A screen shot from Tuesday's tax board meeting.
DERBY — Superintendent Matthew Conway spent about an hour on Tuesday taking elected officials on a deep dive into school performance data during a presentation to the city’s tax board.
Conway said the district is one of the few that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic with better test scores, since Derby students resumed in-person learning much earlier than other school districts. The Irving and Bradley elementary schools were honored as schools of distinction. Of the 162 districts statewide, Derby was one of only 22 districts that saw their SAT score rise in English. Derby was one of only two of the 36 “alliance districts” who saw SAT scores rise in both English language arts and math.
Derby — as a city — has a high transient population: meaning people come and go. Conway said school data shows that students from families that have moved several times before landing in Derby Public Schools do not perform as well academically as students who start their education in Derby and stay here. Students who attend ‘Little Raiders University,’ the district’s pre‑K program, and then stay in the district perform better academically than students who did not attend the program.
Conway’s complete presentation can be seen in the video embedded below.
Click here to read the 58-page school district performance summary Conway shared with members of the tax board (Board of Apportionment and Taxation) during Tuesday’s meeting.
The presentation, along with comments made by parents at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, were in response to recent criticism from Mayor Rich Dziekan and Walt Mayhew, the mayor’s chief of staff.
At a previous tax board meeting during which the mayor unveiled his proposed budget, Dziekan identified Derby schools one of the 30 worst in the state, saying his goal was to make the school district comparable to Seymour and Shelton. Click here for a previous story.
“A failing school district negatively affects our city in so many ways, not the least of them is economic,” Dziekan said in a prepared statement.
The mayor also submitted a letter to the editor criticizing Derby school district administrators.
The mayor said that he wanted to create a list of measurable goals for the school district that would be tied to how much money the district would receive from the city. A major goal would be to improve test scores, Dziekan said.
Conway said the goals and improvements plans are very much in place, are constantly reviewed by the state’s Department of Education, are available on the school district’s website, and have already been shared with the mayor’s office.
Parents who spoke up at Tuesday’s tax board meeting defended Derby Public Schools. A few speakers said the district didn’t have the best reputation — but that reputation that was false, based on their children’s experience learning in Derby schools.
“I have so much gratitude for the Derby Public Schools,” said resident Lee Akter, a mother to five.
Tara Hyder, a mother to two, said the mayor had made inaccurate statements about the district, and that “facts matter.” Hyder said the mayor said the district doesn’t have measurable goals, which is not true.
“It’s already done,” said Hyder, spouse of Alderman Rob Hyder.
Hyder pointed out that students in special education in Derby are performing better academically than similar students in Seymour and Shelton.
The mayor did not appear to be in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting, which was held on Zoom. Mayhew did not appear to be in attendance, nor did finance office officials.
The goal of Tuesday’s meeting was actually to review the Derby Board of Education’s budget request with the tax board, which Conway did (see video above). Click here to read the budget document the school district shared with the city.
In Derby, the budget and mill rate is set by the tax board. The board has to adopt a budget by the end of April.
Derby school officials are requesting a funding increase of 4.29 percent, or $823,479. The mayor’s proposed budget allocates an additional $291,344 for Derby schools, a 1.5 percent increase.
The budget approved last spring was $19,177,364. The school district’s proposed budget totals $20,000,842.24.
The proposed school budget shows a 14 percent spending increase toward Bradley School, with two new positions: a second-grade teacher and a third-grade teacher.
The budget shows a doubling of funds ($23,382 currently to a proposed $46,722) toward St. Mary-St. Michael, a Catholic school in Derby. The increase is because a part-time nurse at the school is becoming full-time.
The budget moves $285,268 in staffing costs out of the normal operating budget and to grant funding, according Conway.
Employee benefits — medical insurance, life insurance, workers compensation, and other items — are projected to decrease in the proposed budget by $16,603 — or 3.2 percent.
Water, electricity and natural gas expenses are projected to increase 20.1 percent in the budget, or $144,063 more than the current line item of $713,372.
Tuition for children with special needs that cannot be met within Derby Public Schools is projected to increase 33.8 percent, from the current $1,793,848 to $2,400,435.
Transportation costs connected to special education are predicted to increase 20 percent, to $563,890.
“Tonight the tax board and the community at large heard about a school system on the move, accomplishing good things, educating our children and doing so in a loving and nurturing environment,” Jim Gildea, the chairman of the Derby Board of Education, told The Valley Indy. “They heard about Derby school system goals, rising test scores and positive parental and staff school survey results. This school system continually does more with less and yet the results we accomplish speak for themselves.”
The tax board is scheduled to meet again on March 21.
