School Board Ratifies Its Own Leadership; Postpones Action On HS And School Schedule

By Susan Coney

With some important issues waiting for them on their agenda, members of the Board of Education started work early at their December 20 meeting with a closed door session to first address the board’s own leadership.

Listing “personnel” and “legal” on its agenda as the justifications for the executive session that excluded the public, the board emerged without comment from the closed session and voted 4 to 2 to reelected its current chairman, Elaine McClure. Board members Paul Mangiafico and David Nanavaty cast the dissenting votes. Vice chairman Lisa Schwartz and secretary Andrew Buzzi were unanimously reelected.

When reached by The Bee on Wednesday, Mr Mangiafico commented, “I believe that we needed a change in the leadership direction; obviously that didn’t happen. David and I were rather strong in our opinions, and we had to vote our conscience. I don’t know if anyone has ever been elected as chairperson without a unanimous vote before.”

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff, who was also excluded from the closed session, explained later that no “legal” issues were discussed in the closed session and that the exemption from the state’s Freedom of Information provisions for public meetings covering discussion of “personnel” includes the “evaluation of board members themselves.”

With the issue of its continued leadership settled, the board went on to discuss, but did not act on, two important issues: the high school expansion and the school calendar, both topics of keen interest to the community and to parents in particular. After lengthy discussion, members chose to postpone any action on either issue until after the first of the year.

Regarding the high school expansion, school officials along with architectural consultant Joe Costa previously met with First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and Planning and Zoning Commission members to discuss the viability of erecting the an addition to the back portion of the high school to act as a freshman house and alleviate overcrowding. This expansion plan is known as “Option C.”

Board member Thomas Gissen, who served on the High School Space Needs Committee, told fellow members that important environmental information was gleaned from that meeting. He commented “A lot has occurred in the last few weeks. This meeting provided very productive, straightforward answers. The major issue is serious, with wetlands and the removal of all that rock.” He said that while these problems were not insurmountable issue, he does not favor proceeding with Option C.

Mr Gissen confirmed that there are huge risks and strong concerns and the town could end up spending a great deal of money only to have the project rejected by planning and zoning further down the line. “The meeting drove us to look in other directions,” Mr Gissen said.

Mr Mangiafico questioned why the board would look at that option at all since all population projections reveal that the school addition would be insufficient to accommodate the number of students attending upon its completion.

David Nanavaty commented that after attending more Board of Finance meetings he has a clearer perspective on the high school’s long-term needs. “The expansion is going to be obsolete before it is finished. We need an offsite option or it will be voted down [by the Board of Finance]. If we are going to look for a solution on site we need to make a powerful presentation to the Board of Finance. This board needs to seriously decide where we are going and where we want to be. We need to be prepared to back our recommendation,” he stressed.

“Maybe there are feasible alternatives for a future building on Fairfield Hills campus that can provide us with a more viable solution. Faced with reality we can’t wait another 18 months,” he emphasized.

As the discussion wound down, Andrew Buzzi said, “We can’t make this decision in a vacuum; we need to have these discussions with other town offices, and see what our options are as a whole town.”

Elaine McClure said she concurred.

Late in the meeting, discussion turned to approval of the 2006-2007 school calendar. Superintendent Evan Pitkoff previously convened a committee to make recommendations for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years. The committee consisted of assistant superintendent Alice Jackson, board member Tom Gissen, NMS principal Diane Sherlock, teachers Jeanne Cavallaro and Kathy Swift, and parent Sarah Beier.

Proposed changes to the 2006-07 calendar are to begin school after Labor Day, with teachers beginning on August 29 and students reporting on September 5. A reduction of the February weeklong break to a long weekend of having both Friday, February 16, and Monday, February 19, off with a staff development day on Tuesday, February 20.

Columbus Day would remain a holiday but without it being a staff development day and designate one day attached to the April break as a potential snow date in the event of cancellation of the February staff development day.

The last day of school would be on Tuesday, June 19, unless there were snow days. One day would be added to the end of the school year for each snow day incurred during the year.

Chairman McClure suggested that a poll be taken of the unions and parents on whether to adopt the new proposed calendar or go back to the old one. Superintendent Pitkoff suggested that polling would cause a lot of problems with everyone wanting something different and would be time consuming to conduct.

Board members Lisa Schwartz and Paul Mangiafico were in agreement that they preferred the old calendar, asking the reason for the change of something that seemed to be working. It was pointed out by school administrators and other board members that many parents would prefer that school not start until after Labor Day.

With the hour getting late, the board agreed to table action on the calendar until the next meeting on January 10.