Finalist Sup Selected, Social Workers Cry Foul, Website Launched

At Tuesday night's BOE meeting Vice-Chair Jack Chiaramonte announced that a finalist has been chosen for the Superintendent position. Mr. Chiaramonte would not reveal the candidate's name or background because the other applicants have not been informed that a finalist has been selected. He said that the name will be announced in the next couple of days.

Mr. Chiaramonte said that the candidate is going to visit Norwalk early next week and that a parent forum will take place in the coming days. The BOE is also in the process of scheduling a site visit to the candidate’s school district. “Now, we want the candidate to meet the Norwalk community.” said Chiaramonte.

Norwalk has been without a full time Superintendent since last June when Dr. Sal Corda resigned after the BOE declined to renew his contract. The Board placed Dr. William Papallo, a retired administrator as interim Superintendent, but he stayed only until this month. Another interim Superintent, Dr. Michael Nast is filling the vacancy, most likely until the end of the school year.

During the public comments, several social workers spoke about not receiving adequate pay. They said that currently social workers are being paid on a Masters only level (30 credits). This was not always the practice. Norwalk requires social workers to obtain a Masters in Social Work (which requires 60 credits) entitling them to a higher starting pay. Like almost all districts in CT, Norwalk social workers used to be paid according to this higher pay scale. They blamed the HR Director for making the decision unilaterally to change the level to 30 credits, and said that it goes against the NFT contract. Some social workers are paid under the old pay scale, creating inequity among co-workers

Mr. Nast presented a strategy for hiring the many vacant, soon to be vacant, and interim positions in Central Office. The district is currently interviewing for the director of Health Services position and the Math Specialist position. They are beginning the process for the director of Pupil Personnel. He said that he will get the new superintendent involved in the hiring process, even if the person is not going to start until the summer.

"I would want to be involved in hiring my team," he said.

Mr. Nast also added that he was worried about the quality of the pool of candidates given the impending budget cuts.

Also at the meeting, Robert Polselli, the Director of IT, presented the BOE the district's new web site (which launched officially yesterday) that his team built. He stressed that the website is a dynamic tool for the entire district, on which hundreds of people will be able to post documents. It will continually be improved and updated.

Check back later today for an updated version of this story.