewed the various services that the NFEP members provide and asked why they were not being provided with the training opportunities.

Dr. Angela Vicenzi came forward with Ms. Green, R.N. to speak about the impact of increasing nurses salaries and how it will affect the school system. Dr. Vicenzi then distributed copies of a document to the Board members and proceeded to review the document with them.

Dr. Vincenzi pointed out that the school nurses’ salaries have not kept pace with the nurses that work in hospital. A number of the students in the system now have chronic illnesses, such as epilepsy, diabetes and many other challenging conditions.

Mr. Chiaramonte joined the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Dr. Vincenzi said that this was the time for the Board to recognize the school nurses for the highly trained professionals that they are. It is important to keep the school nurses competitive. She then thanked the Board for their attention to this matter.

Ms. Sharon Cadden then came forward and said that she lived at 26 Saxon Road. Ms. Cadden said that she was the parent of a Norwalk High School student. She then asked if it would be possible to post the budget online at the Norwalk Board of Education website to allow those parents who work at night or have no child care arrangement to have access. She also asked that the A. P. courses be retained.

Mr. Mark Robinson of Nob Hill Road came forward and said that he was here to speak about performance, transparency and accountability for the elementary schools. Mr. Robinson then gave the figures for the 3rd grade students who had tested at the Advanced level and pointed out that the number of students who performed well at the third grade had dropped significantly by fourth grade. Mr. Robinson then reviewed the grade levels for reading and how the numbers drop for high performing students and how the number of students reading below grade level increased.

Mr. Bruce Mellion, the NFT President then came forward and distributed a copy of the NFT Operating Budget Final Survey Results. Mr. Mellion said that there have been two Finance Committee meetings since the Board last met.

Mr. Mellion then pointed out that the request for better technology prevailed. Mr. Mellion then complimented Mr. Burnett and the Finance Committee for the six hours that were spent on the Budget. Mr. Mellion said that the City was working on a wellness program for the city employees. Mr. Mellion said that this would make a difference in costs. Mr. Mellion said that there was a need for Special Services to have support because they waste professional time by having to do the billing by hand rather than on computer.

Mr. David Davidoff then came forward and said that he would like to speak about the difficulty that developed between the BET, the Board of Education and the Common Council. Mr. Davidoff said that the city was interested in having a tight budget without contingency accounts. He then urged the board to take the opportunity to take a different approach.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. BURNETT MOVED TO ADJOURN ** MR. CHIARIMONTE SECONDED ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Service

Category: Minutes