Students at Moran Middle School need your vote for Student Voice in Education Reform

Students at Moran Middle School need your vote! They have created videos and entered a contest about how school should be improved. The winner of the Student Voices for Improving Education video contest will be determined by online voting. Please vote for one or all!

The three Moran entries are:
by Kairav Maniar
by Mitchell Hall (co-produced with Drew Waldron and Hayden French)
by Maddie Westcott (co-produced with Mackenzie Wolcheski and Caitlin Buckley)
The kids would really appreciate your vote, but you might even find some inspiration just watching! (You will have to provide an email address in order to vote.)

http://ctstudentvoices.com/entry/2564534

http://ctstudentvoices.com/entry/2538507

http://ctstudentvoices.com/entry/2564449

You can vote for all three and you can do it each day.
Voting started on May 15, 2013 and it ends on June 7, 2013 @ 11:59 PM (EDT)

Wallingford to weigh options for future high school graduations

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday May 29, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD — There may be changes in how the town’s high schools conduct graduation ceremonies, as the Board of Education and school administrators look at alternatives for future graduations that will allow family and friends to attend ceremonies for both schools.

“We’re all sensitive to the fact that family members may live on both sides of town and clearly want to participate in a student’s graduation. It’s a milestone for any student,” said Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay. “It’s something that has merit and value for us to discuss for next year and future years.”

Both schools now hold their graduation ceremonies on the same night, at the same time. McKay, as well as the rest of the board, was told by Youth and Social Services Director Craig Turner earlier this month that he had spoken to a number of family members of graduates who had to choose between attending the Lyman Hall or Sheehan graduation. School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo also acknowledged talking to families about the issue.

“I’ve talked to a couple of families. One grandparent in particular expressed difficulty in having two kids on either side of town,” Menzo said.

To prevent a similar situation in the future, a few ideas were suggested: consolidating both graduations into one event or having the graduations start at different times, giving family members a chance to attend both.

If both graduations were combined at one venue, the duration of the ceremony would increase. There are about 500 seniors total, Menzo said. Typically, a graduation ceremony is about an hour and 15 minutes, according to Sheehan Principal Rosemary Duthie. Combining the graduations would not only increase the duration of the ceremony but would also take away its meaning, Duthie said.

“I would prefer to keep it separate,” Duthie said. “Each school has its own identity. It’s an important ritual for teenagers to go through and it’s nice to go through it with your class and have your identity maintained.”

Because of this, McKay said she had mixed feelings about the idea and believes consolidating the graduations wouldn’t be the first choice for administrators and board members to pursue.

“The students take such great pride in saying, ‘I am a Lyman Hall or Mark T. Sheehan graduate,’ ” McKay said. “You want to honor that to the very last experience.”

One theme that repeatedly came up during discussions was Project Graduation.

“The challenge is that we want to get as many students participating in Project Graduation, which takes place directly after graduation,” McKay said. “We don’t want any downtime after graduation.”

As things stand, students who sign up for Project Graduation are taken from their respective high schools to the Parks and Recreation center as soon as graduation ceremonies conclude, Menzo said. This is done to prevent students from having the opportunity to show up to Project Graduation under the influence. If one high school has a graduation earlier in the day, “we just provided that one school that down time,” McKay said.

“I am torn,” McKay said. “I don’t think there is an ideal option out there. No matter what we choose, it poses some kind of challenge.”

McKay said the board and administrators will discuss the topic further during the winter. In the meantime, Menzo’s staff is examining what other school systems’ graduation plans are — something that can pose a challenge in itself.

“A lot of these districts don’t have the Project Graduation,” Menzo said. “If you don’t have it, it’s not an issue. We don’t want to do away with the event.”

Both Menzo and McKay said that before any action is taken, conversations will be held with students and parents to give them the opportunity to voice their opinions.

“It’ll give us a chance to really be thoughtful of what’s important to the district,” McKay said. “We’ll open it up and we’d like to see our community weigh in on it and see how our families feel about it.”

‘Cash-back’ account seen as way to save money for Wallingford School system

As published in the Record Journal Sunday May 26, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD — School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo hopes to secure a credit line for the town’s school system, which could yield thousands of dollars in cash back annually.

Menzo told the Board of Education recently that a credit line is one way to generate new revenue for the school system.

“Two months ago, myself and Linda Winters met with a representative with one of the credit card companies to talk about cashback advantages,” he said.

The school system would have a credit account with a credit card company, which would be used to pay vendors. The advantage to this method of payment, he said, is “depending on the credit card company, you can receive 1.5 to 2 percent cash back.” The school system would only have a credit account; actual credit cards would not be issued.

“The whole idea is to get another way of bringing more money back into the school district,” Menzo said. “We’re already going to be spending the money anyway you look at it. We should bring it back into the district to subsidize improvements ... and offset expenditures that are anticipated for the future.”

The company Menzo and Winters met with conducted a survey that showed the school system could receive $60,000 to $70,000 a year. The money could be used for long-term projects, Menzo said.

If the board decides to pursue a line of credit, Wallingford schools would join the public school systems in Meriden and Cheshire in having a similar payment method for its purchases. Cheshire uses a credit card from Chase to purchase items such as books from Amazon, according to Vincent Masciana, director of management services at Cheshire schools.

Meriden schools use a “purchase card” provided by the city, according to Michael Grove, assistant superintendent for finance and administration. The purchase cards act like credit cards and are used to buy supplies and equipment.

Paying with a credit card or through a credit account not only provides an opportunity for cash-back rewards, but it’s also convenient and “instantaneous,” Menzo said.

Although some companies and businesses may charge a higher fee for credit purchases, Menzo said the vendors won’t be able to do that.

“They have to accept whatever payment we give them,” he said. “As long as they accept the credit card, they can’t increase the prices if they’re on the state bid list.”

Menzo is hoping to have the bid openings during the first two weeks of June.

“I applaud the initiative because it’s one more example of creative alternatives to running a school system,” said Wallingford Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay. “Our best interest is to look for alternative sources for funding, and Sal is doing that.”

Wallingford School board, administrators have more budget work ahead

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday May 22, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD — School administrators and the Board of Education are looking at a number of options to bring their 2013-14 budget in line with the money approved by the Town Council. They need to trim $550,000 from their proposal.

The board originally requested a 3.56 percent increase over the current year’s budget, and was pleased when Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.’s budget included much of that money. But Dickinson presented a revised budget to the Town Council last week after learning that less state money than originally projected would be coming to the town. The biggest change in the revised proposal, passed last Tuesday by the council, was a cut of $279,311 to the schools’ budget.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he and the board will have to examine options to decide how to cover the deficit. Menzo said he will have to look at Title II funding,federal money made available through the state, as one of the options.

“We may have to isolate some of those funds that were previously designated for other resources,” he said.

But whatever the board decides to do, it has to decide soon. The Town Charter requires the Board of Education to approve its final budget by June 30, school board Chairwoman Roxane McKay said. There’s one more Operations Committee meeting next month, where McKay said she hopes the board can agree on what to do in regards to the budget.

“It will definitely be a hot button for June’s Operations meeting,” McKay said. “I’m hopeful we don’t need an additional meeting and that we make our decision in that one meeting.”

If necessary, another meeting can be scheduled to further discuss the budget.

The schools had planned to spend money next year on security and technology upgrades and curriculum development materials. Menzo has been thinking of possible recommendations on reductions in the budget to present to the board, McKay said, and those include reducing technology spending by $400,000 and curriculum development by $150,000.

Although the Common Core State Standards will be put into effect at the start of the next school year, Menzo said making a cut in the development of curriculum won’t put the school system in jeopardy or ultimately impact the students negatively.

The Common Core State Standards were adopted by the state Board of Education on July 7, 2010, and establish what students should know and be able to do as they progress through grades K-12, according to the state Department of Education website.

Menzo said the school system will continue working with the Curriculum Writing Consortium, organized by Area Cooperative Educational Services and involving 19 school systems. Last summer, 20 teachers participated in the consortium working on curriculum. Similar plans are being carried out this summer.

As an emphasis is placed on upgrading technology throughout the schools, Menzo said computers and devices may have to be purchased throughout the course of the school year, rather than all at once.

The extent of any cuts won’t be known until the school system figures out how much money it actually will have available for the 2013-14 budget year, Menzo and McKay said. Administrators are waiting to hear back from the state on multiple grant applications, which could bring in as much as $250,000. And there may be unencumbered funds available once the spending for the current fiscal year is wrapped.

“We’re hopeful,” Menzo said. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’re hopeful to get as much accomplished as possible.”

Wallingford middle school mourns a special teacher

As published via MyRecordJournal.com Thursday May 16, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

Photo courtesy of the Record Journal

WALLINGFORD — To her students, Tiffany Schroeder was a dedicated teacher with a teaching style that allowed them to relate to her on professional and personal levels. To her co-workers, she was a woman they admired for always wanting the best for the children.

Schroeder, 45, taught seventh-grade math at Moran Middle School. She died on Saturday at MidState Medical Center after a long illness.

“Passionate, enthusiastic and very compassionate,” is how Anne Varrone-Lederle describes Schroeder. “She was just empathetic and really liked people. She really tried to understand the differences among people. She was a brilliant, brilliant teacher.”

Varrone-Lederle, a seventh-grade Spanish teacher at Moran, knew Schroeder since the early 1990s. The two were members of the same sorority and met when Schroeder attended an alumni event at Varrone-Lederle’s house, she said. They eventually became neighbors and their daughters grew up together. Outside of work, Schroeder was a “wonderful wife and mother, who was just passionate about being a mom,” Varrone-Lederle said.

Schroeder was the wife of Thor Schroeder and leaves two children, Courtney and Gardiner.

Schroeder began her educational career at North Branford Intermediate School before she joined Moran as a math teacher in 2000. As a teacher, she “had an ability to reach all groups of students and all levels of learners,” Varrone-Lederle said.

Moran Principal Joe Piacentini said, “In all the conversations I had with her, she was always talking about things she could do for the kids.”

Since today’s students learn in a variety of ways, Piacentini said, Schroeder was accommodating. He recalled a time he saw some of her students doing their work in the hallway because there was more room there. She was a teacher who would do anything to help her students, Piacentini said.

If it meant using unorthodox methods to encourage interest, she was more than willing. When students were learning about inversion of fractions, Schroeder would do a handstand in front of the class.

“She has a very loud voice and her voice carries. I’ve been taking seventh grade math day in and day out,” Varrone-Lederle said. “She had great diction and you just knew there was great teaching going on in that room.”

Her method of teaching allowed her to make “real world connections through math that students understood,” said Keri Carbone, an eighth-grade science teacher at Moran. Those connections stayed with students even when they left the school. Each year, many of her former students would come back to visit, Carbone said.

“Tiffany’s positive, encouraging teaching style has influenced the way I teach and interact with my students,” Carbone said.

Varrone-Lederle said students are still heartbroken over Schroeder’s death. Her daughter, Lizzy Lederle, was one of Schroeder’s students. Schroeder took a few days off from school before her death, so teachers, friends and staff knew something was wrong. Each night, Varrone-Lederle said she talked to her daughter and let her know that her teacher was moving on to a better place and that it was OK to express her emotions.

“We just talk about the good things. How when people die, they go to a better place and that Mrs. Schroeder is feeling better in heaven,” Varrone-Lederle said.

On hearing the news Saturday morning, School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo made sure social workers were sent to the middle schools. Menzo also arranged for support services for teachers who had known and worked with Schroeder. In addition, Craig Turner, the town’s Youth and Social Services director, helped Menzo with providing staff to help students and teachers.

Menzo said he knew about Schroeder’s health problems and the probable outcome, so he was able to work with Piacentini to make sure everyone was prepared.

“We had a whole plan in place. ... We tried to be as proactive as possible during a tremendously difficult time,” Menzo said. “We made as much effort as we could to try to offer as much support as possible.”

To honor Schroeder, students, teachers and staff today will wear yellow — her favorite color. It’s just one of many ways the students plan to honor the teacher.

Before school ended on Thursday, Varrone-Lederle said she asked her last-period class to choose a few words to describe Schroeder.

“ ‘Awesome’ was the first word to come out of their mouths,” Varrone-Lederle said. “She was an awesome lady and an awesome teacher. She will be missed. She already is.”

Wallingford Teachers and administrators going to technology camp

As published in the Record Journal Sunday May 5, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD — Teachers and administrators in the town’s school system will have the opportunity to participate in an education camp at the University of New Haven at the end of August.

The camp is being organized by Robert Kovi, the school system’s information technology resource teacher, and will give teachers and administrators the chance to learn more about Google Chromebooks, the laptop computers that use the Google Chrome OS operating system, according to School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo.

“(The idea) is to have an education camp based on how to utilize a Chromebook for instructional purposes,” Menzo said.

Though the camp is open to any teacher, Menzo said the goal is to focus on “teachers in the middle school and high school levels.” The school system is preparing to launch a pilot program in both middle schools and both high schools during the coming school year, said Randy Backus, the director of information technology services.

The school system recently received 120 Google Chromebooks that will be dispersed among the middle schools and high schools. Each school will receive 30 computers for teachers and students to use, Backus said. If teachers are interested in using the computers for their classes, they’ll have to rent them out for one period and return them afterward, he said. With this model, students won’t be able to take the computers home for personal use.

Administrators spent a significant amount of time comparing computers and prices and decided on the Chromebooks for a number of reasons — including price. Backus said each computer cost about $249. A three-year warranty, which also covers accidental damage, was also purchased for $55. And computer software allowing administrators to manage the computers was purchased for $30.

“It was about $330 per machine,” Backus said, “which is about a third of the cost of other laptops. The Chromebook is very light and it boots up literally in 10 seconds.”

If the pilot program goes well, Backus said more computers would be purchased and placed in locations where more students could use them. He also said some computers might be placed on a mobile cart.

As the pilot program begins to roll out, the education camp at the University of New Haven will provide teachers and administrators with some background on the computers — giving them the opportunity to think about how they could make them a part of the classroom.

“(The camp) is open to teachers and administrators in Wallingford and gives them an opportunity to learn some of the tools available and how to potentially implement them more effectively in the classroom,”Menzo said.