New Haven Independent

Posted by: Frank Carrano | November 27, 2009 3:58 PM

As I have indicated to Mrs Troidle, the BOE welcomes parental involvement in the school district. One of the most difficult challenges over the past four years has been to encourage parents to become more involved at the school and district level.
Conversations related to curriculum and school performance are always appropriate. We, in fact, review these areas at both the Teaching & Learning Committee as well as full BOE meetings on a regular basis. The Branford school district has enjoyed a very favorable ranking within our state reference group. We haven't been at the top but we haven't been at the bottom either. We recognize that as our world continues to become more complex and challenging, our graduates need to be as prepared as possible to meet those demands.
Yes, we have began a transition to a constructivist math curriculum, which is required by the state, and a revision of our literacy program. These changes have come at a cost to the district. The teachers demanded and received an adjustment in our professional development program that adds 10 half days of non student time to their schedule for training in both the math and literacy program.These additional early release days will continue for the life of the new contract and will be provided in addition to three full days of professional development.
We recognize that change is never easy and brings with it some level of angst. We cannot however abdicate our responsibility to our students to have them be less prepared that they need to be.
Yes, we welcome dialogue and discussion and yes I believe that we are willing to make adjustments if they are necessary. I don't believe that we can enter into discussions with those who are not willing to listen to all of the issues with an open mind. I, for one, look forward to our meeting on Wednesday. Perhaps all will learn some things that will clarify what actually is the state of the schools.

Editor's note: The writer is the Chairman of the Branford Board of Education.

Posted by: MNotz - Parent and Suporter for Postive Change | November 28, 2009 2:37 PM

An organization, especially one that is responsible for the teaching of our young, starts with strong and solid vision and goals. A vision however is unworthy unless it is embraced and supported by both those in Leadership positions, those responsible for fulfilling the vision and the goals (teachers) and the community at large. After witnessing and taking my own analysis of how things are performed in the Town of Branford and how our Leaders are working towards attaining our goals and visions for a successful future for our children, I can truly understand why we are failing in the area of education in this Town. The Leadership - the Branford Board of Education, has set forth the vision of a new and improved math and literacy curriculum, but it utterly failed to ensure that those responsible for making that vision come true were on board, willing, able and in agreement with that vision. Instead, our educational leaders mandated and implemented self-fulfilling changes without unified support. In return, as stated by Carrano himself, those same teachers were then forced to demand and receive an adjustment in their professional development programs in order to be able to obtain the necessary training to even remotely begin to attain the necessary training and know-how to implement these changes. That did not occur until the new Agreement went into effect a few months ago in 2009. Does that mean our teachers were denied ample training during the last 2-3 years? This certainly corresponds with the ever declining assessment scores in our town, which was, as stated in this article, demonstrated by Branford’s fourth grade students having declined miserably over the last few years on assessment testing. That blame was placed on a single teacher (Farina) during the 2007 and 2008 school year as the culprit and reason – or should we say the escape goat for our Leaders, because in 2009 when Farina was not teaching, Branford’s 4th graders hit an all time low on those same assessments. Those same leaders would not waiver from their self fulfilling vision and goals however and needed to place the blame somewhere, because it could not be placed on the Leaders themselves or their newly implement goals, so they began the termination process of a 28 year veteran teacher. What will the excuse be next year? Another terminated teacher? Maybe two or three? Carrano is correct, as the world becomes more complex and challenging, our graduates do need to be as prepared as possible, but that preparation begins with administration, proper training of our teachers, proper techniques that work and not just in theory as it seems is what is occurring now. Branford Public Schools held a history of success up until the last few years and these newly implemented changes in the way our children are being taught in the classroom. It appears that our Leadership needs to be re-thought and re-trained because newer is not always bigger and better. Out with the old and in with the new is foolish behavior, right down to what is taught in the classroom, how it is taught and the teachers who are teaching it. Carrano stated “We can not Abdicate our responsibility….” Don’t we have that same responsibility to our teacher’s? Since when are our teachers forced to “demand” appropriate training? We all also saw how the Board abdicated that responsibility last week with the termination of Farina. It is a very sad situation that our Leaders have created in our town. Parent input of course is important, but we have all watched from afar what happens when one speaks out or challenge those in power – it is not pretty! No teacher in their right mind will speak out in opposition against those in command because they do not want to be next in line and terminated from their teaching position and labeled like Farina as incompetent. Carrano stated that the additional training and programs have come at a cost to the district. If the Board of Education put in as much effort and money in training, supporting and educating our teachers, instead of our teachers having to “demand” the necessary training and tools, as it had in justifying the termination of Farina, our teachers and students would already be on their way to success. It is obvious where the necessary changes need to take place, but our leaders need to accept responsibility and make the necessary changes to rebuilt the faith and belief throughout our community and within our teachers that a broken system can in fact be fixed. Building a culture that supports, motivates and engages starts at the top, but this has not occurred within our Board of Education over the last 3-4 years and the results are obvious. Motivation is lacking, dictatorship in abundant! The most recent actions of the Board in terminating a long term tenured teacher who it alleged struggled in implementing this “new way of teaching” is a prime example. It has left our teachers in this town with fear, apprehension and uncertainty as they too struggle and demand the necessary support and training so they too are not next on the chopping block! The Branford Board of Education needs to swallow the pride, accept responsibility, leave the egos behind, replace fear with motivation and embrace democracy and diversity in all areas of our educational system, past and present, and our school system will find itself on the road to recovery. I applaud Laura Kiernan Troidle for being a Leader and seeking out the necessary support for change.

Posted by: Another Concerned Parent | November 29, 2009 5:39 PM

I have to agree with the previous comments. The fact is that since the implementation of the "New Math", we have seen a decline in our test scores. Mandate from the state or not, this BOE should be not just putting teachers on notice, but the administration who is responsible. Why Mr. Carrano, does one elementary school supplement their math circulum with the "Old fashion" math? Why did the school system not come forward with a public debate over such a change in the circulum? Why did the school system not survey the math teachers for their input on the new math program? What programs has the BOE provided to the parents who are vital to the sucess of the child's education for this new math program?

I for one think the BOE and adminstration made this decision in a vaccum, and did not consider the impact to teachers, parents and ultimately the students.

Question, how many school systems in CT this year have implemented this program? Is it truely a mandate from the State? What is the ramifications of not changing what was a working circulum?

Sometimes, as we have seen both at national and now a local level, change is not always what it is chalked up to be.

Test grades are down and no one in a BOE or administrative level is on a performance review plan as a result of this decline. CEO's of major corporations have been fired over performance like this. Maybe it's time for a change, a change in our Superintendent.

Posted by: mpabpr | November 30, 2009 9:10 AM

Unfortunately, the constructionist philosophy of education has been embraced by the Board of Education and education leadership in Branford. It is a flawed concept and one of the reasons that test scores in Branford are flat or worse. Parents should be concerned about what is happening in the classroom and should not be intimidated by the meaningless education speak that we hear from our educational leadership. Check out the education blogs I have listed below. Other parents and educators are concerned too.
http://www.joannejacobs.com/
http://blog.commoncore.org/
http://kitchentablemath.blogspot.com/
I will probably be criticized for my anonymous posting, but, I cannot risk revealing my name.

Posted by: Concerned Teacher | November 30, 2009 12:19 PM

Touche' MNotz and other concerned parents!!!
We need to start making the administrators and the BOE accountable and not keep blaming the teachers for low test scores! I am still unsure why Miss Farina was held so accountable for low CMT scores for the whole school? Maybe Dr. Halligan and her cronies need to go?!

Posted by: Pat Santoro | November 30, 2009 12:29 PM

Great commentary !!! The BOE members are elected officials not experts on education and standards of behavior regarding education. BOE's have outlived their usefulness. The word politics is the key.The current Superintendent did not have the experience to even be offered the position she now holds. The BOE wants someone they can manipulate and control and they have succeeded in this case. Should you be afraid to speak up, yes you should be afraid, they will take it out on your child. You can win the battle by organizing
the largest group of parents and concerned citizens you can muster. There is strength in numbers and you can win this battle with a strong cohesive group.

Posted by: Jay | November 30, 2009 2:13 PM

There seems to be a lot of heat here, but not much light. There are "concerned parents" raising legitimate concerns about falling test scores, but they want to solve the problem by "mustering" a seeming mob. Other parents want to fire the Superintendent. On the other side, you have the BoE acting very reactionary and defensive, and perhaps they should be. The answer is neither doing away with the BoE as in New York City, nor in blaming it on the teachers. We get to vote for our Board of Education. I did so recently, and I wish everyone else in town bothered to do so as well. Better yet, people who feel all of our choices on election day were bad should run for office themselves.

Posted by: Becca Bennedict | November 30, 2009 6:01 PM

To mnotz:

This is not a forum for the Farina case. While there may be some cross-over issues, the very important difference is that this forum is about the issues concerned parents share - district-wide - about student achievement, curriculum, and implementation and not the very different scope of the Farina case.

Posted by: TISKOMOM | November 30, 2009 10:53 PM

TWO YEARS AGO PARENTS AT TISKO VOICED OUR CONCERNS WITH THIS MATH PROGRAM. WE TOLD THE SUPERINTENDENT THAT THIS PROGRAM HAD BEEN STUDIED FOR 8 YEARS BY WILFORD SCHMIDT THE HEAD OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY MATH DEPT. MR. SCHMIDT HAS WRITTEN MANY ARTICLES ON THIS PROGRAM AND HAS STATED THAT THIS PROGRAM WOULD LEAVE OUR CHILDREN AT LEAST TWO YEARS BEHIND. IF THE BOE REALLY WANTS OUR CHILDREN IN THE 21ST CENTURY WHY ARE THEY PICKING PROGRAMS THAT ARE PROVEN TO DROP SCORES. HALLIGAN STATED AT MANY PARENT FORUMS THAT ALL THE BAD PRESS ON THIS PROGRAM WAS ON THE OLD VERSION AND THAT WE WERE RECEIVING A NEW VERSION. MRS. HALLIGAN DID NO RESEARCH ON THIS PROGRAM AND THE SCORES ARE PROOF OF THAT. SHE GAVE A SHORT LIST OF PROGRAMS TO A GROUP OF MATH TEACHERS AND TOLD THEM TO PICK ONE. THEY WERE ALL CONSTRUCTIVIST TYPE PROGRAMS WHICH MR. CARRANO ARE NOT REQUIRED BY THE STATE. MY CHILD IS IN 4TH GRADE AND I AM FURIOUS THAT THE BOE WOULD HAVE SUCH A DISREGARD FOR MY CHILDS EDUCATION. LAURA THANKS FOR GIVING PARENTS A PLACE WHERE WE CAN SPEAK THE TRUTH INSTEAD OF BEING LOCKED OUT BY THE BOE.

Posted by: Becca Bennedict | December 1, 2009 11:59 AM

Pat Santoro:

There is a growing number of parents finding common ground in their concerns about curriculum, achievement or the lack thereof, communications, and the introduction of a plethora of initiatives. Parents have found, indeed, that their collective voices may be more effective in getting a 'place at the table' to air their concerns and become part of the solution. You miss the point, however, to assume parents are 'mustering' for political or other nefarious purposes.

Relative to your comments about the BOE members, they have varied backgrounds in education, medicine, business, union organization, and human resources. Their skill sets would qualify most people to serve admirably on any number of boards so the question isn’t one of qualification but of application. The essential overarching question is: Do the elected Board of Education members fulfill their responsibilities of oversight or are they merely a rubberstamp?

Your ad hominen attacks don’t serve to answer that question or pave the path to a better relationship where parents feel empowered to help direct the changes for educational excellence. In fact, and perhaps without you realizing it, your rhetoric is more aligned with a fringe mentality that does not characterize this group of frustrated parents.

Posted by: Becca Bennedict | December 1, 2009 12:16 PM

Mr. Carrano cites the need to follow state standards but perhaps we should take a look at the state standards that may be hampering the work of local Boards of Education. It would be instructive to know what, if anything, our BOE CABE representative thinks about this report on the state of Connecticut's standards.

http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/Connecticut.pdf

Posted by: Fassett | December 2, 2009 12:13 PM

It's worth noting that when Mr. Carrano declares that teachers demanded more PD it was a result of an unfair labor suit brough against the district due to the unprecedented number of new initiates. So, yes, it did come at a cost and perhaps a more far-sighted implementation plan would have been in order.

Posted by: Pat Santoro | December 3, 2009 12:30 PM

Becca,
You missed my point. There is strength in numbers, if you went before the BOE as one voice, it won't work. I have been there and done that and my child suffered. Where does your frustration come from, pinpoint that and you will find the path to the solution to the problems in Branford's educational system.I still stand by my comment that BOE's have outlived there usefulness
and if I am guilty of a fringe mentality, then so be it.