August 20, 2014 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Rationale:  July 9, 2014 - Special Meeting Minutes

Rationale: 

Communication & Community Relations Finance Operations Personnel Student Achievement Karen Vibert, Chair Jill Fitzgerald, Chair Karen Hintz, Chair Genard Dolan, Chair Jennifer Dube, Chair Jeffrey Morgan Jeffrey Morgan Karen Vibert Thomas O’Brien Jeffrey Morgan Jennifer Dube Christopher Wilson Thomas O’Brien Jill Fitzgerald Karen Hintz Alternates: Christopher Wilson Karen Hintz Genard Dolan Jennifer Dube Jill Fitzgerald

Rationale: 

Dr. Solek will report/update the Board on district topics.

Rationale:  The Bristol Schools will implement a full-day kindergarten program at the start of the 2014-2015 school year. A committee of teachers and administrators has been planning for this program. The purpose of this presentation is to provide the Board with updated information about the full-day kindergarten program.

Rationale:  Christina Chamberlain – Supervisor of 6-12 Humanities & World Languages – Effective July 31, 2014
Samuel Galloway, Sr. – Director of Human Resources – Effective August 25, 2014
Justin Gusy – Assistant Principal/Literacy Supervisor - WB – Effective August 4, 2014

Rationale:  Melissa Cavalieri - MTV - Special Education, Goal – Effective July 28, 2014
Leslie Fazzuoli – STAF – Special Education, Autism – Effective July 29, 2014
Kristine Woods – CHMS – Library Media Specialist – Effective July 1, 1014

Rationale:  Kara Banda – BEHS – Special Education, Functional
Erica Cahill – GH – Special Education, Resource
Kimberly DiVergilio – EPH - School Psychologist
Katie Duchemin – WB – Kindergarten
Emily Ewers – WB – Special Education, Resource
James Hahn – CHMS – Math, Grade 8
Marissa Hamilton – GH – Special Education, Resource
Monica Humphrey – EDGE/MTV - .8 Art
Erin Jones – WB – Grade 5
Alysia LaMay – ID – Special Education, Goal
Michele Monnerat – EDGE – Special Education, Resource
Molly Palmieri – WW – Math
George Porter – CHMS – Science, Grade 7
Sarah Rousseau – EPH – Grade 1
Nancy Simone – CHMS – Math, Grade 7
Sean Van Alstyne – WB – Grade 5
Amy Wernicki – BEHS - .5 Business
Kaitlyn Williams – EDGE – Grade 4
Jessica Zercie – SSS – Special Education, Goal

Rationale:  Molly Doub – BEHS - Math

Rationale:  Ryan Broderick – BCHS – Social Studies Department Head
Elizabeth Porter – CHMS – Team Leader, Silver

Rationale: 

The Board of Education annually appoints, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, personnel to fill the A-2 positions in the contract.  The attached list reflects those individuals being recommended.

 Vacant A-2 positions will be posted and filled as required by contract.

Rationale:  Kevin Komanetsky  - NEMS – Common Core/Smarter Balanced Assessment Leader

Rationale:  Kathleen Archibald – BCHS – World Language Curriculum Coordinator
Carolyn Kielma – BEHS – AVID Co-Coordinator

Rationale:  Please see attached worksheet.

Rationale:  Robert Rottler - Head Outdoor Boys Track Coach- BEHS, effective 6/14/14

Rationale:  The Board of Education annually appoints, upon recommendation of the Superintendent, personnel to fill the athletic A-2 positions in the contract. The attached list reflects those individuals being recommended.

Vacant athletic A-2 positions will be posted and filled as required by contract.

 

Rationale:  The Bristol Board of Education has received a grant from the Bristol Business Education Foundation from restricted funds for $2,500, $1,500 to support the Board of Education Mentoring program and $1,000 to support the Bristol Adult Education Center’s Adult Education Diploma and Certificate Program.

Rationale:  This grant for the Family Resource Center at GHS will permit the FRC to continue services to families and students. GHS FRC will implement seven components of service including preschool Play & Learn Groups, school age care, Parents as Teachers home visiting program, home daycare provider training and support, adult education support, positive youth development, and resource & referral services. Funding for FY 2014-2015 is $109,500.

Rationale:  This grant is part of the inter-district cooperative grant program. The grant budget and abstract are attached.

Rationale:  The Bristol Board of Education mentoring program received a grant for $2,300 from the Liberty Bank Foundation to support the peer to peer mentoring program at West Bristol School.

Rationale:  Bristol FRCs are requesting $5,000 of funding from the Main Street Foundation General Fund to implement TOPS (Translation, Outreach, Programming and Support Services) for Spanish speaking parents/children residing in the West Bristol School district. Grant Funds will be used to hire a per diem Spanish Speaking Outreach Worker to provide culturally competent social work services to parents/children ensuring that their educational needs and family goals are achieved (aprox. 8 hours per week). The FRC Outreach Worker will provide translation services at PPTs, parent-teacher conferences and other needed correspondence done in Spanish. In addition, we expect to complete at least 25 Family Assessments. The Outreach Worker will use the Family-Partnership Assessment tool which will assist parents in identifying their needs in the following areas: education, employment, housing, transportation, support service needs, health/wellness, finances, childcare/parenting. The parents will then be connected to FRC and community services to meet their identified needs.

Rationale:  This grant for the family Resource Center at SSS will permit the FRC to continue services to families and students.  SSS FRC will implement seven components of service including preschool Play & Learn Groups, school age care, Parents as Teachers home visiting program, home daycare provider training and support, adult education support, positive youth development, and resource & referral services.  Funding for FY 2014-2015 is $109,500.

Rationale: 

Bristol FRC’s, in collaboration with the Bristol Community Organization, is the 3^rd year of a 3 year grant cycle.  This grant from the United Way will provides Ages & Stages Screenings (ASQ) to approximately 150 children ages birth to five served by the FRC’s and BCO.  FRC staff will conduct Ages & Stages screenings at the FRC and at BCO.  The ASQ is designed to screen children for development delays during the critical first 5 years of life.  The ASQ is completed by the parent and a certified FRC Parent Educator who reviews their child’s development across these development domains: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social.  The Parent Educator scores the ASQ and reviews findings with the parent and makes appropriate referrals and recommendations to the parent.  The ASQ has high reliability and validity with strong evidence supporting it as an effective early detection tool.

 This grant is funded at $10,900 for FY 2014-2015.

Rationale:  This grant for the Family Resource Center at WB will permit the FRC to continue services to families and students.  WB FRC will implement seven components of service including preschool Play & Learn Groups, school age care, Parents as Teachers home visiting program, home daycare provider training and support, adult education support, positive youth development, and resource & referral services.  Funding for FY 2014-2015 is $109,500.

Rationale: 

BACKGROUND:   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: 

1. Sign in on the Public Comment sign-in roster.
2. Wait to be recognized by the Board Chair.
3. Proceed to the speaker’s microphone.
4. Preface your remarks by stating your name and address.
5. Direct your comments to the Board chairman.
6. Please limit your comments to three minutes.
7. Any comments should be made in an appropriate manner, particularly if concerning a personnel matter.

 Board Policy #1120(a)

Rationale:  Each year, the Bristol Board of Education must affirm that the documents contained in our manuals and online are its policies.

Rationale: 

This insurance covers students who participate in our athletic programs and other extracurricular activities and is available for purchase by parents for other students.  

We have received our renewal premium through Bob McCloskey Insurance, carrier for the CREC consortium, and underwritten by the Arch Insurance Company for $73,800 and Accidental Medical Benefit for $2,790.

Our 2013-2014 policy cost was $76,590. There was no change in premium from last year. 

The voluntary student insurance program from the Starnet Insurance Company (A Berkley Company) is available for between $11 [dental] and $93.50 [24 hour] annually per student. Parents may enroll on-line.

Rationale:  Last year, revisions were approved for high school English curriculum for Grades 9-11; now the revision to English IV for Grade 12 marks the end of a two-year effort to align English courses to meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards. As with the curricula in the earlier grades, this was revised to reflect recommended shifts toward more reading of nonfiction and writing of information/explanation and argument. The course for Grade 12 is also more vertically aligned to that of Grade 11 to foster collegial conversations among teachers of those different grade levels.  

Rationale: 

Earlier this year, the College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program and creates curriculum expectations for its various courses, revised its curriculum of Advanced Placement United States  History. To offer an Advanced Placement course, schools must submit a course syllabus for approval from the College Board. In anticipation of earning this approval of programmatic fidelity, Bristol must revise its course curriculum to align with the new expectations. 

Rationale:  With the implementation of full day Kindergarten, Music education will now be offered to all Bristol students K-12.  This curriculum revision reflects that addition as well as the new National Core Music Standards and the Common Core State Standards.

Rationale: 

With the implementation of full-day Kindergarten, there needed to be a review of the current kindergarten curriculum.

This incorporates the Common Core State Standards of Literacy and Mathematics into the Kindergarten Physical Education curriculum.

Rationale: 

With the implementation of full-day kindergarten program, students will receive art instruction by a certified art educator. The kindergarten art curriculum needed to be revised to align with the National Core Art Standards and to vertically align with Bristol’s art curricula in grades 1 to 12.

The document submitted is based on work by the Elementary Art Curriculum Writing Committee, with input from the elementary art staff. The committee consisted of Lori Eschner, chairperson, and teachers Jen Chase, Robyn Fonteyn and Karen Pileski.

Rationale: 

The Kindergarten Art Curriculum has been revised to align with the National Core Arts Standards.  Art textbooks are an essential resource and support SBAC and the alignment of the Language Arts Common Core Standards with the National Core Art Standards.

The document submitted here is based on work by the Elementary Art Curriculum Writing Committee: with input from the elementary art staff. The committee consisted of Lori Eschner, Chairperson and the following teachers- Jen Chase, Robyn Fonteyn and Karen Pileski.

Rationale:  The Operations Committee of the Board of Education has reviewed our current policy and regulations and determined that changes in this policy may enhance extra-curricular programs for students by providing recognition of donor supporters.

Rationale: 

We propose to continue the Bring Your Own Technology pilot project at Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern High Schools throughout the entire school so that all instructional programs can benefit and learn about this technology. Additionally, we propose to implement a Bring Your Own Technology pilot project for grade 8 students only at Northeast Middle School to be used throughout the entire school.

As part of this pilot, students will be allowed to bring their own technology devices and use them in the classroom as part of the teaching and learning process.  The goal of this pilot is to expand student access to technology for learning and to enable them to use technology tools to understand content, add meaning to their learning, solve real-world problems, conduct research, collaborate with peers, and actively engage in learning. 

In order to allow students to use their own technology as part of this pilot program, we are requesting that the Board waive a specific section of the current policy (5131.81) about electronic devices.  The portion of the policy to be waived is:

…cellular telephones may not be turned on during the school day. Use of the device shall be limited to the period before classes being in the morning and after the student’s last class in the afternoon. Such devices shall not be used during instructional time…

 

This BYOD pilot extension would be in place for the remainder of the 14-15 school year. In the spring of 2015, a written report highlighting the lessons learned from this pilot will be will be presented to the Board along with proposals for all related policy changes

Rationale: 

The policy for grade weighting / class ranking was last revised in 1995 and was due for an update. This revision does not reflect a change in practice but rather additional information to enhance the understanding of the policy for students, parents and staff. In particular, descriptions of each level of coursework, from Advanced Placement to instructional support, were added as was a chart illustrating the respective quality-point values earned at each level.   

Rationale: 

The Board of Education will discuss any old business proper to come before the Board.

Rationale: 

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

Rationale:  The Board of Education should reconvene into Public Session to take any votes on matters discussed in Executive Session.

Rationale:  The being no other business to come before the Board of Education the meeting should adjourn.