Teacher Convocation Takes New Approach

A version of this story appear on TheDailyNorwalk.com  (there are photos on the site, too)

For the first time, the Norwalk teacher convocation was addressed not by an administrator, but by a teacher and a principal. Lavone Roberson, a third-grade teacher at Naramake Elementary School, spoke to a packed audience of school teachers, staff, city officials and representatives from all the school unions Monday at the Brien McMahon High School auditorium.  Roberson, a fourth-year teacher, told them that she is a proud product of the Norwalk Public Schools and the daughter of NPS social worker Jackie Roberson.  "It is here that I became a lifelong learner and a passionate educator."  Roberson, a Naramake teacher, also spoke about collaboration.  "Teaching is a team sport. You will win if you play together."

James Martinez, prinicipal of Fox Run, asked his colleagues to "be present for the kids."  "Listen to what they say and what they don't say.  Be a guiding light."

Superintendent Susan Marks said that she had a lot in common with first-year teachers, since she’s a first-year superintendent.  Since the summer, 56 new teachers have been hired and several more are coming on board in the coming weeks, according to Fay Ruotolo, director of human resources for the district. 

Marks reminded the staff that, according to experts,  teacher effectiveness and leadership quality is the most important factor in student achievement.  "It's about the people."  Marks also said that she plans to visit the schools often.  "You can't be a superintendent from behind a desk."

Bruce Mellion, president of the Norwalk Federation of Teachers, challenged the city to create a new Briggs High School and replace some of the elementary schools.  "You are under attack by those who didn't choose this profession," he said referring to demands for union concessions.  "Remember you are the best and brightest."

After the convocation, a group of Kendall teachers milled outside the building discussing the morning's event.  Adrienne Moriarty, a fourth-grade teacher for the past 27 years, said she is excited about having a new superintendent, but is taking a "wait and see"  attitude about Marks.  Moriarty said that she found the morning event, especially Roberson's speech, "inspiring."  "You remember why you are here and why you became a teacher."

Schools Get $600K Gov. Aid to Save Jobs

Norwalk Public Schools will receive almost $600,000 from Washington to help pay for extra teachers, literacy specialists and other needed school positions.  Part of the funding may be reserved for next year.

Earlier this month, just days before schools across the country are slated to start, Congress passed the $10 billion Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act signed by President Obama. In a time of constrained budgets, the injection of federal funds is meant solely to help save and create education jobs. In addition to teachers, the districts can use the funds for any employee of the school district including, aides, secretaries and custodians.

Connecticut received $110 million that will save 1,000 to 1,300 jobs, according to the State Department of Education. The money is allocated based on the relative population size and poverty level of each district.

Superintendent Susan Marks says the funds for Norwalk will be used for additional teachers and aides.    “We have to make sure all our current positions are paid for, see what was lost and prioritize who else we need this year,” says Marks.  “We also need to think about what to hold for next year.”  According to the grant guidelines, funds may be delayed for 2011-12 staffing needs.

While exact positions have not been determined, Marks has some ideas where the money will go.
As of today, the district has hired four additional teachers because of greater than anticipated enrollment.  Only three reserve positions were budgeted, according to Marks.  At Cranbury and Fox Run Elementary schools, full-time literacy specialists and aides were cut because the district lost Title I federal funding.  Also, Marks says the staffing situation in the high schools will need to be evaluated.

In the coming weeks, Marks will make recommendations to the Board of Education and its Finance Committee on how to allocate the funds. “We’ll know within the month how to use the funds.”  The federal dollars go directly to the school coffers and not to the city.  “Of course, the city is also very interested in how we use the funds,” says Marks.

Here are preliminary allotments to neighboring towns and cities:
Darien  $94,489
Easton:  $34,724
Fairfield:  $209,910
Greenwich: $199,890
New Canaan $87,449
Norwalk $590,269
Stamford:  $466,531
Weston: $55,463
Westport: $116,255
Wilton $91,050

After-School Programs Selected for Year

A version of this story appears in TheDailyNorwalk.com

Three elementary schools will have new after-school care providers this school year. Cranbury and Silvermine Elementary schools selected After the Bell, a program organized by the Norwalk Public Schools and the Norwalk Education Foundation. "We are pleased that the program is expanding," said Lauren Rosato, foundation executive director.  For the past two years, After the Bell has been operating in Kendall and Rowayton Elementary Schools.

Tracey Elementary School is switching to ACHIEVE. The three schools previously worked with the YMCA for after-school services. This year, the YMCA will partner with After the Bell.

After the Bell provides on-site before- and after-school care from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as well as homework help and enrichment activities such as dance, cooking, arts and sports. Teachers and staff members teach the enrichment classes, which are open to the entire school. Funded in part by local foundations, After the Bell has sliding-scale tuition.

Each year, elementary school principals select their providers in consultation with parents and staff. "We chose After the Bell this year because it has a better connection with the school day and is better suited to parents' needs," says Robin Ives, principal at Cranbury. Ives adds that After the Bell has a direct link with the classroom because students get help from teachers they know.

Although the YMCA is no longer the sole provider of after-school care for Cranbury and Silvermine, it still will provide staff to After the Bell, says Heather Klein, newly hired director of child-care services at the YMCA. "Our staff are very excited and open to this arrangement," says Klein.

Here is a list of providers at the 12 elementary schools:
Brookside: ACHIEVE
Columbus: YMCA
Cranbury: After the Bell
Fox Run: YMCA
Jefferson: ACHIEVE
Kendall: After the Bell
Marvin: ACHIEVE
Naramake: Family Resource Center
Rowayton: After the Bell
Silvermine: After the Bell
Tracey: ACHIEVE
Wolfpit: ACHIEVE

Report Recommends Additions at Five Schools

A version of this story appears in TheDailyNorwalk.com.

A report presented to the Board of Education on Tuesday evening recommends building additions at five Norwalk elementary schools: Columbus, Cranbury, Jefferson, Naramake and Rowayton.
Partners for Architecture of Stamford was hired by the BOE in February to study space utilization and the impact of projected enrollment at all 12 elementary schools. The BOE commissioned the study because overcrowding is an issue at several of the elementary schools. During the presentation, Partners for Architecture noted that Rowayton, Jefferson and Naramake currently have portable classrooms. Several schools do not have separate art classrooms and must wheel art supplies from class to class on a cart. In one school, a closet is used as a special education classroom.

"We went through every space at every school, from the 100-year-old attic in Rowayton to the dungeon basement of Wolfpit," said Rainer Schrom, principal at Partners for Architecture. Mark Gorian, NPS facilities director, oversaw the study and accompanied Schrom to all 12 schools.
The report, which cost $38,000, recommends ways to reconfigure school space for maximum efficiency, as well as building the additions. "The report is a tool for future decisions and helps us to prioritize," said Superintendent Susan Marks, noting there are space needs at other schools also.
The report was commissioned, in large part, to determine how best to spend $6.2 million -- the remainder of a previous capital appropriation for school improvements. Additions at all five schools will cost $13 million, according to the report's estimates.

Mayor Richard Moccia, ex-officio member of the BOE, said, "We want to do everything, but we have to look at what we can do." He recommended moving forward on the capital spending as soon as possible. "We have to see where we can get the most bang for our buck." The district would need to request any additional funds during the capital budgeting process, said Marks.
Board Member Sue Haynie suggested looking into why students are transferring from their neighborhood schools into the overcrowded ones. Board Member Jack Chiaramonte said, "I know redistricting is an ugly word, but how else are we going to change things." Schrom said that redistricting was not part of the scope of the project.

The full report, including a school-by-school breakdown of needed improvements, is available on the Norwalk Public School website.

AYP Results, Cranbury and Roton Removed from NCLB list

A version of this story appears on TheDailyNorwalk.com

Although a No Child Left Behind report released on Wednesday has cited Norwalk as a school district “In Need of Improvement”, Superintendent Susan Marks says this year’s results are “somewhat encouraging”.

Cranbury and Roton Elementary schools were taken off the now infamous “In Need of Improvement” list because they made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) two years in a row.  Fox Run Elementary, Tracey Elementary, Nathan Hale Middle School and West Rocks Middle School made AYP this year and have been put on the “Safe Harbor” list. If they make AYP again next year, they’ll be removed off the “Needs Improvement” list.

However, Rowayton School was designated as a school “In Need of Improvement” for the first time this year because of subgroup test scores.  All of Norwalk’s high schools are considered “In Need of Improvement”.  Norwalk High and Brien McMahon have been on the list for the past 5 years and Briggs for the past 7.

Since the No Child Left Behind act was passed in 2001, the government has been using scores from grade 3-8 Connecticut Mastery Tests and the grade 10 Connecticut Academic Performance Test to assess whether schools have made adequate yearly progress. This year, 80 percent of student had to be proficient to pass muster. The standard must be met by the whole school and by each subgroup of 40 or more students, including minority, ELL, low-income, and special needs students.  If a school or subgroup does not achieve AYP for two consecutive years, the school is identified as in need of improvement.

According to a report issued by the State Department of Education, Norwalk’s designation as a district “In Need of Improvement” is due to inadequate “subgroup math and reading achievement”.  Reading scores are a problem for the city’s elementary and middle schools, while math is the challenge for high school students.

“I am going to meet with the principals regularly and I’ll be deploying resources from Central Office to focus to make sure we are consistent in math and reading across elementary, middle and high school,” said Marks.


Schools that made AYP*:
Brookside, Columbus, Cranbury, Fox Run, Kendall, Tracey, Elementary Schools
Nathan Hale, Roton and West Rocks Middle Schools


Schools that did not make AYP:
Jefferson Elementary: whole school reading and subgroup math and reading 
Marvin Elementary:  whole school reading and subgroup reading
Naramake Elementary: whole school reading and subgroup reading
Rowayton School: subgroup reading
Silvermine Elementary School: whole school reading and subgroup reading
Wolfpit School: subgroup reading
Ponus Ridge Middle School: whole school math and reading, subgroup math and reading
Side By Side Community School:  whole school reading, subgroup math and reading.
Norwalk High School: whole school math, subgroup math and reading
Briggs High School: whole school math and reading
Brien McMahon High School: whole school math, subgroup math and reading


Schools on the NCLB list as "in need of improvement":
Jefferson Magnet School:  Year 4
Rowayton School: Year 1
Silvermine Elementary School: Year 4
Ponus Ridge Middle School: Year 3
Fox Run Elementary School:  Year 1, Safe Harbor*
Tracey School: Year 2, Safe Harbor
Nathan Hale Middle School: Year 4, Safe Harbor
West Rocks Middle School: Year 2 Safe Harbor
Side by Side:  Year 4
Norwalk High School:  Year 5
Brien McMahon High School:  Year 5
Briggs High School:  Year 7

 *To make AYP, a school and its subgroups need to meet designated proficiency standards (approximately 80 percent this year).  A school can also make AYP through the “safe harbor” provision, by increasing the proficiency scores by 10 percent in all subgroups. 

Marks Seeks Collaboration with Unions

A version of this story appears on TheDailyNorwalk.com

I sat down with Susan Marks earlier this week to discuss school issues.  When the topic of contract negotiations came up, Marks went immediately to her bookshelf and pulled out the classic book on negotiations. “Getting to Yes” Roger Fischer and William Ury of the Harvard Negotiation Project.  “I support interest-based bargaining,” she said.  “I’m anxious to utilize this process here—it’s all about relationship building.”

Recently, the Norwalk Federation of Education Personnel, the union of the district’s support staff and the Norwalk Board of Education could not agree on terms of a new contract and went into arbitration, a process by which independent outside parties decide on the terms of the contract.

Marks explains that interest-based bargaining is about aligning interests and building trust. “The school district and the union have many similar interests,” says Marks.  “For example, we both want children to do well in school.  We both want teachers to be happy.  This is our outcome.”

“Getting to Yes”, a bestseller since it was published in 1981, focuses on four basic principals:  separating the people from the problems, focusing on interests not positions, generating options for mutual gain, insisting on using objective criteria.

This type of bargaining is collaborative and requires a team approach says Marks.  “Two parties do not sit across the table in an adversarial way.  They sit next to each other.” Marks calls the method a “mind shift” from the traditional adversarial approach.

Marks says that she is “passionate” about this method, which was used in Montgomery County, the Maryland school district where Marks worked for many years.

“It took a lot of training and time, but through blood, sweat and tears, we got to a point where now [in Maryland] the teachers' union and the district write the contract together,” says Marks. “There is no mediation needed.”

In the midst of talking about negotiations, Marks got up and pulled another book from her shelf, “Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct", by P.M. Forni of the Johns Hopkins Civility Project.  “I want to create a culture of civility here, where people are nice to each other.”

“You can be honest, without being disrespectful,” says Marks.  “The three things people can always expect from me are-- I am polite, I speak my mind and I tell the truth,” says Marks.

Chiaramonte Criticizes Unions

Board of Education member Jack Chiaramonte says he wants people in Norwalk to know he is not happy with the school district’s unions.  “They have given us nothing,” says Chiaramonte who heads the committee that negotiates contracts with them.

In recent weeks, the Norwalk Federation of Education Personnel has been outspoken in its criticism of the BOE.  The NFEP, which represents 425 aides, clerks, secretarial and support staff, says it has been without a contract since July 2009 and has not received the salary increase and benefits it “deserves."  Since the BOE and NEFP have been unable to come to agreement on the terms of their contracts, the two parties have entered into arbitration. In arbitration, an independent body will now decide the outcome by the end of the summer.

Chiaramonte, however, sees matters differently.  He suggests the unions need to pay attention “to what is going on in this country.” “People are losing their homes. Things are still bad out there.  I’ve seen my business tumble,” says Chiaramonte who owns a restaurant in South Norwalk. “Instead of everybody coming together and giving a little, we have the unions who dictate what they want.”

“We can’t afford what they want,” says Chiaramonte who disagrees with Donna Riddell, the NFEP president's characterization of the negotiation process as “demeaning and unfair.”  “It's nonsense.  We couldn’t come to an agreement. That is why we have gone into arbitration. That is the way to get a fair result.”

He is not singling out the NFEP, but includes the teachers and administrators union in his admonition. He says that all the unions “stand together.” “They come to us and say ‘we will not giveback until you do XYZ.  Their package has strings attached.’”

The unions, including the NFEP, say they are being treated unfairly, in part, because two top administrators, Faye Ruotolo, director of Human Resources and Tony Daddona, Assistant Superintendent recently received three percent raises in the form of furlough days.  Chiaramonte responds, “At least they gave us the furlough days. What did the unions give back? They gave us nothing-- a big goose egg.”

“The BOE can only afford so much. The taxpayers can only afford so much,” concludes Chiaramonte.  “Otherwise, it’s the children who end up losing.”