October 19, 2023 at 7:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

• Bethel High School has been accepted into the Connecticut FAFSA Challenge as a Tier II school. The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) was impressed with the strategies and innovative ideas for improving FAFSA completion rates outlined in the BHS application, and the CSDE is excited that Bethel High School has chosen to participate.
• Congratulations to Brittany Kearney, Rockwell School Art Teacher. Brittany has received the 2023 Connecticut Outstanding Elementary Level Art Educator of the Year. 
  This award recognizes and celebrates her exemplary contribution to the field of visual arts education in Connecticut.
• Congratulations to Sofiane Hilmi, Toby Johnson, Surya Kumar, Brian Nguyen, Tristan Scott, Rohan Sinha, and Hannah Van Rijnswou who were named commended students in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship program.  About 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.  They are among the top 50,000 students who entered the competition by taking the 2022 PSAT.
• Thank you to MW Photography, family photographer Melissa Wilson who donated her time to take photos at Night at the Johnson Library. Melissa makes the professional photo files available for free to parents. Johnson's PTO President, Cassie Stevenson posts the photos for parents. She did this for our Special Friends Dance last spring, too. They are a special memory for our Johnson School families.

Rationale:  Gifts:

• Donation of fence at BMS for an outdoor recess area.  

Grants:

• FAFSA Challenge Update - Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) grant for $7,445. This award includes the $1,000 prize for any school that achieves its 2022-23 FAFSA Challenge goal. 
• High Dosage Tutoring - Dr. Brooks and the Bethel Middle School Team wrote a grant for High Dosage Tutoring.  This grant, specifically focused on tutoring in the area of mathematics, is to provide small group tutoring, with the outside provider, Smart Start Education.  The grant total is $286,000.  This will provide much-needed support in mathematics.  The funds need to be expended by 2025.  
• Primary Mental Health Grant, $20,000. The primary objective of the project is to provide supportive and child-centered tier 2 intervention, and increased communication and collaboration with parents/guardians, for students in grades K-2.
• Donation of Literacy Libraries (K-3) - Due to the fact that we were part of the initial pilot for the Science of Reading, the Connecticut State Department of Education will be providing literacy libraries for all K-3 classrooms.  

Rationale: 

Mr. Troetti will be providing a brief presentation on the BHS School Improvement Plans for the 2023-2024 school year.  The purpose of the presentation is to provide the Board with an overview of the focus of the schools based on the district Theory of Action.   

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. 

Rationale: 

The BHS Pathways Program is designed to connect students with specific interests to a concentration of study. This program allows students to increase their depth of knowledge, participate in internships and/or other varied experiences, and provides them with an opportunity to earn a certificate upon graduation.  There are six Pathways:

Arts Pathway
Education
Global Studies
Business
Healthcare
Career Technical Readiness

Mr. Troetti will provide an overview of the status of the programs, including enrollment.   While many of the Pathways started strongly, COVID had a significant disruptive impact on student enrollment and participation in the Pathways.  Students were not able to do internships during those years.  

Rationale: 

The administration will provide the Board of Education with an update on revisions made to the action steps within the Strategic Plan by the Strategic Planning Committee.   The larger Committee met last Spring to review district data and the latest educational research to consider themes from the data that emerged.  This September, the Committee consolidated those themes to make minor revisions to our plan.  Specifically, we wanted to ensure:  

• Our work in the Science of Reading was reflected in the document.  
• The workaround intellectual engagement or where our students are cognitively engaged in tasks that represent rigorous grade-level standards.  
• We removed language that specifically referred to an acceleration of learning standards as a result of the pandemic.  We feel that our work is to continue to focus on instruction towards grade-level standards.  
• Elimination of language around digital portfolios and personalized learning inventories.  While this would be a future goal, it is not a current priority given all other needs.  
• Added action step to strengthen relationships with families as partners in supporting academic outcomes.  

As previously stated, the revisions were minor.     

Strategic Plan 2020-2025 - Fall 2023
 

Rationale: 

The Bethel Board of Education requested a review of all dues and fees charged to families.   The attached spreadsheet provides an overview of the results.  

In the analysis of the information, it is important to note that not all dues and fees are collected by the school system and most are a result of optional participation in after-school clubs, athletics, or activities.  If a student is not able to pay the fees due to being eligible for free or reduced lunch, then the fee is waived. 

In the first spreadsheet BHS & BMS Student Dues & Fees, there is a list of all fees charged to students, including all extracurricular activities.  We were also asked by Mr. Foster to get data from a few other communities, which is indicated in the spreadsheet.  There is a worksheet for BHS, BMS, and dues we pay to outside organizations (part of the operating budget).  Some of the fees listed are outside the scope of what you might consider extracurricular activities.  We can discuss that more at the meeting.  Again, we just wanted you to have a comprehensive list.  

The fees listed only apply to the core activities.  If the team makes any type of advancement in the competitions, there are additional charges for families.  

The second spreadsheet is a current list of Pay to Play (just athletics) in our region and DRG.  2023-2024 Pay to Play by Region and DRG

Rationale: 

As you are all aware, Mr. Germinaro is retiring at the end of this school year.   As is practice, we like to update the job description prior to engaging in the hiring process. We also believe that his job has changed significantly.  While at one point, the job may have been more "hands-on", now it is much more about project management and supervision of staff.  The changes in the job description reflect those changes in the role.   

Job Description 1.09 - Supervisor of Facility and Security Operations

Rationale: 
Job Description 6.07 - Payroll Coordinator

Rationale: 

• Invitation to BOE members to attend K-5 Family Math Night, November 16, 2023, at 6:30 PM at Johnson School from Mrs. Legnard, K-3 Instructional Math Coach.

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: 

• Reminder - BOE members need to accept or decline calendar invites for BOE and committee meetings. 
• Girls' Golf

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

Rationale:  At our August retreat, the Board contemplated livestreaming meetings.  The suggestions in this policy would provide parameters based on the Board's recommendations.  


Policy 1120 - Board of Education Meetings

Rationale:  Policy 6141.321 - Student Responsible Use Policy for Use of District Technology Resources  (Policy last revised  5/19/20, Form last revised  5/19/20)

Shipman model regulation
 

We would like the Board to take a look at the Shipman policy.  Additionally, we've added suggested language around filtering and learning using safety management systems. 

Rationale:  Policy & Regulation 4118.5 - Employee Responsible Use Policy for Use of District Technology Resources (Policy last revised  6/25/15, Regulation last revised  6/25/15.  
 

 

Rationale:  Policy 5131.81 - Electronic Devices


This policy has not been updated since 2000.  It is extremely outdated.  The administration provided input.  

Rationale: 

1. The changes in the policy reflect the updated minimum requirements for insurance for groups/organizations.
2. Our Director of Athletics recently met with the Manager of the Track and Field Center to look at the rental fees.  Both think that it is appropriate to have a tiered system to include nonprofits, other high schools, and college/professional organizations.  The new fee schedule in the regulation reflects those changes.   

Policy & Regulation 1330 - Use of School Facilities
 

Rationale:  The Committee met and discussed ideas the schools will be implementing regarding literacy initiatives to engage parents.