Educator questions stability at Norwich City Schools

NORWICH – The stability of the school district was questioned and addressed at last week’s Norwich City School Board of Education meeting.

Sue Fenton, president of the Norwich Educators Association, spoke to the board during public comment and questioned many of the practices and procedures of the district. Fenton said the district, which “used to be composed of teachers wanting to keep working and living in the district and raise families here,” has not existed for years.

She said there is a lack of stability throughout the buildings and teachers need to be in compliance with the needs of the district.

“This is just as important as state tests; the applicable rubrics and preparation for testing are standard practices. They need to be established and used regularly in each building,” Fenton said.

Fenton says until standards and practices are established throughout the district, morale of employees and the trust of the public will continue to erode.

“We feel we have a broken system,” Fenton said.

Fenton said both new and experienced teachers do not have the proper structure in place to be successful. Fenton said when teachers in the district ask questions, they are often told they simply do not understand how the district is run. The area in most need is the special education programming that, Fenton says, is a disaster.