February 1, 2010
Dear Parents,
The Board of Education has approved the calendar for the 2010-2011 school year.
I would like to highlight some of the major changes for next year and the rationale for them.
No Child Left Behind and the Connecticut State Department of Education require school districts to provide Scientifically Researched Based Instruction (SRBI) that includes the formation of building data teams. The purpose of the data teams is to create common assessments that can be administered to all students to determine if he/she is learning curricular concepts in a timely fashion. If this is not happening, the same data team would derive interventions to ensure student success.
Data teams look different at different levels: in the elementary grades they are comprised of grade level teams; at the high school they are organized by department.
To provide teachers with time to meet, we have added five, two hour delayed openings : October 25, January 14, February 3, March 4 and May 4. We have cut back on the number of full-day Professional Development Days and added an additional day of instruction for students. The first student day will be Thursday, September 2, 2010 with graduation slated for June 20, 2011.
We are excited about the work that the data teams are doing and know that it will help us provide for more individualized student instruction. Please do not hesitate to speak with the principals or with me if you have further questions.
Sincerely yours,
Susan L. Viccaro,
Superintendent of Schools
