Representatives and students with Newtown Community Partnership (NCP) Transition Program delivered a special presentation at Board of Education’s Tuesday, March 18 meeting.

The NCP Transition Program is a specialized program for students ages 18-22 with various developmental disabilities that helps them develop life skills for growth and success in the real world. More specifically, the program focuses on employment skills, independent living skills, and postsecondary education support. The program currently has 14 students, and will have 19 next year.

Newtown Public Schools Director of Special Education Deborah Mailloux-Petersen and Newtown High School Special Education and NCP Transition Program Supervisor Dr Paula Grayson were excited to deliver the presentation on the program.

Mailloux-Petersen said that she and Grayson bumped into a colleague they previously worked with in another district, who moved to another district and was heading up their transition program. Mailloux-Petersen and Grayson met with their former colleague and the program’s director, and came up with the idea to have a collaborative program together.

Grayson explained that the NCP Transition Program is individualized to each student’s needs, whether they need a traditional or hybrid program experience. The program partners with a number of local businesses from Danbury Public Library and the Danbury Ice Arena to Walgreens and the Better Day Cafe, where students develop those essential living skills through hands-on work experience and community interaction.

Mailloux-Petersen and Grayson were excited to share the program’s new Danbury location and all the different facilities they get to use. After that, four students from the NCP Transition Program took turns and shared what they do at their respective job sites. Each student smiled as they spoke, excited to share what they do within the community.

The goal of the presentation, Grayson said, was to give BOE members an idea of what the transition program is all about, as well as show pictures of the program’s new location.

BOE Chair Alison Plante agreed with fellow BOE member Deborra Zukowski, who said it was an “excellent program.” Plante added that the program helps bring a “tremendous vibrancy” to the Fairfield Hills Campus at the Better Day Cafe and at the Newtown Youth Academy.

“It’s really cool to see you all contributing to the community in that way and learning these really important life skills,” Plante said. “This was wonderful. My face hurts from smiling.”

Sandy Hook School Spelling Bee

That was not the only special presentation at the BOE’s meeting that night, as the finalists of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Spelling Bee were honored in a celebration of excellence.

Sandy Hook Lead Teacher Kelly Maclaren, who introduced the spelling bee finalists, said the school began the exciting endeavor during the 2023-24 school year. For the event, they partnered with Scripps National Spelling Bee, an annual spelling bee competition held in the United States that was formed in 1925.

This was especially exciting, Maclaren said, because “this is the [spelling] bee that you watch on TV.”

She said that they formed a committee and followed their guidance. Students and staff were so excited throughout the spelling bee process last year that Maclaren said they decided to do it again this year.

Maclaren explained that Scripps’ guidance was to start with classroom spelling bees as the most impactful way to get the school’s community involved. Students in grades 2-4 who wanted to, participated in friendly competition with their fellow classmates before advancing to “grade level bees.”

After that, Maclaren said the “grade level bees” advanced to the “school level bee.” This “school level bee” was held in early February and live streamed for any and all family members. Students spelled up to eighth grade level words for the “school level bee” and completed all their studying on their own time, according to Maclaren.

“We are so proud of our students who studied, took a risk, and participated in these bees,” Maclaren said.

The finalists were as follows: in second grade, Harrison Lantowski, Aisha Inamova, and Chloe Yang; in third grade, Olivia Romanino, Alexander Romanino, Bennett Harriman, and Aaron Yang; and in fourth grade, Cecilia Carlson, Maren Rio, and Cara Buell.

The Sandy Hook Spelling Bee champion this year was Munazzah Khan, who also represented Sandy Hook at the regional spelling bee in Hartford on March 9. Maclaren said Khan came in 13th place in the state.

Plante said that she and her fellow BOE members were so proud of them, adding “what a cool way to get the whole school involved and to celebrate excellence and spelling.”

Reports

For her report, Plante said that the Board of Finance recommended a $900,000 reduction to the BOE’s proposed Education budget. She added that the proposed Education budget is now at the Legislative Council for their review, and won’t be taken up by the BOE until they have a final budget amount after the upcoming referendum on Tuesday, April 22.

Plante explained the budget has to be in place by July 1, but that the date would be “the absolute backstop.”

“We would of course endeavor to have it done much sooner, probably in the May time frame, assuming it passes the first time at referendum,” Plante explained.

Since Superintendent of Public Schools Anne Uberti noted that the BOE has a meeting on the night of the referendum, Plante said the soonest they will discuss the budget is at their meeting two weeks after that.

Uberti shared in her report that the administrative team is starting to reflect on where they are in terms of meeting their goals now that mid-year conferences are complete. While Uberti said that they still need an approved budget as well as results, she added that they are starting to have those discussions even at this early stage.

“We’re having those conversations and starting to think about what we will need to do next year, and what kinds of plans we want to put in place over the summer ... to continue our quest for continuous improvement,” Uberti explained.

Uberti also shared that she and Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia are in the process of reaching out to consulting services who specialize in “all aspects of school planning,” including demographic studies, school facility master planning, and school redistricting.

Uberti clarified that she is not saying they are doing any of those things, but that they want to begin a demographic study so as to have an idea of what the enrollment trends are expected to be over the next ten years.

“We think that’s something that we would be able to pay for out of our budget this year, and that will launch us for what direction we want to go in,” Uberti said.

Uberti said that she’s thinking, if they can get that completed by the end of the school year, then in that time frame she’d like to start discussions on establishing a comprehensive committee with various stakeholders to guide “all of the decision-making from that point forward.”

She added, “I think that makes the most sense to keep the process going and have everybody’s involvement throughout the entire way.”

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.