One need not read any farther than Ms. Mongillo’s opening paragraph which states “While other districts were forced to homeschool, Derby was one of very few districts to remain in the classroom throughout the pandemic” to explain the advance in test scores when comparing Derby students to other districts who provided distance learning. It is like comparing apples and oranges.
Anyone knowledgeable concerning education, which as a BOE member one would hope she is, understands that in-class instruction far out performs remote learning and therefore produces much better results. Derby students were kept in school while their counterparts around the state generally were given remote learning. So they obviously had an educational advantage, which accounts for the comparable improvement.
The Mayor’s budget provides a $190,000 or 1.6% increase for education. That percentage is far above the average requested departmental increase in the city. Year after year the BOE has asked for increases well above the other city departments. Yet, when those increases were not granted they maintained or increased their number of employees. For years, the district has had a declining enrollment, yet they continued to request increases that exceeded other department requests. The city pays for the health care cost of BOE employees which is not included in the BOE’s budget. The BOE has health plans where the employees pay less of the premium share than other city employees. The BOE has health plans such as PPOs that are not high deductible plans while non-BOE city employees are required to participate in a high deductible plan with deductibles of $1,500 and $3,000 respectively.
When the district presents their budget request, it does not provide a detailed line-by-line proposal of their intended spending like every other city department. On a monthly basis they do not provide the finance office with a detailed trial balance showing how every taxpayer dollar is spent as is the case with every other department. If they provided such reporting, any deviation from their budget could be easily seen and questioned. In fact, they don’t even balance their own banking statements against their financial reports as the auditor has clearly stated. So it is not a surprise that residents lack confidence in their numbers.
In any school district there are students who excel. Congratulations to those in Derby and their families. However, the overall performance of a school district is seen in how their students perform as a whole when given the same standardized test as students in other districts and having their scores compared. In that regard, Derby is a failing school district scoring among the worst 30 school districts in the state. That’s a fact. It’s been a fact for 10 plus years. What’s the saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?
I applaud the Mayor for having the guts to hold the school district leaders accountable and to call for a public plan, with measurable goals and action items to rid our city of the Alliance District designation as one of the worst 30 school districts in CT.
Michael Alberta
Derby Resident
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