Joanne Putnam, secretary at KIS, was one of our September employees of the month.  Rose Hindle, the Central Office accounts payable/receivable clerk, is our October employee of the month.  Both have been invited to be recognized by the Board.

Members of the Killingly community are encouraged to share their thoughts with the Board of Education and are invited to do so during this segment of the meeting. When appropriate to do so, members of the Board and the administration may respond to comments. However, in consideration of those in attendance and in an effort to proceed in a timely manner, follow-up discussion may need to take place outside of the meeting setting.

 

Mrs. Marilyn Oat, principal of KMS, will share the latest news from Memorial School, including the use of technology and assistive devices.

This year's free/reduced lunch count, 42.06%, is the highest in the twelve years we have been collecting data in a consistent way; it is a 34% increase over that time period.  An increase of this magnitude has significant impact on the services we need to provide to support students academically and socially.  See attached chart and memo for more detail.

Typically, Strategic School Profiles are released at the end of October or the beginning of November; they are not yet published.  By statute we are required to present them at the first board meeting after their release.

Annually, superintendents present awards to students who demonstrate exemplary achievement in academics, co-curricular activities, or community service.  This year the ceremony will be held at Killingly High School on Monday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m.  Killingly awardees will be honored at the December BOE meeting.  Attached is a list of awardees with the reasons for their selection by their school.

At the last Board meeting, it was requested that administration prepare a listing of professional development activities related to the District Improvement Plan and School Improvement Plans. 

One of the consequences under NCLB is that when a school is in Year 2 of Needs Improvement, the district must set aside funds to provide Supplemental Educational Services (SES).  SES is essentially tutoring provided by outside agencies to eligible students if requested by their parents.  The funding comes from our Title I grant; we need to set aside 20% of the grant for SES.  Mr. McNamara will provide further information and explanation of both the requirements and restrictions.

MOTION: to approve the consent agenda:

a: EOM Nominee for November 2011
b: regular board meeting minutes from October 12 and 26, 2011
c: payment of bills for the 2010-11 year in October of $28,098.52 and for the 2011-12 year in October in the amount of $1,270,383.35

You received in the mail a copy of the CABE proposed resolutions for the Delegate Assembly on Thursday,  November 17.  (The Board selected Jennifer Thomas as delegate and Hoween Flexor as alternate at the last meeting.)  If there are particular resolutions of interest that you'd like to discuss with the Board, please bring them with you.  Action by the Board on a particular resolution is only necessary if the Board wants to bind your designated delegate to a particular position on that resolution at the Assembly.

The General Assembly passed Public Act 11-232, "An Act Concerning the Strengthening of School Bullying Laws, which makes significant changes to the existing statute.  This new law makes substantial changes to and expands the definition of bullying and other terms, expands school oversight to off-campus and cyber-bullying, imposes new obligations on school employees, and requires school districts to develop a Safe School Climate Plan, appoint a Safe School Climate Coordinator, provide in-service training.  The changes are significant enough that a new policy is required (rather than trying to revise our existing one).  The proposed new policy was reviewed by the Policy Committee at their meeting on September 26, and the Board approved it on a first reading basis at its October 12 meeting.

Several changes to legislation and CT State Department of Public Health regulations governing required immunizations for enrollment in school have left our existing regulation out of date.  The proposed changes simplify the language in the regulation and attach the list of immunizations as updated annually by DPH.  In the future, the only change required would be replacing the list of immunizations when so advised by the DPH. The proposed new policy was reviewed by the Policy Committee at their meeting on September 26, and the Board approved it on a first reading basis at its October 12 meeting.

As part of Public Act 10-111, School Governance Councils are required to be established in schools that did not make AYP as of July 1, 2010; in Killingly, that means that KMS and KHS must establish councils by November 2011.  The statute outlines council membership and means of election.  School Governance Councils serve in an advisory capacity to school administration if the following areas: developing a School Improvement Plan, reviewing the school's draft budget, participating in the hiring process for school administrators, assisting the principal in making programmatic and operational changes, and developing a written parent involvement policy and school compact.   There are also limitations on the responsibilities of councils listed in the legislation.  The statute also imposes obligations on school districts for training council members. 

This is not a required policy, though the creation of School Governance Councils in designated schools is.  Given the scope of the statute and the obligations it imposes on the district and individual schools, it makes sense to adopt a new policy to make those  obligations clear.  The proposed new policy was reviewed by the Policy Committee at their meeting on September 26, and the Board approved it on a first reading basis at its October 12 meeting.

This proposed change is a small technical change due to legislative action that now permits expelled students between the ages of 16 and 18 to enroll in an adult education program as the alternative educational program without having to withdraw from school.  Consequently, only the single affected page of the much larger student discipline policy is included.  The proposed new policy was reviewed by the Policy Committee at their meeting on September 26, and the Board approved it on a first reading basis at its October 12 meeting.

The revision is recommended by the Board's attorney, to conform with statutory language.  The Board approved it on a first reading basis at its October 12 meeting.

The Fiscal Committee will meet on November 1.  If they recommend a line item transfer at this time, it will be presented for Board action.