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-Vissepo, 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-Vissepo 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, three 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-Vissepo, 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.
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.”
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?