A Summary of BOE Actions in the 2008 Year that Was, from the Stamford Advocate

Stamford's School Year Saw a Closing and Redistrictings

by Wynne Parry, Posted 1/5/2009

STAMFORD - For Stamford schools, 2008 brought dramatic twists and a few conclusions to longstanding questions.

In July, the Board of Education decided to close Rogers Magnet Elementary after scrutinizing a number of schools, in particular Toquam Magnet, and mobilizing parents at each one. In the end, only Rogers embraced the idea of closing its old building and moving into a new, largely state-funded, building on Blachley Road.

The decision set up the board to finish redistricting to align the socio-economic make-up of individual schools with the district average and balance enrollment. In September, the board selected from four options crafted by Superintendent Joshua Starr.

According to enrollment data from October 2007, the plan would force about 408 first- and second-graders to change schools. Since the decision, parents of affected students have continued pressuring the board to grant exceptions so their children will not have to move schools in the fall.

The ramifications, including the cost of extra buses while the plan is implemented, are to be discussed during budget deliberations this month.

In what may have been the most surprising move in 2008, the state Board of Education voted to recommend closing the beleaguered J.M. Wright Technical High School for two years to help close a $6 billion budget deficit. The vote came three months after the board approved a plan to revive the vocational high school with a college preparatory curriculum offered with Norwalk Community College, and after an energetic new principal arrived with plans to recruit aggressively.

The recommendation affects Trailblazers Academy, the charter middle school in the Wright Tech building. Like a number of other organizations, the nonprofit Domus Foundation, which runs Trailblazers, is eyeing the Rogers building on Lockwood Avenue.

Rogers students are expected to start classes in the new building in the fall. With the help of a volunteer marketing consultant, students, staff and parents recommended naming it Rogers International School.

Although the new building was intended to house a magnet school, the decision to move the Rogers students there and expand through eighth grade means no magnet seats will be open to other Stamford students. To receive state money, at least 25 percent of students must live outside the district.

Stamford schools continued to struggle under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which in 2007-08 required that eight of 10 students score at or above a proficient level in math and reading.

Last year, Westover Elementary School preserved its place as the only Stamford school to consistently meet test score goals, though Newfield Elementary improved scores and met the goal.

In November, state consultants visited 10 Stamford schools with histories of failing to meet goals. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2009.

At the end of last year's budget talks, elected officials approved an education budget of $220.9 million, a 5.9 percent increase. Because of the nation's economic crisis, the budget likely will be leaner this year. The state Board of Education has proposed cuts that could strip millions of dollars in aid from Stamford.

The district continued with Starr's plans to update curriculum to ensure consistency districtwide. At the begining of the school year, new art, physical education and health curriculums were implemented. But in December the health curriculum was suspended after complaints from the teachers' union that physical education teachers, who are not certified in health, were teaching it.

- Staff Writer Wynne Parry can be reached at 964-2263 or wynne.parry@scni.com.