Superintendent's Newsletter
May 2018
District Meeting: May 7th and Referendum Vote: May 8th
Tonight the Board of Education will meet at 7:00 p.m. for a brief Board of Education meeting before the District Meeting which will be held in the CRHS auditorium at 8:00 p.m. At the District Meeting, the Board will give a brief review of the expenditures and receipts and the impact on both communities. The meeting is moderated and the public is welcome to make comments and ask further questions at the end of the meeting after the Board makes a brief presentation. The referendum vote will be held tomorrow from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Middlefield Community Center and at Korn School.
The budget that the community will be voting on is a 0% increase from the current year’s operating budget. The referendum vote is on the expenditures side only which is $36,819,319. Although there have been recent school reconfiguration conversations, it is important to note that next year's budget does not include funding for a particular option as this decision has not been made yet. The budget continues to support improvements in our district that are directly aligned with our goals as stated in our Strategic Coherence Plan. We have directed our human and fiscal resources to the areas that most significantly impact the improvement we have identified in student achievement, well-being and engagement. The Board of Education budget represents necessary changes that responsibly address declining enrollment and decreases in state funding to Durham and Middlefield. (Please reference my newsletters from February and March as well as Board of Education minutes for specific information on the proposed budget and Board discussion throughout the budget process.)
Brewster first graders at the Beardsley Zoo
Memorial 4th graders visit the State Capitol
Shoreline vs. North Branford softball game
Utilization Committee
The Utilization Committee met last week to continue examining the options for school reconfiguration. In attendance at the May 3rd meeting were representatives from Silver Petrucelli who presented a modified version of the two Pre-K-5 and K-5 elementary schools design that they had originally proposed in January 2017. Materials that were shared with the committee on this less expensive option are on the district website (www.rsd13ct.org-Board of Education-Utilization). The Board discussed the feedback that they received at the Community Information Session that was held on April 25th including how best to keep parents and the community up-to-date on discussions and decisions made by the Board of Education relative to this matter. The survey that was mailed to all residents is also available online and the completion time frame has been extended until this Friday, May 11th. Parents and community members who would like to complete the survey can do so by going to our website at www.rsd13ct.org and scrolling down to Announcements - Utilization Survey and School District Reconfiguration Information and clicking on the link. The Board of Education is interested in your feedback. Your comments and suggestions are encouraged and valuable.
Strategic Visioning
The next Strategic Visioning meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 15th from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the CRHS library. Please RSVP to your child’s school office if you plan to attend. Childcare will be provided, but you must RSVP by this Friday, May 11th to your school office with the names and ages of the children you will be bringing. Once again, this will be a potluck meeting like the last evening meeting. We will start this meeting with a group of high school students who will discuss their Regional School District 13 experience and give feedback on the “more of/less of” prompt we discussed at the last meeting. We will continue our work as a group in identifying our “vision of the RSD 13 citizen”. The feedback from the Strategic Visioning process will be used to inform the Board of Education in their reconfiguration decisions.
7th graders piloting Reader's Workshop at Strong
Practicing math skills at Brewster
Grade 1/2 spring concert at Lyman
Teacher Appreciation Week
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. All staff members in RSD 13 are seen as valuable teachers of our students. Our school community is fortunate to have exceptional and committed teachers and staff who care for and guide our students regardless of their age. Please join me in communicating to our incredible teachers that they are “simply the best”.
Kathryn Y. Veronesi, Ed.D
Email: kveronesi@rsd13.org
Website: http://www.rsd13ct.org
Phone: (860) 349-7200