Milford School Board Approves Neighborhood School Policy Update

MILFORD, CT - The Board of Education approved a policy update that makes it clear that students should attend schools in their own district or neighborhood.

But officials say they also have addressed some parent concerns and in some cases students already attending out-of-neighborhood schools will be grandfathered in, reports Milford Mirror Editor Jill Dion.

The school board’s vote was 6-4 and the highpoints of the updated policy and vote are:

• Students already attending an out-of-neighborhood school can remain there until they complete either elementary, middle or high school. Once that is done they must return to the school in their own neighborhood.
• Also if your family moves after the start of the year you can also complete either elementary, middle or high school in your original school, the Mirror reports.
• If a sibling is already attending an out-of-district school a younger sibling can go with them as long as they are in the same building, the Mirror reports.

Milford officials have said they were just updating a policy that wasn’t always consistently enforced, which resulted in several families picking schools they wanted to have their children attend even if it wasn’t in their own district.

According to meeting minutes, “The current policy, put in place in 1995, states students must attend the school in the attendance area they reside in. It has been interpreted differently over the years, resulting in inconsistency of practice which have prompted concerns.

“During the reconfiguration and redistricting of the elementary schools the Board developed criteria with the desire to balance enrollment to ensure parity in available resources across schools.

“The Board has been committed to equity across the district with regard to academic, extra-curricular programs, staffing and resources. Dr. Feser indicated administration believes the current policy needs to be revised in order to honor these goals and that the existing situation is not healthy to the school district,” according to meeting minutes.

“The proposed revision has specific language to prevent misinterpretation of the exceptions that will and will not be considered. The new policy will allow for some grandfathering, and for students who move during the school year to be permitted to finish the school year at the school they began at the start of the school year,” meeting minutes state.

Read the full Milford Mirror story here.