Two of the recent hot-button issues in education — the implementation of six new school security items and the closing one of the town’s six elementary schools — won’t hog the headlines in 2013.
Replacing them will be the schools’ ongoing effort to meet the state’s Common Core standards by the start of the next school year and the decision on whether to add administrators at the elementary level.
Austin Drukker
“We always want to monitor the issue of school closing, but it’s not as much in the forefront this year as it was in the past,” said Austin Drukker, chairman of the Board of Education. “The implementation of the Common Core standards will probably be our biggest issue because it affects all sorts of camps — teachers, parents and groups in the political arena that tend to be extreme in their views.
“People in general don’t like change, and that’s why we expect to hear some concerns voiced,” he said. “But what these parties fail to realize is that this not a change in curriculum, it’s a change in the way material is taught.”
He said all three groups have legitimate concerns about the standards that will impact English language arts and mathematics, but added they would not share similar reasoning in their complaints.
“It’s an interesting conundrum for us because all three are setting aim at the same target — the Common Core — but they’re all very subjective and individual,” he said. “What’s important for them to remember is that we, as a state, have accepted the Common Core, which is a national standard, so that’s what we’re going to move forward with.”
Mr. Drukker said he has faith in the district’s administration to successfully adjust to the Common Core, which is trying to establish what Connecticut —and the nation’s — students should know and be able to do in English and math as they progress through kindergarden to the 12th grade.
He said one of the issues the board members have discussed, and will continue to discuss in the first couple of months of the year, is going into schools to monitor progress.
“I don’t think that’s our job — our job isn’t to micro-manage — but some may feel differently about that role,” he said. “I believe we have competent administrators and teachers in our system and it’s their job to make sure that the switch to Common Core is a success.”
Mr. Drukker said the board expects to catch some heat when it discusses adding “two or three” assistant principals at the elementary schools.
He said principals are more accessible to concerned parents and therefore have a lot more pressure on them than they did in the past. But he said that adding more administrative staff would still be a “hard sell” to board members.
“If the population is getting smaller, then why have more administrators? I know that’s how the public will see it, and I could see why,” he said. “I’m not discounting that more is being required of elementary school principals — they are very open to communicating, and it’s a lot easier to get hold of them than it used to be.
“That puts us in a predicament, because there is a need that exists, but the solution posed — more principals — is just too costly.”
The issue was first brought up in November by Superintendent Deborah Low, who listed it as one of her district priorities for 2014-15. Three of the six elementary school principals spoke at the meeting, but didn’t submit an official proposal.
They discussed with board members the concept of having the assistant principals “float” from school to school, but the idea was met with mostly negative responses.
Mr. Drukker said he doesn’t believe having an assistant principal move around among two or three schools to be a practical solution to the problem of increased workload at the administrative level.
“The way I see it, the best model would be to create different departments — one for student discipline, one for technology, one for communciation, etc. — for the elementary level and see if we have staff members who can lend a hand in these specific areas,” he said. “If we come up short in some areas, we then would look to hire people that obviously have experience but won’t be getting paid like an administrator would.”
He added that a lot of his worries were speculative, because the final proposal wouldn’t be put in front of the board until late January or early February, as part of the 2014-15 budget.
“We’re not sure what they’re going to propose to us, but an administrator in each of the six schools, like Westport has in their district, won’t fly,” he said. “They’re feeling us out before the final touches are put on the budget.”
Mr. Drukker addressed the continuing school security measures that the board has been overseeing over the last year.
He said all of the items have been proposed — and that no more would be added this year, but that the district was still in search of money for some of the projects.
He added that there would be a student resource officer — members of the Ridgefield Police Department — at each of the district’s middle schools starting in January, which was approved as part of last year’s school budget.
The cost of the two officers is estimated at $235,000.
“This is a really good addition for us that I think everybody is happy with,” Mr. Drukker said. “We want to make sure that all of our schools are safe, and this is one more step in getting that done.”
The high school is the only school in the district that currently uses a police officer — Officer Fernando Luis.
Mr. Drukker said the board hadn’t discussed adding officers at the elementary level, but did note that the three officers at the high school and middle schools would travel from school to school, like Officer Luis does now, throughout the year.
“It’s pretty impressive what we’ve gotten done in little over a year,” he added. “There was no appetite for any of this stuff four or five years ago, but Newtown changed the entire landscape of it and the times have changed.”
Also of interest to educators is the possibility of a three-mile natural gas pipeline that would run down Ridgebury Road from Danbury to the high school’s campus and would cost around $3 million to install.
Mr. Drukker recognized that this could be controversial when it comes before the board again.
The idea was proposed as part of the board’s five-year capital improvement plan on Nov. 25.
“The natural gas line will save a ton of money over time, and I know people will disagree with it, but just because it has a longer payback period than we’d like to have doesn’t mean we leave it alone and don’t fix the problem,” he said.
He added that the final decision would be made by the town, not the school district.
Mr. Drukker believes the school district is in a good position heading into the new year.
“Just because a few people are squawking here and there, it doesn’t mean these are necessarily going to be districtwide issues, but people will share their feelings about some of these topics and some won’t be all too positive,” he said. “Compared to our neighboring towns and neighboring school districts, we’re doing a lot here and a lot credit goes to our teachers and our administrators for holding us to a higher standard.
“We always teach above and beyond — that’s why we’re the type of district we are and we rank where we are,” he said.