Middletown Scores 76.3% on District Performance Index

On December 5th, the Connecticut State Department of Education released school and district performance reports for all CT schools.  Read the release letter here by clicking on the District and School Performance Reports link, and then selecting the "Click here to view the release letter." link.

New Board of Education re-elects Dr. Gene Nocera as Chairman

A new Board of Education met for the first time on Tuesday evening (11/19).  Newly elected members Vinnie Loffredo and Linda Szynkowicz joined newly re-elected members Sheila Daniels and Franca Biales and the rest of the board in unanimously electing Dr. Gene Nocera as Board Chairman, Sheila Daniels as Vice-Chair, and Ed McKeon as Secretary.  "I am thrilled and honored in this position," Dr. Nocera commented, "and I will try to do my best."

In District Highlights, MHS Athletics/Activities Director Mike Pitruzzello reported that the fall season is going very well for MHS athletes.  Additionally, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) considers the MHS Athletic Complex as one of the finest facilities in CT, and so MHS has been asked to host:

• Girls and Boys soccer semi-finals and final state championships
• Girls volleyball semi-finals
• Girls and Boys fall and winter diving championships
• Semi-final state football championships
• Three of four state track championships
• Girls softball state tournament games
• Boys baseball state finals at Palmer Field

Additionally, the track and four tennis courts at Woodrow Wilson Middle School will be re-done (including new fencing) this spring, with a projected completion date of June 2014.  These new facilities will be open for public use during the summer.  The six tennis courts behind Keigwin Middle School are scheduled to be redone over the summer, and Pitruzzello is trying to work out a deal with Portland High School so that MHS can use the Portland courts for practice when Portland is away.  Currently, MHS shares Wesleyan's courts with Wesleyan, Mercy and Xavier.

David Reynolds, Coordinator of Career and Technical Education, highlighted Middletown's #3 ranking out of more than 150 schools on the Connecticut Statewide Career & Technical (CTE) Assessment.  In the last four years, Middletown rose from a state rank of 89th in 2010 with only 33.33% of students scoring at or above the threshold score to 80th place (30.22% at threshold) in 2011, to 17th place (67.14% at threshold) in 2012, to 3rd place in 2013 with 141 out of 177 students (79.66%) scoring at or above threshold.  Canton High School took second place, with 17 of 20 students (85%) scoring at or above threshold, and Griswold High School took first place, with 66 of 77 students scoring at or above threshold.  Reynolds was quick to point out that MHS had more students at or above threshold than the #1 and #2 schools combined, and that Middletown scored #1 in the "Areas of Concentration" of Natural Resources and Video Production.  Furthermore, no other school had more "Areas of Concentration" in the top 10 than Middletown (8 of 11 areas tested).

During the Public Session, three MHS students complained about the lack of late bus transportation after school.  Senior James Robinson, Junior Gabriela Mikunda, and Sophomore Carolyn Reid told the BOE that students were discouraged from participating in after school activities because of the length of time it takes to get home on the one bus provided (up to two hours for some students).  The three students also described unsafe conditions such as overcrowding, students sitting in the aisles, and "unbearable" behavior such as screaming, yelling and pushing.  The students asked the BOE for a second late bus, noting that Woodrow Wilson Middle School's late buses were not crowded and possibly could be reassigned to MHS.  

When Robinson, Mikunda and Reid finished speaking, they left the Council Chambers and Transportation Director Marco Gaylord quickly followed after them.  Gaylord told the students he had heard no complaints about late busing, and he asked who else they had talked to about these issues - the answer was no one.  Gaylord also asked if the students knew which specific days had overcrowding and behavior issues so he could pull and review the video footage from those days - again the students didn't have specifics.  After instructing the students to tell an administrator at MHS then next time an issue happened with the late bus, Gaylord also promised to check into the need for more busing and to provide additional transportation if it was necessary.  During his Transportation Report to the BOE, Mr. Gaylord repeated what he had heard from the students and told the Board that he would look into the reports of overcrowding and poor behavior and take immediate action to correct the situation: "We're going to address it and make some positive changes. We want to help kids participate in after school activities."

Superintendent Pat Charles shared her 2013-14 goals with the BOE, noting that she's really focusing in on 4 areas to concentrate effort and effectiveness.  These goals are:

• Increase student achievement and reduce gaps between subgroups
• Provide the resources necessary to ensure educational excellence in a safe and healthy learning environment
• Hire and nurture high quality personnel in all positions
• Promote our schools and build public support and pride in our educational system

Assistant Superintendent Enza Macri updated the Board on the transition to the Common Core Curriculum and the new testing procedures.  While each elementary school now has the necessary computers to conduct the Smarter Balance testing (no more CMT testing as that applied to the old curriculum), Macri shared several concerns about the new testing: "The test requires use of a mouse, and our younger students are used to tablets and touch screens.  In one place, there is a split screen and you have to scroll down though two separate but side-by-side screens.  I'm worried our students don't have the mouse skills to do that."  While time limits no longer apply to the various tests, 3rd graders, for example, have 7 hours of testing, with only one set of 25 computers for each school.  Students also cannot go back and check their answers - once they move on in the test, they cannot back up.  Macri has been taking sample tests for each grade in order to train teachers on how to help their students prepare to take the tests, but she has a growing list of concerns about whether students will be able to transmit correctly the knowledge in their heads to the computer program.

In financial news, the District budget is showing an anticipated balance of $219,790 as of October 31st.  As it is very early in the year, this balance is not expected to remain, especially since additional paraprofessionals need to be hired (more than what was originally budgeted).  In comparison, at this time last year, the district budget had a $1.2 million deficit.  Not included in these budget numbers is the $1.2 million spent on mold removal in several of the schools during this summer.  Currently, insurance has only covered $460K in the remediation costs, with another $120K approved but not yet paid, and $200K more still in negotiations.

Lastly, the Board discussed committee assignments and approved the following:

            Committee                                 Chair                            Members

            Budget                                       McKeon                       Loffredo, Szynkowicz

            Communication                         Hart                              McKeon, Wynn

            Curriculum                                Biales                            Daniels

            Facilities/Feasibility                   Loffredo                       McClellan, McKeon

            Policy                                        Daniels                         Hart

            Transportation                           Szynkowicz                 Wynn

            Negotiations                              n/a                                Biales, Hart, Daniels

            ACES                                                                             Loffredo

            Cultural Council                                                             Hart

            TEMS (Thomas Edison Middle School)                        McClellan

            Agenda Set                                                                     Nocera, Daniels, McKeon

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 10th at 7pm in the Common Council Chambers at City Hall.  Superintendent Charles is scheduled to present her 2014-15 recommended budget.

New Changes for the 2013-14 School Year

School starts on Thursday, August 29th, and several changes are underway for the 2013-14 school year.  The most obvious change is the new start time (8:50 am) for the elementary schools.  School doors will open at 8:45 am and students arriving after 8:55 am will be marked tardy.

Breakfast in the Classroom is another new program aimed at providing every student the opportunity for a healthy breakfast each morning. Students will pick up their breakfast as they enter the classroom and eat it as the academic day begins.  Students qualifying for free or reduced lunch will also qualify for reduced fee or no fee breakfast.  A reduced fee breakfast will cost $.30 and a full priced breakfast will cost $1.00.  Macdonough, Bielefield, Wesley, Lawrence, and Farm Hill Schools will start the program on September 3rd.  Moody and Snow Schools will start November 4th, and Spencer School will start in January 2014.

Read Superintendent Charles' August 6th letter to Middletown families here for a complete explanation.

If you haven't read Middletown's Safe School Climate Plan (approved by the BOE on April 17, 2012), you can access that here.

Finally, if you have questions about the Common Core State Standards Initiative, specific information by grade level is available here.

Board of Education Delights in Bielefield Test Scores

Last night's regular Board of Education meeting opened with a somber moment of silence honoring former MHS football coach John Skubel (passed on 8/17) and Veteran and Children's Advocate Lee B. Smith (passed on 8/16).

The BOE then amended the agenda to move up a vote authorizing the Superintendent to work with the city to create a new full-time Nursing Supervisor position.  "We are seeing children with complex medical conditions and needs, and we must have someone that our nurses can come to with questions," noted Ann Perzan.  Perzan is the Director of Special Education, but the school nurse program is housed in her department.  Perzan also noted that school nurses are not currently given performance reviews because there isn't someone with greater clinical skills in the administrative chain.  Substitute nurses are also hard to find because many qualified individuals won't work if there isn't a Nurse Supervisor in place.  Superintendent Charles was authorized to work with the city to create the new position, and there will be no cost for the position as current Special Education funds will be repurposed to cover the position (the previous purpose for those funds ended in June).

Bielefield Elementary School then took center stage as the surprise star of the 2012-13 CMT test results.  Designated a "focus school" because of struggling sub-groups' performance on the 2011-12 Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), Bielefield instituted an after-school study program during the 2012-13 school year, aimed specifically at helping Hispanic students who struggle with English.  Assistant Superintendent Enza Macri had told the BOE earlier in the year that students who have been in the U.S. for six months have to take the CMT in English, even if they are not proficient speakers.  As administrators tried to determine why the Hispanic sub-group was struggling, parents explained that it was hard to help their students with homework when they struggled with English themselves.

Schools PTAs Urge Parents to Support School Budget

The Board of Education goes before the Common Council this evening at 7pm to make its case for the 2012-2013 School Budget.  Mayor Drew said he would flat fund the educational budget on April 3rd, which would mean cuts of almost $3.5 million to amount the BOE has asked for.

School PTAs are urging parents to attend tonight's meeting to show support for the budget as proposed.  Interim Superintendent Dr. David Larson is expected to comment on at least the following arguments in support of a fully funded budget:

·         A 0% increase is less than a current services budget because of salary and benefit contracted increases.
·         78% of the education budget goes to instruction
·         75% of the budget is for salaries and insurance benefits
·         Maintain class size
·         Need for school librarians/media specialists to support the implementation of the common core – new national standards for education.
·         Need for interventionists to support our required SRBI (Scientifically Researched Based Intervention) implementation and the Common Core.
·         Update of our Student Information System to Power School to improve communication with parents and students as well as organization and access of student data (i.e. grades, enrollment, attendance…).

On April 17th, former BOE Chairman Ted Raczka, now the Budget Committee Chair, commented on what the loss of millions would do to the school budget:  "Extra-curricular activities will start to go, and if we're short millions, we will have to look at staffing levels.  Most of our retirements were done last year, and so it's not a good picture."  Raczka went on to say, "The reason I'm sitting over here at the end of the table [referring to where he sits at BOE meetings] is because I want to see money spent in classrooms.  I don't care about politics.  If you look at our funding compared to other communities, we're not getting it, and we're going to suffer because of that."


Raczka mentioned that he thought the Common Council would put some of the money back, but in the end, Middletown as a whole has to be serious about funding a quality education.


{Author's Note:  If you don't know what Common Core refers to, it's the new national standards for education coming out of DC.  Connecticut adopted the standards on July 7, 2010.  Click here for more information.}