NORWALK, Conn. — Disappointment in recent events made its way to Tuesday’s Norwalk Board of Education meeting, where a months-old claim of discrimination dominated the comments made to Board members.
While leaders of the Parent Teacher Organization Council pressured BoE member Shirley Mosby to come forward with evidence to support her ill-defined complaint regarding racial discrimination on the Board and suggested a town hall-style meeting, two African-Americans defended Mosby in the strongest of terms, prompting a rebuttal from BoE Chairman Mike Lyons. Two other speakers on the topic expressed angst and insight.
Most, if not all, of the 80 or more people who attended a rally before the meeting came into the community room to attend the session, watching first a spirited tribute to the late Mo Tomlin of Brien McMahon High School before taking in the commentary.
The Rev. Lindsay Curtis, who led the rally, spoke first.
“I, as have many individuals in this city and Fairfield County at large, have been extremely and utterly disturbed and dismayed by all the distractions affecting solid judgment and common decency from some of the members of this body, which have nothing to do with creating the best policies and practice that enhance the education of all of the Norwalk students,” Curtis began.
“Discrimination comes in many ways, and, having spent nearly 20 years in corporate America as a senior human resources professional, I have seen many occasions where being dismissed, ignored, spoken over, shunned, intolerance, feels like discrimination no matter who does it,” Curtis said. “It is wrong. When it comes to discrimination sometimes you just know it, when you see it, when you smell it, when you feel it. Every member of this board, agreed with it or not, has a right to participate at all levels openly and honestly.”
He continued, “Whether there is proof of discrimination on this BoE I do not know, I have never had a conversation with the individuals regarding this matter, but there is no doubt there is a high level of frustration that comes from not being heard, ignored and not being valued equally.”
Carolyn Fuller, an instructor at Jefferson Elementary School, said all of Norwalk’s children deserve an education.
“They don’t deserve adults that are acting like children. Believe me, they are watching. They know. Children are sponges and they know what goes on,” Fuller said.
The PTOC hasn’t spoken to the Board since shortly after then-Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Manny Rivera announced his resignation, PTOC President Michael Byrne said.
“I had hoped that by now things would have settled down and we would be getting on with the critical work ahead of us,” Byrne said. “But the past few weeks have been truly difficult in our school system. We have had one Board member resign, there is a petition circulating to remove another, and all the accusations of discrimination have continued to poison our city. Norwalk parents are tired of losing competent leaders, of infighting on this Board and of issues that have nothing to do with education derailing meaningful reform.”
Parents had voted overwhelmingly for the PTOC to get involved, he said. A Freedom of Information Act request has been filed requesting evidence that has allegedly been collected by Mosby, he said.
Others have been filed, including one from NancyOnNorwalk. “Our petition comes from parents and school children from across the city,” Byrne said, adding that it wasn’t done for political reasons.
“Today the PTO Council is offering a platform to resolve the persistent issues that trouble this Board,” Byrne said. “Let us convene a town hall meeting to discuss the claims made by Miss Mosby and others, to examine their evidence and to finally resolve these conflicts. We will find a suitable venue and choose a moderator acceptable to all parties. Please do not allow this opportunity for open dialogue to pass us by. It’s time to clear the air for the city of Norwalk’s children.”
Angela Harrison said she is president of “Truth Serum.” A Google search found no evidence of the organization.
“If the things that are happening to Shirley Mosby can happen in public, in open forum for the world to see, we can only imagine what is happening to the children of Norwalk,” Harrison said. “It comes a time and a point where you know that your voices, your votes don’t matter and don’t count, that it’s up to the community to stand up and do something and stop begging, and start taking your own lead.”
“What’s going on in Norwalk schools is despicable,” Harrison said. “This Board sitting here has been responsible for it, for not just this year, for all the years past, you are responsible for what has happened to our children. We know that the mass incarceration with the Board of Ed, DCYS, and everything that gets implemented at this school district against the black community is very prevalent. There are too many families in court, there are too many families whose children have been put out, and cast out of school, there are too many black children growing up in this city with no hope at all because the people who are in charge cannot open the door so they can have a decent education.”
What’s happening in Norwalk is devastating, she said. “It’s the same business as usual year after year, time after time,” Harrison said, as Mosby nodded.
“We need to see how many children you have expelled, how many are kicked out of school for little or nothing,” Harrison said.
Ayana Nadira said she was there in solidarity with her “sister,” Mosby, and “what she is experiencing here as member of the board.” She then said she had been excluded from a high school conduct committee.
Enter Lyons.
“Sometimes when you read the newspaper or you listen to what people say at this podium you think the only thing going on in Norwalk was people having raced-based arguments about something,” the Board chairman said. “Since none of the speakers actually wanted to talk about the actual substance of things going on in the schools, I will.”
He then read from his December opinion piece, updating some of the passages:
“We developed a comprehensive and viable strategic plan to make sure Norwalk students are college and career ready.
“We approved a new K-5 Literacy Strategy that is continuing to roll out.
“With the addition of a second site focused on early literacy, we nearly doubled the number of students in summer school programs this year.
“We are developing standards of excellence to guide our schools and the work of our school leaders.
“We hired full-time curriculum and instruction site directors for each of our elementary schools, partially funded by a major grant, and filled other key positions with highly qualified people.
“We opened the State’s first P-TECH model school, Norwalk Early College Academy, with IBM and have other programs in the design and development phase, including the International Baccalaureate program at Brien McMahon.
“We reorganized the Special Education department to better serve students and families.
“We made wireless technology available in all schools, deployed more than 4,500 Chromebooks to all grade levels, and went live with a new ParentPortal and mobile app.
“We established new ways to communicate with families and the community, including a new website, email blasts, and a reverse phone message system, and we established a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube, with tapes of our Board meetings on our YouTube channel.
“We have begun work for a Facilities Utilization study that will help NPS plan for the future.”
PROACT, the superintendent search firm hired by the Board, closed its application process Friday, he said. The initial reports will come in this week and the Board is still hoping to have a new super in July, he said.
He read from his more recent opinion piece:
“We submitted the smallest budget increase in many years this year, despite increasing staff and adding programs. As everyone knows, the budget was endorsed by Mayor Rilling and the Council. It has now been approved by the Board of Estimate and Taxation. A few years ago, this school system was running multimillion dollar deficits and laying off dozens of people and having marches at City Hall with placards. Now we are generating surpluses, adding staff and increasing programs.
“The $230,000 facilities utilization analysis just mentioned, we are spending $2.5 million for security enhancements, having been approved by the Council, including things like closed circuit television cameras at the schools and a variety of other security enhancements, including target hardening at all of the schools to make them harder for people to break into.
“This is the first year that we have adopted and put in place a new system of teacher and administrator evaluation systems, which for the first time will specifically include student achievement as 45 percent of those evaluations.
“With support from GE, we are moving forward with a plan to establish School Governance Councils of principals, teachers and parents at all 19 schools. They exist at about half a dozen schools now, the objective at the end of the year is to have these established at all 19 of our schools to significantly increase parental and community involvement at our schools. Those Councils will be primary leaders in implementing new school Quality and Leadership Standards.
“I already mentioned the International Baccalaureate program being set up at Brien McMahon High School.
“We are going through the high school accreditation process for both Norwalk High and Brien McMahon. We are making great progress in working toward their re-accreditations by NEASC (New England Association of Schools & Colleges). This comprehensive process requires a top-to-bottom review of each school’s practices and development of long-term plans for success at our high schools. A number of Board of Education members spent a Sunday afternoon participating in that process, taking time away from our families.
“In addition to expanding our School Governance Councils, we are working with the NFT on the aforementioned Literacy 4 Parents 4 Children program,
“We are deepening our relationship with Norwalk ACTS, an umbrella organization that brings together almost 60 of Norwalk’s organizations that support children and their educational needs from cradle to career.”
He then took aim at Harrison.
“Some comments were made that it is despicable in our Norwalk schools. What is despicable is making a statement like that,” Lyons said.
Expulsions are down significantly, as are other disciplinary actions, he said. Test scores have been rising for years, he said.
The applause in the room came from the non-African American members of the audience. Harrison heckled, claiming that Connecticut has the worst education system in the state, that Gov. Dannel Malloy and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes said so.
She left, taking about 20 people with her. In the hallway she declined to elaborate on her statement, saying, “You’re the reporter.”
According to various reports, Connecticut has the worst achievement gap in the United States.
Mosby declined to comment on the FOIA requests after the meeting, turning her head away and refusing to speak.
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