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Board hears multiple policy updates; policy committee keeps current cellphone rules under review
Summary
District staff reviewed new and revised policy proposals — including mandatory restorative-practice and military-children policies and updated special-education and leave policies — and said the policy committee recommended no immediate changes to several technical items, while a stakeholder group will study high-school cellphone rules.
District staff reviewed a set of new and revised board policies and technical edits during a Wallingford School District Board of Education meeting, describing several mandatory actions required by recent state public acts and explaining committee recommendations for further stakeholder review on cellphone rules.
The presenter (identified in the transcript as district staff responsible for policy updates) said the district is proposing a new mandatory policy on restorative practices to align with the Connecticut school climate policy approved in August. The presenter also described a proposed policy (policy 6159) on individualized education plans that had been updated to reflect new statutory provisions (the transcript cites “public act number 25-67, public act number 25-143 and public act number 25-15”) and said the updated guidance moves that item from a recommended to a mandatory policy. The presenter said the planning and placement team (PPT) language was revised to explicitly allow a district administrator or designee to be on the PPT when required.
A second new mandatory policy the presenter described (policy 05/2002) concerns educational opportunities for children of members of the armed forces; the presenter summarized statutory protections that allow a child to remain enrolled at their current school for the remainder of the school year if the family receives transfer orders, and — for eleventh graders — potentially an additional year. The transcript records the legal references and that the provision follows public act 25-25.
Staff also described a package of revisions and technical edits: updates to the non-lapsing education fund policy (03/1971) to reflect reporting requirements under public acts referenced in the presentation; curriculum policy updates to incorporate state requirements for personal finance and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies and to publish curriculum materials on the district website beginning July 1, 2026; special-education reporting requirements (policy 6171) tied to public act updates; and revisions to Family and Medical Leave Act policy to reflect state changes expanding coverage under Connecticut family and medical leave and paid family and medical leave laws.
Board members asked questions and made comments. One board member thanked staff for the memo summarizing changes; another asked why the middle-school survey is opt-in (a question during the earlier presentation). A board member requested that the policy committee—s decision on cellphone and electronic communication devices (policy 5131.81) be revisited; the presenter said the policy committee heard that request and recommended no changes to the K—8 provisions, and that the building principals will convene a stakeholder committee (students, parents, board members) to review high-school cellphone practices over the coming year for possible changes in the 2026-27 school year.
On procedural items, the presenter said several technical edits had already been made to replace a now-vacant assistant superintendent of personnel title with the appropriate personnel-office contact or a central-office designee in policies for nondiscrimination, Title IX and related forms. The presenter also said agenda-construction timing was discussed by the policy committee and that the committee recommended no change to existing timelines.
No formal board votes on the policy adoptions or revisions are recorded in the transcript excerpt. The policy committee—s positions and staff recommendations were presented for the full board—s awareness; the presenter and board members identified next steps for some items (for example, stakeholder committee formation for cellphone policy and minor textual corrections to the leave policy).
