Southington High School committee recommends tighter senior dismissal rules to preserve courses and class coverage

Southington — School leaders described a months-long review and a proposed reconfiguration of the high school senior dismissal program at the Southington Board of Education meeting on May 7.

The committee leading the review said the current system allows many seniors to leave midday without a requirement that the time be tied to work, internships or other supervised learning. "I noticed every day between 12:15 and 12:45, between 250 and 300 students are leaving the building," said the high school administrator who introduced the proposal. The committee warned that the pattern reduces enrollment in Block 4, prevents some senior-level and AP classes from running, and strains staff coverage.

Why it matters: Committee members said the exodus is preventing students from taking electives and college-credit courses and is creating schedule imbalances that force some classes to run with very low enrollment while others are overcrowded. Marissa Kudlow, the math department lead, said the school currently has no senior math class during Block 4 because too many seniors request dismissal; "we have…