From the Superintendent
The end of the school year is an ideal time to provide important updates regarding Eastford Elementary School, the recent actions of our Board of Education (BOE), and an update on state legislative actions.
Several activities are scheduled to take place, as the school year ends at Eastford Elementary School. These include the:
- PreK + K Orientation on May 28 from 6-6:45 pm.
- DARE graduation on May 18, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
- Washington, D.C. trip on May 19-22
- PTO Book Fair: May 28-29 and June 1-3
At its meeting on April 9, the BOE took the flowing actions:
- Set June 19 as the last day of school for EES
- Set the Grade 8 Graduation date for the evening of June 18
- Assigned Terry Cote and Lauren Barlow to serve on a committee to review updated information regarding The Woodstock Academy and E.O. Smith High School. Terry and Lauren will provide a summary of this information to the board for their August meeting.
- At the request of the Board of Selectmen, the BOE reviewed their 2026-2027 budget. The BOE voted 4-2 to submit a revised 2026-27 Board of Education budget of $4,934,723, an increase of 3 percent over the 2025-26 budget, to the Board of Selectman. The Town Meeting to vote on the town and school budgets will take place on May 14.
- Reviewed and accepted the recommendations of the Policy Committee for several BOE policies.
- Reviewed and authorized the recommended transfers made
As mentioned previously, the state is reviewing legislative recommendations of importance to small rural towns such as ours. It is important our local leaders closely monitor proposed changes to existing bills and Eastford citizens stay in touch with local leaders. Patrice McCarthy, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education attorney, recently provided me with the following update:
"In the final weeks of the legislative session issues evolve quickly as amendments are added and some pieces of legislation are combined into larger bills. Important possible actions include:
- It appears likely that there will be additional funding in the Education Cost Sharing grant, as there is broad support for education aid. However, the exact amount and distribution has not yet been determined.
- There is also significant support for providing resources for free school breakfasts for all students in the state.
- The legislation to allow districts more flexibility in the use of the Special Education and Expansion Development (SEED) grant, specifically allowing the use of third-party contractors, is particularly important to our smaller districts.
- There is also more flexibility proposed in the aspiring educators scholarship program by removing the limitation that recipients have graduated from an alliance district high school.
- The legislature is considering a proposal to empower the Education Mandate Review Advisory Council to provide input on the impact of newly adopted mandates and to continue to review and make recommendations regarding existing mandates."
As always, never hesitate to contact me at [email protected].