Officials discuss school security

As published in the Record Journal Saturday December 29, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - School officials held two meetings this week to discuss security measures and possible upgrades in the wake of the deadly shooting at a Newtown elementary school two weeks ago.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo and several Board of Education members met Friday morning with the district’s security consultant and parents who work in security and law enforcement to reassess protocols and examine alternatives.

“It was a very positive conversation,” Menzo said. “We’re exploring all the options the district should consider.”

Time is of the essence for school officials, who will submit the first draft of their 2013-14 budget next month. Menzo is planning to attend at least two more statewide school security meetings before the draft is submitted. Ideas will be ranked, with the most crucial going into the spending proposal.

Chet Miller, a Board of Education member who attended Friday’s meeting, said ideas ranged from security cameras to alarm systems that would trigger if someone gained unauthorized access to a school.The elementary and middle schools already have a buzzer system that requires front office staff to unlock the doors for visitors. The systems are being installed soon at the two high schools.

Miller said all the security in the world may not be able to stop a determined perpetrator, but “certainly we want to do what is practical and possible to protect our kids as best as we can.”

Menzo said administrators also met with police and fire officials on Wednesday to discuss how the departments respond to a school emergency. Principals were also reminded of security procedures.

Miller said people are usually on edge following a tragedy like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but it’s important that security protocols continue to be followed in the weeks and months ahead.

“People tend to relax, memories fade ... we can’t let that happen,” he said. “We need to constantly be sure everybody is on the same page.”

School board member Kathy Castelli also attended Friday’s meeting and said she was pleased to hear from residents with expertise in the security field.

“Security and safety of children is the most important facet of what we do,” she said.

Castelli said she was still digesting the information presented at the Friday meeting.
“We need to explore what makes sense,” she said.

Though added security measures are being discussed, Castelli said it’s important to protect students and without unduly frightening them.

New state system uses one number to rank schools

As published in the Record Journal Monday December 24, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

The state Department of Education released a new metric for student achievement this month, ranking each school on a scale of 0 to 100 with the new Student Performance Index.

Scores from the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test have been publicly available for years, but the new index averages the numbers over the past three years, taking into account all subjects and grades to create a single figure.

“The state’s new school accountability and support framework enables more precise, more helpful snapshots of school performance,” Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor said in a statement. “By heralding schools making significant progress and highlighting schools in need of greater support, the system will also help districts and the state focus our efforts where they are needed most.”

Unlike metrics under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the new system takes into account graduation rates and student growth in scores, even if they don’t reach a predetermined goal.

State officials have set a goal of all schools eventually reaching a score of 88, which means most students scored at or above the goal level on the CMT and the CAPT. A score of 67 or higher means most students scored at the proficient level on the tests.

Locally, scores in Cheshire and Southington, on average, surpassed 88.

Southington School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the district’s scores. “What we thought was happening in the schools equated to a fine performance,” he said.

But Erardi said he has concerns about how the new metric will be rolled out over the next few years. The measurement will play a significant role in new teacher evaluations that are a part of the state’s sweeping education reform legislation.

Cheshire School Superintendent Greg Florio said he wasn’t surprised by the district’s results.

“We’ve been monitoring our test results forever and I knew our scores would be fairly strong,” he said.

In Wallingford, all elementary schools were within a point or two of the state goal, except for Parker Farms School, which scored 76.8. The middle schools scored in the high 80s, while Lyman Hall High School posted a 78.9 and Sheehan High School posted an 81.4.

Wallingford School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he was pleased that there wasn’t a large gap in scores among the district’s schools.

“We don’t have pockets of excellence or pockets of need,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of disparity.”

Meriden schools performed the lowest locally, with only three schools scoring higher than 67: Israel Putnam, Thomas Hooker and Lincoln Middle. Hooker scored the highest, at 86.1.

But Meriden Superintendent Mark D. Benigni said it was important parents and others “don’t get too caught up in the test scores.” Several city schools, including Hanover and Casmir Pulaski, were recognized for the growth students had made in their scores. Benigni said the scores help school officials to know where to allocate resources such as reading specialists, but a higher number doesn’t mean one school is better than another.

“It’s not just scores,” he said. “You have to look at parent involvement, climate, culture and the extracurricular opportunities the school provides.”

Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and a former Wallingford school superintendent, said the new number is a “step in the right direction,” but parents shouldn’t make snap decisions about schools using the figure.

“You can’t make final judgments based on that number,” he said. “You need to look at what’s behind it.”

State funding must come through for LHHS project to move ahead

As published in the Record Journal Thursday December 20, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - School officials are moving forward with the hiring an an architect for a new sports complex at Lyman Hall High School, but it remains to be seen if state funding for the project will come through.

A Board of Education subcommittee last month unveiled plans for a new artificial turf football field, a six-lane track and other upgrades to Lyman Hall’s athletic facilities. The price tag is about $1.2 million.

But before the project can be completed, money will need to be approved by the state Bond Commission. The state faces a $365 million shortfall in the current fiscal year, but state Rep. Mary M. Mushinsky, D Wallingford, said funds have already been set aside to pay for municipal projects and she doesn’t expect that account to be slashed.

“The fund still has funds in it,” she said. “I think it’s potentially possible (that the project will be funded).”

Lawmakers approved $525,000 in funding to improve the baseball field at Sheehan High School in 2005, but the money never made it onto the Bond Commission agenda. State Rep. Mary G. Fritz, D Wallingford, said she will request a change in language to the previous legislation to cover upgrades to any sports facilities in town, but the item still needs approval by the Bond Commission, which is far from certain.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Fritz said. “All I can do is try to work it out.”

Mushinsky said lawmakers compete to get items on the Bond Commission agenda, which is set by a combination of lawmakers and state officials. Important factors in getting a project approved include financial and community support from a municipality.

“You need people to be in agreement ... that this is a priority,” Mushinsky said.

There is already $300,000 available to repair the track from money left over from last year’s school budget.

School officials are also seeking other sources of funding. School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo has mentioned applying to the Small Town Economic Assistance Program, a state-run fund that distributes money for municipal projects. The school district also plans to apply for the Worrell Grant, worth about$100,000.

“We’re doing our due diligence,”said Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay.

Board of Education member Kathy Castelli, a member of the subcommittee that worked on the project, said a new field would be safer and allow for greater use by the school’s sports teams. Castelli said she wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of state funding but was optimistic.

“It warrants consideration and I’m hoping that’s the way the state sees it,” she said.

Bids for an architect will be opened next month. Menzo said the district may complete the project in phases if it can’t secure the entire $1.2 million.

Wallingford Response Updated Sunday 12/16/2012 - Salvatore F. Menzo, Ed.D. Superintendent Wallingford Public Schools

As posted on Sunday December 16, 2012
http://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13612

Dear Wallingford Parents Guardians and Community Members:

Yesterday, I met with parents regarding the Wallingford Public School’s response to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The common concern shared was with the overall safety and compliance to procedures as visitors enter our buildings each day. The greatest takeaway for me from this meeting was the need to enforce a consistent approach to visitor procedures across the district. Additional safety recommendations were made that I will share with the Board of Education over the course of the next few weeks.

As a result of the meeting, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of our families that we have a plan in place at each of our schools to handle emergency situations. We work with the Wallingford police and fire departments to prepare for these types of emergencies and regularly practice our safety procedures with students and staff through discussions and emergency exercises. While no amount of planning can guarantee that a tragedy such as this will not occur, we are doing everything we know to keep students and staff safe while at school.

It is imperative that parents assist us in enforcing our front office procedures when arriving on campus. Use front entrances only when visiting school. At the elementary and middle schools, use the buzzer system. Provide the clerk with your name and specific reason for visiting the school. Hold up your picture ID to the camera for verification. Upon entering the building, and check into the office immediately to receive a visitors badge. Do not forget to check out at the main office when leaving. At the high schools, check in with the greeter at the front entrance. Provide name, reason for visit, and identification. Receive a visitors badge and return to the greeter at the end of your visit to ensure we know you have left the building.

We require media, vendors, and delivery drivers to check in as well. Minor exits and entrances are locked throughout the day and should not be propped open by staff or parents for any reason. These are just a few of the procedures we must enforce to help ensure we know who is on campus at all times. Certainly in this day and age we can never be absolutely protected against all circumstances, but we do train our staff and rely on our parents to helps us ensure we enforce our own procedures. We also conduct safety drills and debriefings with local first responders regularly.

As we return to school this week, it is equally important for us to work with our staff and ensure they are prepared to support their students in difficult times. Staff is receiving information to ensure that they have the resources they will need to respond to student questions this week. We will also have our counselors and administrators ready on Monday morning to respond to students as needed.

Informational tips from the National Association of School Psychologists about what parents can do at a time like this are available on our website by clicking here. This is the approach that will be used with staff in the event the topic should arise in class this week. We are not holding special lessons or discussions on the tragedy unless the teacher feels the class needs to have that time to process.

As we all continue to remember the families and staff impacted by the events in Newtown, we must also to try to maintain focus on the sense of community that exists in Wallingford. Please know we will do all that we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff, and with your help we are confident we can do that. In doing so, we must all trust each other and help each other through this difficult time. In a collaborative spirit, we will grow as a community and district as a result of these tragic events.

Sincerely,

Salvatore F. Menzo, Ed.D.

Superintendent

 

Wallingford Multi-Faith Memorial Service in Honor of Sandy Hook Elementary School

Most Holy Trinity Church, 68 North Colony Street Wallingford, CT 06492
6 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. @ Monday, December 17th
All Pastors of every Faith are invited to Participate

All Public are invited to attend

20 Candles will be lit by Schoolchildren from around Wallingford School District

30 Minute service of Song & Prayer from each Faith

Please join the Town of Wallingford in Prayer, Faith, Community, and Solidarity for all victims, their families, first responders, teachers and administrators, and all touched by this tragedy.

For more information or to register your Church, synagogue or place of worship, please contact Christine Mansfield, 203-623-0278 or inbox at Facebook

Keep your eyes open, superintendent tells Wallingford parents at meeting on safety

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday December 16, 2012

Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
mgodin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2255
Twitter:@CConnBiz

WALLINGFORD — After nearly every horrific mass shooting, it turns out that there were warning signs left behind somewhere, Wallingford School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo told a group of parents Saturday morning. As police pored through clues Saturday as to what led 20-year-old Adam Lanza to shoot and kill 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook School Friday, Menzo and other school officials asked parents to keep their eyes open and report concerns to school and public officials.

“The saying ‘If you see something, say something’ — there is something to that,” Menzo said. “Somebody had an inkling this was going to happen. Don’t be ashamed to bring it to somebody’s attention. We need to count on all of you to give us this information.”

But calling on the community to report disturbing behavior or speech is only one way to bolster student safety and prevent copycat incidents at the town’s 13 school buildings, Menzo said.

The schools are also ready to revamp and harden policies, he said, but not to engage in knee-jerk reactions that will go strong for a few months before falling by the wayside when complacency sets in.

Schools are targets because weapons aren’t allowed, and that presents a challenge, Menzo said. And there are no measures that can guarantee 100 percent protection. But he also reminded parents that school shootings are rare.

Menzo hosted the morning forum to hear parents’ concerns after Friday’s massacre. About a dozen of the 50 parents who attended the event in the Sheehan High School auditorium were worried that the schools are too easy to enter and that there is resistance to the potential cost of heightened security.

“I can’t put a price on my kids’ safety,” said Sean Neeman, a father of two daughters. “What can we do to support you guys? It’s going to come down to someone saying we can’t find the money in the budget. I don’t want to hear that.”

Neeman said that when he walks his daughter to Rock Hill School, the doors are unlocked.

“Anyone can walk in,” he said. “Until yesterday, it didn’t bother me.”

Parents complained that too many people are being buzzed into schools without proper identification. Parents said they are able to get into the schools even after the first bell rings and the school is supposed to be locked. Menzo said the principals would make changes and review buzzer protocol, but parents needed to understand and not be offended when asked for identification.

Other suggestions included school cameras that could be monitored in one spot by a police officer, an armed but not uniformed officer in each school and a buzzer system in the two high schools. There are now greeters at Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools. One parent, who is also a bus driver, brought up the issue of bus safety and how it might be improved.

Security during after-school activities will also have to be scrutinized, Menzo said.

He said the schools and the town would need to get local lawmakers on board to support legislation to fund increased school security, but in light of Friday’s shootings, he didn’t anticipate much opposition.

Menzo told the parents that he was notified of the Newtown shooting at about 10:45 a.m. Friday by Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio. He immediately called the principals, who double-checked locks on all doors at their schools. Because the shooting happened more than an hour away from the town, instruction resumed as normal and teachers did not discuss the incident in their classrooms.

At about 2 p.m., Menzo participated in a conference call with eight other superintendents in central Connecticut to discuss policies and practices. They agreed to work with their local police departments to increase patrols. Later that afternoon, parents were notified by the school’s telephone and email system of what had happened and that there would be an increased police presence on Monday.

Menzo said information on how to talk about the Newtown event would appear on the district’s website. Parents can read age-appropriate tips on how to discuss the incident with their children, but the Newtown incident won’t be talked about in class unless it’s raised by students, Menzo said.

School board member Chet Miller and Town Councilor Jason Zandri also attended the event.

“We need to step things up and maintain policies,” Zandri said. “You have to be consistently vigilant. This could have been at a Chuck E. Cheese. Parents need to know certain things are going to cost, and we need to learn how we’re going to pay for them.”

Important message from Superintendent Dr. Salvatore Menzo - Talking with Your Kids about School Shootings

Dear Wallingford Families,

We are saddened by the events that took place in Newtown, CT this morning. Upon notice this morning from the Wallingford Police Department, the following actions were taken:

• Principals were notified and additional vigilance became the order of the day.
• Doors that are normally locked and checked throughout the day were checked even more frequently.
• The Wallingford Police Department patrolled and visited schools throughout the district.
• Central Office administration continuously monitored the events in Newtown and was in frequent communication with both the police and school administrators.

As Superintendent, I have conferred with a network of local superintendents to ensure a consistent response for students and families.

Tomorrow, Saturday, December 15th from 9:00 – 10:00 AM, I will be available in the Sheehan Auditorium to answer any questions parents may have regarding our safety or security procedures.

Information for parents as to how to discuss this topic with your children will be available on our website and Facebook page.

On Monday, December 17th, counselors will be available to provide support to students or staff, if needed.

Again, the families affected by the tragedy in Newtown are in my thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Salvatore F. Menzo, Ed.D.
Superintendent


Helping your children manage distress in the aftermath of a shootinghttp://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13609

Managing Strong Emotional Reactions to Traumatic Eventshttp://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13610

Discussing Hate and Violence with Your Childrenhttp://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13611

Newtown Victims Fund - from Chris Bishop

Chris Bishop
203-314-8858
President Wallingford Cardinals Travel Baseball

Sheehan High School Baseball
Wallingford Little League

In the wake of this terrible tragedy, we are faced with the indecision of not knowing what to do. The lives of so many young people ended far too soon because of some senseless act of violence that nobody will ever begin to understand. We will never be able to wrap our minds around how someone can harm a child. The most important thing at this time is continued prayer for all of those effected.

In a joint effort, we will be collecting donations to send to a Victims fund in Newtown. This joint effort will be through Wallingford Little League, Yalesville Little League, and Wallingford Cardinals Travel Baseball. Being that we all donate so much of our time, effort, and money to help out so many kids, it only felt appropriate to help in some way.

While we will never help these families or the children who survive heal from these scars, we can embrace them and show them our unconditional support and love. I hope that no matter how much or how little you can afford during this holiday season, you can take the time to find something to help these poor people.

We ask that you write a check to one of the three organizations involved and in the memo you please write "Newtown Fund." 100% of the money raised will then be sent in a joint check to the Victims Fund when it is created. You can send checks to myself at PO Box 4036 Yalesville, CT or to Lars Edeen at his office 171 Center Street, Wallingford, CT.

Hug your children tonight and tell them you love them. And Pray. God bless all those families and God bless us all.

Upgrades to improve schools’ Internet access

As published in the Record Journal Friday December 14, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - Wireless Internet at the town’s high schools and middle schools will be faster and more easily accessible after upgrades to the network are completed.

The Board of Education approved more than $500,000 in technology and maintenance upgrades this week. School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said the improvements are being paid for out of the district’s unencumbered fund balance, money budgeted for the current fiscal year that hasn’t been spent.

The bulk of the expense, $284,000, comes from wireless upgrades. Randall Backus, the district’s director of information technology services, said upgrades are necessary because the networks haven’t been improved since wireless was first installed in the schools five or six years ago.

“Our current wireless infrastructure was engineered back when the only devices connecting wirelessly were one teacher laptop per classroom, to be used for basic tasks,” Backus wrote in a memo to Board of Education members. “Since then, the demands for wireless access have increased.”

Menzo said the wireless upgrades are also needed for the school district to roll out a “Bring Your Own Device” program, which would allow students to bring smart phones, laptops or tablets into the classroom for educational use.Other technology purchases include a new network filing system, a new data backup and restoration service and new email archiving software. Menzo said with the current system, restoring the server can take days.

“This (upgrade) allows us to restore in a matter of hours,” he said.

Fileway, the new network software, will allow teachers and other staff to access the school network remotely so they can work from any location using any device.

“We’re trying to help the teachers with the efficiency they need to do their jobs,” Menzo said.

Board of Education member Christine Mansfield said the technology upgrades are overdue. Expanding wireless access is cheaper than adding computer labs, which require more maintenance and air conditioned rooms, she said.

“There’s a lot of efficiency in these proposals,” Mansfield said. “Prices have come down from where they were a year ago. It’s not overspending, we’re catching up.”

In the area of maintenance, the district plans to buy two service vehicles, replacing a utility van used by an electrician and a plow truck that has suffered repeated broken brake lines. Air conditioning will also be installed in several classrooms at Moran Middle School. The total cost of the maintenance projects is $157,000.

Menzo said the district was able to afford the purchases through savings in several areas of the budget, including personnel costs. When teachers take unpaid leaves of absence — this year, that number will be 30 to 40 — substitutes are brought in at a substantial savings

Wallingford schools rolling back prices of premium lunches

As published in the Record Journal Monday December 10, 2012

By Russell Blair Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD — Students who purchase premium school lunches, such as meatball subs, will soon have some extra cash in their pockets.

On Monday, the Board of Education Operations Committee unanimously approved reducing the cost of such lunches to $2.35 at the high school and $2.25 at the middle school, the same price as regular lunches. Premium meals previously cost $3.75. The changes are expected to start next month.

Food Service Director Sharlene Wong said the school board approved increasing the prices of more popular lunch items this year to tackle a growing deficit in the cafeterias account. But due to new federal healthy food guidelines, portion sizes have been dramatically reduced, so students were paying more for less, and purchases dropped substantially.

“The kids got double-whammied,” said School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo.

According to Wong, the number of meatball subs sold per month last school year was 2,339, compared with 814 this year, when the subs were roughly halved in size. Hotdog sales also took a nosedive, which Wong attributed to smaller, healthier, low-sodium hot dogs. In total, the cafeterias are selling 4,263 fewer premium lunch items a month.

“The fact that we’ve had to reduce the portion sizes of those meals and increased those prices ... we find that we are not serving as many paid students because of that,” Wong said.

Wong said she believed the new, lower prices would boost sales.

“We think what will happen then is the reduction in paid lunches that we’re seeing, we’ll see that go back up again,” she said.

Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay, who has a son at Lyman Hall High School, said the changes to lunch, and the fact that schools were charging more for less food, were among the concerns she heard from students.

Wong said tiered lunches and higher prices for popular items have worked in other school districts.

“It just wasn’t a good year to try it because of the (nutritional) changes,” she said.

Board of Education member Kathy Castelli, part of a subcommittee that investigated the cafeteria deficits, said the price increases were made without knowledge of the new federal rules regarding school lunches.

“We thought we could get in a more profitable mode by taking these five premium lunches the kids really seemed to go for and adding a buck to those,” she said. “At that time we didn’t know the federal government was going to mandate we only serve 50 percent.”

Board of Education member Christine Mansfield said the price reduction seemed drastic, but Wong said the lunches would still be profitable. Though the sale prices are lower, the reduced portions mean the cost to produce the lunches has decreased.

Wallingford team aims for 100% graduation rate

As published in the Record Journal Sunday December 9, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD - It’s a lofty goal, but the school district’s 21st Century Innovation Team wants to see 100 percent of students graduate from high school.

Two teachers and a principal have taken a paid sabbatical this year to identify a problem in the town’s schools and propose a solution. The group presented their research project, dubbed “Wallingford 100,” to the Board of Education last week. “With combined efforts from 100 percent of the community we will achieve a 100 percent graduation rate of students who are 100 percent engaged and empowered,” the group wrote in a cover letter accompanying the presentation. “The ultimate goal is for every student to be college and/or career ready.”

While graduation is the objective, work will need to be done beginning at the elementary school level. According to the group’s research, there are signs as early as fourth grade that can predict dropout rates. Indicators include low grades, low attendance, failing English or math in sixth grade and declining grades from fifth to sixth grade.

But change will start at the high school, where major adjustments haven’t occurred in quite some time. The elementary schools were reconfigured and the middle schools are in their second year of new team structures.

“The traditional structure of our high schools has remained unchanged while the elementary and middle schools have undergone organizational changes over the last few years,” the group wrote. “To add, our research about dropouts indicates a level of healthy urgency at the high school level.”

Specific proposals to reach the 100 percent graduation goal include more technology and experimental, hands-on learning at the K-2 elementary schools; intensive intervention strategies and student authoring of blogs and podcasts at the 3-5 elementary schools; themed projects and personalized instructions at the middle schools, and internships, apprenticeships and a greater focus on Advanced Placement courses at the high schools.

“We have some of these things going on already,” said School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo. “It’s getting them more ingrained in the system. The technology, that’s something that’s an ongoing initiative.”

The project will also require a change in thinking for the entire community. As a first step, the group wants students, teachers, business owners, parents and others to read “Mindset” by Carol Dweck, which teaches readers to practice a “growth mindset,” the idea that abilities can be improved through hard work and persistence, rather than the belief that individuals are born with a fixed amount of talent and ability.

“We need students who are ready for the 21st century,” said Jan Murphy, who took a year off from her job as principal of Cook Hill School to participate in the program. “We need people that can solve problems that don’t exist and fill jobs that aren’t available right now.”

Ellen Cohn, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, lauded the group’s work.

“Change is coming,” she said. “The question is do we want it done to us? The innovation project ... is choosing for ourselves. Otherwise I see us heading down a chute where we have change done to us.”

Joining Murphy on the team are information technology resource teacher Kate O’Donnell and Yalesville School physical education teacher Patty Pursell. The group said they hope to roll out the changes over the next three years, with full implementation of the plan coming in 2015.

The school district has put some funding toward the project but has also received thousands of dollars in donations from local businesses. A review board made up of representatives of the companies helped determine the scope of the project.

“I’ve watched you from the beginning,” said Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay. “I think you guys have done an amazing job. I think that this is an exciting goal for us as a district. This is a cutting-edge thing.”

High schools to update business courses

As published in the Record Journal Thursday December 6, 2012

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — Four new courses will be offered at the high school level as electives next fall.

The Board of Education curriculum committee has added Web Tools, Web Design for Business, and International Business and Finance to the business curriculum, as well as Robotics to the technology curriculum. Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Ellen Cohn said the new classes are replacing courses that have become outdated or redundant.

“Clearly, what education in general is facing and, in Wallingford, we have kids in a very rapidly changing world,” Cohn said. “A lot of our elective classes overtime will have to change.”

To make room for the new courses, Cohn said Beginner Keyboarding and Intermediate Keyboarding won’t be offered next year, but “replicated in the curriculum at an earlier level.”

“Those classes are moving down to the middle school and elementary school level,” she said.

Another course, Principles of Management, won’t be offered next year because it has too much overlap with another class, Business 101.

Board Chairman Roxane McKay said the new classes won’t cost the school district any extra money. “We already have teachers competent and capable” to teach them, she said.

“We want to be the most current and make sure we are offering courses that are interesting and relevant to students,” McKay said.

Keyboarding classes at the high school level aren’t appropriate anymore, McKay said. She said she thinks students should already understand the basics of typing by the time they get into high school.

Cohn said Wallingford is past due in introducing students to robotics, and that “teachers are anxious to begin teaching it.”

The specific content of the new courses hasn’t been determined yet, but Cohn said the task will begin immediately, now that the school board has approved them. McKay said information for the new courses will be included in course selection books provided to students in late winter or early spring when course signups for the following school year begin.

Wallingford forum deals with teaching, testing changes

As published at MyRecordJournal.com Wednesday December 5, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD - Change is already under way in the town’s schools to align curriculum with the new Common Core State Standards.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said Tuesday night that 47 states have adopted the guidelines, which give a clearer picture of expectations for students, beginning in elementary school.

“This is not a Wallingford-unique activity,” he told a few dozen parents at a forum at Moses Y. Beach School. “It’s happening across the country.”

Carrie Laudadio, a curriculum coordinator for the district in English and language arts, said changes in those subjects include the introduction of more complex texts and an increased focus on nonfiction, instructional texts. Students will be expected to complete more research-oriented assignments, she said.

In math, changes will give students more time to master basic arithmetic skills. Some subjects, among them fractions and decimals, are being moved down into elementary school, but with more time to practice and less time repeating material that has already been learned, officials said, students should be able to keep up.

Ellen Cohn, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said states and local school districts have always had standards, but a unified approach will make it easier to compare instruction across the country.

“Forty-seven states have adopted the Common Core State Standards in an effort to have a universal approach that every child will know this and every child will be able to do this,” she said.

Coupled with the new standards comes the Smarter Balanced Assessment, a computer-based test that will be launched in the 2014-15 school year and replace the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test.

The new test will have many more questions, and being computer-based, can adapt to a child’s previous answer. If a student struggles with a question, the next one in the series will be made easier.

Educators hope the test results will be more meaningful, not just what students got right or wrong, but where they are in terms of progressing through the curriculum. There will also be opportunities to retake the test, Cohn said.

“The goal is to demonstrate a mastery,” she said. “The goal isn’t how you did on March 11, 2013.”

After lectures from from Menzo, Cohn and other administrators, parents broke out into groups and worked with teachers and principals to learn more about changes in classroom instruction for specific grades and subjects.

Chirag Parikh has two children in elementary school and attended the forum. He said he thinks education in the United States is falling behind other countries, and supported the changes, calling them “progressive.”

“It’s keeping in pace with all the things changing around us,” he said. “I’m curious to see how the changes affect the next generations.”

Wallingford schools revise social media rules

As published in the Record Journal Tuesday December 4, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD - After meeting with representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, the school district has proposed a new social media policy for students.

The new policy uses more specific language to outline when the Board of Education is allowed to regulate students’ use of social media on school property, at a school-sponsored event or off school grounds.

School board members briefly discussed the changes at a Board of Education instructional committee meeting Monday night. The policy must be voted on by the full school board at a future meeting.

David McGuire, staff attorney for the ACLU of Connecticut, said meetings with the school district had been productive and he was happy the school staff was willing to discuss the organization’s concerns and make adjustments.

McGuire said the original policy was “too broad and infringed on established free speech rights.”

According to the new policy,educators will step in when they “reasonably forecast” that use of social media “shall interfere or disrupt the effective operation of the school district.”

Prohibited uses of social media include engaging in “libelous, defamatory, obscene, profane, vulgar or similarly inappropriate communications or bullying”; advocating or encouraging illegal activity; endangering the health or safety of students and staff; infringing upon the rights of others; or violating the law, board policies or other school rules or regulations.

“The board may also regulate students’ use of social media off school grounds when such use meets the criteria described above and is seriously disruptive of the educational process,” according to the policy.

“This is a much shorter policy,” said School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo. “The ACLU believes this is in the spirit of the law and in spirit of respecting the rights of students, and our attorney feels it is in the appropriate purview of the board in terms of what we have to do.”

“This is a hot topic,” said Board of Education member Michael Votto. “More and more kids are using (social media). There are so many variables, so many opportunities for kids to get in trouble, for us to get in trouble ... we need to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i.’ ” McGuire said he understands the need to strike a balance between student safety and constitutional rights. While the organization doesn’t put its “stamp of approval” on any of these types of policies, McGuire said he felt comfortable with the new language and references to case law.

Menzo said the Wallingford school district is one of the first in the state to craft a student social media policy. He reached out to the ACLU when they first expressed concerns and was happy to work with the organization.

“The result came so quick because we worked collaboratively,” Menzo said. “They wanted to be a part of the process.”

Menzo and McGuire both said crafting social media policies is among the new challenges school districts must face.

“This is an issue that didn’t exist 10 years ago,” McGuire said.

Program to add classroom time in effort to boost achievement

As published in the Record Journal Monday December 3, 2012

By Josh Lederman

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Open your notebooks and sharpen your pencils. School for thousands of public school students is about to get quite a bit longer.

Connecticut and four other states are planning to announce today that they will add at least 300 hours of learning time to the calendar in some schools starting in 2013. Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee will also take part in the initiative, which is intended to boost student achievement and make U.S. schools more competitive on a global level.

The three-year pilot program will affect almost 20,000 students in 40 schools, with long term hopes of expanding the program to include additional schools — especially those that serve low-income communities. Schools, working in concert with districts, parents and teachers, will decide whether to make the school day longer, add more days to the school year or both.

A mix of federal, state and district funds will cover the costs of expanded learning time, with the Ford Foundation and the National Center on Time & Learning also chipping in resources. In Massachusetts, the program builds on the state’s existing expanded learning program. In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy is hailing it as a natural outgrowth of an education reform law the state passed in May that included about $100 million in new funding, much of it to help the neediest schools.

Spending more time in the classroom, education officials said, will give students access to a more well-rounded curriculum that includes arts and music, individualized help for students who fall behind and opportunities to reinforce critical math and science skills.

“Whether educators have more time to enrich instruction or students have more time to learn how to play an instrument and write computer code,adding meaningful in-school hours is a critical investment that better prepares children to be successful in the 21st century,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

The project comes as educators across the U.S. struggle to identify the best ways to strengthen a public education system that many fear has fallen behind other nations. Student testing, teacher evaluations, charter schools and voucher programs join longer school days on the list of reforms that have been put forward with varying degrees of success.

The report from the center, which advocates for extending instruction time, cites research suggesting students who spend more hours learning perform better. One such study, from Harvard economist Roland Fryer, argues that of all the factors affecting educational outcomes, two are the best predictors of success: intensive tutoring and adding at least 300 hours to the standard school calendar.

More classroom time has long been a priority for Duncan, who warned a congressional committee in May 2009 — just months after becoming education secretary — that American students were at a disadvantage compared to their peers in India and China. That same year, he suggested schools should be open six or seven days per week and should run 11 or 12 months out of the year.

But not everyone agrees that shorter school days are to blame. A report last year from the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education disputed the notion that American schools have fallen behind in classroom time, pointing out that students in high-performing countries like South Korea, Finland and Japan actually spend less time in school than most U.S. students.

The broader push to extend classroom time could also run up against concerns from teachers unions. Longer school days became a major sticking point in a seven-day teachers strike in September in Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel eventually won an extension of the school day but paid the price in other concessions granted to teachers.

Just over 1,000 U.S. schools already operate on expanded schedules, an increase of 53 percent over 2009, according to a report being released today by the National Center on Time & Learning. The nonprofit group said more schools should follow suit but stressed that expanded learning time isn’t the right strategy for every school.

Some of the funds required to add 300 or more hours to the school calendar will come from shifting resources from existing programs, making use of the flexibility granted by waivers to No Child Left Behind.

The new Wallingford Public Schools BLOG

Hi everyone.

I decided to do a separate blog for the Wallingford Public Schools.

I already do a lot of posting directly to the Concerned Parents Wallingford CT Board of Educ. Budget page which lately has been “the” catch all for conversation for our schools.

From time to time I add the content to one of my other blogs which are either my personal thoughts, From the Mind of Jason Zandri or the general politics of Wallingford at Wallingford Politico. Once in a while and when it is directly relative to what might be a Town Council concern I would have the information over on my Wallingford Town Councilor but there are certain stories, news, “goings on” that just don’t fit any of the blogs in particular so I decided to start this one (because there was 30 free minutes in my schedule).

What I’d envision for the blog is additional input and submission from the parents and the students; this can be a nice central hub for fundraisers, school spirit campaigns, general notices and so forth – just drop me a note with your post request and I will do my best to get it up and online all in one central location as time permits.

When sending me an email at JASON@ZANDRI.NET please indicate a meaningful subject line so that the spam filter doesn’t swallow it.

I hope people become interested and part of the process – many hands make light work and personal engagement and investment is especially fulfilling.