May 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  Western Connecticut Superintendent Association Student Recognition Awards
Two students from Bethel Middle School and two from Bethel High School will be recognized at a ceremony on May 19th.  The Western Connecticut Superintendent’s Awards are given to students who exhibit a commitment to community service, demonstrate academic prowess, and provide leadership in the school community.  These students’ outstanding work ethic in the classroom, generosity in the community, passion for the arts, and leadership within their schools, are among the reasons they have been chosen for this prestigious honor.  This year's recipients were:  

• Bethel High School - Emma Yale and Yuvraj Soni
• Bethel Middle School - Nicholas Gusitsch and Mackenzie Messinger

Congratulations to Rayan Narayanan! Rayan won the 2025 CT 4th grade championship tournament today held at Manchester High School, CT. This is the state level chess championship tournament held for each school grade individually. The participants play 4 rounds SS (Swiss style) and each round is for 25 minutes with 5 second delay (G/25 d5). The tournament is conducted by the CT State Chess Association and all chess players from CT are eligible to attend this tournament.

Congratulations to Sriyan Desiraju! His "Focus Upgrade" gave him an invitation to the Connecticut Invention Convention State finals at the University of Connecticut’s Gampel Pavilion, where he won the following awards:

• The CASE Award - recognizing outstanding innovators in 7th & 8th grade who exemplify the founding values of CASE
• CT Science Center Award - recognizing inventive young students whose inventions represent outstanding combinations of ingenuity and creativity. These students' inventions will be showcased at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, CT
• Amazon Innovation Award - recognizing an exceptional inventor who exemplifies the core characteristics of ingenuity and entrepreneurship in the field of consumer goods and technologies.

Julia Bender, BHS student, is an ASAP! Selected Young Writer in 2025.  ASAP!’s 20th Annual Celebration of Young Writers received 174 submissions from 38 CT towns. The judging panel was extremely impressed with the quality of writing this year, and selected 8 pieces to be read at our annual fundraising event on May 31, 2025.

We are happy to share that Julia Bender, from Bethel High School, was selected to read her piece Rose Colored Lenses.

Each selected Young Writer will receive a gift from sponsor, Simon & Schuster Publishing, and a certificate of achievement from Senator Blumenthal. This year, one student will be presented with the Jean Farley Levy Award For Excellence In Writing. The 8 selected pieces will be published on the Celebration of Young Writers webpage after the event.

Congratulations to Luke Richardson for winning the 200 meters at this year's Loucks Games.  

Congratulations to Lia Kantor, who set a new school record in the triple jump posting a mark of 34' 6.5"  

Rationale:  The CABE Student Leadership Awards are given to recognize student achievement and potential.  These students were picked from among their peers for exhibiting leadership qualities as defined by the criteria developed by CABE.  The Board recognizes the level of achievement of these students.

The Board would like to congratulate the following students on receiving the CABE Student Leadership Award for 2025: 

Bethel High School, Luke Richardson and Annabelle Souza; Bethel Middle School, Olivia McMurray and Zahra Khan.
 

Rationale:  Districtwide

• Hi-Lo Activity Chair & Accessories, $4,581, Caryn Schajer, Bethel, CT

Rationale:  Annually, the school principals present their school improvement plan aligned to our district's Theory of Action and our Strategic Plan.  In October, they presented Part I.   As requested, the Principals are returning to revisit their progress towards meeting the goals, strategies, and action steps previously outlined.  

Bethel High School Improvement Plan Presentation

School Improvement Plan - Bethel High School - Part II

 

Rationale:  Annually, the school principals present their school improvement plan aligned to our district's Theory of Action and our Strategic Plan.  In October, they presented Part I.   As requested, the Principals are returning to revisit their progress towards meeting the goals, strategies, and action steps previously outlined.  

Rockwell School Improvement Plan 2024-2025

Berry School Improvement Plan 2024-2025

Rationale:  (Please note:  The Board welcomes Public Participation and asks that speakers please limit their comments to 2 minutes.  Speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them.  The Board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about Board of Education personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Bethel Public School System.)

Rationale:  Monthly Data  -  We include in the BOE agenda the monthly data as requested by the BOE.  

Rationale:  The revisions to this policy represent the changes made to the Shipman policy.

Policy 6141.322 - Bring Your Own Technology

 

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Policy 4118.52 - Use of Private Technology Devices by Employees
 

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This policy was required effective July 1, 2025 by CGS Section 10-222jj, requiring each Board of Education to adopt a restorative practices response policy to be implemented by incidents of challenging behavior or student conflict that is non violent and does not constitute a crime.  The policy requires the administration to develop a continuum of strategies to prevent, identify and respond to challenging behaviors.  The policy was reviewed by our Social Emotional Learning Collaborative and District Climate Committee.  

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EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBLE USE OF THE DISTRICT’S COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS Policy

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS REGARDING EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBLE USE OF THE DISTRICT’S COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS Regulation

 

Policies for revision with marked revisions are from Shipman and feedback from AI Community of Practice. Please note that these policies were revised last year by the Board; however, a month after we revised them Shipman updated the language to include AI. It is appropriate to bring them back to the Board committee for review.   Both sets reflect the appropriate use of technology.  This set of policy and regulation reflect employees, and the next agenda item is the policy and regulation for students.  

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STUDENT RESPONSIBLE USE OF THE DISTRICT'S COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND INTERNET SAFETY Policy 

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS REGARDING STUDENT RESPONSIBLE USE OF THE DISTRICT'S COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND INTERNET SAFETY Regulation

 

Policies for revision with marked revisions are from Shipman and feedback from AI Community of Practice. Please note that these policies were revised last year by the Board; however, a month after we revised them Shipman updated the language to include AI. It is appropriate to bring them back to the Board committee for review.   Both sets reflect appropriate use of technology.  The first set of policy and regulation reflect employees, the second, students.   

Rationale:  The loss of coaches will have a significant impact on how our district functions.  While many people often assert that they have no value because they do not work directly with students, those comments are very short-sighted.   They have a tremendous impact on teacher practice, which affects student outcomes.  

We are looking to eliminate the coach position and reclassify three of the positions into (K-8) Curriculum Specialist.  These will still be to support teachers in their implementation of Tier 1 or regular education instruction in all aspects of teaching and learning.  Here are some distinct differences from our current coaching model:

• They will not be content specific.
• Successful candidates must have extensive experience and depth of knowledge in curriculum development and implementation, effective pedagogy, data analysis, facilitation of the Professional Learning Community structure and providing feedback.  
• This position will be paid at the contractual salary based on the teacher's salary schedule and will not include the additional per diem (outlined in the BEA contract) stipend.  

Job Description - Curriculum Integration Specialist (Grades K-8)

Rationale:  Every year we present the Board of Education a list of teachers who will be eligible to receive tenure on the first day of school, in the 2025-2026 school year.  

Tenure is achieved after 40 months (4 years) if the teacher or 20 months (2 years) if they have achieved tenure in another school district.  

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• CSDE requires annual certification by the Board of Education for participation in the Healthy Foods Certification Program
• In participating, Bethel can only serve beverages, foods, snacks and a la carte items that have been specifically approved by the CSDE.
• For participation, the District receives and additional 10 cents reimbursement from the State on each meal served. This is important to the financial success of our program.

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Key Points of the Briefing:    

 

1. To raise the school lunch prices to cover increases in labor and food costs and continue to have the school lunch program run at or above break-even and to meet the USDA Paid Lunch Equity requirements. Proposal: Raise student lunch prices by $0.15 at all schools.  Elementary will be $3.40 and Middle School and High School will be $3.75. These increases will help the district to comply with the Paid Lunch Equity requirements set by the CSDE and USDA.  Breakfast at all schools will remain at $2.50 for all students. All student meals include a milk option. Adult meal prices also need to comply with CSDE guidelines, therefore, Adult lunch will increase to $5.25 and Adult breakfast will increase to $3.75. Adult meals do not include a beverage.

2. To set the price for reduced priced breakfast at $0.00 instead of $0.30 for the year 2025-2026.  This will continue to encourage participation in the breakfast program and ensure that our neediest students are fed each morning.  The cost to the board should be less than $3,000. 

3. Action Requested of the Board of Education: Motion needed.

Rationale: 

Pursuant to Board of Education Policy, the following tuition rates for non-resident students attending Bethel Public Schools are recommended:

                         2023/2024       2024/2025     2025/2026     % Increase

Elem/Middle     $15,064           $15,514          $16,541         6.62%

High School      $17,381           $17,900          $19,085        6.62%

These tuition rates do not include transportation.  Additionally, Special Education rates will be calculated as needed based on the costs of a specific program with related services.  The Special Education costs are not discounted.

Rationale:  By contract, the Board of Education has to approve a one-year child-rearing leave for a Leave of Absence.  I highly recommend this request.  

Rationale:  During the 2024-205 school year, we piloted a 5 x 5 teacher schedule or 5 classes the first semester and 5 the second.  The pilot went successfully.  We agreed to review it at the end of this school year and extend it based on that success.  The MOU would extend it through the length of the contract, with the idea being that it would eventually be negotiated into the contract.