League Puts Out More Questions for BOE Candidates

There was only time for six questions at last Thursday night's Board of Education debate at City Hall.  However, the audience and organizers had many more.  Below is a list of some of questions that the moderator did not have enough time to ask.  Candidates, if you are reading, feel free to answer these questions in the comments section.  

Here is a note from the League of Women Voters about the extra questions.

"The following questions represent a portion of all questions submitted during the Board of Education Forum on October 29th at City Hall. The co-sponsors, LWV, CNNA, NAACP, NEF, PTO Council and Norwalknet.com agreed to a format where all candidates would answer all the questions, therefore reducing the total number of questions asked but giving the candidates more time to express their ideas. Representatives from NAACP, NEF, LWV and CNNA screened the questions received from the audience, and we made every effort to group questions so as to cover as many topics as possible.  The following list represents questions that were not asked directly, but were included in some of the six questions actually asked by the moderator.  Debate planners hoped that whatever questions were left out, that topics which candidates did not get to speak about would be included in their final two-minute closing statement."

1. Suspension:  How will your board membership decrease suspensions and lower the dropout rate? What can teachers do in the classroom to curtail the suspension of minority students?

2. Teacher morale:  Right now, some feel that teacher morale is at an all-time low.  What will you do to change this?

3. Diversity and closing the achievement gap:  Please give your definition of a diverse community and what do you feel can be done to close the achievment gap in a diverse classroom.

4. Standards of promotion:  why are so many children passed from grade to grade and they do not meet the standards for NCLB?

5. Briggs High School:  What do you plan to do to improve Briggs High School?

6. Code of conduct:  What will you do to ensure high professional standards of conduct?

7.  Tenure:  What is your position regarding tenure as it relates to performance?

8.  Superintendent:  Should Norwalk enact a residency requirement for the superintendant position?

9. Early childhood education:  How do you see early education-for 3 and 4-year-olds-fitting in with the overall district improvement plan?

10. Diversity training for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender(LGBT) school population:  We have a large LGBT population in our schools.  How do you feel about the training of diversity in school and how do you feel about support groups for these youths?

11. Curriculum:  Should 9th graders have the opportunity to take advanced placement classes?

12. Overcrowding in schools:  Where are you going to put all the students when the thousands of vacant or planned homes, condos and apartments become occupied?

13. Achievement gap:  What remedial efforts are being considered and implemented to specifically address the achievement gap between white and non-white students?

14. Academically-gifted students:  Tonight there has been a lot of talk about raising the bar and closing the gap, which are important...However, some parents feel that academically-gifted children are being left behind.  Can you respond?