New London board approves change in detention policy

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? The first day of the 2014-2015 school year for New London Community schools is Wednesday, Aug. 20, which meant that the New London Community School District board of directors met one more time before school buses full of students begin arriving.

During the regular meeting, district Superintendent Steve McAllister, along with the school board, met to discuss a variety of loose ends and start of term issues. The evening?s meeting began with an introduction of three new teaching staff members and an approval of last meeting?s minutes.

In continuation from previous meetings, the board approved a bid to purchase an additional school bus for the school and also approved to continue the school?s early retirement policy.

A main talking point during the Wednesday night meeting was to promote more direct contact between teachers, parents and students. One issue surrounding this topic was that of the school?s handling of detentions. ?In the past, a note was sent home to the parents explaining that their student was receiving detention,? said McAllister. ?We want to change the way we handle that now. Now, parents will receive a phone call from the school stating that their child is receiving a detention.?

This, McAllister says, will open up a more direct line of communication with parents and speed up the time it takes for parents to be informed about their child?s progress.

In addition, the school district will also be testing out a new method of parent/teacher contact by sending out student progress reports every three weeks. The school also plans to set aside a block of school time each week for each grade level to work on subjects like math more intentionally in order to improve test scores across the board.

Outside of the academic sphere, students can also expect a few other minor policy changes applied to their school handbook. One such change involves a revamping of the school?s dress code. In past years, students were asked to meet specific dress code guidelines for length and coverage of clothing. Now, the school plans to simplify and hopefully more fairly guide students? wardrobe choices.

?There will be no more ?your shorts must go to your fingertip? rules applied to dress code,? announced middle school and high school Principal Scott Kracht. ?A new policy of adequate coverage will now be instated to better ensure fairness for all students regardless of body type.?

Kracht also noted that students will be charged a penalty fee if they lose school uniforms. With this new policy, intended to help reduce the amount of lost or damaged school uniforms, a level of responsibility will be placed upon students to keep track of their athletic and fine arts uniforms.

?If a student loses a school-issued uniform, that student will not be eligible to play or participate in the activity in question until the uniform is returned or the cost to replace the uniform has been given to the coach,? explained Kracht.

Kracht was quick to explain that once a student paid the fee for a lost uniform, that student would be immediately reinstated to play and participate in the activity.

The New London athletics program is also getting revamped to heighten its safety requirements with a new program that requires all coaches to take a course about concussions and how to treat and diagnose concussions in student athletes. Several of the district?s teachers also volunteered to take the course to better educate themselves on the dangers and warning signs of concussions and other sport-related injuries.

Finally, the board?s last order of business was to give a brief update on the school?s technology and computer use. Recently, the school was given an update to their computer network, along with 15 new PC laptops to use for shop classes and other educational purposes.

New laptops were also given to all elementary school teachers, while their old laptops were recycled and used to start a computer lab for students to use for school projects.

In addition to adding new laptops, new security cameras were installed in hallways and classrooms in both the elementary and high school to give added security to students and faculty.