Bruce Kimmel and Greg Burnett we salute you. The Hour reports why:
The Norwalk Board of Education elected Rosa Murray
to be its new chairwoman Wednesday night. Jody Bishop-Pullan will serve as vice chairwoman and Jack Chiaramonte was elected secretary.Outgoing chairwoman Susan Hamilton opened the meeting and called for nominations. Hamilton served as chairwoman pro tempore in the absence of Mayor Richard A. Moccia, in accordance with the bylaws of the Board of Education.
When board member Migdalia Rivas nominated Murray, the sitting vice chairwoman, board member Bruce Kimmel said that he planned to abstain from voting. Kimmel said his decision did not reflect upon any nominees.
“It is the process I am currently uncomfortable with,” said Kim-mel, adding that the nomination followed almost immediately by a vote did not allow time for members to consider the nominations or learn the nominees’ positions.
Kimmel was joined by board member Greg Burnett.
“I don’t agree often with Mr. Kimmel, but I too will be abstaining,” said Burnett, calling the process “a total representation of backroom politics.”
Kimmel said that, in years past, potential nominees would express their interest in an office and telephone board members in advance, seeking their support. He said the informal process provided the opportunity to ask questions but he received no such calls this year.
Following a brief discussion, Hamilton called the vote. With board member Shirley Mosby absent, each nomination garnered six affirmative votes and two abstentions.
source: The Hour, Norwalk Board of Ed elects new officers, by JOAN GAYLORD, 11/18/2008
kimmel could have picked up the phone too, no?
sounds like these two were out of the loop, as others knew the new officers would accept nominations.
perhaps it is political affiliations. I do not know who belongs to what party. Unfortunately many town political groups have majorities and run the board for their own purposes.
Look a New London- a strong example of the way crazy political groups can defeat a city pushing their own agendas.
Their only agenda should be getting rid of Corda.
#3, you should be ashamed of yourself. That is exactly how some board members act. Their only agenda should be the education of the children of Norwalk!
That mindset has gotten NPS into some messes already. Let’s hope it changes.
You need to tear down the top of this CO before you can repair the school district. Once Corda goes, you can start to rebuild and repair.
None of the nominees are new to the board, shouldn’t the others have a fair idea by now of their positions ? Abstaining is a way of making a political statement. It is also the same as refusing to vote in any election, very hard to justify. I don’t like any candidates well enough to vote, seems to be the message. Complaining the candidates were not given time to campaign sounds kind of silly when they have all served on the same board a while and had time to get to know one another. It sounds more like they are annoyed with the lack of political process than what they claim to be annoyed with.
I’ll have greater regard for the BOE when the Democratic majority forgets party lines long enough to elect a Republican chairperson. The same will hold true for someday when the Republicans are in the majority again.
I am only interested in hearing that the BOE is checking to see if Central Office administrators are where they say they are. Have they given someone the responsibility to do this yet? It’s time that these people are held accountable.
Oh, let’s have a riot. Why don’t we all go in and scare them all out of their wits? We’ll sound like the nuts from Network (remember that movie?) – I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. Go to youtube and watch it. Gosh – what memories!
Case closed.
It would be helpful if all the people complaining about the BOE here and in other places would actually SHOW UP at the BOE meetings and make their complaints known to the board! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a BOE meeting and have never heard a single complaint from anyone about anything.
It’s nice to see people reacting here, but reacting in the BOE meetings is where your complaining is going to get noticed. If you’re in their faces and on the tapes of the meetings and in the minutes, you can’t be ignored!
What’s the problem, why not just show up and make your viewpoints known? Or is it just easier to sit in front of the keyboard and complain on an anonymous blog and give yourself the **illusion** of actually doing something radical? No effort = you get what you deserve.
The BoE meets at City Hall on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month (I think that’s how it works).
In the first place, don’t be judge and jury because some people work at night. In the second place, people have either attended or read the minutes and know how this board reacts to critism, and it isn’t well. For goodness sake, they even got into it with the man who runs the education department for the entire state of CT. There are many people who do not like that kind of confrontation. People are allowed to have their point of view and voice it without having to put up with that. If a person wanted to be held up to public ridicule, they would have run for the BOE, not just attended a meeting.
Well now someone else has a chance to show how things should be handled. Rosa knows the ropes. She has been around for a long time. Jodi was the chair before so we will see if it is the same old thing, just a different day for her of if she is really listening to the residents of Norwalk, the parents and even the students.
Let’s hope the BOE members rally and take action to fix a broken system. All they have to do is use the power that was given to them. Abstaining from votes really doesn’t help!
I agree that people should speak at meetings. However, it is important to note that the BOE policy is not to respond at meetings and I have rarely seen them respond after the fact. It is kind of like talking to a brick wall at times. But every once in a while you can actually get through to one or two of the members and they can do something. Rare occasion but there is always hope.
As long as Dr. Corda stays at the helm things will stay the same. He is set in his ways and getting any change is always an uphill battle. He rarely wants to open his eyes and see what others see. That and trying to get him in to the schools for anything other than a photo op just doesn’t happen often.
BOE – get out and see what is going on at the schools. Attend a few PTO meetings. Talk to the parents. Talk to the kids. Hold Dr. Corda accountable and don’t believe everything you hear from central office. Find out for yourselves! Parents, staff and students couldn’t make this stuff up – too unbelievable even for for fiction or a tv show.
Rosa Murray has been the chair of the BOE several times before, she is not new to that position. Apparently they all take turns.
And, just for the record, is is the BOE position NOT to respond to any public commentary made during a BOE meeting. I wonder where they stand LEGALLY on that position?
# 4 # 3 is correct when the tree is rotton it will not produce fruit. Education has to start from the top. Norwalk has a rotton tree.
Not arguing that it could be on the agenda, only that it is not their only agenda. Their only agenda should be the education of children. If getting rid of Corda falls in that category, so be it. It may seem like a play on words to you but it is a huge difference. One way the focus is a person, the other is the true focus of being on the board. If any individual is on the board solely to rid the town of Corda, they should resign. Each member should be on to better NPS as a whole. If the fall out lands at Corda’s feet, as it did in his last contract negotiation, then that was part of of the bettering process. But the focus of bettering the system as a whole for the town and for the children needs to remain a clear focus, not keeping a single minded focus of getting rid of Corda at all costs. Many still believe the whole ASI pick was the result of the single minded focus of getting rid of Corda and it was not in the best interests of NPS or the children of Norwalk.
There is no excuse for abstaining on a vote unless you were absent from a meeting and can’t comment on approval of the minutes. These Norwalk elected officials are disgraceful, hypocritical, reprehensible, phony, egomaniacal children who sulk at any provocation. They need to GROW THE F–K UP! We elected them for whatever reason (primarily because there aren’t many decent choices), and they need to REPRESENT THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO SIT ON THEIR ASSES AND PRETEND TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW TO RUN A BOARD OF EDUCATION!
GET OVER YOURSELVES AND START DOING THE PEOPLES BUSINESS.
Point made loud and clear. And again, it goes back to them not having clear focus of what their task should be – the education of the children of Norwalk. Many people on here have made good points that no one new was elected to the BOE this term so they are all familiar with each other and regular procedure to get to know each other’s stands could be overlooked – they already know. It was a childish move and did not keep the focus of their task. Let’s just hope all board members – not just those who abstained – but all – are reading and remember to keep clear heads and stay on course.
The board of ed meetings are “meetings in the public” not public meetings. They are officiated the same way that the common council meetings are.
I hear everybody loudly and clearly. The sad thing is that the same things have been said for years and we are still in the same place or worse.
The myopic and pacifying politics needs to stop.
I can’t add much more to what has been said, other than I would stress the point made about the BOE and NPS Administrators going out to the schools and seeing what goes on for themselves. Sit in on some of the classroom sessions. We pay too much in taxes for what is observed in one of the schools in particular. The spirit of the place is enough to have made even the saintly parents spew invectives that fell on deaf ears in central office. The comments, the children and the parents were used as cannon fodder to help some of the folk you complain about get elected.
Some of these parents who serve on councils or volunteer their time seem to have missed their chance at popularity when they were younger and now are trying for a second chance in the school setting. Everyone wants to be better than and insecurity is read all over their actions and body language. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad.
Some of the homework assignments are handwritten and not even neatly, and worded so ambiguously that one wonders if children are being set up to fail. What happened to teaching to the long-term memory?
We hear that teachers can’t teach due to testing. I know a teacher at Side by Side Charter School who finds inventive ways to get through to the long term memory and this teacher makes education FUN. I wish this person could be cloned!
Parents are too tired from fighting to continue to fight. Others fear their concerns will be taken out on the children. THIS IS SHAMEFUL. WE PAY TAXES. WE PAY THEIR SALARIES!
Three final things:
1) They called Victor Herbert (I think that was
the name of the Superintendent back in 1996
or 1997) a renegade. What would have happened
had he been allowed to stay?
2) Look up The Peter Principle.
3) Education lawyers. Enough is enough. We
obviously are not getting through. If you
can’t afford a lawyer on your own, then share
the cost with other parents who, too, are fed
up. Choose an objective attorney, not one
who can be found in some of these folks’ back
pocket.
It’s sad, but true that the only thing these people seem to understand is money. My question is, where is all of the money going? It seems to be going to lazy and spoiled administrators whose salaries are higher than most in the area.
My biggest concern is special education children. What is happening to the autistic children and the special ed. practices are downright deplorable. From the report it seems that practices could bring about lawsuits. I’m shocked it’s taken this long to come to this realization, particularly those who have the money to fight. But then, their children are probably the ones who get taken care of.
Where is the dedication from teachers?
Where is the leadership from the top folk?
Is Norwalk becoming known for getting paid big bucks to play politics and do nothing for the children they are supposed to serve.
THEY GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE WE HAVE ALLOWED THEM TO GET AWAY WITH IT. REMEMBER THIS DURING THE NEXT ELECTION PROCESS.
#20: Please don’t even try to imagine what Victor Herbert would have done. The man left a trail of destruction in New York and Phoenix and then in Norwalk. He was as loose a cannon as any I have ever seen, and he brought with him some incredible (and I don’t mean that in a good way) people, one of whom has been fired from more than one district after his stint in Norwalk.
Oh. And those of you who object to Bruce Mellion’s not having to teach anymore, while collecting a salary, should remember that it was the Victor Herbert administration that put that into the contract.
#22 OK, thank you for the information. It is just
so very sad what is happening in education. We are trying to remain hopeful, but the IMMATURITY and low expectations of some teachers and admin. at our present situation leaves much to be desired.
Someone again mentioned today that teachers take complaints out on students’ grades. True or not (yesterday a tutor suggested this in jest) we’ve heard this one too many times…..insidiously evil, totally dysfunctional and plain sick.
How long will this go on?