June 15, 2023 at 7:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

• Congratulations to both Bethel Middle Schools students Lily Friedland and Avini Shah for being awarded the Connecticut Association of Schools Scholar Leader Awards.
• Disha Lal and Dev Lal, Grade 6, BMS, recently participated in the Lt. Governor's Computing Challenge 2023 and out of the 25,000 submissions, theirs was one of the 25 selected for recognition!  The students were invited to attend the award ceremony on 6/9 in Hartford where Connecticut's Lt. Governor, Susan Bysiewicz, and Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Lavoie, and other Leaders presented certificates of recognition to all of the 25. 
• Toshan Bhattacharya, Grade 8, BMS, won three more awards over the weekend. The CT Science Center Award Innovation in Open Source Award by Red Hat and the NBC and Comcast - Connecting You Award

Rationale:  None.

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:  Great ending of the school year & graduation ceremonies (despite the rain)
After Action Report - Met with Chief and Patrol Sergeant regarding recommendations
Collaborative with Special Education Transportation 
Legislative Update 

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

Rationale: 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• In June 2021, The Right to Read Act-Legislation HB 6620 was passed. It requires districts to implement an  evidence-based reading curriculum. (July 2023)

• The District Literacy Team reviewed programs from the state approved list using specific criteria including instructional design, evidence of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, alignment to the standards, and Multilingual Learner considerations. 

• We selected My View (Savvas) and Into Reading to pilot with teachers from Berry, Rockwell and Johnson School.

• The team selected My View (Savvas) 2020 for the following reasons:

  • Comprehensiveness/Rigor of curriculum and materials

  • Differentiated instruction-meeting the needs of all learners

  • Assessment and data-driven instruction

  • Connections to the global competencies and emotional intelligence

  • Correlation to our science program

  • Strong teacher support

• The total cost of the program is $620, 745.13

  • This includes all teacher manuals, digital subscriptions, student books, literature, classroom libraries and intervention materials for all K-5 classrooms

  • All professional learning is also included.

• Payment Structure (Attached)

Rationale:  Recently Mrs. Variale met with the EMS Captain to review procedures for bus accidents.  In the previous policy, fire and EMS were always sent out for bus accidents.  This gives flexibility to the administration to determine if EMS is necessary, when often it is not.  This item is for information only, as it is a regulation.  

Regulation 5141.11 - School Bus Accidents

Rationale:  As you are aware, the minimum wage has increased.  The increase was gradual, with the last step effective June 1, 2022.  As a result, we needed to adapt our daily rate for substitutes and, at the same time, adjust our building subsitute rate.  Here are the recommended changes:   
 

Category	2022-2023 (through 6/1)	2023-2024
Daily Sub	$95	$100
Building Sub	$105	$110

Linked here, you can see what other districts' daily rates are.  

Rationale:  Key Points of the Briefing:

* It is important to the Bethel Board of Education that an excellent Food Service Management Company administer the food service operations for the district in accordance with all of the regulations of the National School Lunch Program under the direction of the USDA and the CSDE.
* The CSDE reviews all renewal documents between districts and FSMCs and has approved moving forward with this renewal.

Recommendation:
 

1. Sodexo can charge an increase of up to 8.2% (the CPI) for this coming school year, but they are charging an increase of 6.0% to cover rising costs but understand the challenges of the upcoming school year.
2. Sodexo has been a good partner and will work creatively with the district.
3. The management fee will not exceed $39,522.10 and the administrative fee cannot exceed $78,841.74 for the contract year.