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NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk parents again are being asked to make their presence known on the lawn of City Hall.
"Our schools and our city will die without immediate action," writes Barbara Smyth in her announcement of a third rally, to be held Tuesday evening, to protest cuts in Norwalk's school budget.
Smyth, who has a son entering West Rocks Middle School in the fall, was skeptical last Tuesday she would organize more protests. It was a lot of work, she said, and she was tired.
On Friday, following the Thursday Board of Education vote to approve the cuts outlined by Superintendent Susan Marks, Smyth changed her mind.
"I didn't think I had it in me, but I can't sit back and let this happen to our kids and my city," she said in an e-mail.
"The approval of the school budget as it is currently written is unacceptable," she wrote. "We cannot stand by and allow politics to destroy our schools and our city. Whatever our beliefs and opinions we must all come together to provide more funding to educate our children."
Protesters are set to meet at 6:30 p.m. and are encouraged to stay for the Common Council meeting, which begins at 8 p.m. The council will debate a resolution to make a special appropriation of up to $1.8 million from the "Rainy Day Fund" for the Board of Education budget.
Smyth said "people will be angry enough to be at this rally and meeting in full force."
"Again, bring a sign (please keep it respectful and to the point)," Smyth writes. "Show your support for Norwalk Public Schools and the future of our children and our city!"
Comments (7)
If you compare Side By Side with all of Norwalk's elementary schools, you see that Norwalk's schools do better than Side by Side. Among fifth graders who score at proficiency or higher, every elementary school beats Side by Side on last year's test. That's the fact (go to www.cmtreports.com for proof).
The big issue for me is simple- why did no one listen to Kassimis who had explained that high school athletic budgets could be cut and freshman would not be denied the most used freshman sports teams. They could have cut some money and saved something that teaches kids.
It's too bad Kassimis had to leave the budget meeting early when his daughter was rushed to Norwalk Hospital. It might not change the vote. But I would have liked to see two votes against the budget.
I think that all the teachers should reapply for their jobs each year.
If certain standards haven't been met then maybe they are not eligible. Even if mandatory retirement was set at 70, I bet that at least one person that would need to go. I sure don't pick a surgeon because he is oldest. I want one with enough experience and yet went through med school where having computer skills was expected.
There are a few that know they are not returning in September but leave themselves on the roster as a safety / backup in case they don't get that new job or in case their spouse isn't transferred to, say Atlanta. Some will retire anyway. In the meantime there are good teachers stressing about having a job come the beginning of the school year because of seniority or the lack of it. Tenured? Lets get tested! Filter out some of the lesser teachers so our kids get the best we can offer and the younger up and coming teachers are willing to stay and not look else where and are not laid off due to budgetary restraints. Not popular is it? Tough ! I search out auto mechanics by their talents and standards, continuing education etc., our kids deserve better than what my old jalopy gets.
You can point blame at people that you think have mismanaged monies etc all day. Who's going to fill that void if they were canned? Somebody with even less ability to count heads and money. Like a field trip, I've on a few of those where somebody couldn't count seats on a bus, kids going and money received. Yes these are the so called top teachers in Lower South-Western Fairfield County? Please.
Stigmatized by the label Special? Really? Odds are they are proud of being mainstreamed. Perhaps we should drop the label of AP Students so the ones not in accelerated programs aren't Stigmatized as well. Let's make everything beige. No recognition for academic talent in the academic system,..kinda like generals and privates being lumped together.
This info about the special eduction accounts, is not news, well to many, anyway.
It has long been purposed in local forums and meetings that the entire special education scam, er, program needs to be rethought.
Recent scandals and charges and claims were clear indications even for someone on the outside
that Norwalks Public School District Special Education policy was in need of dire attention.
To break it down, federal and state law mandates, once a student is declared a "$pecial" needs student, than mandated requirements on the district kick in to provide those services but (also) brings in the dollar$ from the state and feds to meet those needs of the student.
Instead of either employing the professionals needed, in district, or training current employees,
the district outsources. The outsourcing of $pecial needs students is an extremely lucrative market.
The exact numbers can be presented by someone else when an outside audit is completed but generally its around $14 -$17,000 per year per. average student in a mainstream classroom. $pecial needs students are similar to costs of say, attending Yale. Well over 100,000 and even over $150,000 per year, (180 days), per student.
For that kinda dough one would expect limo door to door service, exquisite international cuisine breakfast and lunches served on crystal and field trips the world over. And of course, expect a well balanced, educated mind to come out the other end. This is not the case. These out of district schools, for the most part, are (FOR PROFIT) organizations. Period.
If anyone heard and seen that mother weep at the first meeting, explaining her 6 year battle with the district to return her daughter to main stream classes, with the district flatly denying the students right to attend mainstsream classes in her local public school with her peers, well, its a tragedy and one that is avoidable with some common sense approaches.
Why does the district push students out of district?
Because its easier?
To juggle the money?
To make scores and graduation rates look better?
Look at the numbers, look at the damage caused to these students.
Why do we start off stigmatizing them as SPECIAL?
Why do we bus them daily far away from their peers, as far as New Haven?
Some of these outsourced students spend more than three hours daily on the bus commuting.
Insane? Yes.
Many look at the districts behaviour as circumventing and/or manipulating
laws and budgets to achieve higher graduation and score rates for a variety of motivations, none of which are beneficial to the individual students.
Indeed, if we look at another district, for an example, a much larger one and one with enormous challenges; in Atlanta it has been uncovered that there was an entire culture, even to the level of underground organization, whatever it took, just to keep the appearance of the graduation and the scores numbers up to give the impression of actually educating students, to keep the cash flowing.
Why do we stigmatize the students by branding them SPECIAL than ship them away at enormous costs?
Just as an example; if we had 100 declared $pecial education students and we outsourced. 100 X $100,000=what? A Greenwich mansion? We have more than 100 designated special education students any given year and yes not all are that costly, some outsource fees go as low as $60,000 a year. Sure many Norwalkers would love to have that amount for a annual family income.
Are these exorbitant costs, with completely unsatisfactory results, along with the life long stigmatization inflicted on the students, is all this a prudent investment? Can we not, do better? Have a better plan? A more cost effective and beneficial plan for the students and taxpayers?
Why not?
BBB has a good point. The current school model is pricing itself out of the market. Alternatives are needed.
Let's face reality. The city does not have the funds to do this. Parents need to join WITH the teachers and administrators and rally against Bruce Mellion AND the teachers union. They WANT a pay freeze for a few years if it will save their classroom assistants, their libraries, their administrators AND THEIR OWN JOBS. There is not a single profession that hasn't taken a hit in this economy. While we are at it, lets demand more charter schools, like Side by Side in South Norwalk that by all accounts is providing a very high quality education with astounding results.
I think it's Tuesday...
But here is the problem with the BOE and the rest of the leadership in Norwalk...Hello, didn't they hear anything people said at the hearings. Jack and his "we welcome public participation and assistance" B-S bit. This has been going on for years; citizens are just blatantly ignored in the process.
News for everyone they are actually about 5.8 million in the hole for 2011-2012 because the special education budget was also overbudget...And that 2.2 million that the mayor "gave" isn't really being given, they're just being allowed to pay it in 2012-13 but the kicker is they underfunded special education again for 2012-13 so it as a very strong possibility that they will be in a hole again next school year. And the BOE, mayor, council, and superintendent all know this now so a year from now I don't want to hear them say in May 2013 that they just suddenly realized that are going to be overbudget.
Did I miss it in the article? Which day is the rally?