Special master’s NL arrival soon

State education official talks with school board

New London— The appointment of a “special master” to the city’s school district is just days, not weeks away, as initially reported, said a state education department representative at Thursday’s New London Board of Education meeting.

Lol Fearon, chief of the state’s Bureau of Accountability and Improvement, addressed the local school board briefly about the June 6 action the State Board of Education took to intervene in the struggling school district and appoint a special master to oversee district operations for one year.

“There are some very specific issues the district is trying to resolve and work its way through,” Fearon said. “The intent is that we will have somebody in place well prior to June 30, but there are some areas that have to be worked on. The commissioner is still formulating his plans.”

Thursday’s board meeting was the first since the state board voted to intervene in New London. The special master is to oversee everything from the local district’s finances to school board agendas, teacher assignment and curriculum matters in order to, among other things, improve the district’s lagging standardized test scores.

The state board also voted to require New London school board members to attend effectiveness training.

The special master, whose salary will be paid by the state, will work

with the New London school district for the 2012-13 school year.

“Given our ( the state’s) experience in Bridgeport and Windham, some of the things you can anticipate are the idea of building coalitions within the community to strengthen the district; reaching out to social and community action groups; and acting as a liaison between other governance agencies,” Fearon said.

A state audit report released in May was critical of the New London board’s ability to effectively oversee a school district and was the catalyst for state intervention in a district that is the fourth lowest-performing district in Connecticut.

The district’s 64 percent graduation rate is the state’s sixth worst. j.hanckel@theday.com