Cheshire Public Schools Curriculum Committee 3-9-26

Cheshire Public Schools  Curriculum Committee 3-9-26

Staff Article

The March 9th Curriculum Committee meeting covered a wide range of topics, from upcoming student adventures to the "Future of Learning" with AI.

1. Student Travel & Field Trips

Costa Rica (High School): A Spanish immersion trip for honors/AP students is planned for June 23–29. It targets 12+ students and focuses on real-world language use in local markets and cooking classes.

Grand Canyon/Zion (High School): An interstate trip focusing on the connection between physical and mental health through hiking and kayaking is set for next April.

Nature’s Classroom: The traditional outdoor education trips for elementary students (Norton, Chapman, Doolittle) are moving forward. Notably, Norton’s involvement in this program dates back at least to 1984.

2. Multilingual Learners (ML) Growth

Cheshire's demographics are shifting significantly. There are now 180 identified Multilingual Learners in the district (up from 171 in October).

Languages: There are now 55 different languages spoken across the district. The top five are Spanish, Mandarin, Albanian, Urdu, and Korean.

Support: The district is moving toward individualized "Student Success Plans" for every ML student. A new ML teacher position has been requested in the budget to handle the "upward trend" in enrollment.

3. Dodd Middle School Schedule Overhaul

Administrators proposed two new "scenarios" (6-period or 7-period days) to modernize the Dodd schedule. The goals are:

Eliminating "Eye Blocks": Reducing or removing these unstructured study halls.

Adding "Advisory" (Spark): Creating a daily block for social-emotional learning and intervention.

Increasing Core Time: Adding roughly 10 minutes per day to academic subjects like Math and Language Arts.

Staffing: These changes are strictly dependent on the Town Council approving the budget for two additional teachers.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Classroom

The district is taking a "Human in the Loop" approach to AI.

Policy: Instead of banning it, Cheshire is teaching "AI Literacy" to prepare students for the future workforce.

Training: Teachers are being trained to create "durable assessments"—assignments that require critical thinking that AI cannot easily replicate.

Tools: The district is utilizing Gemini (the Google platform) and exploring "Notebook LM" for research.

5. School Transitions & Staffing

In preparation for the new school buildings (Barnum and the New Norton):

Teacher Transfers: 16 general education teachers are moving to different buildings. Nine of these were voluntary based on surveys.

New Friends Day: Scheduled for June 4th (Rain date June 5th) to help students from different schools bond before the move.