With NorwalkNet doing a fine a job of covering the nitty grity on BOE issues, I’ve been slacking on education coverage. Imagine my surprise to find new interim superintendent, WIlliam Papallo, providing detailed backup on issues before the BOE. Way to go. (Superintendent Board Meeting Information click to read the packet.) But in perusing said material it stuck me that two issues, the assistant principals and elementary schools and the reinstatement of the human resources assistant position, were worthy of some closer examination.
Sure parents want all the resources for their kids education. The issue, as always, is the allocation of those resources. What the BOE has to weigh is all the mandates and funding triggers that will ensure Norwalk Public Schools shows all the test score improvement it can, while wrnagling various dollars from grants and the feds in addition to the state. Assistant principals at the elementary level fill in how? That is the sixty-four million dollar question, although I don’t think literally.
The Human Resources Assistant is an interesting position. Here Papallo outlines funding sources, and job duties and the technical skills of the job. Starting with, in position numero uno, “a college degree is required.” What? You mean there are standards for human resource positions? Will Papallo finally address the utter lack of qualifications of Bruce Morris? As previously posted here, Morris has no college degree let alone a Masters degree. Farther down the list, the HR assistant can translate written Spanish and knows basic oral Spanish. The HR Assistant covers the office from 4:00 to 5:00 each day, to serve the public and employees who are unavailable at other times. Granted the Human Resources position deals with employee issues; insurance, benefits, etc. while the Human Relations Director deals with …. er, what does the Human Relations Director deal with? There are six different health plans in place. Six. Here’s why a CFO level finance director could have made a difference years ago. For an 800 employee base having six health plans is inefficient. Sure there may be some specialized reasons for keeping some plans for different pools of employees. Likely do to union contracts. But preserving coverage doesn’t mean you have to keep a basket of health care providers constant. Or maybe that speaks to exactly how our health care system is broken, when its not so simple to say– hey large corporate health care provider, cover all our employees with the same coverage at the lowest price.
Meanwhile, with economy hitting the local day worker and service industries pretty hard in Connecticut, Danbury businesses that cater to the Hispanic population have been reporting that business is down and people are moving out of Danbury. Does this hold true for Norwalk? Is anyone tracking this? How will that impact school enrollment?
And possibly raise the bar a little higher on what we taxpayers will tolerate -
I am impressed by the thoroughness of the superintendent's analysis, and I wonder if the Corda administration did anything similar before making budget cuts. I suspect that they did not because if they did, there would have been such a document already in existence. Then again, Sal had lost so much credibility that his analysis would have been suspect anyway.. Dr. Papallo has already established himself as a superintendent who pays attention to the important details and who is actually on the job, which includes being in the schools. Let's hope he stays for at least a year in order to give him the opportunity to establish a budget that makes sense and to make other organizational and staffing decisions that will serve the students, rather than meet the needs of the employees who hold the positions.
we dont need no hate or bias No one is trying to pinch the little guy, if you make more than a half a million than how much is enough? When your fellow Americans and neighbors are suffering its time we all did our parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lunIGnMpETs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUASiDg-kg4
Well, I hope the trend continues with making smart decisions for the students and staff of Norwalk Public Schools. I am still saddened over the elimination of the Dean of Students position at BMHS. Mr C will be sorely missed by ALL.
Have pity on the taxpayers of this fine city and send all the spendthrift democrats on rhe BOE who love spending your money on vice principals and administrators out the door in November.
Until Bruce Morris is history this city is a disgrace. He probably "had something" on Corda, but Corda's gone and Morris is still there – well, no actually, he's not there. Can't Pappalo do something about him now? Morris is first of all a racist, second does not have the required educational credentials for the job (but somehow got hired?), and third of all had an arrangement with Sal which allowed him to be up in Hartford most of the time but still collect his whole paycheck as long as "got his job done." BUT – he didn't get his job done and anyone else who ran for the State Legislature and was elected would have been expected to take a leave of absence or just plain get out. I'm ready to sue the city for what this whole issue does to my blood pressure which used to be low (and still is until I start thinking about Morris).
I don't disagree with your comments about Bruce Morris, but please don't absolve the board of education of major responsibility for this. The board should have insisted upon accountability by Mr. Morris, i.e., accountability for the credentials needed for the job, as well as accountability for doing the job and doing it with integrity. The board could also have eliminated the position in the recent budget cuts, but it opted to retain a job that is held by someone who does little good for the Norwalk Public Schools.
I wish I understood better how this new Intense Debate business works, but I just got a personal e-mail from someone reminding me, regarding my comment up above, that it wasn't just Corda but the entire Board who let Bruce Morris get away with what he got away with – AND retained his position when a lot of hard-working people who are very much needed downtown lost their jobs, creating extra strain on the people left in those departments. Anyway, Norwalk Coach, you're absolutely right – ALL INCUMBENTS GO. Clean new slate for the BOE this year!
hate This: Yeah it's one of the features that if someone replies to you comment you get notified. You can turn it off in your intense debate profile if you don't like it.
<DIV>I don't mind it, I'm just having a little trouble figuring the whole thing out 'cause I'm a bit of a technophobe. I didn't even mean to name myself \”Hate This\” that was sort of a comment on the fact that I was hating trying to get out and now I can't figure out how to change the name!
Hate This – I think to change your "name", you would have to sign out of "yourCT.com" and then sign up again with a new name. I do understand your frustration, been there, done that. Best of luck to you.
In Reply to Hate This' comment about Mr. Morris, which I can't seem to post as a reply to him.
The saddest thing is that Mr. Morris will be the only candidate on the ballot for State Rep. for the SONO district (District B, I think?) this coming election. What is even sadder still is that many people believe that you must vote for at least one candidate for every office. NO, no, no! If you don't like the candidates, you do not have to fill in the little circle at all. I can't tell you how many people simply don't realize this. For anyone who lives in SONO and doesn't like Mr. Morris, you have the option of not voting for anyone. He'll still get in since he is unopposed, but it won't be courtesy of your vote. In the mean time, someone figure out someone else to send to Hartford instead of Mr. Morris. Herbert Grant would be an excellent choice, but I don't think he lives in the district. Maybe Joe Mann has some good candidates in mind.