Special Ed. Director Hired

After several months of searching and interviewing, Norwalk has a new special education director.  At Tuesday night's meeting, the Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Pauline Smith as the Director of Pupil Personnel Services. Janie Friedlander, who resigned in April, previously held the full-time position; interim director, Deborah Farber, currently holds it.

“This is one of the most important positions in our district,” said Board Chair Glenn Iannaccone “We’ve had problems in the past. We need someone to take a fresh look at things.  We can’t let kids slip through the cracks. And we have to get our legal costs under control.” 

Smith is currently the director of Special Services in Brookfield, CT. Before that, she was the Assistant Director for Special Services in Wilton.  Smith has a doctorate in education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University and a master’s from Fairfield University.  Originally from England, Smith graduated from the University of Leeds.  She is not a stranger to Norwalk.  One of her first jobs as a special education teacher was at Kendall School in the early 1980s.

According to Faye Ruotolo, Director of Human Resources, the Central Office interviewed six candidates out of about a dozen applications. An interview committee comprised of four parents of children in special education and four special ed teachers interviewed three of them. The committee then recommended two finalists to Interim Superintendent Michael Nast and soon-to-be Superintendent Susan Marks, for another round of interviews.  Marks participated in the interviews by video teleconferencing in on them on the Internet.

“I feel good about the process and result,” said Ruotolo.  “We had a rich pool of candidates.”

The entire board interviewed Smith last week. "Smith has a strong resume," says Board Member Sue Haynie.  "It is important for our new superintendent to have her team in place going forward."

Smith is expected to start in July after completing her current employment. The board approved Smith’s salary of $152,591.