NORWICH – The Norwich City School Board has approved the appointment of a new health teacher to take the place of a staff member who tendered her resignation earlier this month. The decision, however, was not without contention.
It started Monday night when board member Sally Chirlin made a motion to table the hire of the 7-12 position until the board held an executive session discussion on the matter of the previous teacher’s resignation and the prospective staff member’s qualifications.
The motion, which was seconded by Priscilla Johnson, sparked debate among both members of the board and Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan.
“I think that’s a management decision,” stated board member Perry Owen, who said he was troubled by the proposed action.
“It’s a necessary position which we have to fill,” O’Sullivan reported, explaining that the previous teacher’s resignation – which the board had already accepted on Nov. 8 – was effective Nov. 30. Come Dec. 1, he said, there would be students in the class without an instructor if the board failed to take action on the appointment. “We need a teacher for that classroom.”
Chirlin took issue with the fact that the appointment had not been on the personnel recommendations at the time of the agenda meeting the previous Monday.
“There are always additions and deletions to the agenda,” O’Sullivan pointed out. “This is a normal process that the district goes through.”
After several more minutes of debate, Chirlin moved the question to a vote with no further discussion. The motion passed with a count of 4 to 3; with Chirlin, Johnson, Dr. Linda Horovitz and Board President Heather Collier Fredenburg voting for and Owen, Stagliano and Tom Morrone voting against.
Following the vote, O’Sullivan reiterated his concerns about the timeline for a board decision on the matter and asked the board when they planned to take action.
“This is a new employee’s introduction to the school district,” the superintendent said. “What message is this board of education sending?”
Fredenburg had asked whether or not the candidate had a dual-certification. But when, in response to a question by Stagliano about what information the board members felt they lacked in order to make the decision, Chirlin said she wanted to know about the other candidates who were considered and about the recommended candidate’s qualifications, the board president intervened.
“That’s not our business,” she said, promising the board would take action on the item following the already scheduled executive session. The school’s governing body did just that, approving the appointment.
The contention over the position began with a complaint made by Norwich Educators Organization President Eric Cunningham, who addressed the board during public comment on Nov. 8. Cunningham expressed concern that the district was unfairly holding new teachers to the standards of the school’s best veteran educators. At that time, he indicated a resignation included on the personnel recommendations for the meeting could be “the first” of the district’s non-tenured teachers to opt to leave as a result of being told they were not on tenure track based on their performance. The only instructional staff resignation listed was that of Health Teacher Jacquelyn Knoll-Carr, whose reason for leaving was categorized as “personal.”
Last night’s personnel recommendations included the probationary appointment of Jodi Lake to the position from which Knoll-Carr is resigning on Nov. 30.
At the start of the meeting, O’Sullivan responded to Cunningham’s “accusations,” explaining that the district does indeed hold all of its teachers, including its newest, to the highest of standards. He said four of the school’s 28 non-tenured educators had been told they were not on track for tenure at their current level of performance as of their last evaluations.
“Twenty-four are right on track,” he said.