The Board of Education heard a report from Newtown High School Principal Lorrie Rodrigue on her school's Personalized Learning Communities (PLC) days for students at its meeting on Tuesday, February 16.

The PLC days, according to the presentation, are scheduled to be held eight times during the 2015-16 school year in total, and Dr Rodrigue shared a hope that they will be expanded to be held once a month next school year.

During the PLC days, according to the presentation, students report to school at the regular time, and one hour in the morning is devoted to the PLC structure, essentially delaying the start of the regular school day.

"Transportation does not change. Expectations about arriving to school do not change. Students arrive, however, without the mad-dash to their first period class," said Dr Rodrigue. "Instead they have a 60-minute window to study and research, make up work, tests, quizzes, work with other students on group projects, work in computer labs, or grab a breakfast and meet up with friends. Most times it is honestly a combination of many things."

Clubs at the high school, Dr Rodrigue said, also use the PLC times to meet and work on initiatives, and students can also use the time to meet with school counselors.

A number of things led to creating the PLC times, said Dr Rodrigue, including "the notion of personalization and providing students with choice, flexibility, and the freedom to accomplish what we feel they need to accomplish in any given school day."

The time also gives students the chance to prioritize, manage, and direct their own learning, according to Dr Rodrigue.

"This more importantly contributes to what they are going to get when they go to college," said Dr Rodrigue, "and how they will feel in the kind of environment there."

Dr Rodrigue said she believes the school should provide a flexible and responsive environment that encourages the type of learning occurring during PLC times so students can sustain those abilities.

Student responses from a survey, which had 1,213 responses, were also shared. Dr Rodrigue said students reported using the PLC time for completing homework, projects and assignments, meeting friends, catching up on reading, and working in computer labs and the media center.

Dr Rodrigue said 82 percent of student responders said they would prefer to increase PLC days to happening once a month, and 2.5 percent of students responded saying they would like the PLC days discontinued.

Speaking about the highest performing schools in the country, Dr Rodrigue said, "The biggest difference is the environment in which students learn, not just what they are learning or how they are learning, but the overall culture of the school, I think, as a flexible and collaborative campus for students to make use of resources, technology, and, I think more significantly, time."

Dr Rodrigue shared a video of students during PLC times. Staff that are not overseeing PLC student time, according to the presentation, meet during the hour to discuss teaching strategies.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Jean Evans Davila said she enjoyed watching the video, because it showed students owning their learning space.

After Board of Education member Kathy Hamilton said she feels it is important for a "check in" at the start of school to help student oversight in the event of an emergency, Dr Rodrigue said the PLC days are run as safe as possible.

The school board also heard its monthly financial report from district Business Director Ron Bienkowski at the meeting.

Mr Bienkowski said the school district received some information on what it can expect to receive for the State of Connecticut's Excess Cost grant. Mr Bienkowski said the tentative estimated reimbursement rate for special education costs in the 2015-16 school year is 80 percent, but the state informed the district the rate may also be between 73 to 75 percent depending on further data from the rest of the year.

If the district is reimbursed at the 80 percent rate, Mr Bienkowski said the district's financial position for the 2015-16 fiscal year will be helped.

"It has allowed us to move from a red position to a black position for the month of January," said Mr Bienkowski, speaking to budget projections for the remainder of the year.