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Watertown Board of Education
Regular Meeting
Minutes
Meeting Date: May 14, 2007
Meeting Time: 7:30 p.m.
Meeting Place: Watertown High School Technology Center
Members Present: Ms. Mary Dzioba, Board Chairperson
Mr. Todd Griffin, Board Secretary
Mr. Richard Mazzamaro, Board Vice-Chairperson
Ms. Gina Calabrese, Board Member
Ms. Mary Colangelo, Board Member
Mr. Kevin Killeen, Board Member
Mr. Chris Lafferty, Board Member
Mr. Thomas Lambert, Board Member
Ms. Joanne Pannone, Board Member
Dr. Joseph Erardi Jr., Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Philip Pelosi, Assistant Superintendent of Schools
Ms. Amelia Grover, Dir. of Budget and Financial Planning
Ms. Betsy Hackett, Director of Special Services
Mr. Todd LoFrese, Director of Operations
Ms. Kace DuPlissie, PTO Representative
Mr. William Zeman, W.H.S. Student Representative
Press: Tom Burns, Town Times
Guests: Thad Hasbrouck, Marylu Lerz, Eric Bernstein, Mary Raola, Emily Judd, Kathleen Scully, Lisa
Rommel, Whitey Greenwood, Sandra Greenwood, Fran Palmer, Gail Cesarello, Chris Saraceno,
Alexandra Seraceno, Rachael Bronson, Daniyal Chowdhury, Lauren Bly, Olivia Schultz, Carol
Weaver, Sally Rinaldi, Alicia Gesseck, Bob Fortier, Russell Ericson, Richard DeFederico and
Dominic Romano
A. Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 PM
Ms. Dzioba convened the Regular Board of Education meeting at 7:30 p.m.
B. Salute to the Flag
Ms. Dzioba led the Salute to the Flag
C. Recognition
Ms. Dzioba turned the meeting over to Dr. Erardi for student recognition.
The Watertown Board of Education wishes to recognize the following high school and middle school students who were winners in the Watertown/Oakville VFW, Voice of Democracy speech contest and the Patriot’s Pen contest:
Voice of Democracy:
Christopher Seraceno, Watertown High School, grade 12
William Zeman, Watertown High School, grade 12
Rachael Bronson, Watertown High School, grade 12,
Patriot’s Pen Contest - Citizenship in America:
Alexandra Seraceno, Swift Middle School, grade 8, State Recognition
Daniyal Chowdhury, Swift Middle School, grade 8, 1st Place
Lauren Bly, Swift Middle School, grade 8, 2nd place
Olivia Schultz, Swift Middle School, grade 8, 3rd place
The Watertown/Oakville VFW and the Board of Education would also like to recognize Ms. Mary Lou Kuegler, Watertown High School teacher, and Ms. Carole Weaver, Swift Middle School teacher for overseeing the events in the schools.
Dr. Erardi: Thank you Ms. Dzioba, our Celebration of Excellence is lengthy this evening and I am thrilled with the length. I would like to start off with the Voice of Democracy competition that Watertown students participated in. And share with the Board and the Community the three winners from Watertown High School. We have two members of the Oakville VFW to assist us with this presentation, Rich DeFedericko and Dominic Romano, if Rich and Dominic could come forward at this point too.
The three winners from Watertown High represent to different VFWs, the Oakville VFW and the Watertown VFW. Rachael Bronson, William Zeman and Chris Seraceno.
William Zeman came forward with the parents of Rachel Bronson and Chris Seraceno to receive their certificates.
Dr. Erardi: Congratulations to all three students and to their parents.
Applause
Dr. Erardi: In a writing competition that took place at Swift Middle School with the open ended question being “What does Citizenship mean to me?” Swift will celebrate this evening four winners, one with state recognition. I would like the following students if they would to please stand, introduce your Mom and or Dad, or anyone else that is important that is with you and then come forward. Olivia Schultz, third place, Lauren Bly, second place, Daniyal Chowdhury, first place and Alexandra Seraceno, fourth place finish at the State Competition and the overall winner at Swift Middle School.
All four students introduced their families and came forward to receive their certificates.
Dr. Erardi: Mr. Romano, Mr. DeFederico are you part of this presentation at all? If you could come forward too. Congratulations to all four students
Applause
Dr. Erardi: We will end our Celebration of Excellence this evening with an opportunity to recognize a member of the Board of Education. If you have read the local papers or if you have been watching the local news, I don’t think it is too often, I don’t think it has ever happened to be quite honest with you. That a school in Connecticut has just been recognized as the outstanding Magnet School in America. That doesn’t happen by accident, it happens because there is great leadership, great students and great parents. We are thrilled to be a part of that great leadership as Gina Calabrese, who has been a long standing member of this Board of Education, who in her real life serves as the Principal of Rotella Magnet, has just come back from the National Celebration of the outstanding job that her school has done as the 2006-2007 National Magnet School of the Year. We have a cake to celebrate that accomplishment and our students.
Applause
Dr. Erardi: We will end our celebration with two staff members from the Watertown School System, Ms. Mary Lou Kuegler and Ms. Carole Weaver. Is Mary Lou and Carole here this evening? Carole is. The two staff members that we are recognizing had oversight with the Oakville VFW and the Board of Education for the work that they have done with the outstanding competition of our students that just recently took place with the Voice of Democracy. So thank you to Carole and thank you to Mary Lou. Gina thank you and to our students thank you. We will take a break at this point after the Board Chair has an opportunity to close out the celebration.
Ms. Dzioba: Congratulations to everyone, I would like to take a ten minute recess so we can have cake to celebrate Gina’s accomplishments and everyone else’s. Thank you
Meeting recessed at 7:39 p.m.
Meeting reconvened at 7:47 p.m.
D. Public Participation
Russell Ericson, Pleasentview Avenue, Watertown
I am here again for this Tower Road issue. One thing I have got to say before I even start, my neighbor who lives on the top of Tower Road, that is the second neighbor now, that has decided to sell their home because of what goes on up there. I said why aren’t you coming to the meeting, she said I am not going to waste my time. I am sprucing up my house and I am selling it because of this gate being open and the kids hanging around and the parents picking up their kids and the kids speeding down the street. She said it is a waste of time so she is selling her house. I thought I would make mention of that.
First thing in the morning at 7:15-7:20, we have kids hanging out on the corner of your property, smoking cigarettes, carrying on. The woman who lives down there, she is 83 or 84 years old, she is a widow and right at her back kitchen window she has kids hanging out. Making a racket, smoking cigarettes, trash, they go through the fence. There is a part of the fence where it is broken, up a little further toward the fields, towards the front of the property. Kids go into the woods; there is no supervision out there, none. You have a no smoking policy on your school property; it is not being enforced. I had a conversation with the School Principal today; I asked him what he is doing about it because this isn’t the first time I have brought it up. I have brought this up for quite a few years now. When I had a meeting with them, Dr. Erardi and the principal and I believe the Police were involved there too. They assured me that this was going to be taken care of. This was probably three years ago, when Dr. Erardi first came here, or two years ago, when Dr. Erardi first got here. It still goes on, I ask him what he is doing about it. He said I send my staff down there, in fact I sent two staff down there, involved in this. That was maybe the Assistant Principals, Mr. Geary and probably Mr. Gaydos went down there at one time. I still see this happening. If you followed your progressive discipline I asked him, this would be over, these kids would be suspended, they would probably not be in school for a few days. If they were continuing to do this I don’t see why this isn’t being followed. I asked him if he knew if any kids were suspended and he couldn’t answer me, he didn’t know. I believe he said he wasn’t sure, I don’t know exactly what he said but he couldn’t give me an answer.
We get to this Tower Road issue; you got kids, maybe more, habitually speeding down that road every single day. They don’t stop for the stop sign, not all of them; there are some that do and some that don’t. One of my neighbors almost had an accident, almost had a head on collision coming up that corner because someone didn’t stop for that stop sign. It is a hazard, today when I finally got the Police Department to free up some manpower, which they have a very limited resource of. They came up there one day, one day, right in front of the Police, this kids was speeding down the street as fast as he could go. He was pulled over and given a ticket. At this point, based on your trial basis, I insist that you close that gate. I am looking for a definitive answer here tonight. Especially with, you have a no smoking policy on your school property, I insist that you enforce it, there is a big sign out in front of that School. I don’t want to see these kids hanging out, why they need to hang out, they are under aged, this just doesn’t get done. This is not cutting it. I am so sick and tired of coming here and sick and tired of making phone calls, it is driving me nuts. It is driving the rest of the neighborhood nuts too but you know what, they don’t care enough to come up here. I do because I still have to live here. You do what you want, you’re gonna anyway. You sure did with that Tower Road; you couldn’t wait to get that gate open. That is really all I have to say.
Gail Cesarello, Tower Road, Watertown
I just would like to add a little bit to what Mr. Ericson just said. That 83 year old woman he is talking about is my Mom and I think anyone sitting in this room tonight, if you had 10 or 12 students standing outside your kitchen window every morning, I don’t think anyone in here would like it either. She is not here of course because of her age and she is afraid to call, she is afraid of retaliation. This afternoon when I came home from work, I went up in back and checked. On her property there is a campsite made where the students go and hang out. They slide under the fence, there are benches, there are chairs and there is litter, soda cans, a bunch of garbage. This really, and I have also found students in my backyard, and I have called the Police and they have come and chased them out. But we shouldn’t have to be putting up with the additional problems of students being in our backyards. Thank you.
Ms. Dzioba: Just for the record we will be sending a letter of response to the speaker tonight and the response will be read into the record next meeting. Is there anyone else who would like to address the Board?
Fran Palmer, 220 Middlebury Road, Watertown
I am speaking tonight as the President of the Watertown music booster association. First of all I would like to thank the cast and crew for the great job with “Anything Goes” and Tweet-Tweet over here (Laughter). I was an awesome production and I think it sort of shows how hard the students work, the availability of staff so that students can work together. It was just terrific. I would also like to mention that the concert season is coming up and I would like to invite any and all of you to come to any of the concerts. The High School one is this Thursday, May 17th, the Town wide strings is May 21st at the High school. John Trumbull is the 22nd and the 23rd. Polk is the 31st, Judson is June 5th, Swift is June 6th, Heminway is June 7th. All of them will also be exceptional and we hope to see you there. Thank you.
Ms. Dzioba: Thank you Mrs. Palmer. Is there anyone else that would like to address the Board at this time?
No response
Report from Student Council Representative – Mr. William Zeman
Mr. Zeman: Thank you Mrs. Dzioba. First I would like to say that the musical did in fact go quite well. It was held last Thursday, Friday and Saturday; we almost sold out every night. The buzz about the musical is that it was quite good, one of our best in recent history, even better than “Bye-bye Birdie” by some accounts. I would like to thank everyone in the community who helped out in any way, whether or not they donated their time, their money, bought an ad, came to see the show, special thanks to Dr. Erardi for his cameo appearance in Scene 1 as the Bishop. It is a little interesting acting with the Superintendent but you get used to it. I would also point out that Arts does continue at the High School, it is not just the musical. As anyone who came to the musical knows, we had a major student wide art show available for exhibit in the Library during intermission and before the musical. Show casing student artwork from Freshman to Senior, some of the works there were absolutely incredible things that I know I can’t do and I am sure everybody in the community looked at and said, that’s really impressive. As just mentioned the High School Spring concert is this Thursday, it is Chorale music, Orchestra and Strings. As a present from the Director of the Spring Concert, Mr. Hauley, you all get free tickets, on the Board of Education. I will have these passed around.
Other various charitable things that have been going on at the High School, Relay for Life is coming up rather shortly, I am afraid I cant’ give you a specific date on that. The Honor Society held it’s third blood drive of the year today. Previous honor societies have done only one blood drive; this year’s honor society just completed its third. We raised 69 pints of whole human blood, which was quite impressive, not as great as our last one with 79, but every pint of blood counts.
Finally I would like to apologize for the actions of a few students in the Watertown community and I am very sorry to hear how it is affecting some people. However I would also like to reiterate what I said before from this position, that the actions of about a dozen students at the High School do not represent, in no way what so ever, the entire 1,000+ student body at the High School. Thank you very much.
Report from PTA/PTO Liaison – Ms. Kace DuPlissie
Ms. DuPlissie: There’s a lot of end of year activity going on at all the schools but I have only got three schools right now because otherwise it would take 20 minutes. At Swift the Washington trip was a success. Where all the 8th graders go to Washington for three days. On May 11th they are going to have a laser show, on the 16th a signature project from Ireland, I am not exactly sure what that is about but I understand that it is like an assembly. On the 21st, I believe it is a string concert and on the 29th the 8th graders go to Holiday Hill. June 1st is Project Poetry Live. On the 6th of June is the chorus and band concert and on the 14th the annual 8th grade dinner dance.
At Polk Family Fun Night is on May 18th, the DARE graduation will be on the 17th and then I believe DARE has a picnic on June 3rd for both Judson and Polk up at Veterans. Polk had their volunteer breakfast and their staff appreciation lunch last week. And the last thing for Polk is their 5th grade party is on June 15th at Vets and that will be for all 5th graders and their families.
At Heminway, the poet David Zucker visited on the 25th of April. Performing this week will be Antonio Rocca, he is a storyteller and mime. Parents group volunteers helped out at the field day on May 4th. The full day of activities was started off with the entire school population walking for an hour in support of students with diabetes. The Heminway Park shelf sitters and pewter ornaments have come in and there are some leftovers, if anyone would like a momento please contact the school for information. The canstruction club competed on Friday in Hartford, 23 students accompanied Ms. O’Leary and built a huge sculpture of a plate of Oreo cookies with a large bottle of milk all out of cans. The judging later on this week and then all the cans will be donated to area food pantries. The end of the year activities at Heminway include a 5th grade parents night on May 30th, a showcase of student work on June 5th, a student trip to Quassy on June 6th and an end of the year concert on June 7th.
E. Budget Summary – (Information Only – No Action Required)
Ms. Dzioba: Budget summary is in the packet for all Board Members to review, if you have any questions please contact the Superintendent.
F. Committee Reports:
1. Advertising Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair
Mr. Griffin: The advertising committee did meet this past week. In the meeting we approved a new advertising pamphlet to be mailed to everyone. So take a look at that in your Town Times, expect that to be coming. It was very well done and it was very informative. I would like to thank everyone who volunteered to produce that pamphlet. We also received an update on the list of businesses that have been contacted; the list is growing by the day. I am very appreciative of that and I am sure that all the students, who get the benefit of that, are appreciative of that as well. I would like to urge all to take advantage of the program, it is advertising dollars well spent. A couple of the things that we have sponsored are the Robotics Advisor here at the High School and the Lego team at Swift and there are many more projects to come.
2. Athletics Committee, Chris Lafferty, Chair
Mr. Lafferty: There is no report this evening.
3. Budget Committee, Todd Griffin, Chair
Mr. Griffin: No report this evening
4. Curriculum & Instruction Committee, Gina Calabrese, Chair
Ms. Calabrese: We have two upcoming meetings, one scheduled Wednesday, May 16th at 3:30, Watertown High School and also Monday, May 21st at 6:00 at John Trumbull Primary School Library.
5. Facilities Committee, Rich Mazzamaro, Chair
Mr. Mazzamaro: There is no report this evening
6. Policy and Labor Committee, Mary Colangelo, Chair
Ms. Colangelo: The Policy and Labor Committee met on May 7th and discussed the current dress code policy at length. A committee of administration and staff has been formed to suggest some updates to the current policy, which will be brought back to the committee in mid-June. The committee also reviewed wages of substitute personnel and the budget impact of any increases. Recommendations will be brought to the full Board of Education at a future meeting. Our next meeting will be held early to mid-June.
7. Cablevision, Kevin Killeen, Chair
Mr. Killeen: No report this evening
8. PBC Representative, Rich Mazzamaro
Mr. Mazzamaro: No report this evening
9. Education Connection Representative, Mary Dzioba
Ms. Dzioba: No report
G. Communications – Secretary
Mr. Griffin: There is one communication this evening, it is from the Watertown Lacrosse Association. It is addressed to Dr. Erardi. On behalf of the Watertown Lacrosse Association we would like to thank you and the Board of Education for supporting our efforts to offer Lacrosse as a sport at the High School. We have worked hard to get to this point and plan to continue to do so to maintain a successful program. We look forward to working cooperatively with the Board of Education. Thank you again for your support. Sincerely Patricia Kinsley, Secretary Watertown Lacrosse Association.
H. Minutes
1. Regular Board of Education Meeting – April 23, 2007
Motion Presented by Mr. Mazzamaro seconded by Mr. Griffin to accept the Regular Board of Education Meeting Minutes of April 23, 2007.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0 Abstained)
I. Superintendent's Recommendations and Report
1. Appointments – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Ms. Michelle Velardi to the position of One to One Special Ed Program Paraprofessional at Swift Middle School starting April 30, 2007 for 32.5 hours paid per week at an hourly rate of $11.82.
b. Mr. Paul Wozniak, Jr., to the position of Assistant Ice Hockey Coach at Watertown High School for the 2006-2007 school year at a contractual stipend of $2,131.00 payable at the end of the season.
c. Ms. Michelle Baim to the position of English teacher at Watertown High School effective August 29, 2007 being hired at Step 2, with a Masters Degree, and with 1 year of experience at an annual contractual salary of $39,969.00.
d. Mr. Richard Scott Brown to the position of Math teacher at Watertown High School effective August 29, 2007 being hired at Step 5, with a Masters Degree, with 4 years of experience, at an annual contractual salary of $46,216.00.
e. Mr. Joseph Nappi to the position of Social Studies teacher at Swift Middle School effective August 29, 2007 being hired at Step 2, with a Masters Degree, with 1 year of experience at an annual contractual salary of $39,969.00.
f. Mr. Christopher Begnal to the position of English teacher at Watertown High School effective August 29, 2007 being hired at Step 2, with 1 year of experience, with a Masters Degree, at an annual contractual salary of $39,969.00.
2. Resignations – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Ms. Mora Garza from the position of Spanish teacher at Watertown High School effective at the end of the 2006-2007 school year for personal reasons.
3. Transfers – (Information Only – No Action Required)
a. Mr. Andrew Hennessey from the position of Social Studies Teacher at Swift Middle School to Social Studies Teacher at Watertown High School effective with the 2007-2008 school year.
b. Ms. Jennifer Longo from the position of Grade 4 teacher at Judson School to Grade 2 teacher at John Trumbull Primary School effective with the 2007-2008 school year.
c. Ms. Donna Wright from the position of 1.0 Art teacher at Watertown High School to .2 Art teacher at John Trumbull Primary School effective with the 2007-2008 school year.
Dr. Erardi: Thank you Mrs. Dzioba. Item 1, 2, and 3 are presented once again to the Board of Education as information. Are there questions at all on appointments, resignations or transfers?
The Board had no questions regarding Item #1. #2 or #3
4. Update – Review Tower Road
The Superintendent will give an update on the opening of the back gate at Tower Road.
Dr. Erardi: Item #4 is the two-week update to the Board of Education to review the back entrance/exit to Watertown High School. I have pictures that I would like to share with the Board taken by Mr. Ericson and he asked me to share them with the Board of Education. I would like to share my thoughts with the two-week overview, offer the opportunity for Mr. Hasbrouck to share his thoughts and I know a number of Board of Education members have taken personal time to watch the entrance and exit. I did share with the Board the first afternoon that the gate was open that the surprise to me was how few students left through the back exit and that remains. I think we were projecting 75 to 85 to 100 cars and the average daily traffic is probably between 25 and 35 cars. Every day since the gate has been open administration has been represented, usually with one assistant principal and at times an additional administrator. The oversight for the back gate I think has been just what the Board had asked for. The information that the administration shared with the Board of Education with regards to the student commitment and the student expectations and the guidelines, that was presented and that is enforced.
There are two issues that exacerbate this situation; the first is what existed before the gate opened, that still remains. It is very easy to stand and talk about students do not smoke any more, that is an easy thing to say, it is a hard thing to do. We don’t tolerate smoking, we don’t allow smoking on school grounds, we will never allow smoking on school grounds. It is a local policy; it is a state policy. The many issues that exist have less to do with Watertown High School, certainly to do with Watertown High students but less to do with Watertown High School and are issues of our safety officers, our police and our police commission. I can also share with the Board of Education, after attending the last Police Commission meeting that there is continued conversation. Which I think is a great deal of the solution, continued conversation about the Police Commission, their investigation and having an everyday assignment to Watertown High School for the close of the school day to help us with traffic. Whether it is on French or whether it is in the back of the building, I think that is part of the solution. The summary that I would like to share with the Board is that it is my belief that by opening the gate we have not in any way compounded any of the previous issues. And the issues are one that students, before they come to school, will be off sight. And as Mr. Zeman stated mostly likely 8-10 students are off site, smoking and then coming onto school grounds. I was certainly unaware and I believe administration was also, that there was anything happening, going under a fence, onto private property. That certainly will be investigated immediately. I can also share with the Board of Education that my office is in touch with at least one resident on a daily basis, and many times, multiple times during the course of the same day. With an update on Tower Road and the back of the building, and I share that just as information. We have worked hard together to remain as a partnership in this project, I don’t want to see residents angered by what is happening in the back of the school. We are doing our absolute best work that we possibly can and I think after two weeks we are in a position where our students do leave the back of the building respectfully. We do have administration with oversight, we do follow through with any discipline that needs to take place and we do our best work. And it needs to be better, but we do our best work with keeping the back of the building presentable, as we should as a resident of the neighborhood. Mr. Hasbrouck I don’t know if you have any additional comments at this time.
Mr. Hasbrouck: No I think you covered things just fine.
Dr. Erardi: Board members who have been in the back of the building and would like to share additional comments for the Board?
Mr. Lambert: As far as my information goes the day that I did show up, the students did leave respectfully. I didn’t see any speeding when I was here. But I do believe that from the comments that were made, the Police should be having their presence made during the Tower Road exiting and we should expect that they would. I don’t like to hear comments by residents talking about kids on their property, smoking, littering and things like that and I think that we all should all try to make it more, be more concerned about it and make our presence known. I think also the Student Council should be involved in making sure they do their best to keep the pressure on to have the kids act like adults. We expect them to act like adults and be responsible.
Ms. Dzioba: I will make comments during my Board Chair report.
Mr. Killeen: During public participation one of the things that concerns me the most was the issue of trespassing and whether or not the students are aware of how imposing that is. It is certainly something that I am happy we are going to address appropriately. A lot of times it is the case where students, especially when they get together three, four or five, or whatever, don’t really recognize how imposing they can appear, even without having that sense. Being in the teaching profession at another High School in Connecticut, it doesn’t really phase me to go into a group of young kids at the mall or whatever. My wife is a little less comfortable with that, but when you are not used to the kids it can be imposing. If it is a case where they are trespassing, we certainly should address that.
Mr. Mazzamaro: Just one more thing. I am concerned about the trespassing and the other thing that concerns me is the littering. That is something that we need to discuss and find a way to keep that from happening. I know that can be very annoying.
5. Update - Teacher Leader Program
Administration will give an update on Watertown’s involvement in the State Department of Education’s
Teacher Leader program.
Dr. Erardi: The fifth item on the Superintendent’s report is a celebration for Watertown Schools and certainly for our professional staff. This evening Sally Rinaldi and Alicia Gesseck, Sally and Alicia will come forward. Will share with the Board of Education their two-year project with the State Department of Education and the teacher leader program. Before they do I would like to share with the Board just a bit of information about what the Teacher Leader Program represents. Sally and Alicia applied to be a part of this very competitive program; we were fortunate in Watertown to have two staff members selected. I had that opportunity about two weeks ago to be with both Sally and Alicia to better understand their work. The end result of their two-year project I believe will clearly share with the Board of Education the impact that they have not only on their own classroom and students but on their building with staff. I am thrilled with the work they have done, I am equally excited with the representation of Watertown Schools and Sally and Alicia are here this evening to share with the Board of Education their work over the past two years.
Ms. Rinaldi: Thank you very much. I realize that your time is valuable so we will keep this very brief, probably 3-5 minutes, but we are honored that your going to give us those few minutes to express what we thought was an enriching, enriching professional development for us. I will take care of the historical part of it and Alicia will go into our action research project.
In 2005, in the spring, the State Department of Education developed a learning community of best trained Elementary Educators and Special Educators that were BEST trained and working at the Elementary level to come together and discuss student achievement and raising student achievement for all students, including those with special needs. Alicia and I took this opportunity and we applied and we were 2 of 20 chosen to represent various districts throughout the State of Connecticut. The goal of the program was to provide teachers with the skills, the information and the resources necessary so that we could bring an analytical perspective when we look at student work. We thought it was a tremendous extension to what Watertown is already doing because with our protocol training and all staff using the protocols. In our professional development we are continuously looking at student work and certainly with CMTs and data driven instruction it was a wonderful opportunity for us to extend what we already know about protocols and bring an analytical perspective to not only looking at student work but analyzing that student work in relation to the data. We would sit currently in our professional development meetings with our staff and our colleagues and we would look at student work and we would discuss it and we would come up with intervention strategies. As teachers we all converse and we try and solve a bevy of problems. What we learned in this academy through action research and that whole process is that we need to be focused. When you come up with a strategy, chose one strategy, make sure that you have a plan, act on that plan and then observe what is happening with the students. Reflect afterwards, again based on data, so that if there is a change in student performance then you actually know that one specific strategy that caused that to work. No for many of you here that probably is something that you are used to, especially administrators, and businessmen. For teachers it was a wonderful eye opening experience to actually become focused, to rely on the data and to say you know what, lets keep personalities out of this, it is the data that is telling us the story. In our first year we were required to do a classroom based research project and in the second year we were required to move that into a school based research project. We had three wonderful mentors at the State Department who worked endlessly evenings, mentoring us one on one. We had Sharon Fuller, project leader for Special Education, Christine Sullivan, project leader for Elementary Education and then Tony Rigazio-Digilio, the Chairman of Educational Leadership at Central Connecticut. I will turn it over to Alicia and she will speak and address our project.
Ms. Gesseck: In year two of the program our teacher inquiry project focused on school culture, specifically teacher change and how it impacts student learning. Our focus question revolved around the types of questions that teachers were asking to increase student understanding in both areas of literacy and numeracy. And it worked out perfectly that we were able to fit under the umbrella of a school improvement plan at Heminway Park that was data driven and also based on a demonstrated need by the 2006 CMT scores. Our action plan included four main items. Teachers would attend bi-weekly focus group meetings. They would also submit examples of student work that included CMT based questioning. They would highlight CMT objectives in their lesson plan books so our building administrator Ms. Rommel could come around at any time and see these plans in action. And we also participated in the district-wide quarterly protocol sessions. As Sally said we found through the teacher inquiry process that it is best to focus on one maybe two strategies at a time to truly see whether or not they are affective. Our two strategies were that #1 teachers would infuse the CMT format into all of their tests, quizzes and class discussions and also we looked at the cognitive level of questioning an we used Blooms Taxonomy to do that. In order to track the intervention we together developed a rubric that had two tiers. One was based on the level of questioning as it related to the CMT blue print and the other aspect was related to the cognitive level of questioning and Blooms Taxonomy.
We took two different data collections, we took a base line set of data in February of this year and we again gathered data in April of this year. We recorded our data on the two-tier rubric and then we transferred that data onto bar graphs. That can be seen on the middle panels of our presentation boards. Just some final reflections on the process in general. First of all we discovered that school change would not have been possible without the support of our building administrator and Lisa Rommel and her school initiatives and we thank her for that. We also thank Dr. Erardi for his support, he was with us when the program started in the fall of last year and he was with us again last Friday as we concluded this amazing professional development opportunity. School culture change take time and it takes small steps but clearly it can be tremendously rewarding for both administration, staff and students. Sally and I would like to thank the Board of Education and Dr. Erardi for your time and your support of teacher leadership in the Watertown Public Schools.
Dr. Erardi: Questions at this time for Sally or Alicia.
Ms. Dzioba: Is this something that once you move into Swift you can carry on your benefit to the whole school? It is transferable to Swift.
Ms. Gesseck: Absolutely, absolutely. The teacher inquiry process involves teachers at all grade levels from the youngest of students and within the next two years they are also going to be developing a cohort of teachers at the Middle and High School levels to be involved in a similar project, through the State Department.
6. Arts of the Month
The artwork you see on display this evening was done by the following talented young artists:
Patsy Harris John Trumbull Primary School, Kindergarten
Maggie DeSantis John Trumbull Primary School, Grade 1
Rachel Martineau John Trumbull Primary School, Grade 2
Matthew Maccione Judson School, Grade 3
Ty Meka Polk School, Grade 4
Vincent Turnbull Judson School, Grade 5
Marc Acri Heminway Park School, Grade 6
Melissa Dodge Swift Middle School, Grade 7
Jeremiah Caron Swift Middle School, Grade 8
Elise Miller Watertown High School, Grade 10
Jon Swanhall Watertown High School, Grade 11
Lauren Czarzasty Watertown High School, Grade 10
Jessica Waldron Watertown High School, Grade 10
Dr. Erardi: The superintendent’s report will end with our Artists of the Month.
Dr. Erardi read the list of student artists.
J. Report from the Chairman
Mrs. Dzioba: For my chair report, first I would like to say how lucky we are to still have Dr. Erardi with us and that there were no offers from Broadway or Hollywood.
Laughter
Dr. Erardi: I would like to respond to that. I am being evaluated tonight and I am hoping that this does not go into my evaluation. My inability to perform on stage.
Ms. Dzioba: It was an excellent performance and Will you are also incredibly talented. The whole cast just was amazing, it just reflects the talent that, your class has always been an exceptionally talented group of people with Amber and you and Drew and Arielle and others that I don’t have time to mention. Congratulations to you all, it was very enjoyable and very successful.
I would like to remind Board members that tomorrow there is an important meeting for the kick off of the budget and getting the word out. So I encourage any Board Member who could be there tomorrow to please try and attend. Finally I would like to just say about Tower Road, I would like to encourage the residents that are here tonight to work with the Police Commission. As we have had the gate open for what, 2 or 3 weeks now and I don’t think that it is an adequate time to judge the success or failure of the gate being open for just 20 minutes in the afternoon. As the Superintendent mentioned there are less cars than we expected. I have said in the past that Watertown High School, as all our schools, wants to be good neighbors and I am concerned about the trespassing and such. As I said some things that really should be worked through with the Police Commission and the Police Department. This is trespassing, this is littering, this is smoking, if they are on Tower Road they are off our property and I would encourage residents when there is a problem to call the Police. I am encouraged by the fact that if they did give a ticket to someone who was speeding down there that is also a good means of preventing further speeding. I ask residents to be patient and help us work out problems with the gate being open. We are concerned that your property is being trespassed upon and littered upon and we will work with you with that. I would like to move onto action items.
K. Action Items – Adoption of Items to be Approved by Consent
a. Consideration of the Approval of Acceptance of Gifts
1.) The Community Crusade For Children would like to donate a check in the amount of $417.38 to the Watertown Public Schools. This money represents proceeds generated from the donation containers for the 4th Quarter, 2006.
2.) Gabriel Pietrorazio, his family and friends, would like to donate books to the Judson School library with an estimated value of $370.00.
3.) Mr. Ronald Webb would like to donate books and workbooks to the Business Department at Watertown High School with an estimated value of $3,000.00.
4.) Mr. Stuart Arnheim, on behalf of the Brio Academy of Cosmetology in East Hartford, would like to donate metal lockers to Watertown High School with an estimated value of $2,689.87.
5.) The Siemon Company would like to donate a check in the amount of $1,000.00 to Heminway Park School to sponsor the intramural program.
6.) The John Trumbull Primary School PTO would like to donate a new microwave to the staff in recognition of Staff Appreciation Day with an estimated value of $100.00.
It is recommended that the Board accept these generous gifts and letters of appreciation to be
sent to the donors.
Motion presented by Mr. Griffin, seconded by Mr. Mazzamaro to accept these generous gifts and letters of appreciation to be sent to the donors.
Discussion:
Dr. Erardi: I would just like to share with the Board the Gabe Pietrorazio gift because it is very unique. This is a little guy, on his ninth birthday, he chose rather than to accept gifts, everyone who attended his party brought a book to be donated to the Judson Library.
Ms. Colangelo: The lockers, are they new or used?
Mr. LoFrese: It is my understanding that they are used lockers.
Ms. Colangelo: Are they in good condition?
Mr. LoFrese: It is also my understanding that they are in better condition than the ones in the High School Boys Locker Room.
Ms. Colangelo: You haven’t seen them.
Mr. LoFrese: I haven’t personally seen them, it is I believe the coaches and the Phys. Ed teacher that have gone up there and looked at them.
Mr. Killeen: Are we going to put the lockers to use right away?
Mr. LoFrese: Over the summer we will be working on changing those out.
Mr. Griffin: Dr. Erardi, I would like to have Gabriel Pietrorazio invited to our next meeting for some special recognition and thanks.
Motion passed unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
b. Consideration of the Approval of Disposal of Obsolete Equipment
Mr. Thad Hasbrouck, Principal of Watertown High School, requests permission to dispose of a chair that is in extremely poor condition in the teachers’ cafeteria at the high school according to Board of Education policy.
It is recommended that the Board approve of the disposal of a chair that is in extremely poor
condition in the teachers’ cafeteria at the high school according to Board of Education policy.
Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Ms. Pannone to approve of the disposal of a chair that is in extremely poor condition in the teachers’ cafeteria at the high school according to Board of Education policy.
Discussion: None
Motion passed unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
c. Consideration of the Approval of Medical Leave of Absence
Ms. Anne Gibbons, Grade 2 teacher at John Trumbull Primary School requests a medical leave of absence beginning on May 14, 2007 through June 1, 2007 with use of accrued sick time.
It is recommended that the Board approve of a medical leave of absence for Ms. Anne Gibbons, Grade 2 teacher at John Trumbull Primary School, beginning on May 14, 2007 through June 1, 2007 with use of accrued sick time and a medical doctor’s note to return.
Motion presented by Mr. Lafferty, seconded by Mr. Mazzamaro to approve a medical leave of absence for Ms. Anne Gibbons, Grade 2 teacher at John Trumbull Primary School, beginning on May 14, 2007 through June 1, 2007 with use of accrued sick time and a medical doctor’s note to return.
.
Discussion: None
Motion Passed Unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
d. Consideration of the Approval of Maternity/childrearing Leave of Absence
Ms. Susan Houriham, Art/Photography Teacher at Watertown High School requests a maternity/childrearing leave of absence commencing approximately August 31, 2007 for 44 days with use of accumulated sick days and then leave without pay.
It is recommended that the Board approve of a Maternity/childrearing Leave of Absence commencing approximately August 31, 2007 for 44 days with use of accumulated sick days and then leave without pay and a medical doctor’s note to return.
Motion presented by Mr. Griffin, seconded by Mr. Mazzamaro to approve of a Maternity/childrearing Leave of Absence commencing approximately August 31, 2007 for 44 days with use of accumulated sick days and then leave without pay and a medical doctor’s note to return.
Discussion:
None
Motion Passed Unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
L. Future Agenda Items and Board Members’ Comments
Ms. Pannone: I would like to make a comment also about the play. I attended Saturday night and I guess William you still never cease to amaze me with your talents. Besides being a scholar and a very professional young man, your singing and dancing was tremendous. And I can’t ignore Dr. Erardi but the students did tell me that every time he practiced, he had another line or two that he added on. They were glad he was only there a week or else he would have stolen the play.
Laughter
The only sad part of it is that the press is never around to pick up the wonderful things that our kids do. I someone misbehaves immediately all the details are in the newspaper but these young people have the most tremendous voices and they gave so much of themselves, it was a delightful, delightful evening. It is too bad that the press didn’t pick up on that and give them a nice ovation in the paper.
Mr. Lafferty: Like everyone else I attended the musical and was extremely impressed, especially with Will and Dr. Erardi. And although Ms. Dzioba mentioned that Dr. Erardi received no offers to audition for Broadway, I will gladly accept them if they come this way. Also I would just like to note first thank you to the three residents from Tower Road who came. We are going to need input from the community as well to make this trial work and to make this program work for the success of the traffic on Tower Road. I think also that encouraging you to speak to the Police Department and Police Commission is not to steer you away from us, certainly it is just that the appropriate people to talk to in some of these incidences would be the Police. But anything that is pertinent information to us, thank you for coming tonight and thank you for bringing up other issues that are going on, on Tower Road. Being the Watertown High School Board representative I certainly will be looking into it more closely. Thank you.
M. Public Participation
Bob Fortier, Tower Road, Watertown
I just want to get clear where we are leaving this Tower Road issue now. Are we still going to keep it at a trial basis? Is that my understanding as of tonight’s meeting?
Ms. Dzioba: As of tonight yes.
Mr. Fortier: If so, Mr. Lafferty just mentioned that he would like to hear our comments, maybe you can assign a Board where one or two members will actually listen to what w have to say because from what I heard tonight I feel like we are wasting our breath again. This is a one sided deal, I didn’t hear any bad things about, and I don’t mean to bring negativity here because I am home the majority of the days there are about 40 cars that exit out of there and 3 or 4 days out of the week it runs smooth but I think we need make it 5 days out of the week because that one or two days that we are having incidents is not good enough. You would want more for your CMT tests, I think we should strive for something a little bit better here. This is a Band-Aid on a problem, it is not going to go away and if you want to keep this gate open, this Board is the one that approved it. As far as going to the Police Commission, we went that route and they obviously have no, all they can do is recommend things, they have no by-laws so they basically don’t tell us anything, they recommend this on one side, they recommend that on the other side. We are not getting anywhere with them, if you are willing to set up a Board that we can give it a round of investigation. I only hear a one sided thing that it is running smoothly when you are there, when you are there the students know you are there. It is like a parade at the gate and they act like angels but there are these days when you are not there that I witnessed, like I said the majority of them just can’t work it. I don’t know maybe it takes a Police Officer, it may be able to work but you’ve got a half a dozen kids that aren’t abiding by this contract that I was given tonight. What is the consequence if they don’t, I could give you the marker, I know, I caught the red little station wagon today, there is a blue Honda with a blown out back window, he can’t get down that road fast enough. I don’t know if he is going to be a race car driver later on in life but there are a half a dozen kids who are abusing it. Something needs to be done to put the law down that this isn’t going to be tolerated and if their privileges are going to be revoked I don’t know but I don’t see nothing. It is the same six cars and an apology from Mr. Zeman here that is not going to cut it, someone is going to get hurt, it is an accident waiting to happen. There was an incident, granted you had some type of threatening note in the bathroom on this day, the 26th. But I was leaving for work about 10:30 in the morning and a little station wagon came up the road and kids got out with these baseball bats. And they grabbed three kids on the side of the street and were ready to; I don’t know what they were going to do. One of the neighbors yelled out their windows and then they seen me and they got back in their car and they caught the kid at the bottom of the road. These are issues that were going on when the gate was opened before, I don’t know if they go to Watertown or if they are Watertown residents but I brought this up to Mr. Erardi attention, it seems like the negativity is getting pushed under the rug.
Dr. Erardi: Mr. Fortier, I just need to interrupt you, I never heard about a car, baseball bats at the end of the street.
Mr. Fortier: I called you several times.
Dr. Erardi: We never had that discussion, I have a pretty good memory, I just wanted to share that publicly.
Mr. Fortier: I know I mentioned, sometimes we are on the wrong page, as last week when I called you about the students running up and down the road again, you thought I meant cars. But I did say that the 26th there was an incident where a station wagon came up, kids jumped out with bats, grabbed younger students and well I am mentioning it now in case this way it is on the record, so it was mentioned. I know you wanted this to work and you are telling us to call the Police but by the time someone gets up here it is not happening. If this Board made the decision to do it I would appreciate it if they went a little bit farther. Get a committee that will investigate it completely, not the days we hear everything is smooth because they are not. The kids know when there is a Police car on the road or when someone is going to be out there.
Ms. Dzioba: Sir, what our trial gate opening is, is for 20 minutes during the day, what you are telling us about tonight are problems outside of that 20 minutes.
Mr. Fortier: No you are saying 20 minutes after school is the way it should be put, not from 2:05-2:25, because when you have a half a day you are going to open it up at the end of the day. You had early dismissal because of the bomb scare or threatening note, the gate was opened, the cars were coming down. I don’t know if you have different administrators out there, sometimes they will let every car out and it backs all the way up the road so that people coming up the road can’t drive because there are kids walking. Then you have other ones that let them race down two at a time. This is because the gate is open, it is not 2:05, it is when school is ended that you will open the gate, I think we need to clarify that, am I right?
Ms. Dzioba: It is my understanding that it is opened 20 minutes, if there is an emergency situation where we have to evacuate the school.
Mr. Fortier: I am surprised why there were no Police Officers on hand that day, there is no reason, there was no shift change at that hour of the morning so there should have been someone there. But you are forcing us; this is a can of worms that is being opened up allowing this gate in use.
Ms. Dzioba: We will look into your concerns and look into the gate being opened at other times and we will respond to you.
Mr. Fortier: Well it is basically going to be opened when school ends no matter what time of day that will be, you have half days it will be opened for the 20 minutes. So this 2:05-2:20 is just on a normal scheduled day but any early dismissal or any half days or something this gate is going to be opened, am I right? And we haven’t had any bad weather yet, let along rain or nothing. I am curious to see on a rainy, windy day and administrator standing out there.
Ms. Dzioba: We will be in touch with you. Is there anyone else who would like to address the board?
Russell Ericson, 39 Pleasentveiw Avenue, Watertown
I just have one more thing to say. We have a town here of about 30,000 people, when the second shift starts at the Watertown Police Department, we are lucky, they usually start with three cars, and one of them is a Supervisor. There is not enough, I hear what you are saying about the Police Commission, we have been there, I went to the Police Commission meeting just the other night. I spoke with the Deputy Chief; he said well when we have someone available. They can’t afford, have you listened to the Police scanner? They can’t afford to take a man off the road to send him up there. They have to pay someone overtime, it is a money situation. You really want change, you pay them, pay them the hour. That is all that you are talking about, pay them an hour. what does it cost $3,000-4,000, if they gave us half, you got 180 days in a school year, if they gave us half of that, we’d be a lot better off. But they can’t, they don’t have the resources, they don’t have the budget, they don’t have the manpower. You really want to see what goes on, I invite every one of you, I live at 39 Pleasentview Avenue. I’ll invite any one of you to come up any morning, I am up at 5 o’clock every morning, you can come knock on my door. You can come up and see what I see, I’ll take you in my truck. Come up unannounced, don’t come up when they know you are going to be there, come up unannounced. Come up in your own car and take a ride, take a view through our eyes. You see what we see, you won’t want that for your, you see the photos, you wouldn’t want any of that for your neighborhood, none of it.
N. Executive Session
Personnel – Superintendent’s Contract
Personnel – Litigation
Motion presented by Mr. Mazzamaro, seconded by Mr. Griffin to enter into Executive Session with Dr. Erardi, Dr. Pelosi, Legal Counsel, Mr. Hasbrouck, Ms. Raola, Mrs. Hackett and all Board Members listed as present.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
Executive Session convened at 8:40 p.m.
Executive Session ended at 10:40 p.m.
O. Adjournment
Motion presented by Ms. Colangelo, seconded by Ms. Lambert to adjourn the Regular Board of Education Meeting of May 14, 2007.
Motion Passed Unanimously
(9-In Favor, 0-Opposed, 0-Abstained)
Meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by
Todd Griffin, Board Secretary
Bonnie Goulet, Board Clerk
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