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Parents press BOE on grading consistency, PreK tuition, gifted screening and records
Summary
Multiple parents at the June 9 meeting and in a forwarded email urged clearer grading practices, questioned PreK tuition relative to ECS funding, challenged the district's gifted-and-talented screening cut score, and criticized record-destruction procedures; the board did not take immediate action on those requests at the meeting.
Several parents used the public-comment portion of the June 9 Preston School District Board meeting to press for clearer grading practices and to raise other long-standing concerns.
Kara Sawyer, a parent, told the board she disagrees that parents want traditional grading merely because it is familiar and said the more important problem is inconsistency across classrooms. "Sometimes a 100% is a 4 and sometimes a 75% is a 4," Sawyer said, urging the district to ensure grading is consistent at both schools and for middle-school summative assessments.
Haley Hislip, a new parent and a middle-school math teacher, and other parents including Jill Charron and Kelly McNamara said standards-based reporting has left some families confused and unable to help students prepare; McNamara said she felt the parent voice had not been heard after previous discussions.
An emailed public comment from parent Jill Keith, which was forwarded into the record, asked the board to explain why the district charges PreK tuition when she believes the district receives Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant allocations that could cover PreK enrollment. Keith wrote that the ECS (Education Cost Sharing) grant allocation for the roughly 30 PreK children the district reported "is greater than the total all parents are charged," and suggested the board contact the Connecticut State Department of Education (she provided a CSDE contact) to confirm the district's practice. That email also raised concerns about the district's gifted-and-talented screening cut score (noting a 124 Standard Score on district materials) and criticized the district's process for destroying student records.
Board members acknowledged the comments during the meeting record but did not take immediate remedial actions during the session; the transcript shows the board accepted public comment and later approved administrative recommendations on grading. The items Keith raised (PreK tuition/ECS clarification, gifted-and-talented screening thresholds, and record-retention practices) were recorded as correspondence and remain outstanding items for follow-up rather than decisions made at the June 9 meeting.
The board will consider next steps and follow-up as part of regular administrative processes; Jill Keith suggested the board or a member contact the CSDE for clarification on ECS eligibility and practice.
