The Board of Education appointed Frank Purcaro, a former employee of the Newtown school district, as the new Assistant Superintendent of Schools in a unanimous vote, continued the district development presentation series, addressed bus concerns, and more during their Tuesday, October 1 meeting.

This appointment concludes the Board’s search to fill the position after the previous assistant superintendent, Anne Uberti, was appointed as the district’s new Superintendent of Schools during a special BOE meeting on Monday, July 29. The search for a new assistant superintendent started imminently after that meeting. Purcaro was eventually selected for the position from a pool of over 40 applicants, and was one of two finalists asked to conduct a mock presentation for the Board and complete a performance task using their strategic plan.

Each candidate was later interviewed by Uberti and BOE Chair Alison Plante, with Uberti saying that Purcaro “clearly distinguished himself as the best choice for the position.”

“Many of our staff will recall that Purcaro served as Newtown’s Director of Teaching and Learning from 2019 to July of 2022, and I know they recall that because he left an indelible mark on the district,” Uberti said.

Purcaro then moved on to become an assistant superintendent for the Amity Region 5 district. Before arriving in Newtown in 2019, Purcaro also served as the assistant superintendent in Wolcott for several years. In addition to his superintendent certification, Purcaro also holds a juris doctor degree from UCONN School of Law.

“During his time in Newtown, he forged trusting relationships with both administrators, faculty, and staff. He brings intelligence, integrity, and a strong work ethic, and I feel honored to welcome him back to the district,” Uberti said. “I look forward to partnering with him to move the district forward.”

BOE members Doria Linnetz and John Vouros, who were both on the committee that interviewed candidates for the role, both spoke on the appointment and welcomed Purcaro back to Newtown. Linnetz also expressed her gratitude towards all the candidates who showed interest in the position, while Vouros mentioned his past experience working with Purcaro and said he was thrilled to have him back working with staff and students.

Purcaro’s appointment as the next assistant superintendent of schools will take effect on or around December 4 of this year.

After applause from the Board and audience celebrating his new position, Purcaro thanked the BOE and Anne Uberti and said he was so excited to have the opportunity to come back to Newtown.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to work with the talented team of administrators we have in this district, as well as the talented team of teachers we have in this district. So just absolutely honored to be chosen for this position and to return to Newtown. I just wanted to thank the members of the board for that, and I promise you I will work as hard as possible in this position for you in the Newtown community,” Purcaro said. “I just can’t wait to get started.”

Bus Concerns

Uberti’s superintendent report focused entirely on addressing community concerns with the busing issues prominent throughout the school year, as she wanted to inform the Board and community as to what’s going on, provide context for the history of these issues, and what action steps they are doing to resolve them.

Uberti notes that, in spite of a lot of communication between the district and All-Star Transportation before the beginning of the year, there was no communication that they were short bus drivers. She says this is because six spare bus drivers resigned unexpectedly just before the school year began. Part of the reason there were initially no issues was because Oxford, having sustained a lot of damage to its roads from the historic August storm, did not open in time. This meant that spare drivers from Oxford were brought into Newtown, which Uberti says “delayed any communication with us that this was kind of a clock that was ticking down.”

Then shortly afterwards, Uberti says that they were informed that All-Star’s Terminal Manager for Newtown, Alan Colangelo, had resigned. She says the news did not even come to them firsthand, but instead through people who saw it on social media.

They then scheduled and had a meeting with personnel from All-Star, as well as its parent company SDA. Up to Monday, September 30, there have been nine additional incidents of non-running buses. During the meeting, Uberti was informed that there were two routes with no drivers, that there were no spare drivers, drivers were being pulled from other terminals, and that even the general manager himself is driving. They were also informed that SDA had a pool of five travel drivers, and that some of them would be allocated to Newtown due to the impact of the driver shortage. Uberti says that, as far as they can tell, “that has not happened.”

Uberti was also informed earlier on October 1 that a new district manager has been hired, and that she and Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia will be meeting with her later that week.

This is not the first time the district has had difficulty with All-Star. Following a request for proposal (RFP) back in 2021, All-Star was the only bidder for transportation. However, there was some delay in signing the contract since the BOE at the time was dissatisfied with All-Star’s performance. Uberti says that the 2021-22 school year saw nine open routes, meaning that nine buses were not running on a regular basis. These nine buses were later merged into other routes, with All-Star crediting the district for the nine buses they were not running. The district did not pay for those buses in the 2021-22 school year, and they received a $255,000 credit for the non-running buses.

The BOE eventually approved a five-year contract with All-Star in a split vote of 5 to 2. That contract runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2027.

When the new contract took effect in 2022-23, a force majeure clause was added, as well as a clause that stipulates that the district be credited 45% of the full cost for a non-running bus.

As for what they are currently doing, Uberti says that they are keeping track of all unfulfilled school day routes in order to keep track of and recover the 45% credit for missed runs. She added they are also in the process of looking at the after-school athletic runs that have not been fulfilled by All-Star. However, she says this is a more complex process since it depends on the number of hours the bus runs, which changes based on weather, distance, and other variables.

“However, once that is complete, we do intend to pursue a 45% credit against all of those non-fulfilled runs by All-Star,” Uberti said. “In addition, we do plan to put All-Star on notice, as required in the contract, of our intention to pursue liquidated damages. Enacting this clause will allow All-Star 30 days to respond and rectify this situation.”

Uberti notes that there is wording within the contract regarding acts that are not within the control of the contractor, which she says may protect them from the district’s pursuit of liquidated damages.

“We’ll have to see where that would lead. However, we do feel it’s necessary to bill them for these damages or withhold payment in the hopes of prompting them to do more than what they are currently doing. Obviously drivers would solve the problem, but the lack of communication is really concerning,” Uberti said. “It has not been transparent in our opinion.”

In an attempt to improve communication, Uberti says that they are drafting written instructions to be provided to the terminal employees on how they communicate accurate information when they learn a bus is not running. Uberti also says that they will be setting up weekly meetings with All-Star’s General Manager Steve Gardner, as well as the new terminal manager, so that they can monitor progress on these issues.

Presentation Series Continues

Uberti also continued the series of presentations started in the last Board of Education meeting designed to highlight the work being done in the district to support its Strategic Plan. Her presentation overviewed Newtown’s performance on assessments and other measures recognized by Connecticut’s Department of Education as to how school districts should monitor the progress of their students and schools. Specifically, it focused on three state mandated tests: the CT Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment on English Language Arts and Math, the Next Generation Science Assessment, and the CT SAT on Reading, Math, and Writing and Language.

Before starting, Uberti addressed discussion on how it has been years since Newtown has won a Blue Ribbon award from National Blue Ribbon Schools, a national award program run by US Department of Education that honors schools demonstrating academic excellence and high performance. Newtown High School was recognized in 2000 as a Blue Ribbon School, but Uberti notes that the award used very different criteria back then. The program was restructured to align with the No Child Left Behind Law in 2003, and now places stronger emphasis on state assessment data as evidence of high academic achievement.

“I share this with you because all of the data that I’ll be reviewing is the precursor for even qualifying for this reward, and is the data that we as a district and as a board should be focused on,” Uberti explained.

Her presentation outlined desired outcomes aligned to the Board’s Strategic Plan priorities, and identified specific measures linked to those outcomes that she plans for the Board to focus on for this year. Uberti went over the average scores for the three aforementioned tests in each of the grades they are given in, with data comparisons to the district’s results in previous years and the performance of surrounding towns.

As for next steps, Uberti said that all relevant data will be reviewed by building leadership teams, as well as at the district level. The building leadership teams will use the data when they eventually present their school strategic plans. Uberti also says that the district will continue to use these internal measures, both formative and summative, to monitor academic progress against past results, and tailor professional learning to areas in need of improvement.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.