More on Debates

Since the debates are ongoing, I assumed the discussions would be ongoing....Take the topic where you want to go....

My opinion

Some interesting information has come my way that I wanted to share. First, I learned that the leadership of the Apples fully supports the Barbis candidacy. Perhaps that is already known by most of you..
Secondly, I learned that one of the District C candidates praised one middle school as the best in the district. He referred to a study done in 2000, eleven years ago. Things have changed considerably since then. This one middle school has been on AYP (not making annual yearly progress) the longest of all the middle schools. The demographics of this school are also quite different from the other schools. Perhaps the PR for this school is better than the others, but I don't think the statistics are there to deserve such high praise.
In District B, I sincerely believe that Jack fully supports teachers, while being fully against the union president. Remember that the other candidate was thought of as a puppet for the last superintendent. Given that information, I'm not in favor of a possible puppet.
So there you have it, the opinion of Educated Yesterday...

Debates

We can continue the debates discussion here, if you wish...

Changing BOE minutes?

There have been changes to the BOE minutes after the meeting is over with the explanation that the minutes needed to be 'clarified.'. Isn't this against Robert's Rules? Can a Board member go back and change a statement? I've never heard of this happening in the past. Reminder that all topics are still up for discussion. Add comments to any topic you wish.

What would you want the next NHS principal to accomplish?

What changes would you like to see at NHS? What do you want the next Norwalk High School principal to accomplish in his/her first year? While we are discussing changes, what do you want Susan Marks to accomplish this year? Big questions, yes, but well worth discussing. Let's take a look at the end of the year and see if your wishes came true, both this year for Marks and next year for the new NHS principal. Let's give them some up front goals!

Two Postings

Looks like there will be a posting for a new principal at Norwalk High due to the retirement of Mr. Mecca. The second posting will be for a grants manager. This is the same administrator's position that was eliminated during budget cuts. It is NOT the director's position that Susan Marks had originally suggested. It is at a lower level, thanks to some of the BoE members. Anyone have a favorite candidate for the high school? Other comments?

Role of Board of Ed

Soccer Mom has asked for a topic regarding the role of the Board of Ed. Specifically, do we want fighters? Do we want technocrats? Do we expect the members support the superintendent, the taxpayers? I think I got that right, Soccer Mom, bit feel free to add more questions or change it if I got it wrong. Let the discussion begin........and, thanks, Soccer Mom for the suggestion!

Two Items of Intersest

Looking for reactions to the following two items: (1) Since when does a superintendent approve of a building administrator's vacation request while school is in session? This last week a building administrator has been vacationing, according to my sources. (2) It is my understanding that Rosa Murray does her fighting for the students behind the scenes. She doesn't disagree in a public forum. I thought that was a good thing. Remember Corda left when she was on the Board. Is it possible that some people don't see her passion up front and therefore think she isn't effective? She opposes the Red Apples for certain!

Bridgeport Superintendent

John Ramos, fired from Bridgeport! As you may remember, he was the Asst. Superintendent in Norwalk as well as the principal at Norwalk High. Comments?

Bark Less, Wag More

So what are you thinking about the 'Bark Less, Wag More,' theme proposed by the Apple meeting? Some questions come to mind for me. One is, will those who are proposing this behavior become models for civility? What will folks do when the matter of funding central office is pitted against funding the schools again, as is bound to happen? Are we supposed to stay silent and smile, but gag with frustration? Will the superintendent be required to wag also, to actively listen to her staff and to work with them in a positive way? Or is the wagging only imposed on those of us who disagree with the top honcho and her fan club?

Board of Ed Candidates

There is a request for a new topic. Have you met any of the Board of Ed candidates? What do you think of them? Let's get a good conversation going on the candidates and why you want ( or don't want ) to vote for them.

Central Office, left hand side

It was brought up in a recent post that there is only one person in Central Office who handles insurance benefits, retirements,etc. Is this a problem? Staffing at Central Office should really be discussed according to the two sides of the building. There is the curriculum department and the administrative side. Does the administrative side get short shrift when discussing the budget? How do you feel about how benefits are handled? Teachers and administrators, can you add some insight here? Are you satisfied with the services provided, given only one person is provided for the entire system? Please keep in mind that this is not an evaluation of the person doing the job. It is a question of whether there are enough employees on the left hand side of Central Office.

The Survey

To continue the thoughts of the last comment under the topic 'Civility,' what do you think of the way in which the superintendent is allowing the results to be known? Should the results be distributed according to a particular school population or open up all results of all schools to the public? As you might have read, Freedom of Information allows an individual to ask for all results. Perhaps you have other questions or comments about the survey? Feel free to expand on the topic. By the way, other topics are not closed. If you want to continue the conversation of another topic below, please do.

Civility?

So what do you think of the call for civility by the Red Apples? We all know that a certain Red Apple and BoE member protects the superintendent and would love to squelch rumors and, perhaps truths. What do we do? Do we ignore the threat of the leave of absence (a fact) that appeared to be a possible tantrum? Do we ignore the telling comments of principals and central office administrators? Do we support the BoE members who are trying desperately to do what is best for students and blindly let the superintendent create budgets? I believe we need to get it all out in the open. I believe we need a forum that does not exist anywhere else. The public hasn't even been told about the cancellation of the leave of absence. The public hasn't been told about the new director's job that was approved by the BoE. What happened there? It was suddenly not a topic anymore. Why? Talk to me. What do you think? What do you want?

She is Staying

The superintendent has decided to stay...... Comments?