Attleboro School Committee Round-Up

In their meeting Monday night, the Attleboro School Committee tackled a full agenda.

The committee heard a presentation on the new program started in the fall of 2011 called "School Within a School." The program, funded by a three-year federal grant, takes students who show warning signs of potential trouble in high school and puts them in a more focused, concentrated learning environment.

According to Dean Martin Tighe, who also helps run the program, SWS is doing remarkabley well, with a 94 percent attendance from students and a large majority of the students in the program are doing much better.

Eight students received an honorable mention last semester. SWS teacher Kelly Reed said that the students responded much better to the new approach,and that all the classes students in the SWS program are exactly the same as regular school classes.

-Director for Teaching & Learning Excellence Nancy Sprague gave a presentation on the Massachusetts Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Survey.

She said that the survey covers key education issues available time, facilities and resources; community engagement and support; instructional practices and more. Sprague said that Attleboro would need to have a 50-percent participation rate within their schools to get the results of the survey, which should be in the mail in the coming months.

-The school committee also 8-0 against a motion that would continue to allow school bus contractors to park and store their Attleboro buses in the high school parking lot. The decision came with some controversy, as the contract could be cheaper (but, since the line item is not in the school budget, would not affect school services) and complaints concerning exhaust issues in neighboring areas and space limitations within the lot.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to allow the purchase of a van for the Special Education Transition Program.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to approve the use of the high school parking lot to Camp Ramsbottom for drop offs/pickups in the summer contingent upon Camp Ramsbottom providing liability insurance prior to the commencement.

-The committee approved two separate motions that would allow the committee to put in alternative five and 10-year bids on transportation and facilities contracts. The committee approved the five year alternative motion 8-0 and the 10-year alternative motion 6-2, with vice-chairperson Brenda Furtado and secretary Barbara Craw voting against.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 that would ask school officials, as well as the committee, to request that the current unfunded mandate put forth by the state requiring transportation for displaced students be put to a funded mandate.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to approve Policy KLG: Relations with Law Enforcement Authorities.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to approve the re-designated Policy KLG-E1: Drugs and Alcohol in Schools.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to approve re-designated Policy KLG-E2: School Resource Officer.

-The committee approved a motion 8-0 to approve of Policy JFAAB: Full-Day Kindergarten.

-The school committee approved all field trip request proposals, which include:

Attleboro High School Cheerleaders to attend the National High School Cheerleading Championshp in Orlando, Fla. from March 23-26 for 20 students in grades nine-12. The trip is parent-funded.

-Approved a trip for Aug. 22-26 for 70 to 80 students in grades 10-12 to attend the Dan Duquette’s Sports Academy in Hinsdale, Massachusetts. This is Blue Pride Gridiron Club funded.

-Approved a request for the Coelho Middle School, 178 grade eight students, to attend High Meadow in Granby, Conn. June 18.

The school committee voted 8-0 to accept all donations presented to the Attleboro school system at the meeting. These donations include:

A donation from Bristol County Savings Bank in the amount of $20,000 for graduation and dropout prevention programs at Attleboro High School.

A donation from the Rome Boulevard Race to be deposited in the gifts/donation fund at Attleboro High School:

A donation from Follett Educational Services in the amount of $334.36 for Hill-Roberts Elementary School to be deposited in the gifts/donation fund.