BOE votes to extend Domus
School board renews program that pairs struggling students with advocates
STAMFORD — Even as concerns remain among some Stamford Board of Education members about a program for at-risk students at Stamford High School, members voted this week to reinstate the initiative for three more years.
The board was previously deadlocked in a 4-4 tie regarding whether or not to extend the Domus Knights program — which assigns students to adult “family advocates” — with member Fritz Chery abstaining from a vote. That appeared for a time to kill the program.
But in a new tally Tuesday night,
Chery cast a vote in favor.
“It is abundantly clear that the family advocates are necessary right now,” he said.
Chery could not be immediately reached Wednesday to comment further on his vote.
The board voted down a resolution last month that would have extended the Domus Knights program at Stamford High School for the next three years, and have
started a Domus Vikings program at Westhill High School.
The program, which is privately funded, assigns advocates to work with roughly 25 at-risk students each. In general, they work with students on improving attendance and classroom performance, and navigating challenges they might be facing.
The current plan is to maintain eight advocates at Stamford High, while introducing two at Westhill this year, and increasing the number of advocates at the school by two in each of the next two school years.
School board member Becky Hamman, who maintained her vote against the resolution this week, said she remains concerned about the advocates not being certified as social workers.
But Domus Executive Director Mike Duggan on Tuesday said the organization does have social workers on staff who help with any issues that arise with students in the Knights program.
Hamman made a motion to include language in the memorandum of agreement with Domus that would require the agency to use social workers as part of the program. That amendment was voted down, resulting in Hamman voting against the resolution again.
After the vote last month, members of Stamford’s clergy, education advocates and community leaders gathered at the Government Center to demand that the program be brought back and extended.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, many speakers wondered why half of the board did not support the program.
Jessica Vandervoort, a case manager for the organization, said it has been a “frustrating” and “painful” couple of weeks for her after the board voted not to renew.
“I have tried over the past few weeks to find out what is going on here and why certain members are opposed to continuing this program,” she said.
Vandervoort said she has read comments on social media, such as “vague references to policy violations,” and “vague references to data discrepancies,” and “a fair amount of noise about a $25 Amazon gift card that was sent to some teachers as thank you notes.”
It was not clear how many teachers the agency presented with gift cards. The issue was discussed at the meeting as a possible violation of the Board of Education gifts policy.
“It would appear that giving gifts to a city official is a breach of the policy,” Chery said.
He asked Duggan if he knew about gifts being against the board’s policy.
“No we did not,” Duggan said, adding it is part of Domus’s culture to give out gift cards internally as a demonstration of appreciation.
Ultimately, all board members, with the exception of Chery, voted to not investigate the matter.
Member Jennienne Burke said it would be “absurd” to launch an investigation that could potentially damage the reputation of teachers who accepted the gift cards. The board’s policy only includes language on acceptance of gifts, not giving gifts.
The policy states: “No employee of the public school system of Stamford shall accept any gift or gratuity ... from any person, firm or corporation which to his/her knowledge is interested directly or indirectly in business dealings with the school system and over which business dealings he/she has power either to take action or to influence action.”
Domus is not paid by the school system for the family advocate programs. They are funded through private grants.
Stamford High School Principal Ray Manka during the meeting described Domus advocates as “high quality people” who have helped students set goals and solve problems.
“The Domus Knights family advocates have been an instrumental part of our success and growth,” he said.
He said attendance and academics have improved for the students in the program. Manka said the number of incidents involving those students has decreased from 350 in 2015 to 88 this year.
Noah Lapine, a parent of three students in Stamford and a former chair of the now defunct Domus-run Stamford Academy, a charter school, also supported bringing the Domus Knights program back.
“Domus serves 250 students and it costs this district nothing,” he said.
Lapine continued, “Those that came into this current crisis are already hurting are suffering disproportionately. When our schools closed in March, those with limited resources were almost instantly in an emergency state. This program was a lifeline for its participating students and families.”