The Board of Education met in the Council Chambers March 5, primarily to discuss work that had already begun at the committee level by the Policy Committee and by the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

Beginning with a liaison report, the board heard member Donald Ramsey retell his experiences at a recent “Percussion Extravaganza” event at Newtown High School.

He shared that the event “featured towns from all over Fairfield County, including towns as far away as Groton, and we even had one or two from New York State.”

Ramsey described the experience as “an incredible display of teamwork, artistry, technical prowess, and musicianship.” He went on to reiterate his gratitude at being able to witness the event and even participate in handing out awards.

Moving on, the board then heard from Aadit Jerfy and Gabriel Petertonjes of Newtown High School who acted as student representatives.

“The spring season for sports is starting up soon,” Jerfy reported to the board, “with sign-ups to register for sports and clubs being out currently. Many teams are starting pre-season practices.”

He also mentioned that, “the Computer Science Honors Society hosted a collaborative event with the middle school for outreach convincing incoming students to take computer science at the high school.”

Petertonjes chimed in next, informing the board that “members of the local government were in the lunchroom today giving anybody 18 or turning 18 before the election the opportunity to register to vote.”

The board then resumed work that had already begun at their previous meeting by returning to their review of policy and curriculum. First reads were taken of a code of conduct for food service personnel as well as of a policy regarding emergency closings.

These policies are widely held by other districts, according to Director of Business and Finance Tanja Vadas. In the case of the food service code, she added, “anyone that operates under the NSLP, which is the National School Lunch Program, has to have this policy in place. I’m kind of surprised we didn’t.”

Next, the board went on to do first reads of curriculums from two classes: Modern US History and American Government and Politics.

Representing the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, board member Ramsey argued that “the good thing about both curriculums is the interactive nature of the curriculum in terms of the way they involve a lot of group projects, including mock exercises. They have a lot of debates. They also have a number of interactive projects.”

He and fellow committee member Christopher Gilson both expressed a great deal of admiration and respect for the instructors who work strenuously to develop and update their curriculums for the benefit of their students.

No final vote on these items was taken. The Policy Committee and the Curriculum and Instruction Committee will continue to field questions from fellow board members as they work towards final proposals.

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Reporter Owen Tanzer can be reached at owen@thebee.com.