At the Monday night BOE meeting, it was announced that Karen Lang the embattled Director of Curriculum is to resign at the end of the school year. Could it be related to the dismal state of instruction in our Norwalk schools? Maybe. Or maybe the weird relations that keep cropping up is just another ice berg that Corda is suddenly trying to avoid.
Norwalk: Karen Lang To Resign At year End
by turfgrrl
February 6th, 2008 · 55 Comments
Tags: In the News
55 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: Karen Lang To Resign At year End”
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Could it be that her 35% raise last year was intended to give her a tremendous boost in her pension, thereby taxing an already-underfunded teachers’ retirement fund?
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Let’s keep an eye on this. I think her contract goes for another year or two. Is she getting a buyout??
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She’s been teaching a course somewhere else on “our time” for God knows how long. She’s also just plain NOT a nice person - is anyone out there old enough to remember when people went into education because they loved kids, and when warm & fuzzy was OK.
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thankfully she is leaving. she already has a 150,000 retirement pension from her ny days. her brother in law, bobbie chiappetta retired last yeaqr from his own 150,000 city job with a 150,000 ny pension. maybe the othe ny guy mac hughes leaves with his 150,000 ny pension and our 150,ooo salry. 300k a year from taxpayers, nice work if you can find it.
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#4: I don’t like her at all, but all of your information is way off-base.
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They’ll be swinging and swaying, guitars playing, dancing in the streets… The David Bowie version:)
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#4: Chiapetta is the father of her daughter’s husband, not her brother in law. He has a CT pension that isn’t even close to what you reported. I have no idea what her NY pension is, but she worked there so long ago that I don’t think it’s possible that the pension is even in that same ballpark. Trust me. I’m not defending her or Chiapetta.
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number 7, doesn’t these family relations smell of nepotism when hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars are at stake ? BTW how MANY FULLERS ARE ON THE CITY PAYROLL ?
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Can anyone tell me one thing that she did to improve the Norwalk Public Schools except for eating the leftover pickles at Central Office during meetings?
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#9: LOL!!! She is shameless about eating the pickles!!!!!
That said, I can think of no redeeming qualities.
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AHA! Pickles! All this time I thought that sunny countenance was due to gas pains. Good news for Norwalk is undone by the fact she is likely to continue her role as a university instructor. That way she can taint the next generation of teachers and administrators with her sour views.
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Let’s hope Corda and Ophel not sure on his spelling follow suit.
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Speaking of Opdahl…what the hell has he done besides taking industrial arts equipment, screwing up the construction contracts, and taking away our printing department, which cost us more to outsource. Wait a minute…I got it. Opdahl is going to hire Lang to taste test for the new pickle contract Norwalk just signed with Vlasic while she collects another pension and keeps her adjunct job and Corda will be the new head golf coach! It’s a dangerous job so they’ll have to upgrade his life insurance to 2.5 million per year! And they’ll keep Bruce Morris too. He’s going to make sure enough African Americans join the golf team. We don’t want another Tiger Woods slipping through Norwalk’s already large cracks in the system. How do you fill the cracks? By using industrial arts equipment! See the vicious circle! Oh my God, what’s next…Bob Henry and Iziar Mikolic teaching sensitivity training and proper birth control methods at out next professional development day?
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I found the letter that all staff members received from Corda via email a poor representation of what the Cambridge Report stated. Of course, there was no mention of the administrative problems. Oh what a tangled web we weave…
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Wow, anon 13… you really know the players. Amazing connections you made here with Henry and Mikolic.
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I never made the connection until now, but does Karen Lang have that sour, disapproving look on her face because she has been eating sour pickles?
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what’s the scoop with Bob Henry…he seems to be OK, at least that is what I thought of him after I met him.
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Aunt Bertha, I was also unimpressed by Corda’s letter; his blew his credibility long ago. People who work in the schools know many of the problems and have been talking about them for years.
This is a superintendent who calls us “folks,” when he talks to us, as though he and we were pals. He talks about how he values and respects our work, but the truth is that he has no way to understand it because he has been in the schools very few times over the seven years he has been here.
He calls us a “learning community,” but the truth is that we are not in this together. He and Stu make all of the budgetary decisions, even when they make no educational sense, and they don’t want to hear otherwise.
Karen Lang is no better; she has nothing but disdain for us, and it shows. She is in charge of curriculum and instruction; look how curriculum and instruction fared in the Cambridge Report. Does she not bear considerable responsibility for this? She is in charge of instruction, but has she ever observed a single class in any of our schools?
She finds time to go to her many conferences, but no time to visit the schools. Does she ever share what she has learned with teachers and administrators?
She has time to go on Center for Global Studies trips (for free), even taking her husband (who, presumably pays for his airfare and food, although not for the hotel room he shares with her), but she doesn’t have time to spend in the schools. Has she ever taught teachers anything about how they might differentiate or otherwise improve their instructional delivery? No. Yet, she is in charge of instruction. Dr. Lang, we won’t miss you.
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Anon 17, Bob Henry would have made a better Chief Operations Officer that Stu. At least he has the credentials. Too bad he was overlooked.
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Are you saying Stu Didn’t have the credentials for his position Norwalker?
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How about we get rid of the Radon and Mold in our schools first, then deal with corrupt officials. Health first, Corruption second.
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Anon 17…..Was this comment posted by Mr. Henry or Mrs. Henry?
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What I really found the most affirming in the report is the part about assessment. Lord knows we are assessed up the wazoo and these poor kiddies can hardly stand much more. It pains me to hear kids tell me “I don’t like school” due to the dry nature of CMT skills. Oh, to gaily teach an interdisciplinary unit according to pedagogical norms!
Back to Cambridge: considering the sacrifice we all make to address extensive assessment, the problem we’ve noted all along IS the assessing of WHAT WORKS and WHAT DOESN’T. For goodness sakes, this is what data is for. Too often, Norwalk tosses out entire programs for something new on the shelf. Certainly, we should build on what is effective and finetune only where there are concerns. Dismantling is risky business and also results in poor morale, as evidenced by simple conversation with any Norwalk teacher.
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#23 - You hit the nail on the head. These kids are so sick of the CMTs. We need to get rid of the emphasis on them ASAP. When is the last time you heard a teacher say that they enjoy teaching. Emphasis on the CMTs has taken away teachers’ originality and freedom to do things in the classroom that are fun. Principals only worry about how to raise the scores. They don’t care that it is at the expense of the teachers losing the ability to run their classrooms the way they want to. We are told what to teach and how to teach it. It’s easier to get robots to do it. And how much money has been spent on programs we have thrown out two years later? What waste!
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#22 PLEASE explain your apparent dislike of Bob Henry. If you have something to say then say it and stop with hidden meanings.
Karen Lang resembles that Dick Tracey character, what was is name? Prune Face or was it Mumbles?
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The dislike of certain principals is due to whether or not a certain teacher is on their @&%$ list! If you are on their good side, then everthing is fine, but of course if you don’t like their leadership skills and disapprove of their “Hitleresque” style of running their building, well then, wait for their wrath. It helps in some schools if you happen to use your lips to smooch an area where one defecates! If you need to clean off the proboscis, Fantastic with bleach can help…Not talking from experience! Just observant!
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First and foremost I want to applaude all members of the community for bringing such vitality to important issues concerning the education of Norwalk’s children through this blog. But I find it ironic that people post ANONYMOUS comments that specifically name people and talk about other people’s personal lives which has NOTHING to do with the issues at hand. Stick to the facts and stick to PROFESSIONALISM. If you want to name people and talk about them in a demeaning manner, be sure to include your own name and inaccurate comments about yourself as well.
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Anon 13 - I would like to begin by saying that it does NOT take an educated person to pick apart the personal lives of others, such as you did w. Iziar Mikolik. Why don’t you spend some more time trying to focus on the real issues, instead of very unsuccessfully trying to be funny? I sure hope that you are not one of those religious people who goes to church weekly and uses the same tongue to recieve communion that you use to so classlessly insult others. If you have extra time, why don’t you become a volunteer, anywhere, doing something positive, instead of gossiping negatively about others? Before you point your finger, make sure your hands are clean.
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You have to admit, she is a principal of an elementary school. Young students look up to her. What example as a leader of the community is she setting for these young women and men? Besides low CMT scores, what else is there to offer but a warm, friendly environment? Something has got to turn around here. Change needs to happen quickly. I’m not sure she has what it takes to turn this around.
Check out the Silvermine website it has been outdated for over 2.5 years??? How do students and parents deal with this? How is this even acceptable? Something as little as this is so outdated. If this was my child’s website I would be insulted. Many others in the district have up to date and interactive sights for parents and children. -
You have to admit, she is a principal of an elementary school. Young students look up to her. What example as a leader of the community is she setting for these young women and men? Besides low CMT scores, what else is there to offer but a warm, friendly environment? Something has got to turn around here. Change needs to happen quickly. I’m not sure she has what it takes to turn this around.
Check out the Silvermine website it has been outdated for over 2.5 years??? How do students and parents deal with this? How is this even acceptable? Something as little as this is so outdated. If this was my child’s website I would be insulted. Many others in the district have up to date and interactive sights for parents and children.
