Students and staff report on robotics, facilities and early-term activities; student rep praises cell-phone ban

At the Sept. 8 board meeting, Jim Sitomer, Kingswood Regional High School math and robotics teacher and District Robotics Coordinator, and three students presented the robotics team, showed one of the robots and described the team’s goals and community programs, including the Birthday Box initiative. Sitomer and the students encouraged board members and community members to sign up for the program newsletter and answered board questions about team participation and events.

Superintendent Caroline Arakelian reported a successful first week of school, outlined upcoming Open House dates and described work to irrigate and treat the Kingswood turf fields after a difficult summer. She also thanked those who helped ready modular classrooms at Carpenter School and noted a bid package is available on the District website.

Arakelian introduced senior Bryce Sandlin as the new Student Representative. Sandlin gave a multi-topic update on athletics and activities and on the student experience using the district’s new Infinite Campus platform for grading and schedules. He said students and faculty have adapted to the new system and singled out the statewide school-day cell-phone ban as having a positive effect: "From my observations so far in the school, the statewide cell phone ban has been very productive, and kids seem to be less distracted in class and more likely to interact with each other and socialize at lunch and in between classes," Sandlin said. He also noted Kingswood football, field hockey and volleyball opened the season with wins and provided other sports updates.

Board members and administrators encouraged community engagement with extracurricular programs; no formal actions were taken on the robotics presentation or the Carpenter modular update beyond the informational reports.