Montville School Board Talks Technology, Class Enrollment

The Montville Board of Education took their monthly meeting Tuesday night as an opportunity to go over the progress of new technology in the Montville School System and evaluate classes for the following year.

Assistant Superintendent Brian Levesque was pleased that the dropout rate in Montville had been at 1 percent for the past year and that 82 percent of students were pursuing higher education after they graduated. Montville’s 97 percent graduation rate is above the state average, he said.

Levesque also delivered a presentation on the X2 Aspen system, a database that the schools have used to tabulate students’ grades, discipline and medical needs since November.

This year, Tyl Middle School has also opened up a “portal” for parents, allowing them to see their childrens’ assignments and tests and check in on their grades.

“Parents are using it frequently,” said Tyl Principal Mary Jane Dix. “It has opened up a dialogue."

The Montville system also integrates data from special education and is the first of its kind in Connecticut to do so.

Levesque also demonstrated how the system allows teachers to come up with specialized web pages for their classes.

Also, the board voted to approve a measure allowing the school to make an exception in selling food and drink that would normally not be allowed inside the schools at events outside the normal school day.

The group also opted to keep the classes that received fewer than 10 or 15 enrollees on the roster for next year.

The group voted to table a discussion and decision about social networking policy for the next meeting.

Second-grade teacher Heather Holmes received the distinction of “Teacher of the Year” for Montville.