With the opening bell for the 2016-17 school year just weeks away on Monday, Aug. 29, the East Haven school district has been busy preparing to welcome back students. After implementing a redistricting plan, some students will be returning to a different school.

“There are a lot of things happening this summer,” said Dr. Portia Bonner, superintendent of East Haven schools. “After closing a school at the end of the year, we’re transitioning students to other buildings and opening new classrooms and making sure they’re ready to receive students.”

DC Moore was chosen for closure and most of those students have moved to Momauguin. Overbrook is now being used as an early learning center and many of its former students have moved to Tuttle. The Academy is also expanding with four new classrooms being added as 1st- and 2nd-graders have been added into that program.

Both Momauguin and Tuttle were formerly for grades 3 to 5, but will now serve students in kindergarten through 5th grade.

“While some students may not be in the building they’re used to, the interesting thing is that it’s business as usual,” said Bonner. “With the younger students joining those buildings, we’ll look for more of a family-type connection. I can’t wait to see what evolves from that newness as they learn to work together and use the buddy partner system.”

Overbrook’s early learning center has been running throughout the summer. There are nine classrooms that serve about 150 students. The preschool program is fully funded by a variety of grants.

With the redistricting, many staff members have had to shift schools, but almost all are returning. Mark Levy, who was the principal at Momauguin, is now the vice principal at Melillo Middle School. There were a few retirements and resignations and just one layoff.

“We had the opportunity to bring that teacher back, but unfortunately by that time, it was too late so we have an opening for an elementary teacher,” said Bonner.

Elementary teacher assignment letters will be mailed from the student’s respective schools shortly. Students in middle school and high school can log into PowerSchool for their schedules.

The timing of the redistricting worked out with busing as the district was in the process of negotiating a new contract with the bus company. Bus routes are being finalized and will be posted on the district’s website two weeks before school starts.

“We were able to combine some of the routes to have a little cost savings for us as far as transportation,” said Bonner. “We were able to keep it consistent to what it was instead of having an increase.”

Looking Ahead

The district’s theme for the 2016-’17 school year is “Developing Deep Practice and Finding the Sweet Spot for Improving Learning!” With higher than expected SAT scores reported, the district will continue to focus on its rigor in math, writing, and literacy. It will also expand its one-to-one Chromebook initiative.

“Every student in grades 3 to 10 will have a Chromebook this year,” said Bonner. “We continue to add a grade each year.”

This year also marks the third year of the district’s reading challenge with the district having a goal of reading 90,000 books by the end of the school year. This will also be the first year that the 5th grade is included in the standards-based report cards.

A new initiative this year focuses on attendance and the schools will work with community partners to reward students for perfect attendance with a raffle ticket each quarter. Prizes vary by school level and include school-specific prizes such as tickets to prom or yearbooks at the high school level, 8th-grade trip expenses paid at the middle school, and bicycles at the elementary school. There are also gift cards that will be donated by local businesses. Twin Pines Diner and My Home CT, LLC, have already signed on their support.

The initiative has several goals, including reducing chronic absenteeism, engaging the community, focusing on at-risk students across grade levels, and motivating students to attend school.

The initiative will tie in with the monthly parent workshops as parent outreach is another focus this year. The district is working on a series of short videos and podcasts covering a variety of topics, starting with the importance of attendance. Other topics include Connecticut core standards, opiates, drugs, and alcohol, testing preparation, bullying and social media, preschool, and grade transitions.

“We are really trying to reach out to the parents who don’t have the time,” said Bonner. “Our goal is to put together some short, informative clips they can watch on their own time.”

East Haven schools continue to work with another community partner, the Shoreline Greenway Trail. A new community partnership between the East Haven Arts Council and Melillo Middle School will bring the inaugural season of a drama club. The club will perform Annie Jr.

“We’re looking forward to that and that’s a good partnership,” said Bonner. “We look for community partners in anything we do.”