This weekend two links to other web sites offered a treasure trove of information. The first was a link to a side devoted to fire and police news. There I found a 2004 Matt “Mad Max Breslow article on the state of the Norwalk police department. Historical perspective provides an interesting look at current events.

Police Chief Harry Rilling acknowledged last week that the eight city policemen arrested or in serious departmental trouble in the past 17 months is an “unusual situation.”

“This period of time, where we’ve experienced these problems, has been unusual for us and I can’t recall anything I would compare this to,” Rilling said Friday, while sitting in the office he’s occupied since 1995.

However, during a discussion with reporters, Rilling said there is no pattern to the incidents and they do not indicate a systemic problem. He expressed confidence in his department and the community’s ability to keep the “inappropriate acts of a few people” from tainting its view of the rest of Norwalk’s 173 sworn officers and their work.

Rilling also criticized local media for continually “rehashing” and “sensationalizing” several officers’ recent problems, a practice he called “irresponsible.”

“We’re feeling the pain. This is the healing time for us, and we’ll get through this because we’re a strong department,” he said. “And my officers don’t deserve to be painted with one broad stroke of the brush.”

Most recently, a patrolman was charged Dec. 2 with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution after allegedly failing to come forward when he learned about a former police car the department was seeking in an officer-impersonation probe. Police said they learned the car was registered to the patrolman and being driven by his son, who was arrested and charged with posing as an officer.

Other incidents dating to July 2003 involve an officer who chraged with embezzlement before he retired from the department and a patrolman who pleaded guilty to bribe-taking and resigned.

Rilling said one officer’s arrest is too many and each case, no matter the severity, represents a violation of public trust because police are “bound to obey the laws they’re sworn to enforce.”

However, he said several arrests in the last year and a half were less serious than others. Four cases stemmed from alleged domestic incidents; charges were eventually dropped in three instances, while a judge granted accelerated rehabilitation in the other.

The variety and lack of connections between the recent cases make drawing any one conclusion impossible, Rilling said.

Hrmm. It would make a rather interesting article about what was then and what is now.

Meanwhile over in the Norwalk Public Schools, the discontent with Corda apparently is nothing new. Back in the day when he superintended another school system in New York, other bloggers, taxpayers and parents were concerned. Some highlights:

From bluebird:

Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:32 am Post subject:
Sal Corda sucked as does JJ. Both incompentant grand standers.

The problem is the Board of Education that does not keep her in line, and keeps stamping her contract year after year. So the anger should be directed at them they hold the keys to the school district.

count snarkula disagrees:

sal corda was a world educational leader, compared to JJ.

he was no genius. and had his faults. but if you have 1/10th the brain i presume you possess Birdman, there’s no comparison in the shape he left Peekskill schools, compared to the destruction wreaked by JJ’s reign of terror.

if you don’t know that, you must collect your paycheck or work for her directly in her lavish Elm Street lair.

bluebird retorts:

Sal corda was the biggest liar, the only claim to fame he had was pulling the wool over people’s eyes like you. You said it HE WAS NO GENIUS, BUT HE WAS A GREAT LIAR.

JJ is as well, I have no love for her, in fact I have about as much love for her as I had for LIAR Sal. He’s the past as she should be as well.

I would never work for this school district to much crap going on. The Board of Ed is in the toliet with JJ as was the last Bd of Ed in the Toliet with Sal.

peekskill voters adds:

Corda is now in the Norwalk School District in Connecticut.

It was recently identified as a District in need of improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act, just like Peekskill.

But like watchdog, I this line on a longer post about other things really jumped out. Mr. Sal “slush fund management” Corda has a history of unorthodox financial management. No wonder he got rid of the finance director. Since when is the school district a savings bank for my hard earn tax dollars to build up their fund balance, its as bad as when Corda used to put all the extra cash in the postal meter account, like no one ever noticed that there was almost $1 million in that account. HELLO AGAINST KIDS I THINK NOT.

I bet the Peekskill newspapers are filled with letters to the editor about Corda and his budget from when he was there. It’s too bad that more due diligence wasn’t performed on the guy prior to his coming to Norwalk. But the essential truth is that Corda has not improved our school district, teachers are unhappy and he allows Stuart Opdahl to mismanage operations, knowingly.

Today in The Hour:

by Barbara Macdonald

To the Editor:
Some things never change. Three years ago when I retired from teaching in the Norwalk public schools I thought teacher morale was at an all time low.

But I was wrong. Today it seems to have escalated.

After 35 years of dedicated service to the children of Norwalk, their families, and the city of Norwalk I moved on. It was time. I loved teaching art, I devoted my life to the job but oftentimes the stress and pressures of the job came home with me. It affected my health and my family. I was ready to face new challenges.

I was a typical Norwalk teacher. I poured my heart and soul into the job.

Unfortunately, however, in recent years, this dedication has not been appreciated or recognized by many school administrators. Not that many years ago administrative subject area supervisors existed. They were trained experts and knowledgeable in subject content and delivery in their subject area — they valued teachers’ opinions. They encouraged input. Teachers and administrators were a team dedicated to the success of educating the children. To the contrary, today, it seems every effort by the professional teaching staff to actively participate with positive ideas on how to improve the quality of education in Norwalk has fallen on deaf ears. Working environment, curriculum improvements, scheduling, the need for furniture or storage space in the classroom; every day obstacles, any issue of concern in the classroom, seems to be met with negativity.
Teachers are being treated as second-class citizens. Why? Teachers are people too. They are highly educated intelligent skilled craftsmen in their field. They are men and women who should be revered for their dedication to the profession of education. They too have husbands and wives and children and pressures of everyday life. They deserve to be treated with respect and human kindness like everyone else.

I understand that an unwritten policy of “professional courtesy” which previously was afforded all Norwalk teachers, whenever possible, is now being offered only to teachers who live out of town. I am referring to the practice of allowing teachers’ children to attend the Norwalk school of their choice if the classroom at that school has room for their child and they provide transportation. Boy oh boy, is that the ultimate slap in the face to all Norwalk teachers who live and work in Norwalk. They are the very ones who are paying hefty property taxes to the city of Norwalk, their employer. They pay for their children’s education. What kind of message does this send? Is this fair? I just don’t get it. If I am a teacher in Norwalk, living in Norwalk and my child has special needs or day care is a serious problem I feel my employer, the city of Norwalk should be sympathetic to my needs as a tax-paying parent and teacher. Why should the Board of Education only extend this “professional courtesy” to teachers who live out of town? (AND DON’T PAY TAXES TO THE CITY OF NORWALK) Is this fair??? I say, in the words of the editor of The Hour, throw them a “BRICKBAT”!

To the Board of Education and Dr. Corda — You are blessed to be working with the finest teachers in the nation. Do the right thing and extend the “professional courtesy” whenever possible on a needs basis to ALL Norwalk teachers. Do what is right and fair. Do your part to improve teacher morale. Listen to your teachers — value their opinions. Allow them to do what they are trained to do without putting up absurd barriers at every turn in the road. Listen with open ears! They have much to say — listen and learn.

by Barbara Macdonald