Board of Education, District D: Doug Hempstead

District D, Republican

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the BOE and give three brief but specific examples.

My former occupation as VP of Stew Leonard’s, as well as many years of service on Norwalk’s Common Council (including leadership positions), will benefit my role as a BOE member of Norwalk Public Schools. I also have additional experience on non- profit Boards including Mid-Fairfield Child Guidance Center, and Norwalk Communities in Schools. These, including others, have provided me the opportunities to deal with budgets, education and mental health issues, and interacting productively with members of a board as well as the public. Working at Stew Leonard’s has given me greater opportunities of working with people of all different ages and ethnic backgrounds, as well being responsible for budgets and projects. It has taught me how to listen, question, and learn, how to collaborate, use compassion, and how to lead.

Three examples are:

1. As a team member at Stew Leonard’s, a renowned retailer, I worked myself up the ladder of various levels of management to Vice President. This has exposed me to many situations that require interacting with the public and team members. This skill set training will assist me in outreaching to all of the stakeholders in education.
2. All my experiences have constantly fueled my passion for learning and service to community. This will certainly help me to service the students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers.
3. My experiences of working with others, as well as working on projects from development to approval and successful execution, have taught me there are different approaches to problem solving. They have also taught me never to simply accept a forgone conclusion or proposal. It requires you to constantly question everything and to challenge status quo. That OK is never good enough. Excellence matters.

I will utilize all my experiences to make sure all that is implemented is measured and evaluated thoroughly.

What do you see as the top three issues facing our school system?

1) Raising test scores. Norwalk’s Reading, Math, and Science assessment scores should be of great concern, with only 40% of our students reading at grade level or better. We are failing our children, parents, taxpayers, and Norwalk as a whole. The administration needs to be measured and held accountable for the performance of Norwalk’s children without lowering standards. Lowering standards translates to lowering our expectations of what our students can achieve. A plan of action requires that all performance goals be designed according to the diverse learning needs of our students. The plan should be constructed in great detail, including how to implement instruction according to the diverse learning needs of our students. Perhaps we need to consider different models of assessment, albeit rigorous, to assess our students according to their diverse learning styles. All students should be expected to read at each grade level before graduating. Refer to Norwalk BoE Academic Report Card. The results for 2023 show that we must focus on the basics. 

2) Accountability:

There needs to be more accountability in several areas.

School administration needs to be held accountable for student assessment results. Compensation, promotions, contract extensions, and the hiring process of administrative personnel should be based on meeting school, district, and state performance goals. Additionally, communication is essential to check accountability. There needs to be consistent feedback from individual focus groups of parents and teachers. Teachers and parents should each be provided with a comfortable setting to exchange ideas and share questions and concerns. Basically we must begin to ask our teachers what works and what does not.

3) Efficiencies in delivering services to help control controllable costs.

It is time to bring best business practices and expertise to the management of schools. Business practices would internally address ongoing budget, morale, communication, and performance Issues in the district.

Teacher burnout is a real issue for districts around the country. What do you plan to do to alleviate this in Norwalk?

Teacher burnout and a shortage of teacher candidates are affecting all school districts, not only in the United States, but also internationally. Several strategies for teacher retention are also strategies for teacher recruitment.

On Teacher Retention:

1. First and foremost, we need to stop micromanaging teachers. We need to let teachers teach according to the dynamic of their own classroom and needs of their own students. Good teachers balance a supportive nurturing environment for learning but are loaded down with paperwork and interrupted with impromptu tasks that ultimately negatively impact the classroom.
2. We need to recognize the specific individual talents of our teachers and allow them to use them in their teaching, as well as make use of any ancillary degrees, if any, in teaching.
3. We need to hire more para-professionals in the classroom to support students and teachers at the teaching and learning level. 
4. I support open communication with teachers.We need to be bold enough to ask, listen, and react productively to their concerns and ideas. Teachers should be included in the evaluation and implementation of any new programs.
5. There can never be enough communication regarding stakeholders in Norwalk’s schools. I support inviting parents, as well as teachers, to be part of the process.
6. I support mechanical and environmental upgrades of our existing buildings, where practical.
7. I support mentorships of experienced teachers with new teachers in the first year of teaching. This can be achieved by recruiting retired teachers.

Regarding the hiring of new teachers

I propose that we:

1. Create pathways, programs and/or incentives to recruit high school students and/or paraprofessionals into the teaching profession.
2. Create programs within the system Middle and High Schools that attract students to the teaching field. This also includes an emphasis on cultivating positive career opportunities for minorities.
3. Create college scholarships for students and/or grants/loans that provide funding for their education in the teaching field with requirements that, once graduated within a certain period and licensed, they must stay within the school district for 5 years.
4. Seek Federal funding grants for recruitment.
5. Create an environment of excellence.

There is a constant public battle between city government, the school board, and concerned citizens. It seems that all are “dug in” with their positions, eager to “defeat” the other to win their own agenda. What would you specially propose to bring all groups to the table to solve issues rather than fight about them?

Policy changes and revisions can certainly be part of your answer.

My years on the Common Council certainly had times of great animosity and the “butting of heads.”

There are several ways to hopefully make the process more congenial.

I had proposed several times as a Council member that we create a separate committee on education. This committee could share more frequent updates on the status of education, budgets, and building repairs. The Board of Ed would then need to create a committee for communication with the Common Council.

I strongly believe that there should be a year-long dialog between these entities outside of budget season.

The Board of Ed needs to look at the economics and tax impact their budget has on the finances of the city and the ability of the taxpayers to pay. Both the Common Council and BoE are elected by the same people whose lives are also being impacted by the budget. The reality is that the BoE needs to submit a budget that is within the parameters of what the city can afford and what the taxpayers can pay.

It never made sense to me as to why the BoE would present a 12% increase when the city already knew it could only afford a 4% increase. All this ever accomplishes is animosity and parental angst. It is time to stop this practice.

Part of the solution to this is for the State to increase our ECS Educational Cost Sharing) funding to levels that truly reflect our student population makeup.

Norwalk presently receives $13.7 million in ECS funding and $3.6 million in Alliance funding. This totals $17.3 million, which is about $1,509 per student. Norwalk taxpayers pick up the rest of the cost, which is approximately $230 million. There appears to be a level of unfairness regarding this funding, since Danbury, which pretty much mirrors Norwalk in population and pupils, receives $62 million. The inequities have been affecting our school system for a long time. The BoE needs to address this issue head-on with the State as part of the solution. The dialog needs to start now.

Information compiled by Bob Giolitto, a volunteer.