The North Haven Board of Education (BOE) approved five newly implemented and revised policies at one of its regular meetings on Feb. 9. All the policies fall under Series 5000 of BOE Policies for all North Haven Public Schools, which concern matters regarding the physical, financial, and mental wellness of district students.

Physical Activity, Undirected Play, and Student Discipline

The BOE adopted new Policy 5115 concerning the board’s responsibility “to promote the health and well-being of district students by encouraging healthy lifestyles, including promoting physical exercise and activity as part of the school day.”

According to Superintendent Patrick Stirk, the policy is in accordance with state legislation entitled “An Act Expanding Preschool and Mental and Behavioral Services For Children,” effective July 1, 2022.

“It’s brand new legislation from the state, and really to ensure that students have access to their full recess time,” said Stirk.

The superintendent said the policy undoes complete deprivation of the physical exercise students can gain from recess activities during the entirety of a school week insofar as they do not miss out completely on outdoor playtime.

“If there’s an infraction during the day, misbehavior by a student, teachers [cannot say], ’20 minutes off recess’ because of that,” Stirk said. “20 minutes, 30 minutes a day is what we have to guarantee the kids to make sure they get outside.”

The newly adopted policy says that only when a student “is a danger to the health or safety of other students or school personnel” can the total elimination of time devoted to physical exercise during a week be allowed.

Meal Charging Policy

Newly adopted Policy 5128 concerns the district’s collection of unpaid meal charges, or “delinquent debt,” for school lunches. The policy states that the “[d] istrict’s efforts to recover from household’s money owed due to the charging of meals must not have a negative impact on the children involved,” shifting focus primarily on a household’s adults.

The policy states the school district will initially contact the parents or legal guardians of students to collect a delinquent debt after five meals have been charged.

Stirk elaborated on the policy, “The board had some discretion on when they can notify parents, like after how many delinquent meals, and the board took the higher end, so as opposed to doing like, after two unpaid meals the board chose to go after five to send a notice out to families.”

Ronald Bathrick, chair of the board, added to Stirk’s comments, saying that school cafeterias should not deny students a meal even after the five meal limit for collection to begin.

“If someone doesn’t pay, it doesn’t affect what they get for a meal; they still get a meal. We’re not withholding meals.”

Policy 5128 explicitly prohibits “delaying or refusing to serve a meal to such student” with unpaid meal charge” or “designating a specific meal option for the student.”

Policy to Improve Completion Rates of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

Policy 5127 is another new measure by the BOE, which concerns the ability of every 12th-grade student to have access to FAFSA forms for higher education financial aid.

“The board and the state want to make sure that every student has access to the FAFSA form and guidance, and information, in order to complete it, so they have access to postsecondary education,” said Stirk.

Stirk and Bathrick said they recognize the difficulty that may come along for students when trying to complete a FAFSA form. For this reason, the policy compels that “the District shall develop a systematic program through which such students are educated about the purpose and content of the FAFSA, encouraged to complete the FAFSA, and assisted in the completion of the FAFSA.” Such a facilitation process should be beneficial for college or university-bound graduates, according to Bathrick.

“If the kid has an opportunity, the student has an opportunity to get some money somewhere; we want to make sure that they have every opportunity to go get it,” said Bathrick. “We don’t want to have to be the reason that they couldn’t move on with their education. Because, as we all know, it’s incredibly expensive.”

Stirk said the board will revisit the policy every year to ensure access to the forms is still present, and will get input from North Haven High School Principal Russell Dallai.

Curricular Exemptions Policy

Policy 6144.1 is the first of two revised policies and concerns “Permissive Curricular Exemptions” from any parts of a subject’s agenda that a student or their parent personally deem objectionable.

According to Stirk, “the only addition to it was to include firearm safety programs as a list of exemptions…We do not provide firearm safety in the district. However, if we did, parents could opt out of it.”

The exemption policy is normally meant for students who do not wish to partake in the dissection of an animal in a biology class or be part of a sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention program, according to Stirk.

Student Attendance, Truancy, and Chronic Absenteeism Policy

The second of the newly revised measures, Policy 5113.2, revolving around “Truancy” and student absenteeism, Stirk said students are entitled to “two mental health days per year…they do not count against them, so they can take it whatever they see fit.”

Bathrick said the policy was approved in recognition of what he described as a “country-wide discussion” surrounding mental health, with Stirk adding the policy speaks to both vocal student and staff bodies on mental health and a number of state statutes on attendance policy.