December 15, 2022 at 7:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Regular Meeting - Annual Meeting

Rationale:  This action is required by State Statute and needs to be posted with the Town Clerk no later than December 31st.  Dates can be changed at later dates to meet the requirements of the business of the Board.

Rationale: 

The Board Chair will speak to the Board regarding the 2023 Standing Committees.


Per Board Bylaw 9132 Standing Committees -" Committees shall be established through action of the Board."

Proposed Standing Committee Assignments 2023

POLICY:

CURRICULUM, ASSESSMENT AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES:

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS:

COMMUNITY OUTREACH, ALIGNMENT AND COMMUNICATION:

 

Rationale:  The success of our school system depends on an effective working relationship between the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools.  This code incorporates those standards and responsibilities most critical to productive Board and Superintendent relations.  Board members will sign the Code of Ethics for 2023.

Rationale: 

Mr. Troetti and Mr. Watson will be providing a brief  presentation on their School Improvement Plans for the 2022-2023 school year.  The purpose of the presentation is to provide the Board with an overview of the focus of the schools.   

The school administration will be presenting an overview of their Theories of Action, student learning outcome measures and major strategies/action steps to achieve those outcomes.  We began this planning process as a district in the summer of 2015.  Previously, all improvement plans were primarily developed by administrators.

Rationale:  Bethel High School
Acoustic guitar, to the BHS music dept., David Wolff, Bethel, CT.

Rationale: 

• Memo to Board of Selectmen & 10-Year Capital Plan
• Letter from EdAdvance to Superintendent & Board Chair from EdAdvance regarding scholarship offer for high school seniors.

Rationale:  (Please note:  The Board welcomes Public Participation and asks that speakers please limit their comments to 2 minutes.  Speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them.  The Board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about Board of Education personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Bethel Public School System.)

Rationale:  Monthly Data  -  We include in the BOE agenda the monthly data as requested by the BOE.  

Rationale: 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• We updated the art curriculum to reflect the 2014 National Core Arts Standards which require students to create, respond, present, and connect to their art.

• The following is the art curricula being brought forward for approval:

  • Grade 7 Art

  • Grade 8 Art

  • Grade 7 Multimedia 

  • Grade 8 Multimedia

  • BMS Unified Art
  • BHS Unified Art

• The global competencies are embedded within the curricula

• Diverse artists and works of art are being included in the curriculum to work towards addressing our BOE goals

• We have created enduring understandings and essential questions which address the National Core Arts Standards

• Performance tasks are provided to students which help inform our teaching practices.

Rationale: 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• Literary Art Publications is a course designed to introduce students to the process of content acquisition to publication and distribution. Students will move from ideation to final creation using our global competency skills. 

• This course offering will be in support of our Arts Pathway

• Over the course of a semester, students will engage in both our Common Core Writing Standards and our National Core Visual Art and Media Standards.

• Students will be exposed to the following elements:

  • Creative writing (poetry and prose)

  • Photography digital media

  • Editing skills- written work

  • Curation- selection and hierarchy

  • Publishing- layout and design

  • Image editing (industry standard)

  • Book creation (industry standard)

• Costs associated with this new course:

  • Curriculum work will be needed this summer 

Rationale: 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• The Great Diseases is a course that was created by Tufts University Center for Science Education with the goal of providing "approachable, innovative, and life-relevant content, designed to improve science engagement and health literacy." 

• The course can be taken as a full year course or as two separate semester courses. This will allow for flexibility in student schedules. 

• The Great Diseases: Infectious Diseases and Neurological Disorders 

  • The Great Diseases: Infectious Diseases and Neurological Disorders is a semester-long course designed for students with an interest in the topic or with career aspirations in a healthcare field. 

  • Students will engage in two units of study: Infectious Diseases and  Neurological Diseases.

  • Students will use case studies based on actual research to further investigate each type of disease or disorder, and the public health response. 

  •  Students will be asked to develop scientific questions, design experiments, analyze and evaluate data, predict and communicate results, and develop models. 

 

• The Great Diseases: Metabolic Diseases and Cancer

  • The Great Diseases: Metabolic Diseases and Cancer is a semester-long course designed for students with an interest in the topic or with career aspirations in a healthcare field. 

  • Students will engage in two units of study: Metabolic Diseases and  Cancer. 

  • Students will use case studies based on actual research to further investigate each type of disease or disorder, and the public health response. 

  • Students will be asked to develop scientific questions, design experiments, analyze and evaluate data, predict and communicate results, and develop models. 

 

• The course will support the Common Core State Standards for Literacy and the Next Generation Science Standards. 

• Curriculum can be obtained from Tufts Center for Science Education. 

• We will also engage in curriculum writing this summer to support our needs.

Rationale:  This policy was recommended by Shipman and Goodwin.   It sets the legal parameters for a parent's ability to request a curriculum exemption.  The law allows for five (5) areas in which they can apply for curriculum exemptions and a process to do so.  

1.  Dissection;

2. Family life education;

3. HIV/AIDS; or

4. Sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention program; or

5. Firearms safety programs (ROTC Only)

Policy Series - Curricular Exemptions

Rationale:  This policy is being reviewed as part of the policy review plan.   Currently, our main focus is on the 2000 series.  There are only minor suggested changes.   


Policy 2210 - Administrative Discretion in Absence of BOE Policy

Rationale:  This policy is being reviewed as part of a cycle.  Currently we are focused on reviewing of all policies in the 2000 series.   There are no suggested changes to this policy.  

2220 - Representative and Deliberate Groups -

Rationale:  2222 - Administrative Council - No changes suggested.

Rationale: 

Policy 2231 - Policy & Regulation Systems - Minor edits suggested.   

Rationale:  Per legislation, this policy and regulations need to be updated.  
Attendance and Truancy Policy.  The update to the policy included legal references.  There were more revisions to the regulations, to include the addition of Mental Health Days and the definition of truancy.  

Policy 5113 - Student Attendance and Truancy

Regulation 5113 - Student Attendance and Truancy

Rationale: 

There was legislation passed in the last session requiring BOE to update their administration of medication policy to address the use of Narcan in schools.  Our administrative team and nurses have been trained twice on the administration of Narcan (in 2018 and 2022).  

We updated it based on a model policy from Shipman and Goodwin.  The new language mirrors the use of EpiPen in schools. The new policy was reviewed by our Health Supervisor and our District medical advisor, Dr. Alon.  

We are required to annually provide parents with the opportunity to refuse the administration of EpiPen or Narcan.  


Policy 5141.21 - Administration of Student Medications in the Schools

Rationale:  This is a NEW policy.  We are proposing using Shipman's model policy.  This is specifically a Personnel Policy.  This is in response to recent legislation and an incident in another district.  There is also a requirement in this legislation to provide additional professional development developed by the Department of Children and Families.  

Policy 4118.235/4218.235 - Reports of Suspected Abuse or Neglect of Children or Reports of Sexual Assault of Students By School Employees

Rationale: 

17 of the 18 new large buses are beginning service the week of 11/29/2022.  The remaining bus needs to be transported to Connecticut, tested and registered, which will take several weeks to complete.

Rationale: 

The procedure to report cars that illegally pass a bus to the police has been reviewed by First Student and the Bethe Police Department.

Rationale: 

At the end of the 2021-2022 school year, $31,395 was withdrawn from the unexpended funds account to cover facilities expenses.  It is estimated that an additional $265K will be needed at the end of the 2022-2023 school year to fund security projects.

Rationale: 

1st quarter spending will be posted on the district website per state requirements.