School board gets an earful on both sides of morale issue

NORWICH – As the school year draws to a close, problems in the Norwich City School District seemingly have no end in sight.

Numerous district employees, parents and students addressed the Board of Education during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting.

Perry Browne parent Carol Loomis described an incident roughly two months ago at the intermediate school. “I still have yet to be notified of the weapons found in my child’s classroom months ago. As a parent, I have the right to know,” she said.

As for the state of school morale, many in attendance spoke both of the positives and negatives that exist in the city school system.

Teacher Kisten Giglio said attitude changes everything.

“Personally, I think it’s time for a change. Perhaps we all need to look back on the past year, learn from our mistakes, and agree to move forward with a positive attitude. Too many people are speaking words of defeat and criticism rather than words of encouragement and vision. I believe we are failing to recognize the amazing talents within our district. We are losing sight of the daily efforts our teachers make to bring value and affirmation into the lives of their students. After all, our goal as educators should be to provide the best possible learning opportunities for our students,” she said.

Giglio said she took it upon herself to design a “Hats Off Award,” a simple idea that will act as a small token of recognition “for people who have foresight, who are moving forward in a positive direction, who are igniting a passion for learning and who keep the focus exactly where it should be each and every day – on our students.” The teacher then began to name some of the people within the district who would receive such an award.