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Superintendent updates Danbury board on family events, farm-to-table partnership, federal funds and policies
Summary
The superintendent reported on an October Family University event, a greenhouse partnership with Connecticut Food for Thought and Chartwells, federal Title I/II/III funds released to the district, cell‑phone policy rollout, transportation operations and plans to revisit dress-code and strategic planning.
During the superintendent’s report to the Danbury Board of Education, the superintendent provided multiple operational updates: a Family University community event scheduled for Oct. 18, expansion of farm-to-table and greenhouse programming, the district’s federal funding status, implementation feedback on a new cell-phone policy, transportation operations and plans to refresh the district strategic plan and dress-code policy.
The superintendent said a flyer for Family University is in the board packet and invited board members to attend. The district plans programming that includes a “pollinator” session on bees and honey.
On food and agricultural programming the superintendent said Chartwells, the district’s food service provider, is collaborating on school garden and greenhouse work and that the district will tour Connecticut Food for Thought’s hydroponics facility in Torrington, where the organization operates production that also supplies local retailers. The superintendent said district staff and some teachers and engineers will visit the facility to learn about greenhouse and hydroponic production and help set up the district program.
On federal funding, the superintendent reported that Title I, Title II and Title III funds had been released and populated into the district’s eGMS system. The superintendent advised the board the district expects Title II funding to disappear next year; she said only about two staff members were paid from Title II this year and the district has planned to absorb those positions into other grant or district funds so recurring positions will not be left unfunded.
Regarding the cell-phone policy, the superintendent said implementation “is going quite well,” with few behavioral issues. She said students are cooperating, phones are being locked up and teachers have expressed appreciation for fewer classroom distractions. At the high school level the superintendent said seniors were the only class reporting some adjustment difficulties.
On transportation, the superintendent said routes and dismissals have been “in really good shape” after the early-year adjustments, and that delays were typical of a bus-operations ramp-up. The district is monitoring runs between the West Side campus and main campus for after-school activities and said it might consider a student passenger van in the future to support internships and inter-campus transportation as campus programs grow.
The superintendent also said funds are set aside to buy ambassador jackets for student leaders modeled on a program seen in Nashville and that student ambassador training has begun.
Finally, the superintendent reminded the board the district’s strategic plan runs through 2027 and recommended beginning public engagement in spring to refresh priorities, and said the district will restart a review of the dress-code policy using stakeholder feedback similar to the cell-phone policy review process.
Board members asked clarifying questions about grant allocations and requested a future finance meeting item to detail the composition of Alliance grant spending and projections for grant-funded staffing.
