This spring, 109 students qualified for the Seal of Biliteracy, 32 students more than the year before. Students qualified for the Seal of Biliteracy based on their demonstrated proficiency in Albanian, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, and Portuguese. Students demonstrated proficiency they have acquired through their coursework in Bristol or their lived experiences by taking a variety of different assessments, including the AAPPL, STAMP and OPI/WPT. Seniors who qualified were awarded the Seal this year, while other students who qualified will be awarded the Seal at graduation. Their success represents the rich cultural diversity of Bristol Public schools and the hard work of students and teachers over the course of many years.

Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern track team members recently participated in Nationals Competitions.

Bristol Central
Frankie Porrini, III and Treshawn Blair
Coach Tamara Stafford

Bristol Eastern
Rayshon Andrews, Jack Mulcunry, Preston Poirier, Justin Sanchez, Ryan Braccia and Kaelyn Gonzalez
Coach Paul Ryskowski

1. June 7, 2023 - Regular BoE Meeting Minutes

Communication & Community Relations	Finance	Operations	Personnel	Policy Committee	Student Achievement
Kristen Giantonio, Chair	Dante Tagariello, Chair	Eric Carlson, Chair	Dante Tagariello, Chair	Kristen Giantonio, Chair	TBD, Chair
Shelby Pons	Kristen Giantonio	Russell Anderson	Eric Carlson	Shelby Pons	Kristen Giantonio
Russell Anderson	Maria Simmons	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula	Maria Simmons	TBD	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula
Alternates:
Maria Simmons	Russell Anderson	TBD	TBD	Jill Fitzsimons-Bula	Maria Simmons

Chair Dube will update the Board and the public on topics related to the Board of Education.

Dr. Carbone will report/update the Board on the following topics:

1. District Updates

• PreK Update
• NEMS Update
• School to Farm Update
• 2023-2024 School Year Update

Lombardo, Cynthia - BEHS - Guidance Counselor

Carosella, Joseph - BAIMS/NEMS - Wellness Teacher
Hamedi, Jennifer - BAIMS - Grade 6-8 Science Teacher
Friedman, Rebecca - SSS - Grade 2 Teacher
Marlak, Rachel - EDGE - Kindergarten Teacher

Ward, Katt - BAIMS - Grade 6-8 Science Teacher

Gworek, Gary - NEMS - Yellow Team Leader

Sheedy, Kara - NEMS - Yellow Team Leader

Bourke, Logan - BEHS - Math League, Co-Advisor

Teachers trained to serve as TEAM (Teacher Education and Mentoring) mentors and cooperating teachers provide assistance and support to student teachers and first year beginning teachers in the district in areas such as lesson design and classroom management and provide feedback and support in the areas of instructional planning and student assessment. Cooperating teachers are those teachers who are trained to work with student teachers. We need to increase the number of cooperating teachers in the district in order to meet the need of student teachers. Mentors must be assigned to first-year teachers to provide mentoring and support to newly certified teachers; this program is required by the State Department of Education. Principals recruit teachers to apply to be a TEAM mentor/cooperating teachers; the applications are reviewed by the TEAM Coordinating Committee. The following teachers were approved by the TEAM Coordinating Committee and are recommended to be TEAM Mentors/cooperating teachers.  Approved teachers must attend a three day training program and update their training every three years.

 

Teacher	Assignment
Jessica Epps	Districtwide Special Education

The Bristol Family Resource Centers have been fully integrated into the climate and culture of the school community since 1997. The FRC’s follow a statewide seven (7) component model supporting families residing in the school district as well as families with children ages birth to 5. The seven (7) components include but are not limited to, school readiness programs, collaboration with before/after school programs, home visitation services, parent leadership training/education, support for home daycare providers, and positive youth development. It is the mission of the Bristol Family Resources Centers to strengthen the relationships between schools, families, and our community. The renewal grant applications includes equal funding for Greene-Hills School and West Bristol School FRCs. The lead applicant is Sarah Holmes, FRC Program Director. The renewal application is due July 19, 2023.
COST: approx. $203,450     FUNDING SOURCE: SDE

 

Members of the public are invited to comment to the Board on any topic related to school business. Items requiring consideration by the Board must be approved as an agenda item by a 2/3ds vote of the Board members present.  Such items may be referred for further study and not necessarily acted upon at this meeting.

Anyone wishing to address the Board should adhere to the following procedures:

Before a Remote Meeting - Submitted Public Comment must be received by 4:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

1. Send your comments to: susaneverett@bristolk12.org
2. Be sure to put PUBLIC COMMENT - BOE in the subject line.
3. Include your name and address.
4. Direct your comments to the Board Chair.
5. Your comments will be read at the meeting by the Board Chair.
6. All comments should be written in an appropriate manner, comments regarding personnel or confidential student information shall not be discussed under public comment.
7. Any comments not adhering to the guidelines will not be read at the meeting.

During a Meeting

1. Everyone is requested to address the Chair for recognition.
2. Each speaker must state his/her name and address.
3. All speakers must observe rules of common etiquette.  Personalities are not to be injected. Anyone violating this rule will be denied the floor. Unless waived by the Chairperson or a majority of the Board,
4. Each speaker shall limit his/her remarks to three (3) minutes.
5. A speaker will not be recognized for a second time on the same topic.
6. The public may speak as agenda topics come up for discussion or information.  Anyone digressing from the topic will be ruled out of order.
7. Written statements and materials may be made available, in advance of comments, for distribution to Board members.
8. Speakers shall state their positions on the subject being discussed.
9. Board members will not respond directly to comments during the Board meeting. The Superintendent will direct the question to the appropriate staff member for follow-up

The Board of Education agreed to waive the staff dress code for monthly dress down days that would benefit students and/or staff.

Attached is this year’s list of charities and the monthly amount raised. Staff donated a total of $23,801.00 for the 2022-2023 school year.

Amy Martino, Director of Special Services will update the Board regarding Special Services programs and topics.

The curriculum is based on the Connecticut Health and Balanced Living Curriculum Framework. Students will participate in activities that promote social-emotional well being while working on improving physical fitness and team building skills. They will be given a solid foundation which will extend into an opportunity to develop intermediate and advanced skills. An emphasis will be placed on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and physical fitness to address the increase in childhood diseases. Students will assess personal needs, interests, abilities and opportunities related to physical fitness with a focus on personal improvement. 

The curriculum is designed to allow students to select from a variety of activities which include:

1. Team sports: ex. Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball 

       2. Individual and health-related activities, e.g., weight training, weight control, walk/jog, aerobic conditioning activities. 

       3. Lifetime, leisure activities, e.g. Badminton, pickleball, and backyard games.

A preview of this revised 6-8 grade Physical Education curriculum was presented at the Student Achievement Committee meeting on June 21, 2023. There it was motioned and approved to move to the full Board of
Education meeting on July 12, 2023 for a First Reading. Commissioners are invited to contact Mrs. Hale with questions prior to the August meeting where it will be presented for a second reading.

This is a revision to the existing 6th grade exploratory curriculum at BAIMS.

This is a revision to the existing 7th grade exploratory curriculum at BAIMS.

The PreK mathematics curriculum was last updated in 2015. The curriculum was written in alignment with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) standards and the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards (CT ELDS). The NAEYC standards require a curriculum that helps ensure that teachers are intentional in planning a daily schedule that (a) maximizes children’s acquisition of desired knowledge and skills through the effective use of time and materials and (b) offers opportunities for children to learn through play and through structured activities, individually and in groups, according to their developmental needs and interests. With this in mind, the PreK curriculum was revised to allow further opportunities for play-based instruction, which were designed to engage children through the use of contextual themes, games, stories, mysteries and intriguing problems, manipulatives and visual models.

With the release of the Bristol Career Concentration areas and Pathways, many courses required realignment to ensure the courses were best for the career area and pathways. Introduction to Business is a new course that was generated to support all of the pathways in the Business and Communications Career Concentration areas. The course builds foundational knowledge in the areas of  economics, management, business law, marketing and accounting & finance.

Accounting I and II are articulated with Tunxis Community College. As a result of this articulation the district must agree to use the same textbook options as the college. Laurie Roberge and Sharon Jacques conducted a textbook audit on the 2 potential textbooks offerings and scored each using the BPS textbook adoption rubric. 

The two books included:

• Century 21 Accounting, 11th ed., General Journal, Gilbertson, Lehman, Gentene

• Financial Accounting 17th ed, Carl Warren, Jefferson P. Jones, William B. Tayler, Cengage Publishing

 Upon review and scoring, Century 21 Accounting book was selected as a better fit for the content of the course and the students reading abilities.

With the release of the Bristol Career Concentration areas and Pathways, many courses required realignment to ensure the courses were best for the career area and pathways. Introduction to Business is a new course that was generated to support all of the pathways in the Business and Communications Career Concentration areas. The course builds foundational knowledge in the areas of  economics, management, business law, marketing and accounting & finance. This required the identification of a resource that contained all of the concepts in the course. Teacher Brett Bisson and Effrin Ellison completed an audit of 3 textbooks to find the best alignment for the new course contents. 

• BUSN-12: Introduction to Business (Cengage)

• Foundations of Business (BE Publishing)

• Better Business (Pearson)

After completing a robust textbook rating sheet, Mr. Bisson and Mr Ellison recommend to the BOE the adoption of the BUSN-12: Introduction to Business.

The Board will discuss any new business proper to come before the Board.

Any communications/information regarding building projects:

1. NEMS Building Committee Report
2. Edgewood Project Update
3. BC/BE Culinary Arts Project
4. Athletic Fields and Site Upgrades

Commissioners will report to the Board on any groups/organizations in which they serve as Board of Education Liaisons and information pertinent to the Board.

Commissioners at middle and K-8 schools will give a liaison report.

There being no other business to come before the Board, the meeting should be adjourned.