In one of his final memos as Superintendent, Sal Corda announced assignments for elementary school Assistant Principals for the 2009-2010 school year achieving job cuts demanded by the BOE through attrition rather than firings.
Nevertheless four schools which previously had fulltime Assistant Principals will now have part timers.
Herman Davenport who has been the Assistant Principal for Columbus Magnet School will now be the Assistant Principal for Marvin Elementary. Alene LaMendola the Assistant Principal at Tracey Elementary will assume his position making her divide her time between the two schools. Chris Weiss the Assistant Principal at Wolfpit Elementary will also add Naramake to his duties.
“Marvin School, which needs a full time assistant principal given its size currently has a vacancy,” wrote Dr. Corda explaining is decision. “Marvin will benefit from Mr.. Davenport’s particular skills in working with staff and parents.”
He said that Ms. LaMendola a former literacy specialist makes her the logical choice to share the assistant principalship of Tracey and Columbus as they continue to emphasize student literacy.
The physical proximity of Wolfpit and Naramake made Mr. Weiss the logical choice for combining those two positions, said Dr Corda.
Dr. Corda wrote that he made the staffing decisions in consultation with Assistant Superintendent, Tony Daddona, and Interim Director of Elementary Education, Marilyn Liberatore. They examined the needs of each school and the history of each school’s CMT scores over the past four years.
One of the outcomes of the review process according to Dr. Corda was that there was a logical basis in maintaining a full time assistant principal at the Silvermine school because it is in year 4 of improvement under No Child Left Behind and has made progress in CMT performance. Dr. Corda credited the progress to the work of the school’s administration in providing the necessary leadership. He said that it was necessary to sustain the administration at its current levels in order to ensure that the school continues to move forward.
“Recognizing that no decision is perfect and there may be different points of view, I have, nevertheless, made the decision that I believe is in the best interest of our students,” he said.
Here's a list of the assistant principal appointments from Dr. Corda's memo.
| School | Asst. Principal | Assignment |
|---|---|---|
| Brookside | Dr. Jenna Masone | 1 |
| Columbus | Alene LaMendola | .5 |
| Cranbury | Maureen Jones | 1 |
| Foxrun | Dr. Elisa Nelson | 1 |
| Jefferson | Kathy May | 1 |
| Kendall | Sue Ellen O’Shea | 1 |
| Marvin | Herman Davenport | 1 |
| Naramake | Chris Weiss | .5 |
| Rowayton | Mary Beth Crupi | 1 |
| Silvermine | Ed Wachowski | 1 |
| Tracey | Alene LaMendola | .5 |
| Wolfpit | Chris Weiss | .5 |
Posts
Much as I feel bad that Columbus lost Mr. Davenport and is now only going to get half an assistant principal, I do see the logic in Dr. Corda's decision. Sometimes one HAS to make unpopular decisions to get the job done within the resources one has.
ReplyDeleteThanks Moina, for keeping us posted on this. Think you will be covering the middle and high schools a bit more? I guess there isn't much news right now due to summer break.
Charu
I too feel bad that Columbus is losing Mr. Davenport. I feel that he has been a wonderful complementary leader to Mrs. Lopez and Mrs. Liberatore before that. I also liked the fact that he is a man of color in a position of authority in the school system, and am very sorry to see Columbus lose that.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: How about a comparison of BMHS and NHS CAPT scores, somewhat like the comparison for CMT scores? Trend data would be helpful, too.
ReplyDeleteAs a Silvermine parent, I have witnessed the school's decline due to poor leadership that went unchecked for many years. The decision to keep the new administration intact at Silvermine was the right one. I feel for the other schools' losses but Silvermine really needs this more than any other school right now.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same reason that All Saints Catholic School has declined so rapidly over the past 5 years -- absolutely horrendous, horrible, negligent leadership. Their enrollment is now down 50% from last year alone -- all cannot be blamed on the economy.
ReplyDeleteI attended the All Saints Open House, out of curiosity, have a child entering public middle school & wanted to look at other options. The principal actually told me with a straight face that the school is becoming more selective and for this fall is not just going to let in everyone who applies. Yeah right, that's why there's no waiting list anymore and they are trolling for students by holding open houses in the first place. When I asked about the results of the Iowa standardized tests, she went on and on about how the school scored so high on the tests, but the results are "not available on the premises" and I would have to contact the Diocese of Bridgeport myself to get a copy of the results. I realize that this is a diocesan thing and out of her control, but still, the lack of transparency was very off-putting. We'll take our chances with public middle school, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteIn this economy and in this area, one would expect a school like All Saints to thrive. Parents who might no longer be able to afford a $28,000 private school but still want their kids out of public school would flock to a school with All Saints' tuition if it were any good anymore.
ReplyDelete