One of the mroe interesting things to come out of the law suit filed by the Norwalk Federation of Teachers Union is this:
“Over the last year, support for Corda among Norwalk’s teachers evaporated as a result of, among other things, Corda’s refusal to enact policies and practices which the NFT and its members believed were appropriate and in the best interests of Norwalk’s children, his failure to communicate appropriately, openly and respectfully with educational personnel and his perceived lack of knowledge of the day to day operations of Norwalk’s schools,” the suit reads.
Teachers union President Bruce LeVine Mellion said not every teacher would agree that support for Corda has “evaporated,” but most do.
This is hugely important and should not be overlooked by the BOE. Think Mutiny on the Bounty. Think “we’re not going to take it any more.” Think the Boston Tea party. The teachers have been saying that Corda doesn’t know what is going on with his own schools. That’s a big deal.
Will the BOE convene a special meeting to address this undercurrent before it erupts into a full out mega disaster?
The union is not at the point of holding a no-confidence vote, Mellion said.
“We have not raised that yet,” he said. “I’m not commenting on that at all.”
The last Norwalk superintendent to be the subject of a no-confidence vote was Victor Herbert.
The school board bought out his contract one year early in 1999. Corda arrived in 2001 to rebuild the district after the turmoil of Herbert’s departure.
Corda declined to comment on a pending lawsuit. The school district’s attorney did not return a call.
At last month’s meeting, the board approved a new contract for Corda but didn’t hand out a copy of it until five minutes before public comments were called for, followed by an immediate vote.
You’d think that there’d be plenty of commenting about right now. None of the charges are news to Corda. Why doesn’t he have his “creating an understanding of my performance“, powerpoint at his finger tips.
Even the flunkie that serves as the president of the organization for superintendents thinks this is bad news.
David Larson, president of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said the suit appears to be the result of teachers’ simmering hostility toward the superintendent.
“It looks like there is some bad blood there with some past disagreements and I don’t know what they are or how they emanated,” Larson said. “But if the union had a legitimate gripe, they had the opportunity to file a grievance through the terms of their contract.”
The lawsuit does not have merit, Larson said.
Of course speaking the weasel words that the law suit doesn’t have merit doesn’t mean much. He has to say that. The fact that there is a law suit is the bigger issue.
source: The Advocate, Union says teachers don’t back Corda, By Alexandra Fenwick, September 20 2007
