Norwalk: BOE Budgets Over Time

by turfgrrl

March 16th, 2007 · 66 Comments

Tags: In the News · Local · Norwalk

66 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: BOE Budgets Over Time”

• 1 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 7:34 pm

  RE: FINANCIAL HISTORY link does not work.
  Gee everyone must be out shoveling. no one is writing tonight.

• 2 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 7:43 pm

  No link.:( Still would like to know why the cutting does not start at the top? They want the schools to micro manage themselves;we have not seen an administrator from down town in our building more than 3 times in the past five years. If it is about the students then let it be just that about the students.

• 3 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 7:50 pm

  Sorry about that, the link should be fixed now.

• 4 Anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 7:57 pm

  Great article.
  The attached link was empty.
  Do you think that the only reason Norwalk Schools held class today was due to the fact Corda would have to defend his giving his Administrator’s another free additional paid day off? Instead I heard `+there were over 60 teachers who called out today and they closed school after a 1/2 day today. So much about responsible decision making.

• 5 intheknow // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:02 pm

  Great article.
  The attached link was empty.
  Do you think that the only reason Norwalk Schools held class today was due to the fact Corda would have to defend his giving his Administrator’s another free additional paid day off. Instead there were over 60 teachers who called out today Corda closed school after a 1/2 day today instead of canceling school. Instead he choose to endanger the lives of the students. So much about responsible decision making.

• 6 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:26 pm

  Try now … make sure to refresh the page, I changed the code so a new window should open up.

• 7 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:27 pm

  Norwalk Schools were closed today for another reason. Thats why you didn’t hear it on the school closings.
  They were already closed. Besides that, high schools have been on a very short schedule for the past 2 weeks so that the 10th graders could take cap tests. I don’t ever remember schools being closed when I was growing up so that one grade could take tests. The other grades have only been in school approximately 3-4 hrs each day for the past 2 weeks.

• 8 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:29 pm

  intheknow: Sort of, when I saw that Norwalk Schools were open, I immediately thought, hrm, Corda must be smarting from the non-snow, snow day he ordered. Then again, maybe he checked the blog this morning to see if he could close the schools and was too traumatized by yet another Bruce Morris post.

• 9 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:35 pm

  Interesting numbers aren’t they? So, tell me why whe our students enrollment has gone down are we being hog tied by the Superintendant to dish out more and more money each year at the expense of Norwalk’s infrastructure and the taxpayers?

• 10 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:37 pm

  anonymous 7: Wow! That is ridiculous. Clearly testing has taken priority over learning. How long is this test, or are they using Instruction Specialists to test 10th graders individually?

• 11 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:38 pm

  #7. Schools were not closed for the CAPT testing they were on a shortened day schedule for 9,11,and 12. 10th graders came in later to take the test. Schools were not closed today for teachers until 12noon. Another misconseption. Yes teachers did call in and used sick time to take a hazzardous day to be on the road off, while the ones that showed up saved the others a day at the end of the year that we do not have to make up. On my way home today I saw two spin outs and one of them was the car directly behind me. We teachers had a professional day in which we have to sit through seminars to learn the latest in assessment, grading and yadda yadda what ever is planned for us. I was a kid some time ago and yes we had snow days then too, and standardized tests were taken also. Have a great night and keep warm in this snow!

• 12 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:40 pm

  Who knows what they are doing! All i know is that kids have been let out mostly by 10:30 every day so that the 10th graders would have access to the buses.
  I’m confused…why didn’t they just go at the same time as everyone else? Years ago the testing was done during the students home room period. Am i missing something here?

• 13 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:44 pm

  anonymous 11: Thanks for clarifying. However I still don’t understand the logistics requiring shifting grades round for a test. You bring up another pet peeve, which is the requirement to make up snow days. I’ve never understood that recent phenomena. back in the day, the last day of school was fixed, and whatever the weather delivered was just factored in. I also remember plenty of teachers assigning books or projects to be tackled for such days too. Am I too assume that teachers no longer get to design contingency programs these days?

• 14 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:45 pm

  As to the Budget increase document- I wonder how much of that increase was for technology and the need to furnish new additions in the district? It is too bad there is no break down of monies allocated for line items. That might be a better indicator as to the needs of the future. Just thinking out loud.

• 15 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:47 pm

  #11, thats exactly what I said. Sorry if I wasn’t clear on what I was saying.

  (Besides that, high schools have been on a very short schedule for the past 2 weeks so that the 10th graders could take cap tests. )

  They were on a shotened day. not off the whole time. My question is why? I wasn’t sure what today was just heard that kids were off. I heard it on the radio as well. All saints and Norwalk Public Schools closed. Don’t you think Mr. Corda could have taken the teachers safety into account and cancelled todays events? Sometimes I wonder about that man.

• 16 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:51 pm

  Turfgrrl,
  It is important for the tests to be given the same all over the state. They are timed tests and they are given with the same instructions and time allotment so that it can be scored as such-a timed test. When we were students the tests were given when the school was in session and the chaos of intruptions and staffing to proctor was a scary mess. As for the later arrivel of the 10th graders (I am also a parent of an 11th grader who took these tests last year) it was important the students were well rested and fed before taking these tests to give them every opportunity to test at their best. It has been proven that the well rested tester does better and without the other grades in the school the interuptions and distractions are gone. Hope this has given you some understanding.

• 17 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:51 pm

  anonymous 14: That’s an excellent point, and one that should be clarified by Corda. Which is my point. Large capital expenditures should be excluded form those operational expenses, and maybe a breakout of instructional versus administration would be in order. Actually, perhaps i am answering my own query here, didn’t I read recently that a $200k technology expense was ok’d by Mayor Moccia out of a capital budget fund?

  Bottom line, a CFO type should be managing the budget. Corporations run that way, school systems should be run that way.

• 18 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 8:56 pm

  OH, one more thing the making up of days started because of a state law that says we have to go to school 180 days. This is not true for private/catholic schools. Another way to get your moneys worth. We also work on election day and Usually presidents day because we now in school 183 days. I hear they are pushing for a full year kindergarten…do you see day care written all over that one?

• 19 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:01 pm

  anonymous 16: That clarifies yet also mystifies. It seems to be that creating a test taking sanctuary sort of defeats the life lesson here, which is knowing the material cold.

• 20 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:06 pm

  OK, so now that we are clear on the reasons for the short days for testing and the snow days, we still have the CORDA problem. If there are any teachers here can someone shed some light on just how effective he is? How often have you seen him at your schools? When was the last time Bruce Morris was at your school? And the big question…how many out of town students would you say attend your school? So far Corda has admited to a handful, is this number correct and what is being done about it? If there are more, who is reporting this and again, what is being done about it? When was the last time you didn’t have to reach into your own pockets for supplies? These are important questions if we are to understand the reasons behind the budget requests each year.

• 21 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:07 pm

  Not everyone is as sharp as you! All need to have a fair playing field.

• 22 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:07 pm

  Anonymous 18: More evidence of misguided legislation methinks. It’s the same mindset in the corporate world though, once the domain of 9 to 5. But that was only 35 hours of work if people got an hour for lunch, so it became 9 to 6, and then lunch “brown bag” meetings. Then there’s the mandatory overtime, but you are a “professional” or “supervisor” so no time and half.

• 23 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:12 pm

  I have seen Corda in our school maybe one a year. As to his effectiveness he lets others micro-manage. Have seen BM twice in school. As to the out-of towners I don’t know. I buy suppies weekly, tissues, pencils…with my regular shopping list. Budget requests should come with line items and be clear for the board to cut where excess is listed.

• 24 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:15 pm

  Sorry I was to type once in #23.

• 25 cantaffordit // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:22 pm

  It appears using simple Math that the student population has been falling the last few years. It is projected that there will be 600 less students next year than there were in 2003. If you use the cost per student in 2003-2004 dollars (10,000, per student). The new budget should have reflected a decrease, on a per student basis of a minimal of a $6,000,000. Their enrollment is less than it was 10 years ago, yet there are no reflections in their budget of even an ounce of savings based on declining enrollment. In business if you are losing business (i.e. student) you cut costs accordingly while seeking to improve. Looking at test scores and the budget neither has served the students nor the citizens well.
  I urge the Council and the Board of Tax keep the cap. If you need to spend more money do it on infrastructure. To the Board of Ed get responsible.

• 26 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:24 pm

  anonymous 21: Life does not come with a fair playing field. But I have a better response than that. I once taught a computer troubleshooting course at a local college. At the end of each chapter were all multiple choice tests that reviewed the material. It didn’t take me long to figure out that you could read the quizzes online, and memorize the answers and totally not comprehend the material. So I added a variable. I would take one or two random questions from the quiz and require that the students answer in essay format why the answer to the question was what it was.

  Needless to say I had one young man, a professional test taker, object to this new format. He complained that in the tech world, you never had to answer essay questions. I laughed and asked, “how do you think budget requests for new equipment get written then?” It took weeks before the class accepted the idea of essay answers to technology questions, but I wouldn’t budge. Months afterwards I would periodically get emails citing how that skill, the ability to communicate the why behind the answer served them well in their IT careers. Even from my professional test taker who said it was the closest to real world training he got out of technology classes.

  Ok, my example is all apples and oranges, or more to the point ibms, but I do believe that learning should be a natural and organic thing relating to one’s life and not some antiseptic sterile thing that relates to nothing.

• 27 anonymous // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:35 pm

  Trufgrrl,
  I agree with what you posted in #26. However, when having any standardized test it has to be validated in many ways. You are talking about a college course, we are dealing with high school and NCLB stats that are reported to colleges and the government. If I were to make up the test I am sure it would look far different than what I saw in the past two weeks. But we live in a mixed up crazy world. Thank goodness that there are people in the world that look at a persons common sense and drive above their CAPT scores.

• 28 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:43 pm

  anonymous 27: Yes they are different, but only because society in general and politicians in specific have chosen to take the joy out of education, and reduce it to a series of tests that can somehow measure productivity. It’s amazing to me that 50 years ago or so, literacy was at an all time high. This was achieved, not through test taking, lengthening the school year, homework at the preschool level, or “technology in the classroom”, but through simple curriculums that included reading books, writing about what you’ve read, and reading some more.

• 29 Watchdog // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:43 pm

  Whoa, Turfie… check out the above responses to a BOE topic! Let’s dig deeper in that closet, if possible. Something sure smells and it ain’t them ole tennis shoes!

  Hey, kiddies… glad to see you’re staying in. Happy St. Paddy’s Eve, y’all!

• 30 turfgrrl // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:44 pm

  Oh, and if you click on the graph, you get a bigger version of it. It occurred to me that maybe people couldn’t see the axis labels.

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