Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue submitted an enrollment report to the Board of Education for its November 4 virtual meeting.

Rodrigue shared the district’s total enrollment is 4,085 as of the report’s date, October 30.

“As you know we do have some students who were pulled out for the year due to [COVID-19]... that is the main impact on enrollment,” said Rodrigue, explaining that she was referring to students who were disenrolled by their families for one year.

According to the report, as shared by the district, there are 1,298 students enrolled in Newtown’s elementary schools; 584 enrolled at Reed Intermediate School; 623 enrolled at Newtown Middle School; and 1,443 enrolled at Newtown High School. Rodrigue also updated the school board on staffing at the meeting.

“We had no resignations and no retirements this month,” said Rodrigue, adding that one teacher was hired at Head O’ Meadow Elementary School and there were no current open positions.

Rodrigue added that there are staffing needs, and 16 new employees were hired in October. She added that the “diversity ratio” for the October hires is at 12.5 percent of those who identify as “non-white.”

Later in the meeting, Rodrigue said the district has need of a new position in the technology department and more. According to a staffing adjustments document presented to the school board and shared by the district, the digital application support specialist for the technology department would be a .6 part-time position for $48,000; and a requested full-time equivalent special education position would be $65,000.

A motion to support allowing the district to fill the two requested positions passed unanimously. Board member Rebekah Harriman-Stites was not present for the virtual meeting.

When discussing a proposed policy on racial harassment of students, Rodrigue also presented a description for a proposed new position in the district, a diversity compliance coordinator, which is mentioned in the revised policy. According to a draft for the new position, the coordinator would be responsible for overseeing the district’s “commitments to diversity and equity as outlined in the BOE Resolution, and to ensure practices, procedures, and policies are applied consistently across the Newtown Public School system. The coordinator would act as liaison for students, families, staff, and leaders in the resolution of issues related to bullying, racism, harassment, and systemic inequities.”

Although the revised policy was approved by the school board members present for the virtual meeting unanimously, the proposed district compliance coordinator position is expected to be brought up again at a future meeting.

Also during the meeting, the school board had two NHS algebra curricula presented for first reads. Those are expected to be voted on for possible approval at a future meeting. The board also discussed its non-lapsing account.

The meeting’s COVID-19 updates were reported in the November 6 print edition of The Newtown Bee.