This is puzzling. Robin Ives has been replaced by a temporary principal and Maureen Jones shows up as a Director of Curriculum at Wolfpit School. What is happening at Cranbury School that both principal and assistant principal have been removed?
If a person chooses to read the other Norwalk blog, that person would be of the opinion that everything is super fabulous in to Norwalk Public Schools. Well, check here for some of the things you will never see reported elsewhere.
(1). The new Human Resource Director has gone through someone's office and threw away the files there. These were confidential files of employees and THEY WERE NOT SHREDDED! How do I know that? Lots of people are wondering why an HR Director would violate confidentiality rules. People do talk!
(2). New school locks were put in the school buildings before the start of school. The school locks don't work correctly in some buildings and some buildings don't have keys that work. SAFETY ISSUE! Why wasn't this checked before school started?
(3). The Board of Education Policy Committee meetings were cancelled once again! Why???
(4). What is going to happen with the $2.9 million leftover funds from the budget? I've heard that $250,000 has been set aside for repairs at Central Office. THERE ARE LEAKS IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS! Hello??? What are the priorities??
You won't be reading these comments on the sunshiny, all is terrific blog! Yet they are newsworthy happenings, don't you agree? Confidentiality issues, safety issues.........What next?
I've got one to add. The new curriculum directors? What a sham! They do cafeteria duty, bus duty, evaluations and PPTs! They are the Assistant Principals, not Curriculum Directors. Nothing has changed. Did anyone notice the job postings were written so that the Assistant Principals could slide into these "new" positions.
So many situations have been "slid under the rug". People secretly put into "new" positions. And it seems the less you do or the more you screw up, you get promoted or moved on "special assignment" in the central office!!! And yes, why now all this money is found? So many underhanded things going on. Thought the money was to benefit KIDS and their needs in the classroom or so "they" keep saying..... just sayin!
It would seem that any company or foundation that has considered grants for Norwalk would be bewildered by the sudden announcement that Norwalk found $2.9 million in excess in their coffers. A decent accountant would see that excess piling up during the year. If I were a foundation, I would distrust the games Norwalk is playing with their funds. To further explain, look at all the positions not filled by permanent employees. That's an obvious source of savings. $2.9 is a huge amount of money that was overlooked during the course of the year. Something doesn't smell right.
Is anyone else concerned that there were 12 elementary openings as early as last Wednesday (i.e., the first day of school)? Now, it's down to 5. Either the online system is slow to update, or there are some shady things happening with hiring (i.e., posting these jobs but not actually interviewing people for them).
Why would this be shady, unless you're looking for problems? As usual, central office waited until the very last minute to let principals know that they would be allocated new sections. Postings went up as quickly as possible, and it appears that seven have been filled.
Lots about this constitutes bad practice, including postings at the 11th hour when many good candidates have already been hired. Good administrators would interview the first day possible, and have their new hires in place for day one.
If jobs were posted as recently as last week (which they were), how could anyone from outside the district apply and be interviewed/vetted in time for the beginning of the school year? So you're saying that these schools (Silvermine, Marvin, and Rowayton, among others) started the school year with subs in those classrooms. Because if there was a permanent teacher in place, then that teacher was hired outside the system.
Does anyone know if the Superintendent will release information about what percentage of schools were fully staffed on day one? I can't fathom that there were actually 15 unfilled openings at the beginning of the school year.
If you have a gripe, post here. Apparently this blog gets results. Dr. Rivera just came out and sent an e-mail to the BoE going against their recommendation to use the $200,000 for the restructuring of the HR offices at Central Office. I believe he read the blog and realized that using the money for Central Office repair wouldn't look good. Either that or someone told him what was on the blog. Isn't this a first? The Superintendent not taking the suggestions of the BoE?
To answer the question about how the classroom allocations were so late in getting to the schools, it was the fault of the switch-over from Genesis to PowerSchool, the computer program. Ralph V. Was four weeks late in switching over, thereby causing administrators to wonder how many classrooms they would have on the opening day of school.
is anyone watching the movement of staff in the district? the principal gets moved from an elementary school after 16 years. why now and not years ago, if there was something so wrong? the assistant gets moved, too, and there have been issues with her for a while. then the high school housemaster gets moved to a special assignment, just waiting to be appointed for a newly created position working with the deputy supt., and he is qualified for this???? then he gets replaced at the high school, but there is never a posting...how could this happen, just an appointment. And what is going on at that high school...is anyone watching or evaluating?
PowerSchool is way more complicated and time consuming than Genesis. And to boot, workshops were not held until the week before school. Many are having a rough time to say the least!!!
I don't believe that PowerSchool can be blamed for this. The deputy superintendent and HR wait until the last minute ever year for section additions. This just happened to be a little bit worse than usual.
It is a fact that it was PowerSchool. In the past, a considerable number of students moving into the district did not register until late August. There were enough students to change the number of classrooms in a building. It was wise of HR and Mr. Daddona to wait for this influx of students. PowerSchool created a real problem.
so it would stand to reason then, Genesis creates this problem when it was first adopted too...I guess everyone should go backward to paper and pencil to avoid problems. hmmm maybe it's the user not able to adapt...
The problem is the responsibility of the person who decided to instal PowerSchool just before the opening of school. Why couldn't. It have been installed earlier in the summer?
Why did Keyes and Chiarmonte vote against the minority appointment at a recent Board Meeting???
ReplyDeleteThis is puzzling. Robin Ives has been replaced by a temporary principal and Maureen Jones shows up as a Director of Curriculum at Wolfpit School. What is happening at Cranbury School that both principal and assistant principal have been removed?
ReplyDeleteIf a person chooses to read the other Norwalk blog, that person would be of the opinion that everything is super fabulous in to Norwalk Public Schools. Well, check here for some of the things you will never see reported elsewhere.
ReplyDelete(1). The new Human Resource Director has gone through someone's office and threw away the files there. These were confidential files of employees and THEY WERE NOT SHREDDED! How do I know that? Lots of people are wondering why an HR Director would violate confidentiality rules. People do talk!
(2). New school locks were put in the school buildings before the start of school. The school locks don't work correctly in some buildings and some buildings don't have keys that work. SAFETY ISSUE! Why wasn't this checked before school started?
(3). The Board of Education Policy Committee meetings were cancelled once again! Why???
(4). What is going to happen with the $2.9 million leftover funds from the budget? I've heard that $250,000 has been set aside for repairs at Central Office. THERE ARE LEAKS IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS! Hello??? What are the priorities??
You won't be reading these comments on the sunshiny, all is terrific blog! Yet they are newsworthy happenings, don't you agree? Confidentiality issues, safety issues.........What next?
wow! hope more information continues to flow...
Deleteso much for transparency.
what about the people who are put on special assignment?
others put in place without job postings!
maybe hr is too busy shredding documents to see what is going on.
Was The principal at Cranbury School put on special assignment at Central office?
DeleteI've got one to add. The new curriculum directors? What a sham! They do cafeteria duty, bus duty, evaluations and PPTs! They are the Assistant Principals, not Curriculum Directors. Nothing has changed. Did anyone notice the job postings were written so that the Assistant Principals could slide into these "new" positions.
ReplyDeleteSo many situations have been "slid under the rug". People secretly put into "new" positions. And it seems the less you do or the more you screw up, you get promoted or moved on "special assignment" in the central office!!! And yes, why now all this money is found? So many underhanded things going on. Thought the money was to benefit KIDS and their needs in the classroom or so "they" keep saying..... just sayin!
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that any company or foundation that has considered grants for Norwalk would be bewildered by the sudden announcement that Norwalk found $2.9 million in excess in their coffers. A decent accountant would see that excess piling up during the year. If I were a foundation, I would distrust the games Norwalk is playing with their funds. To further explain, look at all the positions not filled by permanent employees. That's an obvious source of savings. $2.9 is a huge amount of money that was overlooked during the course of the year. Something doesn't smell right.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else concerned that there were 12 elementary openings as early as last Wednesday (i.e., the first day of school)? Now, it's down to 5. Either the online system is slow to update, or there are some shady things happening with hiring (i.e., posting these jobs but not actually interviewing people for them).
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Anyone else know about why this happened?
DeleteWhy would this be shady, unless you're looking for problems? As usual, central office waited until the very last minute to let principals know that they would be allocated new sections. Postings went up as quickly as possible, and it appears that seven have been filled.
ReplyDeleteLots about this constitutes bad practice, including postings at the 11th hour when many good candidates have already been hired. Good administrators would interview the first day possible, and have their new hires in place for day one.
This is what's shady, @ 7:07:
ReplyDeleteIf jobs were posted as recently as last week (which they were), how could anyone from outside the district apply and be interviewed/vetted in time for the beginning of the school year? So you're saying that these schools (Silvermine, Marvin, and Rowayton, among others) started the school year with subs in those classrooms. Because if there was a permanent teacher in place, then that teacher was hired outside the system.
Does anyone know if the Superintendent will release information about what percentage of schools were fully staffed on day one? I can't fathom that there were actually 15 unfilled openings at the beginning of the school year.
If you have a gripe, post here. Apparently this blog gets results. Dr. Rivera just came out and sent an e-mail to the BoE going against their recommendation to use the $200,000 for the restructuring of the HR offices at Central Office. I believe he read the blog and realized that using the money for Central Office repair wouldn't look good. Either that or someone told him what was on the blog. Isn't this a first? The Superintendent not taking the suggestions of the BoE?
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question about how the classroom allocations were so late in getting to the schools, it was the fault of the switch-over from Genesis to PowerSchool, the computer program. Ralph V. Was four weeks late in switching over, thereby causing administrators to wonder how many classrooms they would have on the opening day of school.
ReplyDeleteis anyone watching the movement of staff in the district? the principal gets moved from an elementary school after 16 years. why now and not years ago, if there was something so wrong?
ReplyDeletethe assistant gets moved, too, and there have been issues with her for a while.
then the high school housemaster gets moved to a special assignment, just waiting to be appointed for a newly created position working with the deputy supt., and he is qualified for this????
then he gets replaced at the high school, but there is never a posting...how could this happen, just an appointment. And what is going on at that high school...is anyone watching or evaluating?
PowerSchool is way more complicated and time consuming than Genesis. And to boot, workshops were not held until the week before school. Many are having a rough time to say the least!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that PowerSchool can be blamed for this. The deputy superintendent and HR wait until the last minute ever year for section additions. This just happened to be a little bit worse than usual.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fact that it was PowerSchool. In the past, a considerable number of students moving into the district did not register until late August. There were enough students to change the number of classrooms in a building. It was wise of HR and Mr. Daddona to wait for this influx of students. PowerSchool created a real problem.
ReplyDeleteso it would stand to reason then, Genesis creates this problem when it was first adopted too...I guess everyone should go backward to paper and pencil to avoid problems. hmmm maybe it's the user not able to adapt...
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the responsibility of the person who decided to instal PowerSchool just before the opening of school. Why couldn't. It have been installed earlier in the summer?
ReplyDelete