New Haven Independent: Ed Boarders Miss 37% Of Meetings

Ed Boarders Miss 37% Of Meetings

by Melissa Bailey | May 21, 2007 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

(Updated: 9:45 p.m.) The average New Haven school board member has missed more than a third of this year’s meetings, according to a review of education department records. A typical meeting finds over a third of the board missing. Board member Carlos Torre (pictured) called the situation a “concern” and promised action soon.

One Board of Ed member regularly calls in from Arizona and has his homework mailed to him.

After a recent Board of Education meeting that got delayed for 45 minutes for lack of a quorum, saved only by use of the telephone, Indy readers asked how often that happens. A review of department records offers the answer: Over the academic semester, board members had an average 63 percent attendance rate.

The board oversees an education department budget that is projected to be $169 million this coming fiscal year.

The board — comprised of the mayor and seven unpaid mayoral appointees — is about to lose its most steadfast attendee: John A. Prokop will resign his post on June 4 as he moves on to direct the city’s public works department. Other members, one of whom winters in Arizona, cited personal and medical reasons for attendance rates as low as 53 percent.

Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., who attended zero of 15 meetings, attributed his absence to the gubernatorial race. He pledged to change his habits and resume showing up for class … er, Board of Ed Meetings.

The Numbers

Each biweekly Board of Education meeting typically features a ceremony honoring students or staff and a stamping through of decisions made at the board’s committees.
The Indy tallied attendance from 15 full board meetings from Sept. 11, 2006, to May 15, 2007. Numbers were crunched during a comparable period for the two most important committees, the Curriculum Committee and Administration/Finance Committee, where multi-million dollar decisions routinely get made.

Here are the results:

Prokop (pictured) emerged at the top of the class, with a 93 percent attendance rate at full board meetings, and 86 percent at Administration/Finance, which he chairs.

Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., technically a member of the Board of Education, came out on the bottom. He’s marked absent at each of 15 full board meetings.

“The mayor expressed that he certainly thinks it is important to participate in Board of Education meetings. During the gubernatorial race he fell out of the habit of attending,” said DeStefano’s spokeswoman, Jessica Mayorga. “However, he feels he needs to get back in the habit.”

Of the mayor’s seven appointees on the board, Peggy Delinois Hamilton and Patricia McCann-VissepÃ³, came out with the lowest rates, attending 53 percent of meetings, or eight of the 15. Hamilton told the Independent she just had a baby in December and is on maternity leave. McCann-VissepÃ³ reported significant health problems that make it difficult for her to attend evening meetings.

Richard Abbatiello attended 60 percent of meetings; Frances Padilla attended 73 percent; and Carlos Torre and Chairman Brian Perkins made it to 87 percent.

By comparison, about 12 percent of the student population of Wilbur Cross High School is absent on a given school day, according to Superintendent of Schools Reggie Mayo.

On average, 3 members, or 38 percent, of the Board of Education were absent at a given full board meeting.

Committee Decisions Often Made By One

The A/F committee, where big school contracts are approved, has three official board members: Chairman Prokop, Abbatiello and Padilla. Prokop attended 19 of 22 meetings, or 86 percent; Padilla attended 41 percent; Abbatiello made it to 36 percent of the meetings.

The curriculum committee, where decisions are made on school trips and student initiatives among the city’s 20,759-student population, is officially chaired by McCann-VissepÃ³, who attended zero of 17 meetings. Torre held the group together with a 71 percent attendance rate, followed by Hamilton at 41 percent.

Board of Ed spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo said historically committee meetings have been run by one board member, supported by a variety of staff.

BOE-cellphone%20014.JPG Abbatiello (pictured), who’s been on the board for nine years, said in recent years medical reasons have driven him to spend eight to 10 weeks in Arizona each winter. He gets the information mailed to him and contacts the chair by phone, he said.

Attending meetings is just part of the job, argued Abbatiello. He rattled off a list of board-related duties he’d done in one week — visiting a high school, where he helped a student find a job, meeting with lawyers, attending ceremonies, taking calls from parents.

Volunteering on the board is a “major responsibility,” agreed Torre.

Having a full crew at the Curriculum Committee would be ideal, given that the academic content debated there is “crucial” to the workings of the board, said Torre (pictured). But “given the circumstances, that’s not the situation right now, so you move ahead as best you can.”

He thanked “great support staff” for making work easier, weeding out poor proposals and doing prep work for meetings.

“In total, in 11 years, I can only think of maybe two or three proposals that we’ve had to send back for more information. … The support staff, the employees, they’ve done a great job, they facilitate our work on the board,” said Torre.

“A Concern”

Torre and at least one other board member said they did see a problem with the lack of debate and full attendance on the board: “It’s been a concern,” said Torre. “It’s something that I’m sure will be addressed, and will be dealt with hopefully within the very short future.”

“I do think attendance is an issue,” said Padilla. While “the work still gets done,” and members often submit comments or questions though the chair when absent, having fewer attendees weakens the level to which there’s “engagement of discussion,” she said. “When you have all nine minds working together, you have a very different discussion.”

“Ultimately,” said Padilla, “it’s Mayor DeStefano’s call to see if it’s an issue that he thinks needs to be addressed.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier draft of this article incorrectly identified Superintendent Mayo as a member of the Board of Ed. Figures have been recalculated to reflect that correction.

Share this story: digg / newsvine / facebook

Comments

Posted by: Observer | May 21, 2007 5:11 PM

I find it amazing that most of thse members have been on the boards so long. Wht's that about? Do' tell me there are not other citizens interested and qualified to serve on the board by coming to mmetings. Why haven't Mayor DeStefano or Reggie Mayo seen this as a problem? Maybe we need an elected ZBoard of Ed that is really accountable to parents who vote?

Posted by: Steve | May 21, 2007 10:28 PM

During the past 2 years, murder rates and violent crimes stats sky rocketed, the narcotics division has had their hands in the till, the school graduation rates are dropping like a rock, the corporation counsel is handing out money faster than Mayor Johnnie can get revenue from towing cars, 3 members of the BOA are arrested and just like Pres Bush and Alberto, the good Mayor is standing behind his guys. And least we forget the notorious Mr Ude is spending money in violation of the cities own rules.

We are facing a killer of a tax increase and the leader is off playing let me find a new job. He cleans up downtown at the expense of the neighborhoods. He has a ZERO % attendance record for a budget expense line that represents close to 30% of the total city budget. He is at every new school opening ceremony but can't get to the Board meetings, maybe because he owns those votes. Please also note that the cost of the bonding for his massive school building program is close to another 12% of the city budget. These architectural eyesores are costing you and I millions every year and he continues to build them even though there a many empty desks every day in these new schools. Did you know that all of these new schools have state of the art kitchen facilities but that all the food is prepared at the central kitchen on Middletown Ave?
They call that a waste of money!!

This man has abused our trust, he is all about himself. Let's look at change at the top as a way to begin recovering from this power based political monster.

Posted by: Jeff Klaus | May 21, 2007 11:48 PM

A few stats:

* Connecticut has the largest achievement gap in the country.

* Connecticut spends more than $7 billion per year on its public school system.

* Public school teachers in Connecticut make more than in any other state.

* Connecticut's average per pupil spending is the 3rd highest in the nation; and New Haven spends above the state average at about $13,000 per student before debt service on schools construction.

* The children in CT cities including New Haven rank near the bottom among all states in math and reading.

* Connecticut ranks dead last in long term job growth--and the current trend is for the CT workforce to have more high school dropouts and fewer college graduates.

* Connecticut has experienced the largest increase in income inequality in the nation since 1988.

* Connecticut has the 2nd highest juvenile incarceration rate for Hispanic males in the nation, and the 3rd highest rate for African American males.

* In 2007, for the first time ever, Connecticut will spend more on prisons than higher education.

And with all this, can it be the case that some members of the New Haven Board of Education think there just isn't enough to do?

Youth initiatives and summer jobs programs are not the long term answer. Where is the urgency around creating high quality education and life long opportunities for every student? It can and must be done.

Posted by: Gary Doyens | May 22, 2007 5:20 AM

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry. Perhaps we should assign a truancy officer to the Board of Ed members, the mayor and Superintendent Reggie Mayo. It is patently absurd to defend the behavior or accept the excuses for poor attendance proffered in this article. This is supposed to be the brain trust, the check against poor performance and financial mismanagement that can get out of hand if run by absentees. It's enough to make a grown man cry.

At a time when we are on track to double our property taxes across the next five years, in part to record borrowing and spending by the New Haven Board of Education - we now know this is our lot by a group of people who feel they can run our 23,000 child school system by remote control.

Mayor DeStefano, wants another term as mayor which includes running those schools, assuring taxpayers our money is well spent, and yet, never attends a meeting - any meeting - board, financial, curriculum blaming his race for governor which ended in November 06. What's the excuse since? And secondly, since his race for governor spanned several years - I wonder what his attendance was during that entire time? It's no wonder the federal assessment of New Haven public school graduation rate is only 50% and Mayo projects more schools will fail No Child Left Behind in the future.

But Mayo and DeStefano are not too busy to move forward with plans to spend another $60 million on a new school in West Haven, where the mayor in that town says he won't spend one thin dime for it, but he will show up for a photo op. Was this $60 million project approved by same one-man committee and absentee BOE? I now have heartburn.

This entire board should be dumped. They either don't have the time, the will or the medical conditions necessary to do their jobs. It is unconscionable that a single board member is making important financial decisions with the assistance of staff BOE employees, whose primary concerns are protecting their jobs and expanding school spending regardless of impact on taxpayers. Mayo should be required to attend every board meeting without fail, as well as the committee meetings on curriculum and finances. With additional reporting, I suspect this report is the tip of the proverbial iceberg...and we're all on the Titanic. Please put on your lifevests..and move to the rail.

Posted by: Wjay | May 22, 2007 12:26 PM

Add to that is the month ending March 31,2007 financial report to the finance committee of the BOA, which states on page 10, outstanding bond balance for the BOE as of 3/31/07 is: $309,756,125. The combined bond debt, city and BOE is $499,789,272.
This report was acccepted by the BOA finance committee without a wimper.
Seems to me we need to elect the BOE and appoint the BOA. one is a no show and the other knows nothing.

Posted by: robn | May 22, 2007 1:41 PM

Jeff K,

Where did you get your data?

Posted by: Jeff Klaus | May 22, 2007 5:06 PM

Robn,

There is no dearth of information regarding the above. If you'tre interested try these sources:
www.cbia.com
www.conncan.org
www.nhregister.com
www.cmtreports.com

Read 'em and weep.

Posted by: Truth of the crisis | May 22, 2007 6:06 PM

The combined bond debt, city and BOE is $499,789,272. Nothing need be said

Posted by: cedarhillresident | May 22, 2007 7:20 PM

Steve
I have to think that the automatic vote for Johnny that a lot of us have done, is going to end this year. He can show up to all these meetings and try to "ACT" like the old Johnny. But the damage is done we will sit there and listen to him and even clap at the end of his recent slue of appearances. But how many of us went, hoping he would say those magic works "I AM LOWERING THE MILL RATE" that is the only reason we go now a days. And when we see he is just schmoozing for votes we all say in our heads "he is not getting mine this time!" Well remember that sick feeling you have when you go to the polls and pull that lever this year! CLEAN HOUSE!! GET THE SHEPARD AND HIS FLOCK OF SHEEP OUT. A few last minete token good deeds to save votes are we that easy??
Prokop thumps up at least you showed up! But dang you could of changed the city with all the power you had!
And an other thing...

During the gubernatorial race he fell out of the habit of attending," said DeStefano's spokeswoman, Jessica Mayorga. "However, he feels he needs to get back in the habit."

WHAT the habit??? is that what work is a habit?? And because he was running for Gov. he did not owe this city his time?? Am I the only one seeing a pattern?? Is this not become a standard exuse??

Posted by: observor | May 24, 2007 7:33 AM

news flash to wjay and others: the BOE has very little to do with the school construction budget. Mayor Johnnie decides which schools if any are to be built, who gets the contract to build the school, etc. Reggie goes along for the ride. Board members have no say in that at all. Even if the BOE wanted to slow down school construction, the Mayor wouldn't allow it. The truth is he didn't expect to be around at this point, but now that he is, he ends up holding the bag of s____ he planned on passing to the next Mayor.

New Haven Independent

Ed Boarders Miss 37% Of Meetings

Comments

Sorry, Comments are closed for this entry

Sections

Neighborhood News

Special Sections

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

Legal Notices

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

NHI Store

News Feed