Merry Christmas! Holiday Greetings! Happy New Year

Wishing everyone the best of the season! Whether you believe in Santa, Global Warming or the Tooth Fairy, may the year ahead bring peace, joy and good health.

Any comments regarding the Norwalk Public Schools are welcome here.

Back to you

Now that the elections are over and the new Board of Education has been sworn in, the peace and quiet we have enjoyed will most likely come to an end.  Time to open up comments and questions for you.

Chairman of the Board

Will the Democrats unite and elect a Democrat as the new Chairperson of the Board of Education?

The time has come for a new Chair to take his/her place with our new Superintendent.

We are hearing about fake Democrats, however.


What are your thoughts?

Looking Good, finally!

We are happy to report that Dr. Adamowski is a welcome change from those who came before him. He appears to be a real leader with true vision.  We have had some seriously lacking superintendents, but that is past history. We look forward to new leadership and new changes.

Once again, comments are up to you.

All Yours

Your topics, your thoughts....

Questions to Consider

Some questions that will determine the future of the Norwalk Public Schools and the taxpayers' contributions.....

Adamowski has uncovered expenditures hidden in grants that require a shift to the local budget. Estimated cost, $3,000,000? 

Adamowski has met with Special Education parents and has spoken of appointing a cabinet level administrator to oversee the department, adding other administrators to be sure Norwalk is in compliance with findings. 
Estimated cost, $1,000,000?

Add these costs to union contract increases and what's the total?

The Board of Education faces an election where everyone who is elected will be subservient to Mike Lyons and his wishes.  So far, we have seen Mike Lyons throw everyone under the bus who disagrees/challenges/differs from him. Is that an opinion or a fact? Recently Rivera, and the usual victims, were victims for the grants problem. Did we get to hear the victims' side of the story? Squelched!

Teachers are fed up with computer problems, but they are challenging an appointed administrator who is protected by Mike and his followers.  Apparently the grants administrator is in the same category, unless there is another reason why she is not ever mentioned for grant-gate?

Remember Daddona, who was the whistleblower for the After the Bell illegal grant expenditures? He took quite a beating for exposing illegal expenditures from a grant.  Does it make sense to you that Mike Lyons named Daddona first (in Mike's list) as in charge of determining how the grant-gate money was spent?  Does that make sense to you? 

Taxpayers, you were thrilled with the Rivera/Lyons budget for this school year.  Don't you wonder how the Adamowski/Lyons budget will add up for next year?  If 10% of you vote, you can be sure only those 10% get their way.  They support the new administrators and all the costs. Do you?

Feel free to add any other concerns or comments.  

The Good and The Bad

Let's start with the good happenings in the Norwalk Public Schools. Would you like to contribute some positive initiatives that you see?

We have been hearing about some of the not so good, but you are welcome to add to the list.


Please feel free to add your comments. As always, your comments remain anonymous to me as well as to readers unless you choose to add your name.

All Yours...

Your topics, your comments.......

Convocation and......

From Adamowski: "........... we need to talk to each other and not about each other," he said.
He advised educators to refrain from sharing internal issues with parents or social media before it is resolved. "The effect of us fighting with each other in public lowers public confidence in all of us," 


What do you think? If Mike Lyons, Lisa Thomson and Sue Haynie give us their word that they will stay off of Nancy on Norwalk, or any of the parent blogs, we will shut down NorwalkSpeaks.


Mike? Lisa?  Sue? How much do you want to support the new superintendent. You've got my word. Do I have yours?

You Must See This!

Shared by a reader:

http://youtu.be/cGMlPDlY094

Back to School

So much will change with a new superintendent! There are many new administrators on board as well. Will we be seeing "Master Adamowski" or "Superintendent Adamowski?"

What comments would you like to make on any NPS topic?

All is Quiet

What is happening in the Norwalk Public Schools? It's been very quiet at Central Office.

Your comments...................

Choose your topics!

Miscellaneous plus your comments

(1) Interesting!

"“New London Public Schools has received statewide attention and has garnered national recognition for its many initiatives that, over the coming years, will fundamentally transform our district into a regional school system offering the highest quality learning experience for all students,” School Superintendent Manuel Rivera said in a written statement.

Board of Education Chairwoman Margaret “Peg” Curtin said in a written statement that “the district is moving forward and is attracting national philanthropic funders, such as the Dalio Foundation, who are committed to excellency in schools.”

"I am appreciative of Dr. Rivera’s work with the Dalio Foundation in Norwalk and the team effort that led us to this opportunity,” she added." -The Day (published July 6, 2015)

(2) How many Board of Education members have students in Norwalk Public Schools?

(3) How many Board of Education members have students in private schools?

Open for comments on this topic or others

You take....

Over!

Your turn, readers.......

Questions to be Answered

From what I have read, there are still questions that have never been answered.

Where is the Dalio Foundation mid-year report that Ralph Valencizi wrote? Why will no one reveal it?

Where is the end of year investigation report on the reason why we lost the Dalio Foundation grant?

Where is the letter that Manny Rivera received from the SDE allowing him to use Title 1 funding for all children in the After the Bell program?

Why are these reports and letters kept  hidden from the taxpayers?

What is the deal with the SPED program promised, but no longer doable?

Where is the transparency?

Please feel free to add your questions.

Summer Musings

A new superintendent starts his tenure in Norwalk in the next several days. Any advice, comments, warnings, positive notes to share with him?

Some of our schools are getting ready to welcome new administrators; others wait to hear who will be chosen to lead the educators in their schools. What are you thinking?

Summer is a time to relax and ponder the upcoming year...a new teacher, new curriculum, perhaps a new school. What goes through your mind?

What else would you like to discuss here? Always your choice.......

All of One Mind?

There appears to be a movement in Norwalk that people who speak up against the Chairman of the Board of Education should be chastised and censored.  What has happened to listening to both sides of the story? Are we really that apprehensive about pursuing additional information when offered? Many of the people who are leading the smear crusades don't work in the school system.  My opinion, here on this blog, is to allow information to be printed, even if it contradicts my beliefs. We can only learn the truth by listening to all sides of the conflict. We should not accept only people who are of one mind.

"Some people's idea (of free speech) is that they are free to say whatever they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage." -Winston Churchill

In the meantime, congratulations on rising test scores, Norwalk. Despite the rumors that there are "terrible" people who are resisting change, test scores keep moving upward.

"Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart"

Comments open for any topic................

Board of Education or Bored of Board?

Is the Norwalk Board of Education the Supreme Court of Norwalk Public Schools?
-What do you think of the authority that this group has with no checks and balances until election time?
-What do you think of the transparency/lack of transparency of this group?
-What do you think of the fact that newly elected members are "chosen" and voted on by a select group of people who go to the polls?
-What do you think about the fact that those chosen do not represent a majority of voters in Norwalk?
-Are Boards of Education outdated?
-Is there a better way to do business for a public school system?
-Do you vote? If not, why?
-Should more authority be given to the superintendent of schools?

How do you feel about a change in the structure of ruling authorities in the public school system?
-

What do you think?

"First, the four “no” votes did not violate the confidential process. Confidentiality was broken when the chair and others ignored concerns about the vetting process brought to the chair and to the committee attention during the process; as well as, having the former superintendent involved in the process; and leaving out the community. The community should have been involved in the “final” decision with one of the most important decision that will have an effect on all of our children in Norwalk." - Shirley Mosby quote from The Hour

-What do you think about this statement that appeared in The Hour?

-Did Mike Lyons lie on Nancy on Norwalk when he said Manny Rivera was not involved at all in choosing the new superintendent?

"Second, as for the board chair comment referring to “outshining the rest." PROACT, the search firm that was hired, created a “community profile” that was gathered from information received from the community input sessions; as to what they thought Norwalk needed in a superintendent reflecting Norwalk's diverse community. PROACT ranked the candidates in accordance to the community profile and there were a couple of “outstanding” candidates; including a couple of minorities who ranked high. Adamowski was not in the top five. The search firm, PROACT, was paid a substantial amount of money to do this search and get feedback from the community."- Shirley Mosby

More comments?

Comments for the end of the school year?

Your topics, as we end another school year........

Board Vote

Five yes - Four No!

And we have a new superintendent!

This has been the most controversial candidate I can remember in the history of Norwalk!

New Superintendent to Be Announced

We are expecting the announcement of a new superintendent next week.......

More You.....

Speak your mind.......

Everyone is Quitting

We have lost more administrators than in any time in Norwalk's history. What is going on?

PROACT CEO - RACIAL SLURS

We have read about the racial slurs that the CEO of PROACT has allegedly made. We have read that the Board of Education in Norwalk is not going to fire this company. We have read that at least three school districts have fired PROACT recently.

WHY AREN'T WE HEARING FROM THE COMMUNITY?
WHERE IS THE BLACK COMMUNITY IN ALL OF THIS?
WHY ARE NORWALK TAXPAYERS FUNDING A COMPANY WHOSE CEO IS A BIGOT?

Back to You.....

Your comments, questions, thoughts, etc........

The Truth

Mike Lyons
May 4, 2015 at 12:14 pmMarj, I confess — for the first two in over two years of back and forths here, you turned out to be right on something. I apologize for my error (I wasn’t lying, I just didn’t know the accurate contract amount). In the earlier posts you had referred continuously to grants, and that’s what I had focused on ($47,000 from GE supports this contract), not the contract. When I got the contract I saw that it was for over the $100,000, so your source in central office (for once) was right. Of course, my previous statement that this funding is not available for other uses remains correct

--------------------------------------This "apology"???? By Mike Lyons refers to a long debated issue on a Memorandum of Understanding. It was debated here and on Nancy on Norwalk.We thought our readers would be interested in some of the salient points.

Mark Chapman, on Nancy on Norwalk, published the link to the MOU. 

http://www.nancyonnorwalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Regis-Shields.pdf

Guess what? The consultant WAS paid over $100,000 for writing the standards just from December 2014-June 2015. She has a three year contract! Check out the link. It may surprise you to learn what exactly she was accountable for and how much she was paid. Check out that she was also paid from the budget surplus. 

Stay informed! Read this document.

Comments welcome.

Shirley Mosby, The Board of Education, The PTOC.........Will it ever end?

It seems that the Shirley Mosby narrative has received more attention than almost any other story coming from our local Board of Education. We have to admit, here at NorwalkSpeaks, that we feel this continuing saga has gone way way way over the top. Now the PTOC is involved. PTOC/Partisan stance? Please weigh in with your feelings.

Two Timely Topics

I propose that we discuss two topics.
TOPIC # 1:
The Board of Education
The Board of Education really has no checks and balances.
The Board is comprised of non-educators who make decisions on curriculum, policies, budgets,  hiring, firing and so on. They seem to have the right to hire a superintendent with no real input from the community or from the professional educators on the final choices available. There are no representatives from the community or from the educators who are even privy to the information regarding the finalists. Budgets are voted on by these same folks. The public is invited to hear about budgets, discuss budgets, but the ultimate decision for recommendation belongs to the Board of Education.
Although I am not certain, it appears that foundation grants can be allocated for spending by a select few. Are we, the public and the professional educators, allowed to know how this money is spent? Wouldn't you like to know if there were secret consultants hired (as has been suggested) and what they were paid? All of this seems un-American. Is this the way public schools should operate? Let's have a conversation!

TOPIC #2:
Common Core Curriculum and Testing are very hot topics in New York. I have heard of schools where over 70% of the students opted out of testing. Did you know you could have your child opt out of testing?
I have also heard that, due to Common Core teaching, there are major holes in students' learning. We have a Swiss Cheese education in this country. Teachers must move on with the curriculum even if students don't grasp the concepts. Learning is no longer enjoyable. Teaching is. No longer enjoyable.
Care to comment on these opinions?

Other Topics

What is on your mind? Should we discuss student achievement for a change? Up to you......

Moving On....

Since the NEF has refused to respond in public as to how the GE Capital funds were spent, it is time to move on.......

There is so much going on at the Board of Education.......

Back to your choices of topics.

Calling the NEF. Are you there?

Would the NEF kindly respond to the expenditures from the GE Capital Grant? This question seems to be dragging on forever. I would think an organization like the NEF would like to clear the air with the facts. How about it? We have 900 hits daily on this site. What reason could you possibly have for not allowing the people of Norwalk to learn if you have(or had) the grant and what the expenditures were? Please accommodate our readers. If you object to this site, reply on NON or in the Hour.

You Have Your Say

Returning to the people:  your thoughts, your comments.....all yours.

Call for Mike Lyons, Board of Education Chairperson

It appears that enough people want the truth behind the Dalio Foundations' grant (and other private grants) that were allegedly filtered through NEF. Were they? Were consultants from Rivera's company paid through these grants (filtered through the NEF)?  What did these consultants charge? Did Rivera stand to profit if the above is true? Why was the decision made to allow the NEF to  control the purse strings of these grants, if true?  If the above allegations made by posters are not true, please let us know. We are asking for information. Thank you.

What's Up?

What's up? Snow and school? School and snow? Anything at all!  Add your thoughts to the Norwalk Public School blog that belongs to you.

Time for...

a New Page
a New Beginning
A New .........?

While We Are Waiting...

While we are waiting for the change in command.....what are your thoughts?