At the Thursday, February 16 New Fairfield Board of Education (BOE) meeting, Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Craw and Pupil Personnel Services Director Ms. Katherine Matz reversed a plan to cut the Early Learning Center by two sect ions next year, thereby going down from four to three classrooms. Instead, given the latest data about incoming students, they believe that the program would be better suited for four classrooms. Matz walked the BOE through potential scenarios for classroom seats to illustrate the findings that a fourth classroom is justified. She stressed that “ELC, by design, is an inclusive setting and an integrated setting, which means in order to provide students their free and appropriate public education in their least restrictive environment, there needs to be at least as many general education students or typical peers as there are students with disabilities.” She went on to say, “We believe deeply in this model. It is backed by research, and we find our program to be very, very effective for the students that go through it.” 

There was a discussion about funding and whether this would impact the budget that will be presented to New Fairfield’s Board of Finance on Saturday, March 4, but Cr aw assured the BOE that the school will sort out the funding within the existing budget amounts. BOE members were buoyed by the thought that more tuition-paying families will help offset the increase in staffing and related costs that will be incurred due to the shift.

In a new school buildings update, Director of Business and Operations Ms. Carrie DePuy

explained that work was completed to ascertain what caused the roof leaks in the new elementary school addition. She said, “There are some concerns around the sheetrock that was damaged but they’re going to make sure that the leak is fixed first, after a heavy rain, and then they’re going to address the wall damage but right now they just want to make sure it’s fixed properly.” She went on to say, “The fire tanks are still leaking so we do have a schedule of filling them up. They don’t quite know exactly what’s going on yet. We are maintaining water levels.” DePuy went on to say, “good news around the playground—the parts are in, so they’re scheduled to be fixed early next week when the kids are not here. It is a temporary fix though, not a permanent fix, the permanent fix will happen in the summertime.”

Updating on the ongoing Middleton Drive bus traffic, DePuy said, “We did move six buses off Middleton in the morning and afternoon. So, there’s a lot less traffic. While I think the ultimate goal of residents would be to have no bus traffic, they do seem to be happy with the compromise.” She went on to say, “I think that ultimately there will be more convers ations about other alternatives but right now, the feedback was generally positive.”

BOE members observed a moment of silence to honor school psychologist, Sarah Gelish, who tragically passed away on Monday, February 13. In his Superintendent’s Report, Craw thanked the many staff and external groups who were involved in helping the community throughout the week. He stated that the school community would be wearing purple the day after the meeting in honor of Sarah and for epilepsy awareness.

In his Chairman’s Report, Mr. Dominic Cipollone commented on a number of electronic device policies and pondered if these go far enough to protect students. “I’ll go so far as to suggest we revise policies with the consideration that we have students check their devices when they come in and retrieve them when they leave. I think they’re becoming an impediment to learning and a major distraction. I think something needs to be done immediately.” He also referenced the recent CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary and Trends, an 89-page report with startling findings about sexual behaviors, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and behaviors and experience such as violence. He noted that the report shows that mental health is continuing to be a major issue for teens.

BOE members approved the upcoming April trip to Belize, a detail that had not been completed after the revival of a canceled version of the trip before the pandemic. Craw stressed that “Obviously, ideally, we would have liked to have gotten this request to you much earlier.” After looking at the itinerary, Cipollo ne expressed hope that the trip could be further connected to curriculum in the future. Craw agreed and said that administrators are planning to “take a look at our processes for requesting and approving these trips. Particularly that connection to the curriculum, because that’s really the purpose of field trips is to enrich the classroom experience.” He went on to say, “that process generally occurs about a year in advance of an international trip.”

The next regular Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 2, 7:00 p.m.

By Sarah Opdahl