Norwalk BOE Still Working On Superintendent Search

The BOE is busy, um, doing stuff about filling that superitendent position. Like pikcing a search firm, which they finally got around to agreeing might be a good idea. Naturally there are the hire-a-native peeps who think the homegrown certficated already in the system people should have a shot at this. Some of them even are on the BOE. But a search firm it is, and now future superintendent candidates can be subjected to the “process.”

What, you ask, is the process? The Hour handidly reports:

The Norwalk superintendent search committee received four proposals from search firms and expects to begin working with one “in the not too distant future,” said Interim Superintendent Bill Papallo.

He also said at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, which directly followed the first search committee meeting, that once that decision is made, he expects a timeline of three to four months for the entire process to be complete.

“We are moving along,” Papallo said. “I think the key is to (build) the base at the beginning, which we’ve done, and we’re ready to make that move (to proceed). The board is ready.”

The Board of Education is serving as its own search committee to find Norwalk’s new superintendent and has said it wants to hire a search firm to help vet qualified candidates.

Papallo said the committee sent out a request for proposals to seven search firms and received four back.

The search committee reviewed those proposals Tuesday, and Papallo said the committee will meet with those firms “in the not too distant future” and make a selection.

“Once that search firm decision is made we’ll begin to immediately be prepared” to collect community input, said Papallo.

He said the search committee will be meeting with community groups, and there will be opportunities for the search firm to visit with focus groups so the committee members have a broad range of input from the community about what characteristics they’d like the new superintendent to have.

Nothing to see hear, keep moving along.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association is ready to advertise the job on its Web site and has completed a brochure promoting the position and the Erie School District.
School directors invite community members who want input into the search to submit their names to the school district office. The public is welcome to share thoughts on what kind of superintendent Erie School District needs and what challenges that person may face, school board President Gary Horton said.
Horton summarized search progress to date during a school board committee meeting at Wilson School Wednesday.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association is coordinating the superintendent search.
“The search has gotten off to a great start. I have every confidence that PSBA will lead us to a good successor for Dr. Barker,” Horton said.
School directors hope to have a new superintendent on the job in time to work with outgoing schools Superintendent Jim Barker.
Barker, 60, has said that he will retire from the position on April 26.
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  • jillcooks

    Great…how much is that going to cost?
    So we have some folks who are already in the system, know where the strengths and weaknesses of our school system are, some of those folks “in the system” even have proven strengths for turning a school around…hmmm makes perfect sense to spend more money to look elsewhere. Helloooo? anybody home???……………cue the crickets chirping………..

  • High School Project

  • http://www.parentsforcolarossi.com Steve Colarossi

    Other than the inordinate delay without any progress toward the goal of hiring a new superintendent, the lack of concern that these delays might result in the need to hire a second interim superintendent which will cost the taxpayers more and the prospect that the incumbents are hiring a search firm (which is not a cheap item) at a time when deficits are predicted for next year, I would also think that we might want to be concerned that one of the uses of the search firm is to solicit public input. Now, call me old-fashioned, but I thought that our elected officials, who are our representatives, would take the time to find out for themselves what our community’s concerns were regarding the next superintendent. I would think that after years of interacting with parents, teachers and the taxpayers, after many nights attending PTO meetings at our many schools and after all their school visits, these incumbents would know the concerns and values of our community and guide the superintendent search accordingly. But, the incumbents seem to have completely avoided that level of community and school interaction (which, I would think, is critical to the role of a Board of Education member). And now we are the ones paying the price for that lack of involvement.

  • For the Kids

    You’re right. Nothing new here… If the incumbents were in tune with the community they would know the best way to proceed with a search in a TIMELY fashion. They would have been proactive and recruiting months ago. They are out of touch, out of reach and with everyone’s vote, they will be “out of office” in due course….

  • Barnstorm

    I nominate Bruce Kimmel. Then we can save some money and actually spend it on the kids.

  • Joe

    Steve wrote “after many nights attending PTO meetings at our many schools “. That’s funny, I’ve attended EVERY PTO meeting at my child’s school for the last 3 years and I have NEVER seen a BOE member there.

    • http://www.parentsforcolarossi.com Steve Colarossi

      Jack Chiaramonte, Glenn Iannacone and Susan Hamilton would come to PTO meetings and school events at Naramake. Gregg Burnett graciously accepted an invitation last year to speak about the city-wide issues that could impact the schools. But, Gregg wasn’t renonminated leaving us with a slate of incumbents seeking re-election who, I think based upon their track records, just don’t seem to value interacting with the parents and visiting the schools.

  • Cindy

    The comments at The Hour are quite telling of what we can expect in the future.

    http://www.thehour.com/story/471082

  • http://YourCT.com Double D

    Is that why Jack’s store is never open?

  • Beleagured Taxpayer

    Anyone who was remotely involved in the approval of Corda should be expunged from ripping off the taxpayers again.

  • NorwalkSpectator

    T-13 days and counting…til Election Day. You’ll have your chance then, Beleagured, to vote for someone other than Jimenez and Murray, both of which I am told were on the selection committee that chose Corda. Steve Colorassi, Sue Haynie, Artie Kassimis and Erin Halsey would love to have your support, I’m sure. Just remember the debacles over Naramake, Nathan Hale and the NHS pool, all brought to you by the candidates that are up for re-election. Choose wisely!

  • Secondhand Rose

    How about ruling that at least half of the BOE members should have children who are actually attending Norwalk schools? Maybe then these board members would finally understand why everyone is pointing the finger at them.

    Hopefully this would make these board members more responsive to the taxpayers and, more importantly, to the parents! And more aware that the actions they take have real-life consequences which end up filtering down to the children who are most directly affected by what the’ve put in place.

    Like with the budget – Start hitting the BOE members in the wallet themselves, and then maybe we’ll finally see them taking steps to reduce administrative costs and those high salaries and put the money to use in the schools so that teachers aren’t reduced to teaching from carts or using their own money to purchase school supplies.

    Because up til now the BOE has been able to rise above the taxpayers’ complaints, but when they realize that they themselves are directly impacted by their own policies and votes and realize that the funding that they so often claim they need “for the children” is somehow always diverted to administrative uses and directly impacts their own children then maybe we’ll see something get done about this. Up til now the BOE members haven’t been affected in the least by their own policies, and it’s become far too easy for them to overlook their own culpability.

  • NorwalkSpectator

    They are directly impacted, Rose, since over 60% of the taxes go to the school system. But I seem to remember Jimenez making some kind of remark that she thought was “funny” or possibly “witty” during the budget hearings about not having kids in the District. That was a real knee-slapper, that one. The one thing that everyone needs to remember is that while the budget needs to be reduced so that we can afford it, it implies that services will be cut. There are only so many people who can do so much in a given time period. People keep talking about reducing the staff at Central Office, which sounds good on paper, but when your kids PPT or transcript or something else doesn’t get done because there simply isn’t enough time to do it, that’s where the budget’s been cut.

  • Secondhand Rose

    I’m not talking about their taxes, per se. What I mean is, if they don’t have any of their own children in the school system, then nothing they do as a board member impacts on THEM. So they really aren’t invested in doing what’s “best” for Norwalk; they just want to do whatever they want to do because they don’t feel the impact personally.

    Everybody pays taxes; you can’t really use that as justification. Everybody pays, but nobody really knows where the money trail goes. You mail your check to the Tax Dept. and the check is cashed but there’s no trail to follow where your 97 cents is being used. If BOE members were required to have their children in Norwalk schools in order to be allowed to serve on the board, then they would have a more vested interest in doing right by the children instead of just whatever idealized fantasy they have of running a school board.

  • Steward

    Here’s a Corda departure interview that is hiding away in plain sight.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3a9sc0ABU

    Six views only?

  • Steward

    Ah. Now that I have more time, a comment on the video. When I first saw this, my initial thought was, “What’s with the eyes?” I would have followed up on each statement to verify the truth.

    He’s very buzz-word compliant. Only let his facade slip for a second.

    Anyway, before interviewing the next guy, watch this video first. Your follow up questions will be easy.

  • This is for ALL Norwalks Children

    Congratulations Norwalk ! !

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L52gGTK_KyM

    Reporters, you heard it here FIRST on “yourct.com” .

    For those that missed the first run here is an encore;

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8arvEzHsA8

    Great work by all involved.

    Tip of the hat to the Board of Education.

    Further anouncements forthcoming.