NORWICH – School board members may have gotten more than they bargained for when they asked district teachers to join them in a goal-setting discussion Tuesday afternoon. During a special Norwich City School Board of Education meeting, members of the Norwich Educators Organization (NEO) discussed both issues they feel are benefiting the district and those they feel may be hampering education.
Sue Fenton, president of NEO, told of a lack of communication between herself and Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan on a bi-weekly basis. Bi-weekly meetings in previous years were scheduled to address matters regarding teachers, and since September, these meetings have not occurred regularly, she said. Fenton also said seven teachers have left the district since the beginning of the year – one retired, one left to work at state education, one left to go to another district and four left without any other position to go to.
Dr. Ed Erickson called the current lack of communication with board members “startling.” He said only once in his years in the district has a board member come to the school to talk with him about educational issues. Erickson said he feels there are layers of administration he needs to go through to get in contact with the people he would really like to address matters with. He said he feels marginalized by the district and also that the board is not listening to the full spectrum of what is going on.
Erickson said quality assurance is not being met and the board seems incapable of making “hard decisions.” He said he would like to see the board discuss ending social retention, building a bus fleet to accommodate the buildings better instead of having the bus schedule dictate the school schedule, address truancy and see a better transition for students coming from the middle school into the high school.
School Board President Christopher Frank said he feels the board is accessible, and there are many ways to reach him, as well as the rest of the board members.
Dan Callahan has taught in the district since 1984 and stood before the board to discuss curriculum and instruction concerns. Five years ago, he said he asked the board to institute more funding for the AP English program and bring it to another level, adding more teachers. Five years later, he said he has seen nothing done. He said across the board students need to be learning to write more efficiently, and he would like to see more focus on an AP prep courses.
“The district should be responsible for this, not us. I shouldn’t have to bring friends of mine from college in to do this stuff,” Callahan said.
The Norwich teacher said he has seen a decline in student’s ability to write in the past couple of years and told the board if the students can not write, they will not only fail English, they may fail out of additional courses. Bringing an AP prep course to middle school-aged students, he said, would be a good idea.
As school standards change and regulations are redesigned to make all students graduate with a Regents diploma, several teachers said in many ways the testing has become easier to accommodate this, ultimately giving some students a false sense of ability.
Others said there are problems finding substitutes in sufficient time, and that when the spot for a sub remains unfilled the day before they are needed, teachers are left uncertain of what curriculum to leave for the next day.
Beth Nassar told the board more focus needs to be put on the education of all students, not just those performing poorly or with disabilities.
“Our focus has been so much on the low-end students to get off the school improvement lists ... I think we need to also look across the board and see what is best for all students,” said Nassar.
But the news wasn’t all bad for school board members Tuesday. Eighth grade English teacher Amy Spittler identified progress being made in the middle school with the English language arts class as a success, with over 60 students being helped. The new schedule to accommodate a designated study hall at the end of the day, she said, has been a great addition.
Mary Dye, an eighth grade math teacher, has also integrated new programming this year, introducing new ways for students to understand math concepts. After taking her own assessment and deciding music was one of her low point areas, she integrated music learning into her classroom and found it to be successful.
Teachers from Gibson Primary were also on hand to thank the board for their continuous support of the 100 book challenge, as it has done wonders for the students’ reading capability.
After close to two hours, the board convened to go into executive session. They thanked everyone for attending, and said they will discuss matters more throughout the year. Board member Kathleen Coates said she looks at the NEO as partners more than anything else and hopes to work together to correct matters. She said not only discussing problems but discussing the growth and accomplishments of the district as a whole is one way to accomplish success.