Rep Murphy Gathers Parents, Educators For Education Roundtable

By John Voket

Congressman Chris Murphy paid a visit to Newtown resident Addie Sandler’s home on the first weekend in May for some discussion about the future of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. Arriving along with invited guests around 10:45 am Saturday, May 1, the congressman chatted over scones and iced tea before convening with about a dozen attendees around the living room coffee table.

Rep Murphy explained that he most prefers the type of gatherings the Sandler family hosted where he can float some of his thoughts on initiatives in Washington, and receive sometimes pointed, no-holds-barred reactions from constituents.

In this case, many of the guests offered dual insights as parents of school-age children who are also educators. Among those attending were Nancy Munn, a school-based health practitioner who has worked with young people and educators in the urban districts of Danbury and Bridgeport for 20 years.

She was joined by Eric Paradis, a special education teacher in the Trumbull district who was previously a social worker, and Diane McCabe, a teacher in Westport; both told Rep Murphy they also had children in the Newtown school system.

Sandy Zuvanich, a mother of three and second-year teacher, said she previously had a long career working with the human services nonprofit Marakesh. Reena Sahani said she chose to attend the forum because she was a supporter of education.

“I always feel people have a lot of complaints [about NCLB], but we should find the solution in a balanced way,” she said, “and we really need you to do something.”

Vicki Michael, introduced herself as a social worker and the mother of a special education student who was particularly sensitive about any national program going forward that could affect education. Laurie Peck said she has seen a broad variety of school environments, having been a teacher in three states and four school districts over the past 18 years.

She was joined by her husband, Ted, who leads a research group at IBM that is examining the way people think. One of the study’s intended outcomes, he said, was to eventually improve the quality and effectiveness of engineering education.

Ms Sandler said she ran a group for Newtown Youth & Family Services that reached out to parents of children with learning differences, but she was frustrated by her inability to effect change.

“When you work with moms, you hear all about the services their children are not getting,” she said. “So I got my second master’s in social work policy because I felt I needed to be the voice of these clients who we couldn’t help. I know there are kids out there not getting the education they need, and moms who are desperate.”

Rep Murphy opened up the discussion reminding the gathering that Connecticut received about $1 billion specifically for education from the federal stimulus package this year, and Newtown’s allocation was about $3 million, which directly and positively impacted local property taxes which otherwise might have been tapped to make up the shortfall.

At the same time, the congressman complained that costly special education mandates to districts like Newtown were not being proportionately funded.

“The promise was that the federal government would cover about 40 percent of the cost of special education,” Rep Murphy said. “But today the federal government is funding about eight percent of that state cost.”

The congressman then pointed to the NCLB and the obsession with testing that it has brought to schools throughout the country.

“It has driven teachers crazy, sucked whatever fun there is for kids in learning, and has pressured school districts to move money out of the arts, music and into the core measurements of those tests.”

He said testing should be an element, and not the element, of school performance.

“Let’s try to find the broadest array of assessments possible and let’s assess schools that way,” he said. “And let’s reward schools that are getting there — and give credit to schools that are starting way down low and improving on a regular basis.”

Among the points the congressman tendered that might be coming out of the current administration’s reform of NCLB is the desire to make the United States the center of innovation, the center of research and development, and the place the world goes to tap the best and brightest workforce.

“We’re not going to make the rubber balls anymore — those will be made in China,” Rep Murphy said. “But we’re going to invent the rubber balls that bounce higher.”

He said America is losing its competitive edge every day, and investments made in education will pay dividends far down the road.

“In just the span of a generation we have slipped from number one in reading and math to seventh or eighth,” he said. “I want to turn myself into the best advocate for educational quality and reform in Washington. And I want to learn how from groups like this.”

(Listen to the full streaming audio from Congressman Chris Murphy’s Newtown visit, and see video highlights at NewtownBee.com.)