Now that the BOE has cut the revenue generating news stand, they are eyeing other cuts to the budget. The Advocate reports:
Parents, teachers and administrators from West Rocks Middle School crowded into last night’s school board meeting to decry staff reductions included in cuts to the district’s proposed budget.
The school board is trimming $1.4 million from its budget request to meet the $148.2 million the Board of Estimate and Taxation approved last month for 2008-2009. The school board was expected to vote on the budget reconciliation after deadline.
The school board also voted to appoint Director of Secondary Education Tony Daddona as the new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
Daddona has 30 years of experience in Norwalk, as a social studies teacher and guidance department chairman at Brien McMahon High School. He also was Norwalk High School’s interim principal for three years, after Dewey Amos retired in 2004.
When Norwalk High Principal Leonard Mecca was hired a year ago, Daddona returned to his job as director of secondary education.
Superintendent Salvatore Corda said during a presentation at the start of last night’s meeting that the cuts would not affect educational programs and that a majority of the school board’s Budget Committee supported the budget adjustments.
But several parents, teachers and administrators from West Rocks Middle School disagreed, decrying cuts of one part-time and one clerical position in the guidance department.
West Rocks Principal Lynne Moore said loss of the counselor, who would move to Ponus Ridge
Middle School, would lead to an unacceptable ratio of 224 students to one counselor.
In addition, the clerical worker who may lose her job, Nazira Coto, speaks Spanish, and provides much-needed support to families of bilingual students and their teachers, Moore said. Coto also provides support for special education teachers.Moore said administrators did not visit schools to see the effects of budget cuts, which also include elimination of two teaching positions at West Rocks, a large middle school.
“Every reduction hurts programs,” Moore said. “Education, as we know, is not simply an arithmetic problem.”
It was a standing-room-only crowd at the board meeting, with people spilling out of Room A300 in City Hall. A suggestion to move the meeting to the Community Room was declined because it was not possible to record comments.
Special education teacher Rosanne Fullam said the loss of the clerical position would mean that several teachers would have to handle documentation, taking time away from students.
“It’s not only unrealistic, but can potentially lead to legal issues,” Fullam said.
The cuts include elimination of nine teaching positions.
At last night’s board meeting, Daddona stood at the back of the packed room, next to assistant superintendent Karen Lang, who has retired.
The school board has for months discussed the number and types of candidates it would interview to replace Lang. Members decided to interview as many as four candidates, two from inside the school district, and two from outside. The school board interviewed two candidates earlier this month.
Corda and Kimmel are rumored to have been in favor of McCain over Dadonna.
source: Advocate, School cuts condemned at crowded meeting, By Lisa Chamoff, 6/25/08
