CABE Journal March 2014

Vol. 18, No.3 March 2014

w w w . c a b e . o r g

Connecticut Associationof Boards of Education Inc.81 Wolcott Hill RoadWethersfield, CT 06109-1242

PeriodicalPostage

PAIDHartford, CT

www.facebook.com/ConnecticutAssociationBoardsEducation

LEAD Connecticut:Developing Tomorrow’s

Educational Leaders

View fromthe Capitol

Patrice A. McCarthyDeputy Director and General Counsel, CABE

INSIDE THIS EDITION

Loose lips sink ships ............................ 4See You in Court .................................. 5The Policy Corner ............................... 6Acknowledging reality ......................... 9The Media Message .......................... 10Why Professional Development? ...... 10CABE: working for YOU .................. 22Guide to Respect and Responsibility . 122nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ..... 14NSBA Advocacy Institute .................. 15

See LEAD page 13

Editor’s Note: This article was edited forsize constraints and to include informa-tion on CABE involvement with LEADConnecticut. It originally appeared inthe Winter 2014 edition of the Connecti-cut Center for School Change’s Newsand Notes.

LEAD Connecticut is an unprecedent-ed collaboration initiated by the StateDepartment of Education (SDE) andspearheaded by the Center for SchoolChange. It is designed to create and sus-tain an educational leadership develop-

ment pipeline that strengthens studentlearning across all Connecticut districts,schools and classrooms.

The Center is the “managing partner”of LEAD Connecticut and it is assistingthe SDE in the identification and develop-ment of high-performing district andschool leaders, especially in the state’slowest-performing districts and schools.

Other coalition members include theConnecticut Association of Boards ofEducation (CABE), the ConnecticutAssociation of Public School Superinten-dents (CAPSS), the Connecticut Associa-tion of Schools (CAS), the University ofConnecticut’s Neag School of Education,and New Leaders, a nonprofit organiza-tion that trains school leaders and designseffective leadership policies and practicesfor school systems nationwide. ExecutiveDirector Robert Rader and DeputyDirector and General Counsel Patrice A.McCarthy are CABE’s representatives toLEAD CT.

Together, the partners are developingand deploying a wide range of programsand services to help current and aspiringsuperintendents, central office leaders,principals and assistant principals achievetheir fullest leadership potential.

For Board members and superinten-dents, thanks to sponsorship from LEAD

As the short session of the Legislaturegets under way, leadership of the Educa-tion Committee has expressed a commit-ment to limit the number of issues ad-dressed during the session, and has iden-tified preschool education and schoolsafety and security as priorities. TheGovernor’s Midterm Budget Adjustmentscontains continuing support for expansionof preschool programs.

However, the Education Committee didraise 23 “concepts” for legislation afterthe first committee meeting, ranging from“education issues” to education mandaterelief and teen dating violence.

It will be particularly important forboard members and superintendents torespond quickly as the concepts are de-veloped into specific legislative initia-tives. In some cases, it will be very ap-propriate to request that the issues be ex-amined more fully than the short sessionallows before legislation is adopted.

CT, CABE and CAPSS are currentlyupdating the Governance Statement andTeam Assessment documents that werejointly developed years ago. Newresearch and best practices will beincluded and there will be a workshop toroll out this information in the Spring.

“Fostering success in schools andschool districts by propelling systemicchange through dynamic leadership hasbeen the work of the Center for nearly 15years,” said Andrew Lachman, executivedirector of the Center. “We’re veryexcited about LEAD Connecticut, whichwill enable us to reach and assist manymore districts and schools in developing

On February 11th, I had the pleasure ofaddressing a doctoral policy class atDepartment of Educational Leadershipand Policy Studies at Southern Connecti-cut State University. Interestingly,Patrice McCarthy addressed Southernstudents the same day who are part of acohort in Region 15. Recently, NickCaruso did the same also at Southern and(electronically!) at Teachers College inNew York.

We enjoy these opportunities to speakwith new “talent” that is coming upthrough the ranks. My class included tea-chers, principals and other administrators,including some who taught at Southern,working to prepare the next generation.

Ahead of the class, I asked AssistantProfessor Sousan Arafeh, to have the stu-dents prepare a few questions that I couldanswer during the class. We ended upwith 17 questions and, while many dealtwith CABE’s organization and what wedid, others concerned educational policyin the State. Talking with these bright,committed students left me with a feelingof hope that, in spite of the pressure thatdistricts, especially superintendents, prin-cipals and teachers are feeling.

At CABE, we deal nearly every daywith the issues concerning the newevaluation and support program, CommonCore State Standards, the SmarterBalanced Assessment Consortium testsand how they will work together. This hasbeen a challenging journey, starting under

Questions fromSouthernStudentsImpress

Robert RaderExecutive Director, CABE

See EVNING page 2

SIMSBURYPUBLIC SCHOOLS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEERichard Murray .................................................. President, KillinglyAnn Gruenberg ................................. First Vice President, HamptonRobert Mitchell ................ VP for Government Relations, MontvilleElaine Whitney ........... VP for Professional Development, WestportJohn Prins ......................................... Secretary/Treasurer, BranfordLydia Tedone ............................................ Immediate Past PresidentDonald Harris ........................................................ Member at Large

AREA DIRECTORSSusan Hoffnagle ............................. Area 1 Co-Director, WinchesterMari-Ellen (Mimi) Valyo ............... Area 1 Co-Director, WinchesterDaniel Gentile ................................... Area 1 Co-Director, PlymouthJeffrey Currey ............................. Area 2 Co-Director, East HartfordSusan Karp ................................... Area 2 Co-Director, GlastonburyDonald Harris ................................. Area 2 Co-Director, BloomfieldLaura Bush ................................................. Area 3 Director, VernonDouglas Smith .................................. Area 4 Co-Director, PlainfieldAndrea Veilleux ................................ Area 6 Co-Director, StratfordElaine Whitney .................................. Area 6 Co-Director, WestportRoxane McKay ............................. Area 7 Co-Director, WallingfordJohn Prins ......................................... Area 7 Co-Director, BranfordLon Seidman ...........................................Area 8 Co-Director, EssexMichael Camilleri ............................ Area 8 Co-Director, CromwellAaron Daniels ........................................... Area 9 Director, Norwich

ASSOCIATESEileen Baker .............................................. Associate, Old SaybrookSharon Beloin-Saavedra .............................. Associate, New BritainGary Brochu .......................................................... Associate, BerlinRobert Guthrie .............................................. Associate, West HavenRobert Trefry ........... Associate, CT Technical High School System

COMMITTEE CHAIRSElizabeth Brown ......................... Chair, State Relations, WaterburyDonald Harris ......................... Chair, Federal Relations, BloomfieldBecky Tyrrell ...................................... Chair, Resolutions, Plainville

CITY REPRESENTATIVESJacqueline Kelleher ....................... City Representative, BridgeportMatthew Poland ................................ City Representative, HartfordCarlos Torre .................................. City Representative, New HavenPolly Rauh ........................................ City Representative, StamfordCharles Stango ............................... City Representative, Waterbury

STAFFRobert Rader ....................................................................... Executive DirectorPatrice McCarthy .................................. Deputy Director and General CounselBonnie Carney ............................................ Sr. Staff Associate for PublicationsNicholas Caruso ............................................ Sr. Staff Assoc. for Field Service and Coord. of TechnologySheila McKay ............................. Sr. Staff Associate for Government RelationsKelly Moyher ......................................................................... Sr. Staff AttorneyVincent Mustaro ..................................... Sr. Staff Associate for Policy ServiceLisa Steimer .............................. Sr. Staff Assoc. for Professional DevelopmentTeresa Costa .................................. Coordinator of Finance and AdministrationPamela Brooks ......................... Sr. Admin. Assoc. for Policy Ser. /Search Ser.Terry DeMars ............................................... Admin. Assoc. for Policy ServiceGail Heath ........................................ Admin. Assoc. for Government RelationsWilmarie Newton ........................................ Admin. Assoc. for Labor RelationsCorliss Ucci .................................. Receptionist/Asst. to the Executive Director

The CABE Journal (ISSN 1092-1818) is published monthly except acombined issue for July/August as a member service of the Connecti-cut Association of Boards of Education, 81 Wolcott Hill Road,Wethersfield, CT 06109, (860) 571-7446. CABE membership duesinclude $30 per person for each individual who receives The CABEJournal. The subscription rate for nonmembers is $75. Associationmembership dues include a subscription for each board member,superintendent, assistant superintendent and business manager. Thecompanies and advertisements found in The CABE Journal are notnecessarily endorsed by CABE. “Periodicals Postage Paid at Hartford,CT.” POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The CABE Journal,CABE, 81 Wolcott Hill Road, Wethersfield, CT 06109-1242. Email:[email protected] can find the CABE Journal online at: www.cabe.org/userlogin.cfm?pp=84&userrequest=true&keyrequest=false&userpage=84

Richard Murray

2 The Journal – Connecticut Association of Boards of Education/March 2014

PRESIDENT COMMENTARY

CABE Board of Directors

Stand up 4 public education

Vision: CABE is passionate about strengtheningpublic education through high-performing,

transformative local school board/superintendentleadership teams that inspire success for each child.

Mission: To assist local and regional boards of educationin providing high quality education for all

Connecticut children through effective leadership.

STAND UP 4 PUBLIC EDUCATION is the newadvocacy campaign the National School Board Associa-tion (NSBA) wants the over 750 Board of Educationmembers who attended the first annual Advocacy Insti-tute (formerly Federal Relations Network - FRN) inWashington D.C. to bring home to their districts.

NSBA’s new advocacy efforts will be three pronged –legal, legislative, and public. For example, the legal armof the new NSBA will monitor the federal government’sattempts to expand its reach into the operations ofschool districts. The legislative advocacy efforts willcontinue to work towards increasing federal funding ofTitle 1 and IDEA.

The NSBA sponsored bill “Local School BoardGovernance and Flexibility Act” aims to restore maxi-mum flexibility to local school boards in the delivery offederal education programs. The third prong of the ad-vocacy efforts are school board members.

To be truly effective advocates, we need to be wellinformed about public education issues that we facelocally as well as issues at the state and federal levels.We can change the tenor of the conversation aboutpublic schools, in fact we must, for the future of publicschools and for local school board governance.

For more information regarding NSBA’s advocacycampaign go to www.standup4publicschools.org.

One of the many speakers we heard in Washingtonwas The Reverend Bernice King, Dr. Martin LutherKing’s youngest child. She stated that public educationis the civil rights issue of our time and that board mem-bers need to do more to ensure all children were gettinga high quality public education.

Connecticut and CABE were capably represented atthe Advocacy Institute by First Vice President AnnGruenberg from Hampton, Vice President for Govern-ment Relations Robert Mitchell from Montville, Feder-al Relations Chair Donald Harris from Bloomfield,City Representative Jacqueline Kelleher from Bridge-

port, East Hart-ford Superinten-dent NathanQuesnel, and me. CABE StaffRobert Rader,Patrice McCarthy,and Sheila McKayalso attended theAdvocacy Institutein Washington.

Their dedica-tion, experience,and professional-ism, made it pos-sible for our teamto be organized andprepared to con-verse with our Senators, Representatives and/or theiraides about education in our districts and in the state ofConnecticut while meeting with them on Capitol Hill.

We had four issues to discuss with our Legislators:• The woefully inadequate funding of IDEA.• Increasing the availability of high quality Pre-k and

early education opportunities for three and four yearolds.

• Continued focus and funding for school security. • And increasing mental health services for school

age children. Connecticut’s legislators were extremely receptive to

our requests. Unfortunately, all lamented the state of gridlock and

lack of discourse that currently plagues our nation’sCapitol. Our team was passionate and eloquent in itssupport and advocacy for public education for all ofConnecticut’s children and it was an honor to work withthem at the first annual Advocacy Institute.

(continued from page 1)then-Commissioner Mark McQuillan years ago.

So, it was nice to deal with other issues. I thought itmight be interesting for you to see some of the ques-tions, with my responses:• CABE must rely on a great deal of research. What

kind of research does it utilize primarily, where doesit get that research, what kind of staff or consultants,etc. are tasked with doing the research end of things,and what kinds of research products do you typicallygenerate or how is this research used?We rely on a great many sources for our research.We ask board members and superintendents theiropinions on issues; we rely on NSBA, our parentorganization for information; we have a wealth ofknowledge at CABE, having staffers who have work-ed in various positions in education for many years;and, of course, depending on the subject, educationalpublications, scholarly articles, newspapers andother sources of information.

• The CABE website offers many examples of ways inwhich you help support school boards. What do youfind to be the most essential element of any highlyeffective school board?We think it is critical that board members believethat all children can succeed. We base this on theoriginal Lighthouse study, which showed that ifboard members believed this and worked to ensurethat every student got the support he needed, greatthings can happen.

• As evidenced by the 2012 CT high school graduationrates, there is a large achievement gap in Connecticutbetween white students and Hispanic and AfricanAmerican and also between students eligible for freelunch and those who are not with males fairing worsethan females. Why the disparity? What has Connecti-cut been doing to improve graduation rates?The State has tried for many years to close the gap.But, there are so many reasons for it, poverty beingabove all else. But, through the Sheff remedies, Alli-ance District aid and the new Commissioner’s Net-work, there is ongoing focus on these critical issues.

• How do local school districts plan to respond to the

request for universal Pre-K?I think they will respond positively, as long as theState picks up the costs.

• My question is why advise Boards of Education?Aren’t they independent bodies who answer to theirmunicipal voters? I don’t really understand the pur-pose of CABE.I posed this question back to the student: What do youthink would happen if we got 7 or 9 lay people toget-her with no experience working together, possiblynever serving on a board of any type, with little know-ledge of education or of each other to make the mostimportant educational decisions for their communi-ties? Providing help, including guidance, trainingand advocacy is why CABE exists.

• From your perspective, and based on your experience,is there anything specific about how schools boards areconceived, elected, and conducted that you wouldchange to improve their quality, utility, and effective-ness? Yes, I’d like to see more of our citizens interested ineither board service or finding other ways to supportboards in their communities. Businesses used to givetime off for board service and this doesn’t happen asoften anymore. We still need leaders of their commu-nities on our boards and more diversity as our nationand our State consist of more people of color.

• Do you think having 166 Boards of Education in CT iseffective?I think having this number is effective. They already

share many services and each community’s schools areimportant to that community. Working together (“re-gionalism”) is sometimes effective in finding efficiencies.Forced consolidation (“regionalization”) is not the wayto treat this cornerstone of democracy.

I look forward to these students moving higher in theranks of our educators. They ask good questions, careabout issues like positive citizen engagement, in additionto ensuring all students are college- and career-ready.

Despite the difficulties in moving our new initiatives,the future of public education in our State is bright! I amglad that we are growing our own and that they are smart,resourceful and caring!

Questions from Southern Students Impress

Robert Rader

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMENTARY

The Journal – Connecticut Association of Boards of Education/March 2014 3

An Important Life Skillfor You and Your Students

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EASTCONNEDUCATION CONNECTION

LEARNUnified School District #1

One of the major buzzwords over thelast year in the media, especially thesocial media, is “mindfulness”. That termrefers to helping individuals quiet theirrestless minds, developing an “in the mo-ment” way of living that allows focus,free of distractions.

If you are like many board membersand superintendents, your life is filledwith the interruptions of landlines, cell-phones, text messages, emails and all theother distractions of our lives. The resultcan be a feeling of anxiety, depressionand a feeling of being overwhelmed. Ifyou go on vacation and are still tetheredto all of your devices, chances are you arenot going to completely occupy the placewhere you physically are.

We see this all the time. People aredriving, texting at stop lights, calling theirfamilies and doing a million other thingsin their attempts to multi-task and occupymore than one place.

Who doesn’t see the cellphones, readyto invade our focus at every meeting weattend, in movie theaters and at restauranttables?

Time Magazine’s February 3rd issuehad a cover story on mindfulness. Itdiscusses the experiences of KatePickert, the author, as she takes a coursein Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction(MBSR), which teaches meditation as anessential part of mindfulness. She statesthat there are “nearly 1,000 certifiedMBSR instructors… in nearly every stateand more than 30 countries”.

This is not the fad that meditation wasin the 1960s and ‘70s. It has two factors,according to the article, that “set it apartand give it a practical veneer that ishelping propel it into the mainstream.”First, instructors tell their students tothink of paying attention to your mind asa muscle, which you can exercise “andwill strengthen from that exercise.”

Second is what “science is learningabout our brains’ ability to adapt and re-wire. This phenomenon, known as neuro-plasticity, suggests there are concrete andprovable benefits to exercising the brain.”While the science is not yet conclusive,this science is “gaining traction withpeople [including scientists, businessmenand tech leaders] who might otherwisefind mind-body philosophies a tough selland it is growing into a sizeable indus-try.”

Our StudentsThe article also mentions that educa-

tors “are turning to mindfulness withincreasing frequency – perhaps a goodthing, considering how digital technologyis splitting kids’ attention spans, too.” ABay-Area program “called MindfulSchools offers online mindfulnesstraining to teachers, instructing them howto equip children to concentrate inclassrooms and deal with stress.”

The author states that the averageAmerican teen sends and receives morethan 3,000 text messages a month. Asschools provide more technology tostudents, as well as teachers, and expectstudents to be ready to take standardizedand other tests on computers, I wouldpredict an increase in examining tools likemindfulness.

As I have heard from teachers, studentscan no longer concentrate on a singlesubject for as long as their predecessorsdid. This will, over time, have significanteffects on their ability to succeed. Thearticle mentions that Steve Jobs, Applefounder, attributed his ability to meditate“was responsible for his ability to concen-trate and ignore distractions.”

loops about whatever’s upsetting us . . .until we come up with some solution ornew understanding that at least tentativelysolves the difficulty.”

How does Goleman deal with thesedifficulties and focus? Every morning hebegins with breakfast with his wife andthen meditates, where he “gathers myfocus.” While he does his writing, hedoesn’t “look at emails, take phone calls,or otherwise let distractions creep into[his] focused time. That keeps thesensory kind out, and the emotional kindto a minimum. I’ve got the rest of the dayto deal with those.”

Board members and superintendents,principals, teachers and of course, ourstudents, must look to any reasonablesolution to ease the stresses of our lives,especially at this demanding time of im-plementation of new initiatives and re-source issues. Keep in mind that every-one is under some of these stresses andwhile some handle them better thanothers, (I am not necessarily one ofthose!) we need to make the mostthoughtful decisions we can even whenwe are dealing with issues that appearmost urgent.

If you’re wondering, there are hun-dreds of mindfulness and meditation apps.It is ironic to turn to the tools that areoften increasing to stress to lessen it, butthat’s the world we’re living in!

So, I hope you find a way to powerdown and help those around you do thesame. If the studies are to be believed,meditation and mindfulness training can“lower cortisol levels and blood pressure,increase immune response” and help us bemore productive.

Wouldn’t mindfulness help you dealbetterwith the difficult issues with whichyou’re faced pretty much every day?

“Board members andsuperintendents, princi-

pals, teachers and ofcourse, our students, must

look to any reasonablesolution to ease thestresses of our lives,

especially at this demand-ing time of implementa-tion of new initiativesand resource issues.”

Board Membersand Superintendents

Daniel Goleman, author of severalbooks on the importance of EmotionalIntelligence, has written about the prob-lem of distractions, which, he suggests,are “the enemy of focus”.

Living in a time “when we are moreinundated by distractions more than everin human history”, he writes that there aretwo varieties of distraction: sensory andemotional. We are used to living with thefirst – they exist everywhere, those as-saults on our five senses. We are usuallyable to ignore them, even those “enticingpingy popups on your computer screen.”Paying attention means that we are ignor-ing them.

But, much harder to ignore are theemotional distractions, those that “triggera strong reaction – annoyance or anger,anxiety or even fearfulness – that distrac-tion will instantly become the focus ofyour thoughts, no matter what you’reconcentrating on.” We create “thought

NEWFollow CABE

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• A policy manual updatedwithin days of a boardmeeting.

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policy manuals.• The ability to search other online districts for

similar policies or language.• A happier staff that will have less paper to deal

with.

If you would like additional information on CABE’sConnecticut Online Policy Service (C.O.P.S.), callVincent Mustaro at 860-571-7446 or [email protected] for full details.

Let the CABE staff makeyour policy life easier.

As part of our work in helping school board membersunderstand their roles and responsibilities, we try and getthem to understand the problems presented when theyspeak casually (or maliciously) about issues in public.

There is real tension between a person’s First Amend-ment right to speak, and the conflict of interest that thesecomments might generate. I am not a constitutionallawyer, and don’t intend to speak to those legal rights,but even I understand that while a person does have theright to say what they think, it does not always mean thatthere won’t be consequences for those comments.

As elected officials, especially as those responsiblefor your community’s most precious resource (children)what you say does impact what goes on around you.Community members hear you speak (or read yourletters, tweets or Facebook comments), and your com-ments can have serious impact on the district.

Technology and social media have certainly easedhow your words can come back to haunt you. In the past,if you wrote a letter to the editor, or spoke directly to areporter, your words might be out in the public, but moreor less limited by your own discretion (or lack of it).

Nowadays we have e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc.and these new media mean that a careless use of wordscan be seen around the town (and the globe for thatmatter) in a matter of minutes. Because there is no “hardcopy” we sometimes don’t think about how permanent acomment might become.

I’m sure you have heard of examples where a boardmember, superintendent or other staff member postssomething on Facebook – a thoughtless comment or apicture that really should not be made public and then thefallout hits. People have lost jobs, been forced to resignor been sued. E-mail conversations, when made publiccause serious breaches of trust. There is no such thing astotal confidentiality and the ramifications of yourcomments being disclosed could seriously hurt you oryour school district.

There are examples of board members being requiredto turn in their personal (or work) computer for examina-tion to see if confidentiality was violated or other lawsbroken.

I don’t have the space to discuss the issue of elec-tronic media being used to circumvent the FOI laws;although that certainly is an important issue to be awareof, or the retention of records required by Federal law. In

Loose Lips Sink ShipsNicholas D. CarusoSr. Staff Associate for Field Servicesand Coordinator of Technology

this article I just want you to be aware of the seriousissue of speaking indiscreetly.

A very important role of board members is to serve asan impartial hearing panel in serious matters such as apersonnel discipline issue, or a denial of education(expulsion) for a student. These are serious matters withserious consequences for those involved in the hearing.

Those individuals have legal rights and hearings haveto be set up to ensure impartiality and confidentiality.

Imagine being in a hearing involving a teacher and theteacher’s attorney asks one of the presiding boardmembers,

Attorney: “Mr. Jones, isn’t it true that on April 2nd

you were in the supermarket talking to a parentand you told the parent that this teacher was theworst teacher you child ever had?”Board member: “How did you hear that?”Attorney: “It doesn’t matter how we heard it, is ittrue?”Board member: “Well, yes, but…. how did youhear that?”This conversation actually happened in a hearing I

was involved in many years ago and it really complicatedan otherwise simple case. What should have been a 15-minute meeting turned into a multi-hour marathon. If thishad been a termination hearing it could have jeopardizedthe board’s ability to govern appropriately.

My advice is to be very careful about what you say inpublic. Even prefacing a comment with, “I’m notspeaking as a board member, but as a member of thepublic (or a parent, etc.)” only gets you so far. Thepublic sees a board member speaking no matter what.

If you don’t want your comment to appear on the frontpage of the local newspaper (or on TV), just don’t say it.

Away from the Board Table:Tips for Dealing with the Public as an Individual Board Member

The planning has begun for the 2014 CABE/CAPSS Convention. The Convention will be held on November 14-15, 2014; atthe Mystic Marriott Hotel, Groton. The Committee discussed the theme, workshop strands, format and recapped the 2013Convention.

2014 CABE/CAPSS Convention Committee

Kelly B. MoyherSr. Staff Attorney

• When approached by a member of the public or media when away from the board table (the supermarket, library,social gathering), remind individuals that you have no authority or power on your own away from the board table.Actions can only made by the board of education as a whole when gathered at a meeting.

• If you are approached by a member of the media or public for the board of education’s position on an issue orto discuss a pertinent matter, an easy way to make sure the correct statements are made on behalf of the boardis to refer the individual to the board chair, as the official spokesperson for the board, and/or the superintendent.

• If you are asked to discuss an issue regarding a district employee or a matter concerning a student, try to stopthe conversation by reminding the information gatherer that sometimes these matters involve issues of privacyand confidentiality and it is your duty as a board member to remain impartial should the matter of discussion evercome before you and the rest of the board in a hearing. Again, this is also a time to remind the person that youhave no individual authority as a board member and the person should work through the chain of command withinthe school (teacher, department head, principal, superintendent) to resolve the issue or obtain information.Sometimes you can get away with not saying or writing anything at all, but in situations where some response

is warranted and you want to state the correct, and legal, response, the above tips are excellent tools to keep in yourback pocket as you venture out to live your life as a citizen, but also as a board of education member.

See You in Court – The Nutmeg Board of Education

The Nutmeg Boards Deals with Executive Session and FOIA ComplianceThomas B. Mooney, Esq.Shipman & Goodwin


A Practical Guideto Connecticut

School Lawby Thomas B. Mooney, Esq.

Shipman & Goodwin

The Guide comes with a CD which provideshyperlinks to many cases and statutes

and will permit word searchesas a supplement to the Index.

New to the Seventh Edition:Bullying, Background Checks,

Child Abuse Reporting, Discrimination Issues,Educational Reform, FERPA,

Freedom of Information,State Aid for Educationand much, much more

The 7th edition is now available from CABE.Call and order your copy TODAY at 860.571.7446 or 800.317.0033

Seventh Edition

The Nutmeg Board of Educationmakes many mistakes. The latest imbro-glio created by the board will be reportedhere each issue, followed by an explana-tion of what the board should have done.Though not intended as legal advice,these situations may help board membersavoid common problems.

As was its custom, the Nutmeg Boardof Education convened in executive ses-sion at 6:00 p.m. for an hour before itsregular meeting started at 7:00 p.m.Veteran Board member Bob Bombastarrived a few minutes late. He was sur-prised to see Nancy Newshound standingoutside the room with her ear to the door.

“What on earth are you doing?” Bobthundered. “The Board is in executivesession, and you are violating the law.”

Nancy, a fixture at Board meetings inher role as reporter for the Nutmeg Bugle,was surprised but not intimidated whenBob confronted her. “Oh really? How isit that the Board is properly in executivesession? I have been here since 5:45 p.m.Board members walked by me into theconference room. Some even said hi.But the Board never convened a meeting.So I was just listening in on the conversa-tion.”

“Oh sure” Bob responded. “Just lis-tening . . . .” Bob pushed past Nancy andjoined the other Board members in theconference room.

“What is wrong with you,” Mal Con-tent asked. “You look awfully cranky.”

“It is that Nancy Newshound! I don’tknow what her problem is. We have‘Executive Session’ on the agenda, don’twe?” Bob asked.

“Of course. Just as we do everymonth. What is the problem?” asked Mal.

“Nancy claims that we should havestarted the meeting in public session andthat she had the right to listen in on ourdiscussions until we did.” Now Bob waswondering whether Nancy had a goodpoint. “Maybe we should take care of theniceties and avoid a problem with thepress,” Bob suggested.

“OK, OK,” responded Mr. Chairper-son, as he opened the door to the confer-ence room. “Come on in, Nancy. Therehas just been a misunderstanding here,and we want to put things right. Will theMarch meeting of the Nutmeg Board ofEducation come to order! Mr. Superin-tendent, what is the first order of busi-ness?”

“Executive session. Nancy, will youplease leave now?”

Nancy looked up in surprise, but then

smirked. “Have it your way,” she said.Once Nancy left the room, the Board

members relaxed. Left in the room wereonly the Board members, the Superinten-dent, the Assistant Superintendent, theSuperintendent’s secretary and his admin-istrative intern. “Finally,” Mr. Chairper-son said with a sigh, “it is just us friends.Mr. Superintendent, what do you have forus today in executive session?”

“Just a few things,” responded Mr.Superintendent. Mr. Superintendent thenupdated the Board on custodian negotia-tions. Mr. Superintendent also warnedthe Board members to behave during agrievance that was scheduled for later thatnight. As the Board was wrapping up theexecutive session, Board member PennyPincher, told Mr. Superintendent about aparent complaint concerning a teacher.

“Wow,” said Mr. Chairperson. “Wehave a lot going on! It is a shame thatNancy cannot attend our executive ses-sion, isn’t it?” Mr. Chairperson chuckled.

Will Nancy Newshound have the lastlaugh here?

The Nutmeg Board of Education hasforgotten that executive session is appro-priate only when it complies with therelated legal requirements.

First, before a board of education (orany other public agency) can convene inexecutive session, the board must have onits agenda a topic that is privileged to ex-ecutive session. Significantly, “executivesession” is not an agenda item, and thosewords alone on a board agenda neverthemselves authorize an executive ses-sion.

Conversely, there is no requirementunder the FOIA that the agenda includereference to executive session. Rather,there must always be an agenda item, thediscussion of which may occur in execu-tive session. If there is and the boardfollows the procedural requirements as setforth below, the board can convene inexecutive session.

The FOIC sets forth five topics that areprivileged to executive session:

• The appointment, employment,performance, evaluation, health ordismissal of a public officer oremployee. (NOTE: the officer oremployee may require that thediscussion as to them occur in opensession, but the officer or employeecannot insist upon attending theexecutive session.)

• Strategy and negotiations withregard to pending claims or litiga-tion.

• Security strategy or the deploymentof security personnel or devices.

• Acquisition of real estate if public-ity concerning the site could cause

an increased price and only until allsuch property has been acquired orthe transaction is otherwise over.

• Information contained in recordsexempt from disclosure under theFOIC.

That last category permits executivesession discussion of various topics thatare confidential, including attorney-clientprivileged communications, confidential

collective bargaining strategy documents,and personally-identifiable student infor-mation (which is the basis for holding stu-dent expulsion hearings and school ac-commodation hearings in executive ses-sion).

The procedural requirements for exec-utive session are simple, but they arecrucially important. When the board hasan agenda item appropriate to executivesession, it must meet two requirements.

First, the motion to go into executivesession requires a two-thirds vote. Thecalculation is made on the basis of thosepresent and voting, and where votes areweighted in regional school districts,those weighted votes count in reachingthe requisite two-thirds vote.

Second, in taking that vote, the boardmust state the reason for the executivesession. Doing so is important, becausethat reason must be set forth in the min-utes of the meeting.

Moreover, the Commission has ruledthat the statement of the purpose of theexecutive session must give the public fairnotice of what is being discussed. TheCommission has ruled repeatedly, forexample, that “personnel matters” or“litigation” is not adequate notice, and theboard must provide more information inits motion to go into executive session.

The last procedural requirement dealswith those who attend the executive ses-sion. The minutes of the executive ses-sion must list the names of those present(except for persons attending for the pur-pose of a job interview).

Equally important, attendance at theexecutive session must be limited to themembers of the board and those personswhose opinion or testimony it requests.Some of those present in Nutmeg shouldnot have attended the executive session,including the secretary and the intern.

Finally, board members must be vigi-lant to stay on topic. Executive session isa privilege that allows confidential discus-sion only as permitted by law. It is tempt-ing to share juicy information in the com-fort of executive session. But it is illegalto discuss any topic in executive sessionexcept as permitted by the FOIA.

Attorney Thomas B. Mooney is a part-ner in the Hartford law firm of Shipman &Goodwin who works frequently withboards of education. Mooney is a regularcontributor to the CABE Journal.

“Executive session is a privilege that allowsconfidential discussion only as permitted

by law. . . . . it is illegal to discuss any topic inexecutive session except as permitted by the FOIA.”


Vincent A. Mustaro, Senior Staff Associate for Policy Service, CABE

The Policy CornerCABE-Meeting

CABE-Meeting is a user-friendly, web-basedservice specificallydesigned to assist theboard, superintendent andcentral office staff inpreparing for and runningboard of educationmeetings.

An exciting featuredesigned for use bycommittees, in addtion toboards of education, wasrecently added to CABE-Meeting. Now all yourboard work andcommittee information isconveniently located inone place!

For more information,or to schedule a

demonstration for yourboard, call

Lisa Steimer at800-317-0033 or 860-571-7446

or email [email protected]

“CABE is incrediblyuser-friendlyand serves asa model for so

many others onhow to offer aquality product

with exceptionalservice”.

Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr.Superintendent,

Southington Public Schools

Policy Direction for ResponsibleComputer, Network and Internet Use

The advantages of digital medianow greatly outweigh the disadvan-tages and require that schools updatetheir thinking and policies to provideguidance on the use of these tools toimprove student learning and achieve-ment.

When the federal Children’sInternet Protection Act (CIPA) wasenacted in 2000, the major concern onthe part of legislators and educationpolicymakers was to protect childrenfrom viewing pornography and otherinappropriate sites on the Internet.

Now, current mobile devices, socialmedia and other Internet applicationshave become mainstream in manysectors of society, and an increasingnumber of educators are demonstratingthe power of these applications toenrich the learning environments andinstructional practices in their class-rooms.

Many of the problems raised bythese new technologies, from bullyingto engaging in risky behavior, are notnew to the public discourse, but aremerely being delivered in differentmedia. The challenge to responsibleeducators remains the same: to providestimulating and safe learning environ-ments that support the acquisition ofknowledge and practical skills neces-sary for full participation in this newcentury.

SurveysRecent surveys conducted by the

Pew Research Center Institute andAmerican Life Project indicated that95% of all teens, ages 12 through 17,use the Internet on a regular basis,80% use social networking and 75%have cellphones. The policy environ-ment, which originally banned cellphones from the school environment, israpidly changing.

The growing popularity of “bringyour own technology/device” pro-grams is being partly fueled by therealization that allowing student-owned devices to supplement school-purchased technology can cut costsand that learning can benefit fromtechnology when students arementored in appropriate applications.Low-cost tablets are now provided tostudents in some school districts.

Schools participating in the E-rateprogram, have the responsibility toshow that they have in place anInternet safety program that educatesminors about appropriate onlinebehavior, including interacting withother individuals on social networkingwebsites and in chat rooms, as well as

cyberbullying awareness and response.Boards of education currently provide

students and staff access to a multitude oftechnology resources. Access to informa-tion and communication technologies(ICT) is considered a privilege and not aright. ICT resources consist of anytechnology and/or devices that access orconvey information, software applica-tions, Internet resources and Internetenvironments.

ResourcesThese resources provide opportunities

to enhance learning and improve commu-nication within the local community andwith the global community beyond thelocal campus. The advantages of havingaccess to these resources should beviewed by local boards as far greater thanany potential downside.

However, with the privilege of accessis the responsibility of students, teachers,staff and the public to exercise appropri-ate personal responsibility in the use ofthese resources. Board policies areintended to promote the most effective,safe, productive, and instructionallysound uses of networked information andcommunication tools.

Districts must also make a good faitheffort to protect its students from expo-sure to Internet materials that are harmfulor explicit through a system of Internetcontent filtering devices and softwarecontrols that meet federal standardsestablished in the Children’s InternetProtection Act (CIPA).

School districts use information andtechnology in safe, legal, and responsibleways. It is incumbent upon all members ofthe school community to use technologyethically, constructively, and with respectfor the work of others.

Independent and appropriate use ofinformation and communication technolo-gies is predicated upon responsible andethical conduct. Such conduct can beelaborated in policy language stressingthe attributes of a responsible digitalcitizen, whether staff, student or volun-teer.

Responsible use of the technologyresources provided and/or permitted bythe Board is expected to be ethical,respectful, academically honest, andsupportive of the school’s mission. Eachcomputer user has the responsibility torespect every other person in the commu-nity and on the Internet.

Digital storage and electronic devicesused for school purposes are treated asextensions of the physical school space.Administrators, or their designees, mayreview files and communications (includ-ing electronic mail) to insure that users

are using the system in accordance withBoard policy. Users should not expectthat files stored on servers or disks willbe private.

Some activities are expresslyprohibited by law. Users are expectedto abide by the generally accepted rulesof network etiquette, elaborated inboard policy language. Policy shouldcontain guidelines that are intended toclarify expectations for conduct, butthey should not be construed as all-inclusive.

Given the nature of emergingtechnologies, it is impossible toanticipate or prevent all problems thatmay occur. Most important, however, isthat the use of electronic devicesshould be consistent with the educa-tional objectives, mission and curricu-lum of the district.

School DistrictsSchool districts across the country

are beginning to rethink and revise theirAcceptable Use Policy (AUP). Schoolsare starting to drop many bans pertain-ing to technology use in the schoolsetting and instead are focusing onpolicy goals that go beyond the narrowset of website access issues that werethe focus of many earlier AUPs.

School systems are starting to moveaway from the traditional AUP ap-proach, which has students and familymembers sign a form “accepting”certain rules, with little action afterthat, to a “responsible-use policy”(RUP) that emphasizes education andtreats the student (and staff members)as a person responsible for ethical andhealthy use of the Internet and mobiledevices.

Clearly, the key to online safety andsecurity is adequate student education.Many believe that one of the mostpowerful reasons to permit the use ofsocial media and mobile devices in theclassroom is to provide an opportunityfor students to learn about their use in asupervised environment that empha-sizes the development of attitudes andskills that will help keep them safeoutside of school.

Online safety issues are not aboutblocking, they’re about safety educa-tion, which can begin in the primarygrades.

CABE’s has developed a “Respon-sible Computer, Network and InternetUse” or Responsible Use Policy(RUP). It has been codified the same asthe “Acceptable Use Policy, (AUP),”#6141.321 and can be considered asan alternative to a district’s currentAUP policy.


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Paul Diego HolzerExecutive Diretor, Achieve Hartford

Acknowledging RealityEducation leaders can build trust - with candor about room for improvement

LegislativeBreakfasts

Editor’s Note: This article is the soleopinion of the author and does notnecessarily represent the views of CABE.

Every year when state test scores arereleased, we tend to hear in detail aboutwhere gains were made and a bit aboutwhat may have led to those gains. Rarelydo we hear details on where gains werenot made and what may have led todisappointing results.

When their schools don’t perform asexpected, school communities are oftenleft wondering what happened. And iftheir schools happen to be in the middleof an aggressive reform effort with (as ofyet) minimal return on investment, theyusually hear nothing at all.

From my experience working inHartford and actively engaging the“village” that exists outside school walls,I think education leaders throughout ourstate (and throughout our nation) aremaking a huge mistake when they don’ttalk in detail about the areas of lacklusterperformance.

There are only two ways educationleaders can really build trust with theirschool communities: (1) produce greatresults and (2) fully acknowledge thechallenges and own up to the lack ofresults.

But shining the light on deficits is adaunting prospect, especially whencompared to the alternative of not sayinganything and waiting another year, hopingthen to report tangible gains.

Waiting to communicate, however, canbe a terrible mistake. When the chal-lenges at a school are too great for a smallset of reform strategies to address in oneor two years’ time, I submit that the onlyway leaders can confront them is withhelp from the very community they maybe ignoring.

So, what story should be toldwhen the results aren’tthere?

The story should go something likethis:

• Despite phenomenal efforts (like

what we have seen in Hartford’sreform), so much more focusedproblem solving is needed toaddress the incredible challengesour students and teachers face;

• The data we have analyzed show uswhich efforts have paid off, andwhich efforts have still not paid off,and here is where we will invest ourtime, energy and resources for thecoming year and what we expect tosee happen; and

• Lastly, these efforts won’t workwithout you – the parents andcommunity partners – playing yourunique roles, and here is what weneed you to do.

While this may seem less than inspir-ing, or even a downer, my read ofcommunities experiencing reform is this:We can handle the truth! When theresults are disappointing, people don’twant to be sold on all that is working; thatsounds like an excuse – or an evasion.Instead, results are a time of reckoningand responsibility – and a perfect time tosell people on all that must still be doneand on how they can plug in.

Funders, nonprofits, policy makers andespecially parents are already inclined tosupport their local schools. Now theyneed to truly buy into their role in helpingthat school get better … much, muchbetter.

Who needs to hear this mes-sage?

• Parents and residents, whosesupport for aggressive reform isdesperately needed;

• Teachers, whose disposition toreform can sometimes correlate towhether or not there is publicacknowledgment by educationleaders of the difficulty of theirwork;

• Corporate and foundationpartners, who will soon tire ofsupporting reform efforts that lack aclear approach to really combatingpoverty; and even

• Students, who want to see theirdistrict leaders take the quality oftheir education so seriously thatthey speak openly about what’s notworking, which they experienceeveryday.

Hartford’s reform has been held up asan example across this state. Its praisesare absolutely warranted because of theundeniable reversal of the long trend ofdeclining performance. Given thechallenges facing Hartford students, thisis nothing short of remarkable. But:

• Ask Hartford parents whether theirchildren get all the support theyneed;

• Ask ninth-grade teachers whethertheir students are prepared for highschool, and whether they have theresources to catch their students up;and

• Ask neighborhood Hartfordstudents whether their high school ispreparing them to compete at thehighest levels.

The answer to each of these questionsis most likely, “No,” yet their realities arevery rarely acknowledged publicly.

It isn’t enough to act with urgency onbehalf of students and families. As aneducation leader, you must take pains tocommunicate the urgency to address thechallenges everyone already admits areclose to insurmountable.

Not doing so is to risk a dangerousdisconnect between you and the keystakeholders in your community – adisconnect that leads inevitably to a lackof faith in, and discontent with, schooldistricts and boards.

As politicians in micro-settings,education leaders are subject to the samesuspicion and mistrust we see in Congressand in so many state and local scandals.The antidote to this widespread publiccynicism is to take bold actions for sure –but also to be bold in your communica-tions.

Let your stakeholders know that onyour watch, no one is underestimating thechallenges at hand. Laying the cards onthe table is absolutely necessary tobuilding trust – and stronger schools.

Area 8 Legislative Breakfast held in Deep River.

Area 7 Legislative Breakfast held in Wallingford.Area 4 Legislative Breakfast held in Plainfield.

Area 3 Legislative Breakfast held in Vernon.


Mark yourCALENDAR

Don’t miss theseprofessionaldevelopmentopportunities!

March 5CABE Day on the Hill

8:30 amThe Bushnell, Hartford

May 13CABE Legislative Wrap-Up

Legislative Office Bldg., Room 2AHartford

Workshop information as well as reg-istration information is also publishedon the CABE website at:www.cabe.org. If you have any ques-tions, please contact Lisa Steimer atthe CABE Office 800-317-0033 or860-571-7446 or email Lisa [email protected].

We want tomeet your

needs!

CABE and Baldwin Media: Partners in Managing Communications

The Media Messagefrom Ann Baldwin, Baldwin Media Marketing, LLC

Changing the Landscape: Social Media

Today’s economy makes it increasing-ly challenging to “justify” professionaldevelopment expenses to communitiesHowever with reform implementation andthe rapidly evolving landscape ofeducation, it is even more important thanever to take advantage of these learningopportunities.

Why is board member professionaldevelopment so critical?

• Board members play a critical rolein setting the vision, goals anddirection of the school district.Board members need to keep up-to-date on issues and trends affectingpublic education.

• Many board members join theirboards with little understanding oftheir roles and responsibilities andneed to better sharpen theirknowledge in this area.

• It’s critical to bring all boardmembers to the same level ofknowledge about the district,educational trends, legal concerns,budgetary matters and other issues,which are becoming more complex.

• It takes hard, collaborative work tobuild the most effective boardpossible.

• It’s critical to learn the skills

involved in working with others tobe the most effective board memberpossible.

As a board member, it is your ownprofessional development that willprovide you with what you need to doyour part to provide high qualityeducation for all children in your district.You are encouraged to take advantage ofthe Board Member Academy Programsthat CABE will offer during theremainder of the 2013-2014 year.

CABE staff also provides workshopsfor individual boards to meet theirspecific needs. Workshop topics include,

Why Professional Development?Lisa SteimerSr, Staff Associate forProfessional Development, CABE

but are not limited to, roles andresponsibilities, goal setting, selfevaluation, and Freedom of InformationAct. We even provide legislative updatesto individual boards.

While participating in professionaldevelopment adds another layer ofcommitment to your schedule, it will helpyou be the most effective board memberyou can be. Make a commitment toyourself, your board, and the children inyour district to take advantage of theprofessional development opportunitiesoffered by your Association.

Sheila McKay andPatrice A.McCarthy, held awebinar onFebruary 7,addressing theimpact GovernorMalloy’s budgetwill have onboards ofeducation. Tolisten to thewebinar go to:http://www.cabe.org/cf_media/index.cfm?obj=299

CABE Webinar

In this CABE Journal article, I feltthat it would be timely to talk about thechanging landscape of “today’smedia.” The media, whether it betraditional or social media is somewhatlike being on a rollercoaster ride.

Because of the business that I am in(public relations and crisis communi-cations), I deal with editors andreporters almost on a daily basis. Ialso spend about one day a month in anactual Connecticut newsroom.

Therefore, I can tell you first-handthat things are changing drastically.There are more junior level journalistsentering our market and fewer news-room resources – kind of like fewermechanics to make sure that therollercoaster that you are about to rideis in good repair.

What that usually means is that thereporters covering a story may needsome “hand-holding” and someeducation regarding the particulareducational topic that they are cover-ing. Often times, if we don’t take thetime to educate the press, they have a

greater chance of getting things factuallyincorrect, which can result in a news storythat is just plain wrong.

Unfortunately, it is the news media thatthe community turns to in forming publicopinion and they also have an influenceover key issues. In other words, as I havesaid before, the story goes on with orwithout you! Therefore it is importantthat you at least try to get your side of thestory out there to balance out the informa-tion.

Can wronginformation be fixed?

I get asked this question at almostevery media training session that Iconduct, or immediately after a story runs,or is posted on social media and containsmisinformation. The good news is yes!

The story can be (and should be fixed)and here is why: If there are factual errorsin the story, those errors can and willprobably resurface. For example, if astory airs on a television station in the

morning, that same story will probablyrun again at noon, 5:00, 6:00 and even11:00! I would compare this to therollercoaster that has jumped off of thetrack and is raging on out of control.

Therefore, it is up to whoever hadcontact with the reporter to pull theemergency brake. Stop the ride andcontact them directly and get theinformation corrected. It is harder tomanage and fix information with socialmedia outlets.

Often, a story will run in an on-linepublication and the detractors will comeout of the woodwork with horriblecomments. In that case there is verylittle one can do about that, other thanto try to garner as many supportive andpositive comments as you can. Hope-fully the bad stuff sinks to the bottom.

Create allies!Like anything else, the better the

relationship that you have with your

See CHANGING page 11

The CABE Journal is nowprovided both electroni-cally and paper copy viaU.S. mail. Please contactCory Ucci (860-571-7446/[email protected]) tolet her know which wayyou prefer to receive theCABE Journal in thefuture. If you do nothing,you will continue toreceive the CABE Jour-nal both electronicallyand via U.S. mail. Thankyou for your cooperation.


CABE: working for YOUIndividualized Workshops • Professional Development Opportunities

Legal Services • Policy Services • Representing You Statewide and Nationally

Below are the highlights of activities thatthe CABE staff has undertaken on yourbehalf over the last month. We did this:

➤ By helping school boards toincrease student achieve-ment

• Planned and implemented successfulPre-K workshop (see page 13).

• Held first CABE/CAPSS ConventionCommittee meeting of the year.

• Held a Lighthouse planning meetingwith the Vernon Board of Education.

• Participated in meeting of the Profes-sional Educators Advisory Council(PEAC), on the evaluation and supportinitiative.

• Sent out three issues of Policy High-lights via email listserv covering top-ics that affect student achievement.This included one-to-one computerprograms, nutrition standards forschools, job descriptions, emergencyoperation plans, discipline, disabledstudents and athletics.

➤ By providing servicesto meet members needs:

• Attended Wallingford Board of Edu-cation meeting to present Communica-tions Award.

• Discussed school funding with SCSUclass for aspiring administrators.

• Participated in CABE/CAPSS Gover-nance Committee meeting on updatingthe Governance Statement and the TeamAssessment document.

• Completed the audit of the policymanual for the Thomaston Board ofEducation. Agreed to do an audit of theBranford policy manual.

• Completed as part of the Custom Up-date Service packets of new and/or re-vised policies for the districts ofAnsonia, Columbia, East Hampton,East Windsor, Franklin, GilbertSchool, Marlborough, New Fairfield,New Hartford, Newington, NorthStonington, Old Saybrook, Oxford,Ptnamm, Regional School District 6,Stafford, Sterling, West Haven,Westbrook, and Windham Boards ofEducation.

• Completed and mailed the third editionof the Policy Update Service publica-tion. The topics covered included timedevoted to physical education, elec-tronic reading devices, impact of theSupreme Court decision pertaining tothe Defense of Marriage Act, pregnant

CABELeadership

Instituteand parenting students and one-to-onetablet programs.

• Met with Policy Committees from theBranford, Stratford and Wethers-field Boards of Education.

• Modified policies for the Region 12Board of Education that were identi-fied in the policy audit as reqiring re-vision.

• Entered into an agreement with theDerby Board of Education to place itspolicy manual online.

➤ By representing Connecti-cut school boards on thestate or national level:

• Participated in meeting of the CAPSSInternational Education Committee.

• Attended sub-committee meeting ofConnecticut Commission for Educa-tional Technology.

• Presented workshop at the KentuckySchool Boards Association annual con-ference.

• Hosted meetings of the WhatWillOurChildrenLose Coalition (CABE,CAPSS, CAS, CASBO)) and the Big 6Partnership (CABE, CAPSS, CAS,CBIA, CCER and ConnCAN). Bothdiscussed the upcoming legislative ses-sion.

• Participated in Governor Malloy’s PressConference on increasing aid to districtsfor safety and security infrastructure.

• Participated in several meetings of theNational School Boards Association’sLeadership Conference on the Futureof Boards of Education.

• Participated in meeting of the NSBA’sExecutive Directors’ Professional De-velopment Subcommittee on planningupcoming professional development.

• Participated in NSBA’s LeadershipConference and Advocacy Institute.

• Participated in the Coalition for PublicEducation February meeting.

• Attended a meeting of the CAPSS re-tired superintendents committee.

• Participated in MORE Committeemeeting on Education, Regional Enti-ties and Special Education.

• Attended Legislative Breakfasts inCABE Areas 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and East Hart-ford.

• Spoke on WTIC “Face Connecticut”discussing legislative issues.

• Attended CREC Legislative Commit-tee meeting.

• Met with Education Committee leader-ship.

• Participated in NSBA Council ofSchool Attorneys Nominating Commit-tee.

• Participated in Connecticut FinancialLiteracy Coalition Meeting.

➤ By providing opportunitiesfor members to learn howto better govern their dis-tricts:

• Conducted the 10th Annual CABELeadership Institute.

• Planned successful School GovernanceCouncil training for Waterbury.

• Took part in podcast for author DougEadie on the relationship between

boards of education and their superin-tendents.

• Facilitated workshop with the EastHampton Board of Education, Super-intendent and Administrator.

• Presented a roles and responsibilitiesworkshops for the Canterbury, andSterling Boards of Education.

• Met with Trumbull Board of Educa-tion chair and superintendent to plan aboard retreat.

• Provided policy information to 19 dis-tricts, 2 out-of-state school boards as-sociations, through 20 answered re-quests for information or sample poli-cies, on 24 topics. Further, districts con-tinue to access CABE’s online CorePolicy Reference Manual and/or onlinemanuals posted by CABE for policysamples. The topics of greatest inter-est pertain to graduation requirementsand personnel issues.

➤ By promotingpublic education:

• Held Board of Directors’ Retreat con-centrating on the Future of Boards ofEducation and how CABE can betterserve its members now.

• Facilitated discussion on school boardsand superintendents in a course atSouthern Connecticut State University.

• Answered questions about the currentlegal issues facing boards of education.“HOT” topics this month were: Bud-gets (capitol and operating), specific-ity of board agenda, reasons for execu-tive session, residency, and conflicts ofinterest.

➤ By ensuring membersreceive the most up-to-datecommunications:

• Provided webinar on Governor’s pro-posed budget adjustments.

• Participated in and helped sponsor Par-ent-Teacher Community Forum onCommon Core and its debriefing.

• As part of the development of newpolicy manuals utilizing the CustomPolicy Service, materials were preparedfor Avon, Derby, Griswold, NorthHaven, Stratford, Wethersfield,Windsor Locks and WoodbridgeBoards of Education.

Kristin Campanelli, Berlin Board of Educa-tion, receiving media training from AnnBaldwin, Baldwin Media Marketing.

Jeffrey Currey, Chair, East Hartford Board ofEducation, receiving media training fromAnn Baldwin.

Donald Harris, Chair, Bloomfield Board ofEducation, and CABE Federal Relations Chairreceiving media training from Ann Baldwin.

Ann Baldwin educates Leadership Institute participants on how to work with the media.

(continued from page 10)local media, the better your chances ofgetting some positive press. I’m am surethat many of you are taking issue withthat statement right now, but I have seenit first-hand. Those that have built mediarelationships prior to any negative story,or crisis situation, usually have betterresults.

If you aren’t comfortable speakingwith the press, then you may need someadditional media training to help withyour comfort level, or perhaps you mayhave to appoint someone else from yourorganization to be your spokesperson.Just make sure that whomever is takingon this responsibility has their seatbelt onsafe and tight across their lap!

Changing the landscape:social media


A Guide to Respect and ResponsibilityLawrence HardySenior Editor, American School Board Journal

Editor’s Note: Reprinted with permis-sion from the American School BoardJournal. This article appeared in theFebruary 2014 issue.

Say what you will about “good news”stories, the news media thrives ondisaster, dysfunction, and entropy.“Students Getting a Great Education” maybe a nice headline, but “Raging BystanderLeaps Atop Table Amid Bitter BoardDispute” (an actual story from a Midwest-ern district a few years back) is a lot more— how to put this? — fun to write.

Maybe that’s what a reporter from aweekly paper near Hartford, Conn., wasthinking when he faced one of those “allthe news is good” problems and came upwith a novel way of finding that kernel ofcontroversy that is the news media’slifeblood.

It’s seems that the Berlin Board ofEducation had an unusual number of 9-0votes on major issues, which may haveseemed fine to the untrained (read “non-media”) eye. But what if there were somenefarious reason why the board wasvoting in seeming lockstep, a hiddenpower beneath its guise of comity? Anexpose was clearly in the making, and thereporter went right to one of his primarysources — Board President Gary Brochu— to ferret it out.

Brochu laughs as he tells this story:“Why is it you never disagree about

anything?” the reporter asked.“What makes you think we don’t

disagree?” an amused Brochu answered.In Berlin, a 3,000-student district in

the suburbs south of Hartford, of coursedisagreements exist. What the reporterdidn’t grasp was that the board memberstalked these disagreements out in commit-tees long before those votes. They madesure they all had the same information(and understood that information) sowhen it came time to vote on a givenissue, the way forward was usuallyapparent to all.

“We aspire,” says Brochu, not entirelyjoking, to “boring professionalism.”

Shared understandingNow Berlin’s “boring professionalism”

has been codified into a board memberhandbook, copies of which have beenrequested by boards in Colorado, Florida,New York, and other states.

Of course, the work of a board memberis anything but boring – unless youconsider the nurturing and education ofAmerica’s future leaders to be a trivialtask. What Berlin’s board is seeking tostandardize is a shared understanding ofthe job and a way of deliberating,behaving, and conducting itself thatreflects that common belief.

“The expectation is that it be aprofessional board,” says Robert J.Rader, executive director of the Connecti-cut Association of Boards of Education.“It acts respectfully and responsibly toeach other as well as to the staff. Hope-fully, it will be institutionalized.”

Rick Maloney, vice president of theboard of directors for the University Place

School District near Tacoma, Wash.,heard Rader and Brochu speak on thehandbook at NSBA’s 2013 AnnualConference in San Diego.

“They gave a great presentation onhow they approach the job of a boardmember, and a board member handbookreally fits well with their approach,”Maloney says.

In fact, Maloney liked what thespeakers had to say so much that he askedfor a copy of Berlin’s handbook to use asa template for his own board. He revisedit for his 5,000-student district, and nowhe and Ken Gass, a board member for theBellingham Public schools whose boardalso revised the handbook for its own use,have made a presentation on boardhandbooks themselves.

Core valuesSo what does Berlin’s handbook look

like? It’s 22-pages long, including ahelpful three-page list of commonly usededucational acronyms and what theymean. That list alone would be worth aread by any new board member or anyonebrushing up on what a DSAP is (for therecord, Durational Shortage Area Permit).

It starts with a two-paragraph pre-amble, followed by a mission statement,board goals, (student achievement,communication, facilities and educationaladequacy, and board governance) andcore values. Among these values:

1. Deliberate in many voices, butgovern as one.

2. Cultivate a sense of groupresponsibility; understanding that it is theboard, not the staff or the administration,which is responsible for excellence ingovernance.

The second core value resonated withBrochu when, after one of his presenta-tions, a board member from anotherdistrict approached him and said herboard’s meetings would be less dysfunc-tional if it wasn’t for the superintendent.Brochu didn’t buy that, saying that it wasthe board’s responsibility, not thesuperintendent’s, to make the meetingsproductive.

The seventh core value is also telling:“Commit, both individually and collec-tively, to being well-informed on local,state, and national issues.”

Despite this kind of effort from boardmembers, there will be times whenBrochu senses that some board membersmight not fully understand an issue. Atthese times, the board is inclined topostpone the vote so members can getmore information. This is one way ofavoiding divided votes, which often iscaused more by misunderstanding than afundamental difference in board policy.

“We can disagree, but the question is,what are we disagreeing about?” Brochusays.

If, for example, you’re continuallyneeding to discuss Roberts Rules of Order– well, you’ve got bigger problems thanjust procedure, Brochu says. He recalls aboard president from another district oncetelling him: “All I need is five votes” toget something through his nine-memberboard.

“I agree with you,” Brochu replied.“You only need five to pass – but thenwhat?”

David B. Erwin, Berlin’s superinten-dent, doesn’t have to deal with thatproblem.

“It’s really been great working withthem because there’s such an ethos ofstrong professionalism in this district,”Erwin says.

Maintaining board cultureIf a district’s board and staff are so

professional, why do you even need ahandbook? Brochu talks a lot about theimportance of continuity, about leaving alegacy and a board culture that does notdepend on one or more person’s personal-ity or dedication.

It’s the very opposite of the idea,popularized in some school districts, thatone person (a superintendent, perhaps)can come into a troubled district, shakethings up for the better, then turn aroundand ride off into the sunset a few yearslater. Rarely, is this kind of progress — if,indeed, it is real progress — sustained.

Another reason for a handbook is thatboard membership changes, sometimesdramatically. Berlin, for example,welcomed three new board members thisfall, but its board culture remained thesame.

As University Place puts it in its boardhandbook: “A new board is formed everytime a new member joins.”

The changes may not be great if a newmember joins a large board, but thedynamic will shift nonetheless. That’seven truer for someone joining a smallboard like University Places, which hasjust five members.

“In our case, one board member –that’s 20 percent of the vote,” Maloneysays.

‘Soft power’In addition to underlying principals

and guidelines, Berlin’s handbook alsoaddresses specifics such as NSBA’s KeyWork of School Boards, and a descriptionof the district’s three standing commit-tees. Erwin, who says he knows of

districts with 15 or 16 such committees,says he appreciates that his board took thetime to limit the number to what itconsidered the board’s core functions.

These are represented by a studentachievement committee, a communica-tions committee, and an educationalresources committee. Of course, addi-tional temporary or ad hoc committeescan be formed as the need arises.

Berlin is a high-performing district,and in recent years student achievementhas been increasing. This year, forexample, nearly 50 percent of 10th-graderswere deemed “advanced” on state writingtests, compared to about 25 percent in2007.

The district was also one of 477honored this year by the College Boardfor increasing access to AdvancedPlacement (AP) coursework whilemaintaining or increasing the percentageof students scoring 3 or higher on APexams.

School board members do more thanvote on issues and make policy: They setthe tone and model the behavior for theentire district — something Brochu refersto as the board’s “soft power.” And it isthis influence that the board memberhandbook seeks to leverage for the benefitof the entire school system and commu-nity.

“We have an obligation, a moralobligation to model for the district howwe expect the district to conduct itself,”Brochu says. “We want to say, ‘This iswho we are. This is what we agreetogether to be, and we’re going to holdourselves accountable.’”

“Berlin’s boardstandardized a sharedunderstanding of the

job and a way ofdeliberating, behaving,and conducting itself.”


(continued from page 1)leaders at all levels using proven strate-gies.”

The Wallace Foundation’s Learningfrom Leadership Project report, Investi-gating the Links to Improved StudentLearning, has shown that leadership is“central in addressing and facilitating thework of teaching and learning, as well asmanaging the influences related to thework outside of the school.” Leaders, atall levels of school systems, play ex-tremely important roles in ensuringeducational success.

Leadership SummitRecent research has shown that

effective leadership is essential to schooland district success, yet leadership hasseldom been the focus of educationalreform efforts in the past. Rather, schoolleaders, especially principals, often havebeen viewed as managers, responsible forthe operation of schools, but minimallyengaged in what goes on within class-rooms.

The new coalition got to work shiftingthat paradigm with a two-day summit onleadership for Connecticut superinten-dents and board members at the end ofMay at which Connecticut Commissionerof Education Stefan Pryor framed theimportance of working to support anddevelop leadership among other educa-tional priorities.

“The Leadership Summit served as anopportunity to unveil and energize theConnecticut reform effort,” says RobertVillanova, director of LEAD Connecticut.Former superintendent of Farmington anda founding member of the Center forSchool Change’s Connecticut Superinten-dents’ Network, Villanova has served as afacilitator with the network for the pasttwo years.

“The LEAD Connecticut deliverableswere planned in close collaboration withboth Connecticut and national partners weinvited because of their long experienceand expertise in school reform efforts,” henotes. “The activities are designed tostrengthen existing leadership and create aculture of leadership that can be nurturedand developed going forward.” Villanovaadds that metrics to measure the impact ofLEAD Connecticut’s activities will beemployed throughout the program,ensuring that the work is having itsintended impact.

High MarksAn eight-day August institute was held

after four months of planning by LEADConnecticut. Each of the 17 participatingturnaround principals was recommendedby his or her superintendent. Theyrepresented elementary, middle and highschools. Fourteen had been principals forthree or fewer years.

Held in Hartford, the institute was

designed as an introduction to a year-longcommunity of practice. Participants hadopportunities to work with severalnationally known leaders in educationreform. The program received highmarks from participants.

To ensure the participating principalsare successful in putting the institute’sideas to productive use in their schools,each has been assigned a coach who willwork with him or her weekly. Thecoaching is focused specifically on theturnaround leadership competenciesknown to be necessary for success.Additionally, the entire cohort will meetmonthly.

“We have a long way to go withleadership development in Connecticut,”says Sarah Barzee, chief talent officer atthe State Department of Education, “but Iam very optimistic about the potential ofLEAD Connecticut. We are wrestlingwith some important questions. How dowe recruit educational leaders? How dowe prepare them, support them, developthem and then retain them? How do we

LEAD Connecticut: Developing Tomorrow’s Educational Leaders

Hot Topic: Pre-K

Patrice A. McCarthy,Deputy Director andGeneral Counsel, CABEwelcomed everyone to theworkshop and introducedour speaker.

Myra Jones-Taylor,Executive Director,Connecticut Office ofEarly Childhood spokeabout the role of schoolboards in Pre-K andwhere the State is goingwith its Pre-K initiatives.

Participants from around the State gathered at the Keeney Memorial Center in Wethersfield for the workshop.

Ambitious AgendaThe turnaround principal program is just one facet of LEAD Connecticut’s wide-

ranging plan. During 2013-14, the coalition will address leadership at all levels ofConnecticut public schools, including:

• Selection and ongoing support of principal coaches.

• Design and implementation of a coach credentialing system.

• Development of an Effective Superintendent Competency framework.

• Development of a board/superintendent governance project.

• Expansion of an Alliance District early career superintendent support programthat includes executive coaching.

• Producing an on-line tool for human capital development.

ensure that the right people are in theright positions, working to make sure thatour schools are successfully servingstudents?”

Barzee cited the need for new ap-proaches, different from those used in thepast. “The promise of LEAD Connecticutis that in convening all of the stakeholder

groups we can not only define thosestrategies and tactics,” she says, “butbegin to introduce them into our schoolsand support their implementation,forming the foundation for a seamlessand self-perpetuating continuum ofleadership development that transformseducation in Connecticut.”


students with intellectual disabilities.”The plaintiffs in the case have the

option of appealing the case to the UnitedStates SupremeCourt. AttorneyDavid Shaw hasrepresented “P.J.”-Patrick Jordan ofWest Hartford-and other plaintiffsand they will decidecollectively whetheror not to appeal tothe highest court inthe land.

“I am certainlydisappointed withthe ruling,especially since thedata published onthe federal website(www.ideadata.org) shows thatplacement ofintellectu-ally

disabled students in regular classes hasdeclined since the district court ruled infavor of the state,” Shaw said.

“Hopefully the state will at least pub-lish the data on regular class placement ofintellectually disabled students so that

parents can determine by viewing theConnecticut State Department of Educa-tion’s website (www.sde.gov.) whether thestate and their local school districts aremaking efforts to maintain the gains madeduring the time the Settlement Agreementwas in effect.”

Jaclyn M. Falkowski, director ofcommunications for the attorney general’soffice, which represented the State De-partment of Education, said the office isplease the appeals court affirmed thestate’s favor.

“We are particularly gratified that theCourt of Appeals agreed with JudgeChatigny of the lower court because hehad carefully reviewed the evidence andrecognized that the Department of Educa-tion took seriously its commitment to thepopulation it serves and that staff had‘consistently made good faith efforts’ tomeet that commitment,” Falkowski said.

Presently, this case does not requireany changes by boards of education orstaff. This case will be closely followedif it proceeds to the U.S. Supreme Courtlevel.

Kelly B. MoyherSr. Staff Attorney

2nd Circuit U.S. Court of AppealsUpheld Ruling in “P.J.” Case

The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals(CT, NY, VT) has upheld a ruling of alower court in a case that has becomeknown throughout the state in educationcircles as the “P.J.” case.

The case arose over 10 years ago whenthe Department of Education was suedover the claim that intellectually disabledstudents should spend more time withtheir non-disabled peers in the classroom.

In 2002, the parties to the case reacheda settlement where the state agreed toachieve five goals for intellectually dis-abled students. The goals were set out asfollows:

• To increase the percentage of intel-lectually disabled students in regu-lar education classes;

• To reduce the disproportionatelyhigh rates at which certain groupswere classified as intellectuallydisable, such as by race, ethnicity orgender;

• To increase the percentage of theschool day intellectually disabledstudents spent with non-disabledpeers;

• To increase the percentage of stu-dents with intellectual disabilitiesattending their home school;

• To increase the percentage of regu-

lar education students participatingin extra-curricular activities withnon-disabled peers.

The plaintiffs inthe case filed amotion in 2009stating the state wasnot in com-pliancewith the 2002agreement. Speci-fically, the motionindicated that thestate was notadhering to adheringto the agree-to goalsset forth in theagreement.

The 2nd Circuitupheld a 2012 U.S.District Court rulingwhich found in favorof the StateDepartment ofEducation and that ithad adequatelycomplied with the agreement between theparties.

In its ruling, the Court stated that thestate “made significant progress” towardaccomplishing the goals, “posting largepercentage gains on the integration of

“. . . . the Court statedthat the state

“made significantprogress” towardaccomplishing the

goals, “posting largepercentage gains on

the integration ofstudents withintellectual

disabilities.”


CABE SearchServices

is recruiting for

For more information contact, CABE Search Services,860-539-7594

Jacqueline V. Jacoby, Senior Search ConsultantPaul Gagliarducci • Associate ConsultantMary Broderick - Associate Consultant

Bob King • Associate Consultant

P.O. Box 290252, Wethersfield, CT 06129-0252www.cabe.org/support • Equal Opportunity Employers

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For an update or more information onvacancies go to our website: www.cabe.org

Representing Connecticut at the NSBA Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. were:Immediate Past President Lydia Tedone, Simsbury; Robert Rader, Executive Director; VicePresident for Government Relations Robert Mitchell, Montville; City RepresentativeJacqueline Kelleher, Bridgeport; Superintendent Nathan Quesnel, East Hartford; Area 2Director and Federal Relations Chair Donald Harris, Bloomfield; President RichardMurray, Killingly; First Vice President Ann Gruenberg, Hampton; Sheila McKay, SeniorStaff Associate for Government Relations; and Patrice A. McCarthy, Deputy Director andGeneral Counsel.

(center) CongressmanJim Hines (D-4); PatriceA. McCarthy, DeputyDirector and GeneralCounsel; Lydia Tedone,Simsbury, Immediate PastPresident; JacquelineKelleher, Bridgeport, CityRepresentative; SheilaMcKay, Sr. Staff Associ-ate for GovernmentRelations; and AnnGruenberg, Hampton,First Vice President.

l. to r., Shelia McKay, Sr.Staff Associate forGovernment Relations;Robert Rader, ExecutiveDirector; RobertMitchell, Montville, VPfor GovernmentRelations; RichardMurray, Killingly,President; CongressmanJoe Courtney (D-2);Jacqueline Kelleher,Bridgeport, CityRepresentative; LydiaTedone, Simsbury,Immediate PastPresident; AnnGruenberg, Hampton, First Vice President; Nathan Quesnel, East Hartford, Superintendent;and Patrice A. McCarthy, Deputy Director and General Counsel.

l. to r., Jacqueline Kelleher,Bridgeport, City Representative;Congressman Rosa DeLauro (D-3); Richard Murray, Killingly,President; and Patrice A.McCarthy, Deputy Director andGeneral Counsel.

NOW Available from CABE!

Understanding theConnecticut Freedom of Information Act

andAccess to Public Meetings and Records -

Fourth Edition

Written by: Mark J. Sommaruga, Esq.,Pullman & Comley, LLC

l. to r., Superinten-dent NathanQuesnel, EastHartford; RobertRader, ExecutiveDirector, CABE;Congressman JohnLarson (D-1); Area 2Director DonaldHarris, Bloomfield;and Vice Presidentfor GovernmentRelations RobertMitchell, Montville.

to order the FOIA book go to the CABE OnlineBookstore at www.cabe.org/page.cfm?p=749

At the Institute, Senator Chris Murphy was honored by being asked to speak to all attendees.l. to r., Superintendent Nathan Quesnel, East Hartford; Sheila McKay, Sr. Staff Associate forGovernment Relations; Jacqueline Kelleher, Bridgeport, City Representative; Richard Murray,Killingly, President; Robert Mitchell, Montville, Vice President for Government Relations;Lydia Tedone, Simsbury, Immediate Past President; Congressman Chris Murphy; DonaldHarris, Bloomfield, Area 2 Co-Director and Federal Relations Chair; Patrice A. McCarthy,Deputy Director and General Counsel; Ann Gruenberg, Hampton, First Vice President; RobertRader, Executive Director.

NSBAAdvocacy Institute

CABE Journal March 2014

Documents

Transcript of CABE Journal March 2014