Schools

No February Break for Students in 2012; BOE Approves School Calendar

Students honored, hiring of two new elementary school principals and BOE relocation briefly discussed at March BOE meeting.

The March Meeting was highlighted by the many honors student athletes and club members received for their achievements. And even before the meeting got underway, the state-champion Branford High School Dance team for the Board.

When it was back to business as usual, the Board approved the new school calendar (see both options, number 1 was chosen in PDF); funds for project graduation were approved; and both the BOE office relocation and selection of two new elementary school principals were briefly discussed.

Meeting in a Minute

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  • It may have been on the forefront of many minds, but the of the BOE offices at 1111 Main St., in exchange for the commercial property Office Network at 178 N. Main St., was only briefly brought up at the March BOE meeting. Schools Superintendent stated the BOE has gone before the and presented a schematic of the renovations to the current Canoe Brook Center where the BOE may go. The renovations, which allow up to 19 employees to be housed in the space as well as accommodate the BOE’s needs now and in the future, was called “a viable option and one of many,” by Hernandez. The cost of the move and renovations is estimated at ¾ of a million dollars according to Hernandez.

  • You can find out which students were honored by the BOE at this meeting in the included PDF. Hernandez stated of the more than 40 middle school and high school students recognized, “Our students on a daily basis perform outstanding feats.”

  • Hernandez reminded meeting attendees that there will be a BOE budget meeting for the public on Thursday, March 24 at the Canoe Brook Center at 7:30 p.m. You can join the conversation about this meeting on Wednesday’s Family Talk on Branford Patch.

  • Six candidates for the two open elementary school principal positions at Mary R. Tisko and John B. Sliney schools have been presented before a committee of teachers, Board Members and selected parents. Committee members met on March 7 and March 15 to preview applicant information and this week will be conducting interviews on two days. The committee members have all signed confidentiality agreements and cannot discuss the process. The committee will then recommend candidates to the Superintendent for the next round of interviews. Those chosen will be revealed sometime in May according to Hernandez. You can join the community Q&A about the process .

  • The Teaching and Learning Committee presented two 2011-2012 school calendar options to the BOE with option number 1 approved (both calendar PDFs included). There will be 10 snow days (four more than 2010-2011) allowed; this was a direct result of the make-up days following this year’s deluge of snow and closing of most schools for seven days (Francis Walsh Students had nine snow days as a result of ).  If there are more than 10 snow days, make-up days will be taken from April break. The 2011-2012 school year will begin Thursday, Sept. 1 (with teachers starting Monday, August 29) and tentative release day will be June 8. There will be two days off in February (21 and 22), but no full week off until April break when students are off April 16-20.

  • In other calendar news, students will make-up missed days due to snow removal from school roof on June 23 and 24, with the 24 being a half day). WIS graduates on June 23.

  • Field trip requests for BHS Model Congress to travel to Columbia University in in New York on April 2 and Princeton University in New Jersey on April 7-9 was approved.

  • $10 per student or $2,800 for Project Graduation (after graduation event) was approved for Branford High School students.

  • The Communications Committee shared they had done and informal survey of students’ at-home internet usage but did not have results and they also brought up the suggestion of having BOE members go paperless at all future meetings.


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