February 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM - Regular Board Meeting

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Rationale:  Meghan has been invited to attend the board meeting.

Rationale:  Joan Gardner will be making a brief report on the news at KCS.

Rationale:  Laurie LeClerc will give her annual report to the Board on the Alternative to Suspension Program.  This program is designed as an alternative to out of school suspension, providing community service, counseling and tutoring components for high school students serving suspensions of three days or longer.  Past data indicates significantly improved recidivism rates for students who participate in the program.

Rationale:  Mr. Murray will report on his recent lobbying trip to Washington, and discussions with our Congressional representatives.

Rationale:  Mr. Murray will report on his discussions with Town Council Chair Young on establishing a joint ad hoc committee to follow up on the recommendations of the Facilities Study.

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Rationale:  Preliminary budget books will be distributed.  The Fiscal Committee continues to meet to review the base budget,  decision packages requested by principals and supervisors, and possible reductions.  Given the nature of current economic conditions, the committee's work is substantially different this year than in the past.  They plan on finishing their work on February 23; there is a special meeting of the BOE scheduled for March 4 to start the review of the budget. 

Rationale:  Typically, the first draft of the school year calendar for next year would be under development in February.  Due to the new high school opening, calendar development will be delayed for several months this year.  As we anticipate a mid-year move, around April 2010, into the new building, scheduling of school vacation times to support the move requires as much information about the occupancy date as possible.  I do not expect to have that information from Gilbane until the end of March; consequently, draft 2009-10 school calendar discussions will be delayed until April at the earliest.

Rationale:  Attached is an updated enrollment projection from NESDEC.  In examining the projection distributed in December, we discovered that some of the October 1 enrollment figures were incorrectly reported, under-reporting actual enrollment.  Since the incorrect figures were for the elementary grades, this had a ripple effect throughout the projection period.  Reviewing the revised projection, one can see that although our district enrollment is still projected to decrease over the next ten years, it is at a much slower pace than the earlier report predicted.  Please replace the report dated December 8, 2008 with the one dated January 29, 2009.

Rationale:  It appears that the bid from AT&T, as reported last week by Ben Aldrich, is in fact the lowest responsible bid and the alternative that provides the best service for the district.  As authorized by the Board at our last meeting, I have approved this option and directed him to move forward with that project.

Rationale:  At the direction of the US State Department, the College Board and Hanban have been required to change the terms of the guest teacher program.  I will brief the board on these changes, the implications for our Chinese language and culture courses, and possible alternatives.

Rationale:  Approval of Consent Agenda items include:

a. approval of regular meeting minutes of January 14, 2009 and January 29, 2009 and special meeting minutes of January 8, 2009
b. approval of payment of bills for the year 2007-2008 in January in the amount of $19,493.00 and for the 2008-2009 year in January in the amount of $1,221,482.81
c. approval of Employee of the Month
d. approval of CT Office of Policy & Management - Data-Based Attendance Initiative Grant
e. approval of Systems Object Report
f. approval of Senior Class trip request

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One of the Board Goals is to “Provide a relevant, personalized, engaging curriculum (by enhancing career pathways at the high school).”  The Board has contributed to this goal by increasing the number of credits required for graduation in Career & Technical Education and the Arts for the class of 2010 and beyond from one credit to two.   In order to continue to strengthen the connections between high school and life beyond high school for all students, the high school administration is requesting that all students participate in one of 23 current career pathways.  This action would compliment the work done by the school counselors with each student in the creation of a 4-Year High School Academic Plan and a Post-Secondary Career Plan.  I also would support the work done by the freshmen in the Success 101 course where a 10-year plan is developed.  Finally, it would allow the high school to continue to address the aforementioned goal by moving ahead with the development of a portfolio system that would have both an academic and a career focus.  

Rationale:  In accordance with Policy #9160, the Board needs to initiate the process for selection of student board members for the 2009-10 school year.  The Board will also need to establish an ad hoc committee for the purpose of recruiting, interviewing and selecting student members.  The Chair also will need to appoint members (Policies 9132 & 9121, respectively).

Rationale:  The scheduled April 8 regular Board meeting conflicts with the first night of Passover.  It is requested that the meeting be rescheduled to Tuesday, April 7.