Monday, March 6, 2017

More and more...

More and more there seems to be a need for an alternative site to the Hour, NON and especially the closed Facebook site for the Board of Education supporters.  Please continue to post your questions, positive or negative thoughts, commendations or "shame on you" thoughts here.  This is a transparent and open space to chat with each other.  The topics are yours.......

15 comments:

  1. Barbara Meyer-MitchellMarch 8, 2017 at 5:58 PM

    Hi! I am the Founder of Norwalk Parents for Education Facebook Page, and I invite anyone here to join. While it is a closed group,any Norwalk resident or NPS employee can join. It is a free, uncensored space for the community to come together and work together to improve our schools, and support our students and teachers. We have a strict policy against censorship, and only delete swear words or lies. There is no litmus test to join the conversation. It is a closed group in order to keep the conversation focused, free of marketing spam and out of the press. With 100 new members this week, and 2595 people involved in the conversation, we have an opportunity to bring our community together and make a huge difference in Norwalk. I invite you to be a part of that.

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    1. It's a great site, somewhere we can all learn and also support each other. I wish it was there before I retired from NPS. The Hour is useless, but NON is helpful as well.

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    2. Barbara Meyer-MitchellMarch 14, 2017 at 10:32 PM

      Thanks! It's not always easy, but we are getting somewhere, I think.

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  2. Barbara
    glad to hear this.
    Norwalk has great staff and students and parents. we need to continue to share the facts, and support the work of our schools.
    it is the community both in school and out of school that know whats best for kids.

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  3. Very concerned as a taxpayer and educator in the direction the district is going in. Nancy on Norwalk just published a story about the middle school successful plan. Anyone know that data from 1 year is not enough. They need a cohort of 3 years. This would be 6th. graders coming in, and follow-them through 8th. grade. If you want to look at real return, follow them 1-2 years in high school.
    The question I have is, if there a large numbers of students coming in from elementary schools within our district, and are not doing well, that is where I would put the research and redesign.
    Rather than playing catch up, put a strong literacy/reading plan in the elementary schools across district, and then a yearly assessment of how student are doing each year. If students are not on grade level by grade 3, they will significantly be behind by middle school, and lost at high school. This is simple research, and it makes sense. The foundations of literacy like the foundation of building a house must be strong as you begin to layer on top of it.

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  4. Barbara Meyer-MitchellMarch 11, 2017 at 4:33 PM

    I just posted the article on the thread on the NPfE page. Feel free to reach out with any other information you feel should be part of the conversation but are constrained from posting personally. Barbara@Meyer-Mitchell dot com.

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  5. Barbara Meyer-Mitchell, I don't mind that you posted on this blog to advertise your page. It's a bit inappropriate, but everything goes here. I do mind that anonymity is not allowed on your FaceBook page. There are times when people would prefer to remain anonymous. Also, who determines what are lies on your site? Here, people get to dispute statements made by others. They are not deleted. I believe in transparency.

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  6. Barbara Meyer-MitchellMarch 14, 2017 at 10:30 PM

    I actually haven't ever deleted anything on the basis of falsehood, but it is something raised that we have a policy about. I work very hard, personally, to get to the truth of the matter. I have asked questions based on information I have learned here. I'm not saying your site doesn't have value. I'm sure it does. I'm just inviting anyone who feels comfortable posting non anonymously to join in the conversation. If you don't feel comfortable, I'm offering to bring your questions and factual information to the discussion for you. I agree that educators are our "boots on the ground" and can fill in the blanks about what is really happening in our schools. Norwalk is blessed to have amazing teachers. My mission is to make sure they have the resources they need to succeed. To that end, I invite all here to write supporting testimony regarding the need ECS reform. That is the best way we can increase our overall funding this year. Please write to edtestimony@cga.ct.gov

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  7. Does anyone know the status of the Norwalk Police Department's Fraud Division ".... investigating the possible misappropriation of funds from the Jefferson School student activities account...."?

    It started last spring and somehow has been kept very quiet. Perhaps no one wants the bad publicity.

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    Replies
    1. When something like that occurs, there is a major effort to keep it quiet. There are lawsuits being shoveled under the rug as well.

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  8. Lots of money was involved, records disappeared as well. Someone should shine a light on alll of it.

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  9. Does any of this fall under freedom of information? How d we go about finding out the truth?

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  10. I don't know. I would think a good investigative journalist would know how. Awful to think someone could get away with this.

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  11. Looks like no one knows how to get the information needed.

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  12. Read today's Hour!

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