Policy committee approves welcoming and transportation-complaints policies and reaffirms vehicle-search rule

The New London Board of Education Policy Committee approved a set of policy actions at its Oct. 8, 2024 meeting held by Zoom, including a policy aimed at supporting immigrant and refugee students, a revised transportation-complaints policy and a reaffirmation of the district’s vehicle-search policy.

Policy 5111.3, titled “Welcoming Immigration and Refugee Communities and Protection of Undocumented Students,” was included on the consent agenda and approved by the committee without objection. The consent agenda motion carried 3-0.

The committee adopted Policy 3541.5, “Transportation Complaints,” and voted to amend the policy’s second paragraph to read “Superintendent of Schools or Designee.” The amendment and the main motion as amended were both approved 3-0.

The committee also reaffirmed Policy 5145.121, “Vehicle Searches on School Grounds,” by a 3-0 vote. Chair Nathan Caron relayed a question from absent member Bianca Alexis-Sylvain asking whether any vehicle searches had occurred so far this year; Kristea A. Francolino, Manager of Executive Support Services, responded that to her knowledge there had not been any vehicle searches this year.

Votes and motions were moved and seconded from the committee membership and resulted in the recorded outcomes above. No public comment was recorded.

The committee took no further substantive action on school searches beyond reaffirmation, and there were no referrals or implementation tasks assigned in the meeting minutes.