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NORWALK, Conn. Norwalk's Board of Education sat quietly on the stage of Concert Hall on Monday night, listening as the public weighed in on what one called "Sophie's Choice."
More than 100 people signed up to speak for three minutes each in the packed hall. All were there to express their opinions on Superintendent Susan Marks' plan to massively slash the 2012-13 operating budget for the Norwalk Public Schools from her original request, due in part to less funding than she had hoped for from the city of Norwalk and in part to a $4 million deficit in this year's budget.
The plan calls for a cut in library services and targets elementary school teachers more than those in middle schools and high schools. Board members were hoping for new ideas to deal with the deficit, but mostly what they got was protest.
"How can you have a school without a librarian, especially when you are promoting literacy?" asked Donna Rastocky, president of the Norwalk Federation of Education Personnel.
"If you were building your home, would you take the largest cuts from your building fund from the foundation?" said Judy Phillips. "That's what you're looking to do by cutting your elementary school budget as much as you are. ... The idea of closing a library but keeping extras, like funding for high school band buses, somehow, I just don't get that."
At least two promises were made of emails with "out-of-the-box" suggestions. One person called for pay cuts for highly placed administrators.
Children also made pleas. Ashlyn True, 8, said she has 21 students in her class at Naramake Elementary School, and it was "really noisy." "I cannot imagine having 28 students," she said.
"Think of it this way, Brookside School is like a big heart," said Leonel Gonzalez, a fifth-grader. "If you take away library services, you take away a major artery of the heart, making it almost a heart without blood or a book without words."
Mikayla Fosina, a sixth-grader at Ponus Ridge Middle School, said, "No librarian? That's unheard of."
Mayor Richard Moccia, an ex-officio member of the board, shook his head sharply when a speaker urged everyone to attend Tuesday's council meeting, where a resolution sponsored by three Democrats urges the city to give the board four years to repay the $4 million. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in the Common Council chambers.
That speaker was Tony Ditrio, leader of the administrators' union and principal at Kendall Elementary School. He said Norwalk's Rainy Day Fun was his "best bargaining tool" when negotiating teacher contracts. "I do not understand the obsession with a Triple-A bond rating and a very large rainy day fund," he said.
"The anxiety level is high," said Victor Corso, a chemistry teacher at Brien McMahon High School. "Norwalk will lose some of the best young teachers I have seen in a while."
Susan Koroshetz, Brien McMahon's principal, said the board is selecting "which essential organ to remove," as the "fluff and fat" had already been cut. She said the high schools have already been hard hit by five years of cuts and said the stakes are higher at high schools. "It's the first time credits are earned," she said. "It's the first time transcripts are kept. It's the first time students decide to cut class, and worse, start to think about dropping out of school."
She said that cuts threaten the accreditation of the high schools.
"I feel sorry for all of you as you plead the lead role in 'Sophie's Choice,' as you decide who you need to cut,'" she said. "I hope there is still some hope that the system that set this up will find more ways to help before July 1."
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