Annual (2018-19) Pesticide Management Notification

Annual (2018-19) Asbestos Notification

Annual School Bus Inspection Summary

Elementary Report Card Handbook

Scientific Research Based Interventions (SRBI) in the Simsbury Public Schools (pdf brochure, updated August 2014)

Tips for Parents: When Your Child Is Reading to You (Brochure, September 2010)

The district-wide assessment calendar for 2017-18 will be posted in the spring. If you have any questions about the schedule, please contact your child's school.

Simsbury Public Schools utilizes many online applications and web-based tools to foster student learning through personalization, collaboration, and exploration. Online or "cloud" based applications and services extend student learning beyond the school day and building and provide accessibility to useful learning tools.

Considerations for approving an online service

We use educational accounts for most of our online services in order to have more control of settings and ease of classroom setup. Prior to recommending a service for classroom use, we review the service's privacy and security policies and inform teachers of best practices for using them responsibly. We do not approve providers who use personally identifiable information outside of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) standards. After October 1, 2016, renewed or new online services that house student information, records and/or student work on their servers must also meet the minimum requirements of the new Connecticut Student Data Privacy Law; Public Act 16-189. See the Student Data Privacy resource tab for more information on the law and a complete listing of third party services utilized by the district for operational and educational purposes.

These services include G Suite for Education, which is used extensively by our students and teachers in grades 3 through 12 for classroom and homework assignments. In keeping with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and our licensing agreement with Google, if you as the parent/guardian of a student under the age of 13 is concerned about this usage and would want to discuss opting out please contact jlytwynec@simsbury.k12.ct.us for more information.

District-approved online educational services

Compiled below, by grade-level, are the most widely used online educational services presently recommended for classroom use that require students to log-in with a student account. For some of our online educational services we provide students with generic school log-ins that are not unique to a user and/or their directory information. For complete information on each app's terms of service, please click on the provided links below.

The Student Privacy Pledge has been signed by most of our partner companies: Google, Edmodo, Khan Academy, Brainpop, ClassDojo, Edpuzzle, LearnZillion, NewsELA, Noredink, Renaissance Learning, SeeSaw, TenMarks, texthelp (Read and Write for Google), Turnitin, Xtramath.

For questions about the district's use of online educational services, please contact Joncia Lytwynec, Director of Instructional Technology, at (860) 658-3898 ext. 835 or JLytwynec@simsbury.k12.ct.us

In 2016, Google added the option for parent/guardians to receive weekly or daily email summaries of assignments/ announcements/ questions posted through teacher Classrooms. The Youtube video below is an overview of this feature.

We are happy to announce the switch to Typing Club, a completely online keyboarding program. Students in grades one through six have had accounts created for their use and teachers have given them their log-in credentials-these will also be shared at Open House.

Bloomfield Magnet Schools

Global Experience Magnet School (GEMS)

The mission of the Global Experience Magnet School in Bloomfield is to create a learning community dedicated to educating one student at a time. This is accomplished by designing a personalized learning plan for each student, providing real-world opportunities to connect students to their learning, and expecting them to find authentic, meaningful ways to show what they have learned.

Capitol Region Education Council (CREC)
If you're interested in giving your child an extraordinary education, consider one of CREC's award-winning magnet schools. CREC magnet schools allow students to focus on specific talents or interests while studying a challenging core curriculum in a diverse environment.

Vocational/Technical Schools:

• Oliver Wolcott Technical High School
• Bristol Technical Education Center
• Suffield Agriscience Center

page updated 3/23/18

Student Data Privacy Law

Effective October 1, 2016

The Connecticut Student Data Privacy Law was enacted to provide transparency to the school community on the sharing of student data with third party service providers and to put in place minimum contractual requirements to safeguard student privacy (See Shipman and Goodwin Overview of Law for synopsis). This law does not apply to services that the district houses on our internal servers such as Powerschool and Destiny, or on district devices (computers/iPads) which includes many of our educational software and iPad apps. Also, this law only applies to services contracted after September 30, 2016. Services contracted before this date were reviewed to ensure compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). District prerequisite(s) for using these services safely with students are published for teachers to reference on our faculty portal.

School district requirements set forth in this law include providing parents/guardians:

• notice within 5 days of any new online services that collect/store student information;

• via our district website, a list of third party services that collects/maintains or uses student information with their contract/terms of service/ privacy policy; and the dates of the contract/ terms of service/privacy policy; how the service is used; information that may be collected by service;

• notice of a breach within 48 hours of notification from provider of service and what student information may have been involved. This notification will also be posted on the district website.

• Educational Online Services: General Classroom/ ESS
• Operational Online Services

www.familyeducation.com An excellent resource with extensive links

www.familygo.com A driving sponsored site. Thousands of ideas on things for your child and family to do. Activities arranged by season, age group, materials, parent to parent advice as well.

www.pta.org National PTA site. A story by one of the nation’s leading advocate for children.

www.positivecoach.org This site is the center of a national movement to encourage positive and supportive parent participation in youth sports.

www.jbocallaghan.com Dr. Brien O’Callaghan provides an overview of Home/School Collaboration approach. Offers insights into children’s behavior and common sense approach for parents.

www.positivediscipline.com Dr. Jane Nelson offers a wealth of resources for parents and teachers. Questions of the week provide strategies for dealing with common problems experienced by parents.

Human Growth and Development Resource List for Parents and Students