NORWICH – The stability of the school district was questioned and addressed at last week’s Norwich City School Board of Education meeting.
Sue Fenton, president of the Norwich Educators Association, spoke to the board during public comment and questioned many of the practices and procedures of the district. Fenton said the district, which “used to be composed of teachers wanting to keep working and living in the district and raise families here,” has not existed for years.
She said there is a lack of stability throughout the buildings and teachers need to be in compliance with the needs of the district.
“This is just as important as state tests; the applicable rubrics and preparation for testing are standard practices. They need to be established and used regularly in each building,” Fenton said.
Fenton says until standards and practices are established throughout the district, morale of employees and the trust of the public will continue to erode.
“We feel we have a broken system,” Fenton said.
Fenton said both new and experienced teachers do not have the proper structure in place to be successful. Fenton said when teachers in the district ask questions, they are often told they simply do not understand how the district is run. The area in most need is the special education programming that, Fenton says, is a disaster.
Other issues regarded problems concerning teachers not having proper provisions or supervision during staff breaks and planning periods. She says students are directly impacted, and standards need to be set. Rare occurrences of problems may arise, but Fenton says they should not be the norm.
“We need to dust off old protocols and discuss the order of actions to be taken, who will take them and the role of both the teacher and the administrator,” said Fenton. “Only with an environment which is predictable, orderly and stable will the dedication and loyalty of the school employees begin to shine.”
Fenton told the board that she would meet them in executive session to discuss matters thoroughly and include more details and names which could not be stated in public comment. The board thanked her for her time, but did not ask her into the following executive session.
In response to the comments, District Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan said the board is concerned with what was said and hopes to meet with Fenton to discuss the matters more. He said the district plans to follow the procedures already in place.
“We are doing a great job here. This is just another hurdle to get over and improve communication,” O’Sullivan said.