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Superintendent reports HIB findings, suspension totals and seeks vendor approvals
Summary
Superintendent Peter Pilas told the board the March HIB report found allegations unfounded and reviewed suspension totals by school; he asked the board to approve coaches and contracts for an athletics‑scheduling platform and a district observation database to streamline evaluations.
Superintendent Peter Pilas presented the March Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) report and school suspension figures at the New Milford Board of Education meeting.
"All allegations of HIB were unfounded," Pilas said when describing how the district’s Absentee/Behavioral Support (ABS) process reviewed each submission. He reported the breakdown of suspensions for March: New Milford High School had six students suspended for a total of 17.5 days (including a mix of in‑school and out‑of‑school days), DEO recorded 19 students suspended totaling 20 days, and Berkeley recorded one student serving one day of in‑school suspension.
Pilas said suspensions are undesirable but sometimes necessary and that repeat behavior may result in progressively longer consequences. He also announced athletic scholarships totaling $15,000 had been awarded and that academic scholarship details were still being finalized.
On personnel and procurement, Pilas congratulated a math supervisor who will fill an assistant‑principal maternity‑leave posting at the middle school and said the district has filled fall coaching positions. He requested approval to contract for a scheduling platform for athletics (referred to in the presentation as Arbor Sports) so the district can reduce double‑bookings and streamline facility reservations. He also sought board approval to move to Frontline Education with a "McCrell" license (as described in the presentation) for observations and teacher‑evaluation data, saying the change would centralize observations, SGOs, PDPs and other measures in a single database and make state uploads easier with a single button.
Business Administrator Stephanie Pichard separately reported that the district has submitted final completion paperwork for a high‑school roof project to the state and is awaiting a field inspection that would release roughly $500,000 in final grant payment; she also described constraints on the budget calendar tied to tax‑levy‑incentive aid and that the district is adjusting supply procurement to save money next year.
The board did not record a vote on the superintendent’s requests during the portions of the transcript provided.
