May 6, 2009 at 7:00 PM - Regular Board template

Students in Bristol Eastern's UCONN 1070 course, Individual and Family Development, compete annually in a Hartford Hospital research competition regarding mental illness.  They have taken first place the last two years in the high school division and this year were mandated to move to the collegiate division due to the superior quality of their work and presentations.

The students project won for the third straight year, now at the collegiate level, and the class has been awarded a $1,000 cash prize for their work.  On April 29, our students will present their findings to the medical staff at the Institute of Living.  UCONN had been notified by Hartford and we will be featured in an upcoming university publication.

The students will give an abbreviated presentation of their project to the board this evening.

     Mary Cocuzza – WW – Math

     Rochelle DeKow – CW –  .5 Art

     Judith Friedman – SSS – Grade 1

     Lisa Gianni – EDGE/ID – Instructional Support

     Melinda Sykura – NEMS – Guidance

Michael Drury – Asst. Track & Field ½ boys & ½ Girls Coach – BCHS, eff.:  3/23/09

Eric Butkiewitz – Baseball Program - BCHS

The committee comprised of Commissioner Barbara Doyle, Dr. Susan K. Moreau, Officer Jeff Beauchamp, and Thomas Murrone met recently to choose the award winners from a list of 20 nominees.

A dinner in their honor will be held on May 20, 2009 at 5:30 p.m.

AWARD RECIPIENTS:

Erin Bedrossian – Special Education Teacher, Stafford Autism Program

Joan Bossi – Literacy teacher, CHMS

Christopher Cassin – Assistant Principal, CHMS

RoseAnn Chatfield – Kindergarten Teacher, South Side School

Peter Fusco – Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds

Diana Glownia – Special Education Paraprofessional, Edgewood School

Kim Hapken – Director of Special Services

Jodi Jenkins – Secretary, NEMS

Kristen Kasidas – Literacy Teacher, Edgewood School

Andrew Magnan – Special Education Teacher, MBMS

Kevin McCormick – Special Education Teacher, NEMS

Mary McCormick – Grade 2 Teacher, Bingham School

Margaret Shapleigh – Special Education Teacher, Stafford Autism Program

Matthew Stellmach – Social Studies Teacher, NEMS

Janice Stetson – Secretary, Mountain View School

Our students will travel to Madrid, Spain for 8 nights in April, 2010.  Our dates of travel are April 14th-22nd. The students will live with Spanish families, attend classes, sightsee and be exposed to a new cultural experience.  The Spanish exchange students will be arriving on September 4th -14th, 2009 and will be residing in our homes for approximately ten days.

Bristol offers a variety of Summer School programming for students in kindergarten through grade 12.

Elementary:

Enrichment: These courses provide enrichment activities for elementary students. Enrichment courses are self-supporting. Tuition pays instructor salaries. The Director and secretary salaries are funded from the Board of Education budget. This program will be held at Ivy Drive School.

Intervention: A literacy intervention program is offered for students in grades K-3, who demonstrate significant weakness in reading.  Priority school districts are required to offer a summer reading program to children exiting kindergarten who need additional reading and writing instruction.  Additionally, priority school districts must require students, who are substantially deficient in reading based on the May administration of the DRA, to attend summer school unless exempted by the superintendent of schools, upon recommendation of the principal, based on the student’s progress on the literacy plan.  This program is grant funded. This program will be held at Hubbell School.

Middle School:

This program offers the opportunity for students to make up courses for which they did not receive a passing grade.  Grade 6-7-8 students required to make-up courses attend on a non-tuition paying basis. The Director of Secondary Summer School, the secretary positions, and teacher salaries for grade 6-7-8 make-up classes are funded by the Board of Education budget. This program will be held at Bristol Eastern High School.

High School:

Courses offered in this program allow students to obtain credit for courses not successfully completed during the academic year. Grade 9 and 10 students required to make-up courses attend on a non-tuition paying basis. The Director of Secondary Summer School, the secretary position and teacher salaries for grade 9 and 10 make-up classes are funded by the Board of Education budget. Students pay tuition for grade 11 and 12 classes. This program will be held at Bristol Eastern High School.

The social studies curriculum was revised and approved in April 2007.  At the same time, we reviewed the materials and resources we had available to teach each course, determined which courses were in the greatest need for updated resources, prioritized, and developed a plan that would ultimately provide each course with the best resources possible.  The final course for which we need to provide more updated and thorough resources is Law and Justice.  The books students currently use are over ten years old. The books are worn from so many years of use.  More importantly, the content that is provided in the current text is no longer current given the many changes and additions to law in the past ten years.

The committee of social studies teachers is recommending for approval the following textbook:

• Street Law,  published by Glencoe McGraw-Hill

AP Statistics is a new elective in mathematics that has been designed for the college-bound student who is interested in data and statistical reasoning.  This course is equivalent to a one-semester, introductory, non-calculus based, college-level course in statistics.  The purpose of the AP course in Statistics is to introduce students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data.  Students are exposed to four broad conceptual themes, including exploring data, sampling and experimentation, anticipating patterns, and statistical interference.  AP Statistics data analysis is dependent on the use of the TI-83+ or TI-84+ graphing calculator and/or computer statistical software.  For this reason, a search for a textbook for the course ensued.

     In the textbook adoption process, all textbooks were examined for alignment with the Bristol AP Statistics curriculum and the CT Mathematics Framework.  All textbooks were considered for supporting research data, recommendations, both authentic and traditional assessments, and supporting materials.  All textbooks considered are available on CDs or with on-line access.     

The committee of AP Statistics teachers is recommending the following textbook for approval:

• The Practice of Statistics (3^rd edition) by Daniel S. Yates, David S. Moore, and Daren S. Starnes, New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2008.

Please read the attached document for details regarding the selection process and information regarding supplementary materials.

The Connecticut State Department of Education requires authorized signatures on Form ED-099, Agreement for Child Nutrition Programs. The attached form must be approved by the Board of Education to designate Philip Streifer, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools and William Smyth, Acting Assistant to the Superintendent for Business as authorized signers for this form.

In Accordance with the City of Bristol’s Article IX. School Building Committees. “Projects of a routine nature (e.g. a roof replacement project) and are projected to cost less than $1,000,000 the city board of education may request that the mayor and the city council appoint the operations committee of the board of education as the school building committee.”

The City Council also needs to Authorize the preparation of Schematic drawings, outline specifications for the proposed project and authorize the filing of the grant application.