Naugatuck School Board Holds Heated Debate Over Wellness Policy

The very warm June Board of Education meeting was held on Thursday at Western School.

It was the final meeting for student representative Kassandra Fruin, who has served since the fall and will be graduating from Naugatuck High School on June 23. Ms. Fruin was presented a bouquet of flowers and a certificate for “meritorious service to the Board of Education by exemplary representation of the student body of Naugatuck High School 2014-2015” from Superintendent Sharon Locke. Heyi Cheng, a rising senior will remain on the board and rising junior Stephanie Dubay will replace Ms. Fruin at the July meeting.

Brenda Goodrich, principal of Western School, recognized several students for academic growth and then presented some awards to three educators and one high school student who helped to get their marvelous production of Disney’s Little Mermaid, Jr. on the Western stage.

Cross Street music teacher and Western parent Cathy Lungarini was recognized for stepping up to direct the production. Grade four teacher Kathleen Piscitelli helped out behind the scenes and first grade teacher Sarah Lefebvre worked the lights, worked on some of the costumes and maintains the school website.

Ms. Goodrich also recognized Tyler Suarez, a student at Naugatuck High School, for running the sound at the school’s musical and for being a great role model for the students. Awards were also given to some members of the award winning NHS Winter Guard and instructor Tom Kaplan thanked the board for their support of the program and praised his athletes for their dedication.

Good Financial Shape

Bernice Rizk reported that the fiscal year ends on June 30 and the district is in good financial shape. A bid for special education and magnet school transportation has gone out and three companies have shown interest at this point. Robert Butler reminded the board that the budget referendum will be held on July 7 and if the budget is not approved, a public meeting will be held on July 16.

Graduation Dates

Superintendent Locke reminded the board that graduation will be held at the high school on June 24 with a raindate of the following day. The Stepping Forth Ceremony for City Hill Middle School will be the Monday before at 6:00pm.

Some Savings

The application for the new roof for Hillside Intermediate will be forwarded to the state. Originally estimated to cost $715,000, the bid will go out at $680,000 and the construction is scheduled to be done this summer. The new roof for Western School, which will need to include additional drains, will most likely be done next summer.

Debate over Wellness Policy

The discussion got heated when three revisions to policies were presented for review. 1330-Use of School Facilities and the related 3515R Community Use of School Facilities were presented in draft form for the board’s review before voting on them at the July meeting.

The Wellness Committee has worked on 5800 -Wellness: Concept, Goals and Roles in Community Relations for a year and half.

The potential revisions for the Wellness Policy include the elimination of food/beverages as either incentive or rewards for good behavior or academic performance, no home baked items allowed in school for celebrations, and only store bought items certified as nut free will be allowed in the school setting.

Baked items used for celebrations may only be provided by the school cafeteria and the nurse and principal must decline the food item if there is any question of product safety. The revisions also include directives for food marketing in schools, nutrition education and physical education and activity. Copies of the revisions were available to the public at the meeting and can be requested at the Tuttle Building.

Board member Glenn Connan expressed serious concerns with the proposed revisions and in fact ripped up his copy of them right before he spoke at length about what he called “shameful” policies. He felt that the revisions would “expand our craziness” and reminded the board that the young students “only get to be a kid once.” Mr. Connan also stated that he was in complete agreement with a high school student, Stephen Hong, who spoke during public comment about changing the start time of the school day at Naugatuck High School to one hour later.

In the separate Healthy Food Certification Statement, Sodexo’s Kate Murphy asked the board to decide whether to participate the year in the program as they did last year. The board voted unanimously to do so, exempting after school activities as they did last year.

Linda Ramos and some student volunteers have agreed to “Adopt A Spot” at the high school, specifically the area between the tennis courts and the parking lot.

Ms. Locke asked for approval to create a surplus account with the borough not to exceed 1% of the BOE budget in accordance with CT General Statutes. During the final public comment, Dan Sheridan urged the board to encourage supporters of the Board of Education budget to head to the polls and vote at the referendum.