Christopher Peak Photo
Carol Birks with parents at Sound School.
Parents at coffee klatch ask:
• Why have $340 security fees for events?
• And can we touch up our school’s paint job?
Superintendent Carol Birks fielded those hyper-specific questions at a coffee klatch Thursday night in Sound School’s library, the sixth open forum that she has held this school year.
As she shared her goals for the year, Birks told the audience that the district can do much better in its communication, helping parents feel respected and connected to their children’s schools.
Some two dozen parents and teachers showed up to pose their questions to the superintendent. Birks admitted that she often didn’t know the right answer, but she promised that her staff would follow up.
Even if she couldn’t solve their problem right away, she called these forums an important way for her to find out what’s really going on inside the schools, as she still acquaints herself with the district in her 10th month on the job.
“Coming here, it helps me to understand some things I may not see that we may not be doing as efficiently as we could,” Birks said. “They give me feedback on how we could improve our practices. I wouldn’t know otherwise in my day-to-day running around, because we have such a large organization.”
About 25 people showed up for a coffee conversation with Birks on Thursday night.
On Thursday night, Birks heard about the nitty-gritty of how that large organization works, as decisions made in Central Office roll down to the schools with unexpected consequences.
For instance, at Engineering and Science University Magnet School, after an administrator handed out a piece of peanut-filled candy and landed a student in the hospital, the school clamped down on any outside food that might set off another allergic reaction. But parents were unsure of whether the rules also applied to after-school events. They normally cook up a spread for school dances, but at the latest one, they were told they could pass out only bottles of water.
Birks said she didn’t know herself whether the rules apply after-school. “No one has raised that question to us,” she said. Briks said that she could meet with the district’s food-services director to see if they could cater meals with their ingredients that are already free of nuts, pork and shellfish.
In another example, at the Sound School, after budget cuts limited the amount of overtime for security guards, the school required a $340 fee to cover two security guards at any after-school events not held for parents.
A mom pointed out that Sound normally has only one security guard during the day across its five buildings, making it seem excessive to require groups to pay for two.
“Do we have to have two people here for a small event, when during the school day, when we have 330 kids here and 50 adults, we have one person?” the principal added.
Birks said that the facility fees are a reality with the district’s $8.9 million deficit
“Historically, I know we’ve been a lot more generous, but we have to fund it,” she said. “Every time we open a building to a church or a community, we still have to pay our staff to be there and someone has to incur the cost.” She said she’d have to look into the specifics of the $340 charge.
Throughout the rest of the night, others posed questions about letting community members could get involved in fixing up the school, using paraprofessionals as substitute teachers, and opting out of the Dalio Foundation-funded CT Rise program, and reviewing the results of a school-climate survey, among many others.
At the end, Birks said that she wants to make sure that the district’s rules and fees didn’t get in the way of parent involvement.
“I’m learning a lot about what matters to people, what’s important. There’s so many gifted people in this community, and we need to figure out how we get people more involved. That’s the next step,” Birks said.
“I’m working on this a lot, because I really feel strongly about the importance of relationships in this community,” she added. “That people don’t just see me as the person on the fifth floor, but I’m here with you in this work together.”
Huh?
Any way...it was said in one of the board meetings that parent events don't have to pay the security fee.