CITY OF NORWALK · Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools – Ms. Keyes read the statement of recognition of students from Norwalk High School winners of the 26th Annual Scholastic Art

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 1 of 16

CITY OF NORWALK

BOARD OF EDUCATION

MARCH 1, 2016

ATTENDANCE: Mike Lyons, Chairman; Erik Anderson, Mike Barbis, Dr. Yvel Crevecoeur,

Sherelle Harris, Art Kassimis, Heidi Keyes, Bryan Meek, Shirley Mosby;

Mayor Harry Rilling (7:15 p.m.) STAFF: Dr. Steven Adamowski, Superintendent; Staff members as noted during items.

Call to Order

Ms. Keyes called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. and noted the Board member attendance was

as indicated above with the following notations: M. Lyons (6:10 p.m.) S. Harris (6:45 p.m.)

Executive Session: Employment of Identifiable Personnel and Contract Negotiations

** MR. BARBIS MOVED TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR

PURPOSES OF EMPLOYMENT OF IDENTIFIABLE PERSONNEL AND

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

** MR. KASSIMIS SECONDED THE MOTION.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting went into Executive Session at 6:00 p.m., recessed at 6:55 p.m. and reconvened into

public session at 7:10 p.m. There were no votes or actions taken.

Mr. Lyons called the public session to order at 7:10 p.m. and led the assembly in the pledge of

allegiance.

Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools –

Ms. Keyes read the statement of recognition of students from Norwalk High School winners of the

26th Annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the longest running, most prestigious arts recognition

program in the country, and largest source of scholarships for creative teens in grades 7-12. Congratulations to the following 2016 Scholastic Art Award winners from Norwalk High:

Megan Ruhnke, Grade 10; Silver Key Award, Drawing and Illustration; Charlene Atkinson, Grade 12;

Gold Key Award, Printmaking; Nora Villalobos, Grade 12; Gold Key Award, Photography; Silver Key

Award, Painting; Honorable Mention Award, Photography; Honorable Mention Award, Painting

A Norwalk High art student has also been recognized by another prestigious competition, Connecticut’s

2016High School Teen Visions Art Exhibition. This is an annual, juried exhibition of student art on view

at Sacred Heart University’s Art &Design Gallery. Congratulations to: Catherine Robinson, Gr.12, 2nd

Place Art Award.

Behind these accomplished students are dedicated, successful teachers. The Board of Education is pleased

to also recognize the art teachers who have guided these award winners. Congratulations to art teachers

Ms. Lauren DeLong and Ms. Patricia O’Connor, who is also chair of the Norwalk High Art Department.

Thank you for your commitment to Norwalk’s children.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 2 of 16

Public Comments

Mr. Barbis stated that members of the public who had signed up on the public participation sheet are to

come forward when their name was called, state their name, address, or affiliation, and to keep comments

civil and within the three-minute time limit.

Note: In accordance with Board of Education meeting record requirements, minutes reflect the name,

address, subject and summary of public comments made. Meetings are recorded; broadcast daily on

local Public Access television and the tape can be heard through the NPS website access.

1. Representative Fred Wilms, 142nd District, 50 Aiken Street, Norwalk spoke on the resolution on

the agenda tonight on ECS Reform to change the state’s Educational Cost formula. He reviewed

the background on the issue and referred to his testimonial document contained in the agenda

packet that outlines the proposed changes from Grand List tax basis formulations. He asked for

support to keep the pressure on the state for fair school funding while the long-awaited court case

is underway to approach the long term problem from another angle and multi year strategy.

2. Michael Simoulidis, 50 Winfield Street said he is 13-and a Nathan Hale Middle School student

and member of St. George Greek Church, and that it is “really unfair” that Eastern Orthodox

Christians are expected to do homework and make up classes for Good Friday.

3. Demetri Dassouas, 3 Winnapauk Drive spoke also on the religious holiday that should be on the

calendar to be equitable to other religious holidays such as the Jewish holidays.

4. Despina Dassouras, a Norwalk High School junior, said Eastern Orthodox people have never had

Good Friday as do Western Christians. She explained as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Good

Friday is one of the most holy days in their faith, next to Easter-- not supposed to do any work at

all that day we don’t even cook on Good Friday so being in school on Good Friday is a problem.

5. Missy Erotopoulos, 65 Gregory Blvd. said she was a school nurse, and in New York City, the

school district had Islamic holidays put into its calendar last year in response to the growing

Muslim Community. Good Friday for Eastern Orthodox Christians coincides with Western

Christians’ Good Friday only once every four years, the Norwalk students get an excused

absence for their holiday, but have to make up work. She asked for a more equitable rule.

6. James Erotopoulos, 65 Gregory Blvd. Said he wanted to echo the previous comments and asked

for consistency in addressing religious holidays in the school calendar.

7. Helen Bougian, 5 Arrowood Drive, spoke to add comments about Orthodox Greek Good Friday.

8. Alvin Mosby, 15 Adamson Avenue, said he was there to complain on behalf of his union. In

2000, the proposed calendar was sent to everybody for feedback and he has concerns that the

custodians will have to work overtime on days such as Columbus and Veteran’s Day.

9. State Representative Gail Lavielle spoke in support of the ECS Resolution., and said this would

be a multi-year journey, to address the inequity of other cities. She outlined how Danbury gets

50% more funding than Norwalk, yet has similar size and structure, because of the comparison to

the Grand List and the association that Norwalk is a wealthy city. She urged support as proposed.

Mr. Kassimis said he wanted to voice support of those that spoke about Greek Orthodox Good

Friday. He shared his background and importance of attending church on that day and nothing else.

He suggested special dispensation where students should be able to take the religious holiday off

without a penalty to avoid an excused absence that could potentially add into the ‘H’ policy. There were no others signed up to speak, and Mr. Barbis closed public comment portion of the

meeting at 7:35 p.m.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 3 of 16

Superintendent’s Report

Career Development Ladder –

Dr. Adamowski prefaced the program and explained that with a number of recent vacancies and

leadership gaps throughout the district there is a need to develop staff members who can

transition seamlessly into vacant leadership roles. He added that we want to be in a position

where we don’t have to do a search every time we have a vacancy, we have good people on our

staff who are highly developed, who can step up and provide leadership in the services provided

to our students. He introduced Frank Costanzo, Chief of School Operations, noted that he is

leading the effort, and asked him to come forward.

Mr. Costanzo described this management theory as one where the best teams have a deep bench,

a good coach has a deep bench and can go to that bench in order to persevere through challenges,

and we want to be able to do the same thing here in Norwalk. He presented an outline of the four

rungs-- each area is geared towards educators at different levels of their careers, as follows:

The first rung, the Emerging Leader Program (ELP), is a leadership 101 program for

promising teachers and coaches with at least three years of service.

The Emerging Leaders Program strengthens the leadership skills of talented teachers,

coaches and assistant principals in partner districts and charter management organizations,

putting participants on the pathway to the administration while building leadership capacity

across a system for preparation of the administration pipeline pool of eligible talented

professionals.

o Once accepted into the ELP program will participate in monthly seminars next school

year with educators from other urban districts around the state. We expect to accept

somewhere between eight and 10 of the highest talented, best qualified people that we

believe have a lot of upside.

o About 40 Norwalk educators have already applied for the ELP program. A recent

ELP information session at Nathan Hale Middle School drew in about 100 Norwalk

teachers.

The second rung, the High Potential Leadership Fellowship program, is a yearlong intensive

leadership program with a focus on instructional management. This program is geared

towards curriculum and instruction site directors (CISDs), assistant principals, housemasters

and ELP graduates.

o Four to six Norwalk educators will be selected for the HPL Fellowship. They will

participate in a three-week fellowship in Philadelphia this summer. The fellows will

continue training with forums during the school year.

The third rung, the Aspiring Principals Residency Program, will attract high potentials

school leaders and allow participants to spend a residency period in a different school

district for a semester to have top administrators learning about best practices and

bringing back this knowledge to Norwalk.

The fourth rung, New Principal Development Program will provide new principals to

develop skills to run their school buildings effectively and improve instruction.

Norwalk Public Schools will partner with New Leaders, Relay Graduate School of Education

and LEAD Connecticut in the creation of the Career Development Ladder.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 4 of 16

Dr. Adamowski added that the program is not inexpensive, and the school district has raised

much of the funds needed through corporate partnerships championed by Ralph Valenzisi. He

noted that GE Capital recently donated $80,000 towards the development of the program.

Initiation of Middle School Redesign

Dr. Michael Conner delivered a power point presentation and overview of the goals and purpose

of the program as follows:

The goal is to create rigorous, personalized, and relevant learning experiences for all middle

school adolescents in the Norwalk Public Schools.

Background/Research

Middle-grade transition (grade 5>6) and middle level education (grade 6 >grade 8) is

considered by research a developmental stage where students are discovering their physical,

cognitive, and social-emotional attributes where students exhibit a wide range of individual

development. Students during the early adolescence stages should have the opportunity to

discover topics they find interesting, and personally relevant in which they can excel. Moreover,

trans-adolescents during this stage of development prefer a learning experience where peers are

collaborating on abstract concepts. Our current middle-school structure and design has time

constraints that inhibit peer-to-peer collaboration for deep cognitive rigor. Time is also limited

for academic relevance and exploration of personal topics of interest.

Purpose:

Increase academic achievement, close the internal gap of lowest 30% of students/each grade

Create a personalized learning experience that is relevant to student’s developmental needs.

Desired outcome to decrease the current learning loss of students transitioning from fifth to

sixth grade.

A cohort analysis highlights this arduous transition for one cohort of students with the

Connecticut Mastery Test (fifth grade in 2012 to sixth grade in 2013). The cohort data

reveals a decline in overall achievement in Reading (-8%) and Math (-2%). Our first year of

administering the SBAC (Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium) also highlighted a six

percent difference in overall achievement in ELA and Math.

SBAC achievement data reveals a stagnation in overall performance in grades 7-8 (pg.7)

Timeline for Implementation:

February 10, 2016: Meeting with Middle School Principals (Dr. Adamowski and Dr. Conner)

February 18, 2016: Introductory leadership workshop with Center of Secondary School Redesign

March 24, 2016- June 9, 2016: Middle School Redesign Committee meetings

July 11, 2016-July 13, 2016: Leadership Institute for Middle School Principals (NPS and CSSR)

August 2016: Site-based training for school leadership teams and practitioners

September 2016- June 2017: On-site coaching, workshops, and facilitation of support with

implementing framework elements

September 2016- June 2017: District committee meetings

March 2017: Identification of elements for 2nd phase of implementation w/MS Redesign Committee

July 2017: Leadership Institute: Phase II Implementation

2016 Middle School Redesign Committee Dates: March 24, 2016 3:00pm – Room 333

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 5 of 16

Superintendent’s Report –continued

Strategic Operating Plan Update

Dr. Adamowski noted that these programs are part of the implementation of the achievement of

the district strategic operating plan that will be updated at next week’s workshop meeting.

Actions - Consent Calendar

Personnel Actions for Board Approval

Budget Transfers

Approval of Personnel Budget Transfers; Field Trip:

Norwalk High Marching Band/Guard Orlando,FL(DisneyWorld Parade) Nov 13-17, 2016

** MR. ANDERSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR:

PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS, BUDGET TRANSFERS,

AND FIELD TRIPS AS SUBMITTED.


** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

PERSONNEL ACTIONS FOR BOARD APPROVAL March 1,2016

RECOMMENDATION FOR APPOINTMENT EFF: 3/1/2016 SALARY

Goss, Janine -Instructional Specialist -K-12-Language Arts and Reading $152,234

Posting#: 2015-01:

REQUEST FOR MINI-CHILD REARING LEAVE EFF: REMAINDER OF 15/16 SY

Riley, Debra -Special Education Teacher -Kendall

REQUEST FOR MINI-CHILD REARING LEAVE EFF: 02/22/2016-06/30/2016

Perez, Yvonne -Grade 4 Teacher -Jefferson

RESIGNATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF RETIRMENT EFF: 03/31/16

Lyons, Cheryl -Special Education Teacher -Marvin

RESIGNATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF EARLY RETIRMENT EFF: 06/30/16

Rosenblum, Debra -Special Education Teacher -Kendall

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 6 of 16

Resolved. upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Schools, that the Board of Education approves the Field Trip: Norwalk High School Marching Band/Guard to Orlando. FL- Disney World Parade (November 13-17, 2016)

Approval of 2016-2017 and 2017-18 School Calendars

Mr. Lyons referred to the calendars in the agenda packet and noted that this two-year approach is

very progressive with long term planning and has been a desired outcome from parents and

community stakeholder groups. Ms. Mosby asked what outreach was done to the community in

the process.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 7 of 16

Dr. Adamowski provided an overview of the process that was presented back at the end of 2015

and included deliberations with the NFT, PTO Council with feedback and modifications to the

recommendations. He added that the drafted calendar was influenced primarily by the new state

common calendar and the need to give children the most instruction as possible to close the

achievement gap.

Ms. Mosby questioned how a two-year plan can be done in view of new initiatives that are being

introduced and how changes in the calendar can be accommodated. Dr. Adamowski explained

that many districts nationally have transitioned to a two-year plan to provide consistency and any

changes deemed necessary would be done with an amendment process. Dr. Adamowski added

that there may be growing pains as change is difficult, but this is a more cost efficient and

academically effective approach that provides more instructional days for students.

Ms. Mosby asked about public comments made earlier about the Good Friday complaints and the

issue that school unions had not been consulted. Dr, Adamowski said that there are eight unions

with contracts with Norwalk Public Schools, and only one has the right of consultation on the

contract – the Norwalk Federation of Teachers.

Mr. Meek suggested something could be worked out for the Good Friday celebrants to be

addressed with policy. Mr. Barbis suggested it be done administratively, and Mr. Anderson

agreed something needed to be done.

Mr. Lyons said that it is a good idea to look at the policy book, for religious practices in our

district and make sure that we are accommodating them in a way that maintains the calendar for

the bulk of the students but also recognizes people’s strongly felt religious beliefs. He added that

this is the one of only calendars where there was extensive effort to get public input before it

came to the Board. He added that NPS used to have five half days at the end of the school year,

and as a compromise, two are now planned, and there have been adjustments made to the

teachers’ professional development days as well as an extra day added to February vacation.

Mr. Barbis noted that there are CES guidelines and limited flexibility of dates that can deviate

from the mandated calendar.

** MR. BARBIS MOVED TO APPROVE THE SCHOOL CALENDARS* FOR

2016-17 AND 2017-18 AS RECOMMENDED



*See attached pages 15-16

Approval of Addendum to Agreement for Child Nutrition Program (ED-099)

Mr. Lyons noted that this was a technicality for approval of the signatures.

** MR. BARBIS MOVED TO APPROVE THE ADDENDUM TO AGREEMENT

FOR CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAM (ED-099).



City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 8 of 16

Mr. Barbis requested to deviate from the agenda to return to the consent calendar and

acknowledge a newly appointed staff member who was in the audience.

Ms. Janine Goss was introduced and asked to come forward. Ms. Goss stated that she was

pleased to be appointed to the position of Instructional Specialist -K-12-Language Arts and

Reading. She added that it is an exciting time to be in the Norwalk Public Schools and thanked

the Board for their support.

Approve Resolution on ECS Reform

Mr. Lyons asked Representative Wilms to come forward to address questions from the Board.

Ms. Mosby asked if other legislators had been part of his ECS effort, if it was more of a

bipartisan together, it would pass, because this was tried before and it was not success.

Mr. Wilms said he reached out to the Norwalk delegation last year, and this year he also reached

out to the Stamford delegation. He has gotten support from Rep. Wood, Rep. Simmons, Rep.

Floren and Lavielle, but has gotten no response from local legislators, but may be there is a

response that he hasn’t heard as of yet. Mr. Wilms said this would be a multi-year journey, and

understands his colleagues have many other responsibilities; so a half-page letter of support is all

we need right now.

Mr. Lyons reminded that the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Educational Funding has finally

made it to court to challenge the state’s educational funding after a decade’s worth of effort, in

CCJEF vs Rell. He added that Mayor Rilling is on the CCJEF steering committee along with

former Mayor Alex Knopp. He explained that the resolution puts Norwalk in a position to benefit

should CCJEF prevail, there is a ready-made mechanism to address the problem.

** MR. KASSIMIS MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING:

RESOLVED, UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF

SCHOOLS, THAT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVES THE

ATTACHED RESOLUTION ON ECS REFORM AS PROPOSED BY STATE

REPRESENTATIVE FRED WILMS.

** MR. BARBIS SECONDED THE MOTION.


See resolution as attached --page 1.3

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 9 of 16

Information and Reports

January 2016 Monthly Financial Report

Mr. Hamilton highlighted the financial report of expenditures to date versus budget, and

explained variances as noted. He explained that wages are on track and they closely monitor

actual versus budgeted based on staff turnover assumptions.

He noted that there is a recommendation for a budget transfer offset the minor over-expenditures

in Substitutes and Unemployment Compensation as outlined.

Mr. Hamilton outlined that utilities is trending higher due to higher electricity costs and this

should require transfer of funds available from energy savings in heating costs from the mild

winter.

He explained the biggest issue is the Special Education $3.5 million primarily for out of district

tuition and outside services and noted that a transfer from the excess available in the Health

Insurance Reserve is being formulated.

Committee/Representative Reports

Special Education Ad Hoc Committee

Dr. Crevecoeur reported the meeting is on March 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Finance Committee:

Mr. Meek reported that the departmental hearings with the BET will begin next week and they

will persist with the 2016-17 Budget and review of the recent Planning Committee denial of

design fees as part of the Facilities Utilization Study, which are much needed for the district.

He added that a minor increase in school lunch prices was presented and approved for action to

come to the full board, and noted this is the first increase in three years.

Policy Committee

Ms. Keyes reported that the Committee meeting was rescheduled to March 15. She explained

that they are on target to bring the School Governance Council policy to the full Board for action

at the second meeting in April following input from PTO’s and parents. She added that there are

more policy reviews to come and noted that the Curriculum and Instruction committee has

forwarded an amended attendance policy to address new block schedules and the “H” issues.

Facilities

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 10 of 16

Mr. Barbis reported that the Facilities Utilization Study was presented to the full Board and to

the Common Council this Thursday at the Planning Committee. He noted that there was a

recommendation for capital improvement funding for design work for recommended renovations

that was rejected. He added that the plan was not as creative as expected as the parameters were

narrow and they only looked at city properties without examining possible corporate properties.

He added that as a realtor, he has researched and will engage the consultant to look at other

properties. He noted that funding request for design engineering was rejected by the Planning

Commission is a necessary first step in the process, and it needs to be reinstated.

Athletics –

Mr. Kassimis reported that the Yankee Summer Baseball Camps will be returning to BMHS and

will include two scholarships.

School Safety

The Police Department presented access software to integrate phone apps available that can be

used to monitor school building opening and closing of lock coding systems.

Curriculum & Instruction

Mr. Kassimis noted that the rescheduled meeting was held this week and he apologized for the

short notice. The agenda included Middle School Redesign, Social Studies Textbook and World

Language pilot that will be presented to staff on March 18 Professional Day. He added that

Adam Reynolds presented the Committee’s recommended attendance policy amendments to get

around academic penalties for attendance and to change the ‘h’ policy that has not been reviewed

in over twenty years.

PTO Council

Mr. Anderson noted that he was unable to attend due to his car accident and transportation

difficulties.

Norwalk Acts –

Mr. Anderson reported that the meeting is this week and will include a review of the survey and

concerns voiced by Board members on the wording and structure.

Board Member Announcements

Dr. Crevecoeur reported that he was invited to read in an elementary classroom and it was an

enjoyable experience to read ‘Where the Wild Things Are.’

Mr. Meek reported that the NHL Rangers had an event at SONO Ice House and included

Naramake Gym teacher, Mayor Rilling and he thanked Ralph Valenzisi for coordinating this.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 11 of 16

Mr. Lyons reported that he attended a conference in San Antonio with Dr. Adamowski to

examine the U.T. College of Education different school models that include county systems,

non-taxation municipal approvals and non bi-artisan elections.

Mr. Barbis noted that at the Finance Committee there were lively discussion on the meal quality

in response to some concerns from parents and it was noted to be more creative and progressive

in the RFP vendor selection process.

Mr. Kassimis reported on his trip to Egypt that amidst safety concerns it was a great experience

and an increased awareness of our country’s religious freedoms and choices that Americans take

for granted.

Mr. Anderson reported that he was very impressed with the recent Legally Blonde high school

play at BMHS and plans to attend Into the Woods that opens this weekend through March 12.

He added that he will participate in the Norwalk Literacy Crawl sponsored by the Library and

Norwalk Reads.

Ms. Mosby reported that she attended services for a former NPS principal, Diane Wilson who

served the district for over thirty years at Wolfpit and there was a great showing of support by

those in attendance.

Approval of Minutes January 5, 2016

** MR. ANDERSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING

OF JANUARY 5, 2016 AS SUBMITTED.


** THE MOTION PASSED WITH EIGHT VOTES IN FAVOR, NONE OPPOSED

AND ONE ABSTENTION (KASSIMIS).

Approval of Minutes - January 12, 2016





AND ONE ABSTENTION (MOSY).

Approval of Minutes - January 19, 2016



** MR. BARBIS SECONDED THE MOTION.


AND ONE ABSTENTION (LYONS).

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 12 of 16

Approval of Minutes – February 2, 2016

** MR. BARBIS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF

FEBRUARY 2, 2016 AS SUBMITTED.



AND ONE ABSTENTION (ANDERSON).

Executive Session: Discussion of FOIA matters

** MR. BARBIS MOVED TO ENTER INTO AN EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR

PURPOSE OF DISCUSSION OF FOIA MATTERS WITH ATTY. THOMAS

MOONEY INVOLVING REVIEW OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS.

** MR. ANDERSON SECONDED THE MOTION.


Mr. Lyons called for a recess at 9:00 p.m. The meeting entered into Executive Session at

9:10 p.m. with members in attendance as listed on page 1 with the addition of Atty. Thomas

Mooney.

The meeting was reconvened into public session at 10:05 pm.

There were no votes or actions taken.

Adjournment

** MR. KASSIMIS MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MR. ANDERSON SECONDED THE MOTION.


The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

M.Knox, Telesco Secretarial Services

Attachments:

Middle School Redesign Framework

2016-17 NPS Calendar

2017-18 NPS Calendar

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 13 of 16

RESOLUTION OF THE NORWALK BOARD OF EDUCATION

WHEREAS, the City of Norwalk has been unfairly underfunded by the State through the

Educational Cost Sharing ("ECS") formula for decades; and

WHEREAS, Norwalk received $1,003 per student in ECS aid last year, while the average

State aid per student in Norwalk's DRG (H) was almost six times greater ($5,969); and

WHEREAS, Norwalk is treated similarly to far wealthier Fairfield County communities

simply because of its location, even though almost 50% of Norwalk's students are eligible

for Free/Reduced school lunches while the average of our suburban neighbors is only 2%;

and

WHEREAS, State Rep. Fred Wilms of Norwalk has petitioned the leadership of the

Connecticut Legislature's Education Committee to raise a bill similar to one previously

submitted by Rep. Wilms to change the ECS formula to properly recognize the relevance of

the income of a City's residents in determining their ability to pay for education, not just

the City's real estate worth (see letter attached);and

WHEREAS, Rep. Wilms' proposal would increase the ECS formula town income

adjustment from 10% to 50% and reduce the town property wealth component from 90%

to 50%, while providing that no town would receive any less funding than it currently

receives, and further proposes that this formula change only apply to new/additional ECS

funding; and

WHEREAS, the Board believes that Rep Wilms' proposal is a reasonable first step to

correcting the inequity in Norwalk's treatment by the State.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BYTHE NORWALK BOARD OF

EDUCATION, that it hereby requests that the co-chairs of the Education Committee

exercise their authority to bring forward a relevant Raised Committee Bill for

consideration in the current session of the Legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board requests that all of the members of

Norwalk's legislative delegation join in requesting the co-chairs to bring forward said

legislation.

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 14 of 16

Middle School Redesign

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 15 of 16

City of Norwalk

Board of Education

March 1, 2016

Page 16 of 16

Documents

CITY OF NORWALK · Spotlight on Norwalk Public Schools – Ms. Keyes read the statement of recognition of students from Norwalk High School winners of the 26th Annual Scholastic Art