2022 Education Legislative Workshop Recording 
[00:00:00] Michelle Spadaro Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome. And thank you for joining us for today's workshop. The 2022 education legislative summary via zoom webinar. My name is Michelle Spadaro and I am a member of the shipment and Goodwin events team. And I will be serving as your host for today's meeting. Before we go ahead and get started, I'm going to walk you folks through a couple housekeeping items.
[00:00:28] Please know, all participants have entered this workshop in listen, only mode. And we are asking that all participants, please submit questions for our speakers today via the Q and a tool in the interest of time to be sure today's material is covered entirely. We will not be taking live questions throughout today's session.
[00:00:46] We will be capturing all of your incoming questions and a member of our team will reach out directly following today's workshop in response for the best viewing experience we recommend adjusting your view settings for the, for the session to speaker review, to best view all of our panelists and PowerPoint presentation.
[00:01:03] If at any point throughout today's event, you're experiencing any audio or technical issues, please feel free to reach out directly to myself via a chat feature where I, and or others on my team will be able to assist in troubleshoot. Lastly, please note, this session is being recorded and will be made available for on-demand viewing at a later date.
[00:01:22] And now without further delay, please welcome Jessica Ritter Dori Page Antonetti and Kelsey Scarlet. Thank you. Thank you so much, Michelle. Uh, my name is Jessica Ritter. I am an attorney with shipment in Goodwin. I am joined by my esteemed colleagues, Dori and Kelsey Scarlet. And we welcome you to the 2022, uh, legislative update.
[00:01:46] Jessica Ritter: I do wanna thank Michelle Spadaro and her team. We certainly could not provide this webinar without her. So thank you, Michelle. Um, so what are we gonna talk about today? Our agenda today is we are gonna look at statutory changes that are affecting our school district operations changes that are affecting our students, our employees.
[00:02:08] We're gonna talk a lot about mental and physical health services. I think you will see that the 2022 legislative session placed a real emphasis on mental health services, particularly for our students. Then if time permits, um, my lovely colleague, Dory Ani will remind you of the policies that you were required to have as of July 1st, 2022.
[00:02:32] I just wanna say that this is a very comprehensive presentation. As in previous years, our legislature did not disappoint. They made a variety of changes to a variety of things that our school districts, uh, must tackle on a daily basis. So since we only have 90 minutes, if we don't get to everything, I do understand that everyone has access to all of these materials.
[00:02:55] Certainly if you don't email any of us or email the attorney that you regularly work with, we'll make sure that you get that information. And of course, as Michelle said, if you have any follow up questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Okay. So let's look at the statutory changes affecting our district operations.
[00:03:19] So Michelle, if we could move to the slide on remote board of education meetings, please
[00:03:31] remote board of education meetings. So as we all know, when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot very quickly. Of course your business still needed to be addressed though. Our kids were not physically in school. They were still attending school remotely. Our boards of education still had business that needed to be addressed.
[00:03:50] So we pivoted very quickly and we held remote meetings. We were hopeful that this, um, ability to permit remote meetings would be codified in legislation last year. Our legislator, our legislation did codify that through April 30th, 2022. Um, we were also hopeful that this legislative session, they would sunset that April 30th, 2022 date, which they did.
[00:04:17] And so the new law removed that sunset date and our boards of education and other municipal agencies are allowed to continue to hold remote and hybrid meetings provided they comply with certain requirements under the law. Now, there are a lot of specific stipulations with respect to this new statutory change.
[00:04:39] I just wanna cover a few that I think are most pertinent to our audience members. So first I am getting the question of, well, I have a board of education member that insists that they attend electronically, even if we're holding an executive session and we're not comfortable with that because we don't always know who might also be in the room when we're holding an executive session.
[00:05:01] Well, the law is very clear though, now that if I'm a board of education member, whether my policy reflects it or not, I want to attend remotely. I have to be provided that opportunity. So we have advised our reluctant clients in some cases that they do need to revise their policy to reflect that if I am a board of education member and I am attending a meeting remotely, all of the votes have to be done obviously in open session, but by roll call, unless we know that the vote is gonna be unanimous.
[00:05:32] So those are a few things that we need to be mindful of. The other thing that I think we need to be mindful of is if we are holding a regular meeting electronically either in whole or in part, we do have to provide the public 48 hours. Notice that we will be doing that because we have to provide them an opportunity to come to a physical location on our premises, where we can provide the necessary equipment so that they can join the meeting in real time.
[00:06:02] The reason why we have to do that within 48 hours is because they have within 24 hours of the meeting to inform us that they will need the necessary equipment to join us in real time. The requirement that the agenda be posted within 24 hours has not changed. However, most of our clients have found it easier that if I'm going to provide that information within 48 hours of the remote meeting, I'm also going to post the agenda at that time.
[00:06:34] Okay. So we're gonna move to our first scenario. Um, I do understand that Michelle has made it possible for all of us to use polling with respect to our scenarios. So for those of you who have attended our presentations in real time, we typically have those clicky responders. This will allow you to do this just from your computer, but it's the same concept.
[00:06:57] So here's our scenario, September arrives and students are back to school. Everyone is looking forward to what looks to be a normal school year, but as September comes to a close student absences skyrocket, and there are news reports that COVID 19 cases are again on the rise principals throughout the district begin receiving requests and some demands from parents that their children be allowed to engage in remote learning.
[00:07:22] The school has the capacity to do it. They argue, and they are concerned about keeping their children engaged and learning. Given the toll, the pandemic has taken the past couple of years. So here is, um, our multiple choice answers. Can the district allow the students to engage in remote learning, know the pandemic is over.
[00:07:42] And so is remote learning. Yes, the students have a right to access instruction in this manner, or maybe it pens.
[00:08:04] Michelle. Do you wanna provide us on the poll data for this first question, please? Sure. Jessica, we have about 66% of folks have voted and you should see the results coming up.
[00:08:18] So I like it. So many of you have learned from us that as lawyers, there's always a shade of gray, so there's never a definitive answer. So you're right. I probably also would've gone with, maybe it depends. So if we can go to the next slide, let's just back up a little bit as to how we might have arrived at that answer.
[00:08:35] So if we could go to the next slide, please, Michelle,
[00:08:41] and then the next one, please. Thank you. So let's talk a little bit about remote learning. So the definition of remote learning was established last year and that definition remains unchanged. So the definition is instruction by means of one or more internet based software platforms as part of a remote learning model.
[00:09:03] Now, when we talk about a remote learning model and we will come back to this, when we discuss dual instruction, we are talking about a formal system of instruction by electronic means. So that's, that's an important definition to remember if we can go to the next slide, please. So, as we know, in our last legislative session, the legislature did authorize boards of education to permit remote learning beginning July one of this year for students in grades nine through 12, provided that they met certain state department of education standards with respect to instructional compliance, but also with respect to attendance compliance this year.
[00:09:50] If we go to the next slide, please,
[00:09:57] this year, our general assembly expanded that permission to grades K through 12, but beginning with the 24 25 school year. Now, if we could go to the next slide, I wanna talk a little bit about dual instruction. So there are probably many of you on this webinar, who I spent countless hours with either in 2020, the summer of 2020, or the summer of 2021, where we spent many hours negotiating with our unions.
[00:10:26] But most specifically our teacher unions on COVID reopening MOAs. One of the biggest hangups or one of the biggest impediments for resolution was this idea of dual instruction. There was this concept of, are we gonna provide synchronous instruction, asynchronous instruction, particularly when we started our 20, 21 school year, and many of our school districts were hybrid.
[00:10:50] And one of the biggest struggles was if I have eight kids in my class, and then I have eight kids who will be zooming in, will that be a passive interaction or will that be an interactive interaction? Um, so many of you will recall how many hours we spent on that while we did come to a general resolution in most places where we did allow for some passive.
[00:11:13] Zooming in for classrooms, you can see that the teacher's union had a strong lobby at the legislation at, at the legislature this year. And we now have a prohibition on dual instruction. Now, dual instruction is specifically defined as the simultaneous instruction by a teacher, to students in person in the classroom.
[00:11:36] And students engaged in remote learning as part of the remote learning model. Now I will say we do not have very specific guidance. I do understand that the state department of education is working on that guidance. And we are hopeful that we may get some further guidance this week or early next week as to how they are defining dual instruction.
[00:11:57] But I will tell you that this firm has taken the position that this does not mean that we could not permit for an individual accommodation, particularly for a child that may have an IEP or a 5 0 4 plan that says in order to access my education, I may need to stream into a classroom. I think we should be reminded by the fact that remote learning was not meant to provide less access to students for instruction, but certainly to provide greater access.
[00:12:29] So I think this will certainly, um, be something that we are tackling and navigating for weeks to come. But right now our position is that we would allow for an individual accommodation in order for a child to effectively receive instruction, though. I know right now some of our teachers unions may not agree with that analysis.
[00:12:52] Okay, so we'll move to the next slide, Kelsey. Sure. Thank you. Good morning, 
[00:12:56] everyone. 
[00:12:57] Kelsey Scarlett: Uh, these next several slides, uh, relate to the model curriculum for grades K through eight. So, um, as some of you may remember last year, the general assembly passed, uh, legislation directing the C S D E in collaboration with this S E R C to develop, um, model curriculum for K through eight by January 1st, 2023.
[00:13:17] So this new leg legislation just delays that development process by one year. So now January. First 20, 24. Um, and as you can see on the side and just as a refresher, um, as a side outlines, these are some of the requirements of the model curriculum, and I won't, uh, repeat them all, but just to highlight a few, um, we see if you remember in 2021, the NA native American studies, uh, is a recent addition.
[00:13:39] And then this new legislative session, we see two new additions. We see the Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, and we see the climate change curriculum. Um, again, it's important just to reiterate that while the CS D E is required to develop this model, curriculum boards are not required to use the CSDs and, and the S ERC's model curriculum, but they, they of course can.
[00:14:00] Um, 
[00:14:00] Jessica Ritter: and so 
[00:14:01] Kelsey Scarlett: we're gonna, uh, go into detail a bit about the Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, as well as the climate change curriculum. Michelle, next slide. 
[00:14:10] Jessica Ritter: So 
[00:14:10] Kelsey Scarlett: as you see, um, we have this new addition, um, beginning the 20 25, 20 26 school year boards will be required to include AAPI studies in the social studies curriculum.
[00:14:23] So as we've seen in the past, Connecticut continues to be at the forefront of its efforts and incorporating studies related to marginalized identities within school curriculums. Again, in 2021, we saw this with the native American studies, um, inclusion as well as, uh, legislation involving African American black Puertorican and Latino studies.
[00:14:42] So this legislation now allows boards to accept gifts, grants donations, designated for the development and implementation of Asian American and Pacific Islander studies. Next slide 
[00:14:53] Dori Page Antonetti: please. 
[00:14:55] Kelsey Scarlett: So what will this new curriculum include? Um, the legislation outlines several focus areas for this new curriculum, uh, specifically focusing on the history of Asian American, um, and Pacific Islander communities in Connecticut in the region and in the United States.
[00:15:12] Um, more specifically, this curriculum must include, uh, contributions from the Asian American and Pacific Islander. Contributions from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders towards advancing civil rights from the 19th century to the present day, um, contributions from indu individual, Asian American and Pacific Islanders and government, the arts, humanities, and sciences, um, as well as contributions from the a P I community relating to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States.
[00:15:43] So those are some key focus areas that the legislation out legislation outlines to, to have included in this curriculum. Another new addition that we see is the climate change curriculum requirements. So fi um, beginning July 1st, 2023, this new legislation requires climate change to be a part of the science requirement.
[00:16:02] So previously we've seen, um, in past legislation that boards are, had been allowed to, um, implement climate change curriculum. And now this new legislation is requiring, um, climate change to be a part of curriculum. So the state board of education must, um, make available curriculum materials, including climate change, um, that are consistent with the next generation science standard.
[00:16:23] So again, we see these two new additions as well as the delay by 
[00:16:26] Jessica Ritter: one year.
[00:16:30] Okay, thank you so much, Kelsey. So now that Kelsey has informed us about curriculum mandates, let's test our skills. So here's our next scenario at the beginning of next school year, there's an open house at the high school for parents to learn about the curriculum. The following day in angry parent emails, the principal stating that he wants his child to be exempt from any instruction on climate change, family planning or sexuality, because that type of instruction is against his family's religious beliefs.
[00:17:02] So here's our polling. Again, our multiple choice. How should our district respond? Honor? The family's request because it is based on religious beliefs. Allow for the exemption from family planning, allow for the exemption from sexuality. I don't know.
[00:17:37] Michelle. What's our percentage point. We're at about 52% of folks. All right. Let's let's give it a few more seconds. I know this is a, this is a tough one.
[00:17:54] All right, Michelle. Let's see what the data is.
[00:18:00] There we are. There we are. So we purposefully write this to be vague. You can see Michelle, I don't know. Can our audience see the polling data? Yes. Okay, great. So I probably would've gone with, I don't know, except that I prepared for the presentation. So now I do know. Um, but what's very interesting here is obviously we know that there are certain curriculum opt outs that parents are entitled to, but they're narrow and they're very specific.
[00:18:28] So just to name a few dissection, sexual assault and awareness prevention, HIV aids, family, life educational program. Now, if we look at the definition of what encompasses a family life educational program, we find that in Connecticut general statutes 10 dash 16 C, which includes family planning, parenting, and human sexuality among other things.
[00:18:56] However, I think we could distinguish human sexuality from gender identity and studies or a, a broader definition of sexuality. I know that this is an issue that has come up in various districts right now. What I would say is if you have a question or if you have very specific curriculum opt out questions, you should reach out to us individually.
[00:19:20] And we can certainly work with you on that, uh, individual question. It's hard to give kind of a, a blanket statement on that question. Okay, so let's move on to Juneteenth please. So shifting gears here, Juneteenth. So our state has declared Juneteenth as a holiday. Um, schools can still, uh, hold school on Juneteenth, assuming that you might go out far into June.
[00:19:50] However, if you are going to hold school on Juneteenth, you have to hold a suitable non-sectarian educational program in observance of that holiday. I do understand, I think that the state will be providing some examples on how best to do this though. I don't think we have that guidance yet. Um, I have gotten the question about collective bargaining agreements and whether we need to negotiate this either with our teachers, if we go to school longer than June 19th, or with some of our 12 month employee.
[00:20:21] I can say that a, a majority of the clients that I've worked with have not yet addressed this issue. I have a few clients who have negotiated that Juneteenth would be a paid holiday if school is not in session, but if school is in session, I do have some clients that are treating it the way many. Now treat veterans day in that if they go to school on Juneteenth, um, they would then get a floating holiday to make up, um, for going to work on that day.
[00:20:50] So I just wanted to give people the heads up on that. Okay. So let's switch gear now to para educator professional development. So interestingly enough, this, um, idea for a more comprehensive. Professional development program for paras has actually been proposed at the legislature for a number of years.
[00:21:11] This is the first year though that it really, uh, gained some traction. So we're all familiar with our requirements to have a professional development and evaluation committee known more affectionately as our P a committee. They have a number of charges and responsibilities beginning with this school year.
[00:21:29] They now have an additional responsibility in that they are to annually update a comprehensive professional development program for our para educators. So if we could go to the next slide, please. So beginning this school year. So we did not get a lot of time to prepare for this because it took effect in July.
[00:21:51] It starts this school year. We have to provide. Professional development for at least 18 hours in length. That's gonna be an annual requirement with a preponderance of that time spent in a small group or individual instructional setting. And this is at no cost to the para educators. So we have gotten some questions to say, well, can I just have them come and attend certain training, but not pay them for it?
[00:22:16] No, you, you would have to pay them for that training if we could go to the next slide, please.
[00:22:23] So among other things, just a, a few things that the professional development has to be comprised of. So our P a committee needs to keep this in mind. It has to be aligned with rigorous state student. Academic standards. Um, it has to be conducted among para educators at the school, and it needs to be facilitated by coaches, mentors, distinguished educators, principals, or other appropriate teachers, or facilitators that you, the administration would deem appropriate.
[00:22:55] It needs to occur frequently either on an individual basis or among groups and be part of a job embedded, um, process for continuous improvement. Um, it also needs to include a repository of bus, best practice, best practices, excuse me, for instruction methods developed by our very own para educators within each school.
[00:23:20] And that has to be available to our para educators for commenting and updating and the principles and practices also have to have a social, emotional learning and restorative component component integrated into the professional development. So that takes us to our next scenario. So the professional development committee and the administration have been working hard to plan for professional development for teachers at the start of the school year.
[00:23:49] They've heard that starting this year, para educators also need to participate in PD, but it's a little late to require para educators to attend training that occurs before school starts in August. Instead, the district plans for para educators to attend professional development days held throughout the year, thinking it will be easy enough to add the para educators to already plan programming.
[00:24:13] Here is our question. Most para educators are unionized. May para educators refuse citing practical or contractual matters. Yes, no. Or maybe.
[00:24:43] All right, Michelle, what's the data looking like about 60% of votes in
[00:24:55] all right. Let's see what the answer is.
[00:25:00] so again, I really like, um, how all of our, our answers are running the gamut. So here's the thing I would say. Um, you know, clearly in, in this situation, we could not say you now need to come in August 25th. if contractually they're only supposed to come in one day before school starts and August 25th is three days before school starts.
[00:25:22] Obviously we need to be mindful of what our collective bargaining agreement says with respect to their work year and their work hours. So while this is a requirement, we are going to need to work with our unions to make sure that we meet this requirement. And we cannot just unilaterally say, we're going to add more hours more days to your work year.
[00:25:42] We would have to negotiate the impact of that. So I, we just wanted to highlight and flag this, that people are still mindful of their collective bargaining obligations. So let's pivot now to, um, still talking about paraprofessionals, but now we're talking about their attendance at P P T meetings. So as we know, there was a recent legislative change maybe a year or two ago that requires board of educations to notify parents, that if they have a paraprofessional that is specifically assigned to their child, they have a right to invite that paraprofessional to their P P T meeting for their child.
[00:26:21] Next slide, please. We now have updates from the, uh, 2022 legislative session that says if a paraprofessional is going to be at that meeting, they need to one be given adequate notice of when the P P T will be held, um, so that they can adequately prepare for the P P T meeting. Also if the paraprofessional requests training on their role at that meeting, they have to be required.
[00:26:54] They have to be provided with that training. The other thing we know too is certainly they have access to the I E P and the 5 0 4 plan if they need it, certainly to do their job. Um, I just, Michelle, before we move on, I can still see the scenario three. Do we just need to close it? There we go. I just wanted to make sure that that wasn't still on the screen for everyone else.
[00:27:17] Okay. Thank you Dory.
[00:27:23] Dori Page Antonetti: Good morning everyone. Um, my name is do an it's a pleasure to be here with you today. Um, I am gonna first talk today about the statewide sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention program that you're probably familiar with already. Um, by law, the department of children and families must identify or develop such a program for use of words of education by use.
[00:27:45] Excuse me for use by boards of education and they have done, uh, so state law also requires school districts to implement such a program which has various components, um, including, but not limited to an instructional module with training regarding the prevention of identification of, and response to child sexual abuse and assault.
[00:28:08] Previously, only teachers were required to participate in the program. So we'll go to the next slide and see what the new changes are. Um, this past legislative session, the general assembly, amended state law to require that no later than July 1st, 2023. So we're looking a year out here. Um, DCF has to revise that program, um, to include two new components.
[00:28:34] One is a bystander training program and the second is an appropriate interaction with children program. Um, in addition, and this is a big change. The newly developed and instructional module must be for all school employees. Um, and that term is defined in the Connecticut general statute, section 53, a 65.
[00:28:56] So in other words, the program is not just for teachers anymore. It's for everyone employed by a school. Um, as you might expect, state law define school employee as a teacher, substitute administrator, superintendent guidance, counselor school, counselor psychologist, social worker, nurse, physician para, or coach that's employed by the board of ed or any other person who in the performance of their duties has regular contact with students and provide services to, or on behalf of students pursuant to a contract with the board or the school.
[00:29:28] So the big takeaways here are that there's a broader scope of topics to be addressed by the DCF training. Um, and there's broader participation it's for all school employees, not just teachers. Uh, the state legislature also made clear that as of July 1st, next year, um, each school employee must also complete DCFS training, um, regarding the prevention and identification of response to, um, child sexual abuse and assault, the bystander training program and an appropriate interaction with children program.
[00:30:03] Um, so just hold on that side for one second. Um, again, so the new law directs DCF to create the new training boards to implement it and school employees to participate. Um, and importantly, all employees must repeat the training once every three years. Okay. So, uh, regarding policies and information regarding child abuse and neglect boards of education are already required to adopt a written policy regarding school employees, mandatory reporting obligations as related to suspected child abuse or neglect.
[00:30:38] Um, the policy has to be distributed annually to all school employees. You're probably well familiar with it. It's an important reminder of your mandatory reporting obligations. Um, the new law that was passed this past legislature session requires that the annual distribution be done electronically. Um, go to the next slide.
[00:31:01] Um, the new law also contains two additional requirements, one for this year and one for next year. Um, so starting with this school year 22, 23 boards of education must electronically distribute a copy of certain guidelines that have been developed by the governor's task force on justice for abuse children and those guidelines address identifying and reporting child sex abuse.
[00:31:27] Um, those guidelines have to be distributed to all school employees, board members and parents and guardians of enrolled students. Then one year out, right? We always like when we have a little bit of lead time. So starting in the 23, 24 school year boards of education must also electronically distribute information on DCFS, sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention program to these same groups of individuals.
[00:31:53] So this requirement we see aligns with the changes to the DCF program that we just talked about, um, and such information will likely have to address those new components, um, such as the bystander training program and the appropriate interaction with, um, children program. Okay. Uh, next slide please.
[00:32:14] Behavior 
[00:32:15] Jessica Ritter: intervention 
[00:32:15] Dori Page Antonetti: meetings. This is a new component that was, um, put into the law by the legislature this year. And it starts this year. Um, so this new law allows any teacher to request a behavior intervention meeting with the school's crisis intervention team. For any student whose behavior has caused either a serious disruption to other students' instruction or self-harm or physical harm to the teacher.
[00:32:41] Another student in the class or staff in the teacher's classroom, the crisis intervention team is directed to hold the meeting and all of the participants have to identify resources and a supports to address the social emotional instructional needs of the student. So, this is one of the new changes that Jess was talking about earlier that reflects the legislature's focus this past session on children's health, um, which has been a topic of statewide and national discussion, especially as we emerge from the COVID 19 pandemic.
[00:33:13] Um, one question we've gotten is whether this meeting is the same as a P P T. It's not the same as a P P T, but one thing we advise clients is that if a student's behavior rises to the level, this level of concern, um, you should be carefully considering your child find obligations to ensure that you comply with all relevant law.
[00:33:32] Not, not just this one. Okay, so we're gonna go to the next slide and kind of a shift in focus shift in topic here. Um, I don't know how many of you know this, but the state government has an office of workforce strategy. I didn't know about it until reading this new law. It's a division of the department, um, of economic and community development.
[00:33:56] And it serves as the administrative staff to gov the governor's workforce council. So there's a new law, which requires the chief workforce officer of this office of workforce strategy, um, to work in consultation with the commissioner of education, um, the executive director of the technical education and career system and the labor commissioner to develop a model student work release policy.
[00:34:20] And that model student work release policy has to be developed by July one of next year. Then beginning with the following year. So beginning the 24 25 school year, you do have a year lag time. Boards of education must adopt the model work release policy. So it remains to be seen, um, what this student work release policy will entail, but it will be interesting to see whether and how it may dovetail with student internship programs that many districts are offering.
[00:34:50] Um, we've seen a lot of districts kind of addressing student internship pro um, options and opportunities in the past year or two, especially in light of the relatively new graduation requirement in which students are required to earn at least one credit toward a mastery based diploma as. So up until now, there's been considerable flexibility regarding districts, how districts offer and grant this credit, um, and many have looked to internships and opportunities for students to become workforce ready.
[00:35:20] So we'll have to wait and see, um, how this model student work release policy will affect these types of programs. So stay tuned. Um, okay. Next slide please. Thank you, Michelle. Um, the next couple slides are gonna talk about the pipeline for Connecticut's future program. We also known as the pathways program, we'll call it that for short.
[00:35:42] Um, so this new law requires the state department of education, by the way, just as an aside, the new laws didn't place a lot of new obligations on boards of ed, but also on the state department of ed. So there's not enough work to go around. Um, but it requires the state department of ed and the department of labor, um, to administer the pathways program, um, or the pipeline for Connecticut's future program.
[00:36:04] It has to administer it with local businesses to create onsite student training opportunities. For course, credit. The, um, state department of education is also required to assist boards of education in enhancing our establishing partnerships with childcare providers, early childhood education programs or mental health services, as well as additional fields such as manufacturing, computer programming, or culinary arts, and one or more local businesses to offer these pathway programs.
[00:36:34] Um, next slide please, Michelle. Thank you. Uh, so under the new law, um, the pathways program as administered by the state department of ed has to help students obtain occupational licenses, participate in apprenticeship opportunities and gain immediate job skills. It must provide industry specific class time and cooperative work placements, onsite, apprenticeship training, and course credit and occupational license to students upon completing the program.
[00:37:02] And may upon graduation lead to a diploma credential certificate or license in the applicable field. So, as I mentioned, um, before administering this program is a new responsibility for the state department of education. Um, and in light of other legislative developments, such as the model student work release policy, it'll be interesting to see how this program develops and whether and what districts, um, requirements there might be for internships and other programs that boards of education may offer students for credit.
[00:37:33] Okay, we're gonna switch gears and go to the next slide. Um, ventilation inspection and reports, totally different topic. um, so sometimes we see in the legislative session previews of coming attractions, um, such as when the legislature establishes a task force to study and report on a particular issue.
[00:37:52] And I'll just take this moment to say that while this, um, presentation is comprehensive, we have an even more comprehensive legislation update that identifies some of the task forces, as well as some other components in the law. Um, it's available on our website and we can probably send out the link to that legislative update after this for more information.
[00:38:10] Um, but here regarding ventilation inspection reports, it seems that the legislature was responding to challenges and opportunities that have been presented by the past couple of years in the COVID 19 pandemic and the related funding. Um, and that need has been the need to update HVAC systems. So this new law requires boards of education prior to January 1st, 2024.
[00:38:34] So yay for a year and a half lead time. Um, and every five years thereafter to provide for a uniform inspection and evaluation of heating ventilation and air conditioning systems within each school building, um, that inspection report then has to be presented at a regularly scheduled board meeting and on the board's website, as well as each individual school website.
[00:38:57] If you have an individual school website. Okay. Next slide, please. Student transportation contracts. I, I like this slide cuz the school buss is just such a symbol of school. um, so I like this slide and as you may know, under current law boards of education may enter into contracts for student transportation for up to five years.
[00:39:19] So under the new law beginning October 1st, 2022. So just a couple weeks from now, boards can enter into transportation contracts for up to 10 years, but only if that contract includes transportation provided by at least one zero emission school bus. So this is the care approach, right? The legislature's saying, if you do this, you can enter into longer term contracts.
[00:39:44] Um, next slide please. Um, the legislature also provided a stick. So if you don't go with the care approach, the new law also requires a transition to zero emission school buses by various states. So for school districts, there's two categories of, of when these requirements kick in for school districts that are entirely within, or that contain an environmental justice community.
[00:40:10] Um, school buses, buses must be 100%, zero emission by January 1st, 2030. So we've gotten the question, what is an environmental justice community? And I will spare you the very long statutory definition that incorporates other statutes as many statutes do. Um, but essentially an environmental justice community is a United States census black group, for which 30% or more of the population is defined as low income in accordance with a statute or a distressed municipality.
[00:40:43] So if you, um, if your school district is within or contains an environmental justice community, those, those first requirements that we just talked about apply for all other school districts, um, school buses and other districts must be a hundred percent, zero emission or alternative. Alternative fuel buses by January 1st, 2035.
[00:41:06] And they must be zero emission by January 1st, 2040. So if you're wondering what an alternative fuel school bus means, it's a school bus that reduces emissions, right? So this is a green initiative and is operated entirely or in part using natural gas, hydrogen, propane, or biofuels. Um, and ultimately, what does this mean for school districts?
[00:41:27] I would say that at least in this initial transition period, and the concern that I've heard from clients is that these new requirements, um, will likely translate into additional costs for school districts as these transitions are made. So that wraps up our section on changes related to school district operation.
[00:41:44] And I'm gonna turn it over to Kelsey who will start us off with changes affecting students. Next story. 
[00:41:53] Kelsey Scarlett: So this next piece of legislation focuses on student truancy. Um, and as many of you 
[00:41:58] Jessica Ritter: already know, boards are already required to adopt policies 
[00:42:01] Kelsey Scarlett: and procedures related to student truant students. Um, but this new legislation adds several new requirements in, uh, that boards need to incorporate in their procedures and policies.
[00:42:13] So just as a reminder, when we're thinking about truant students, we're really discussing this population of students who have four unexcused absences from school in any one month and or 10 unexcused absences from school in any school year. 
[00:42:26] Jessica Ritter: Um, next slide, please. 
[00:42:30] Kelsey Scarlett: So this new legislation creates three new requirements for boards to include in their policies and procedures involving Tru in students.
[00:42:38] The first takes effect on or before September 1st, 2023. And here the board will need to implement a truancy intervention model, which will be developed by the CST E um, as of now, um, we're still, um, watching, waiting, seeing what the CSTE will, will put out for the truancy intervention model, but something that we do know will be a focus, um, will be mental and behavioral health supports.
[00:43:01] And again, that has been, been a theme in this legislative session. The second requirement and most pressing requirement as it took effect July 1st, 2022. So this past July, um, boards will provide need to provide notice to guardians and parents of true truant students of the existence and availability of the 2, 1, 1 info line program, as well as other pediatric mental and behavioral health screening services and tools.
[00:43:28] So again, this is taking effect, um, took effect July 1st, 2022. The final requirement that we see here, um, needs to be implemented on and or after July 1st, 2023 boards must implement procedures, uh, for an appropriate school, mental health specialist to conduct evaluations for true in students who. Who will use this evaluation to determine whether additional 
[00:43:54] Jessica Ritter: behavior 
[00:43:54] Kelsey Scarlett: health interventions are necessary for that child's wellbeing.
[00:43:58] So again, we see these three new requirements, and again, if you haven't started thinking about that second requirement now is the time to start thinking about it. Um, and thinking about that notice requirement for the 2, 1 11 info line, as well as the pediatric mental 
[00:44:10] Jessica Ritter: health in other 
[00:44:10] Dori Page Antonetti: services.
[00:44:18] Okay. Um, we're gonna spend the next few slides discussing withholding time, devoted to physical exercise as a form of student discipline. So that's a mouthful. Um, in other words, we're gonna talk about, when can you hold a student back from recess? That's an easier way to understand it. Um, before diving in just kind of as a background, um, it's worth noting the significant level of detail that's included in this law.
[00:44:44] And that again, reflects the legislature's emphasis on children's mental and behavioral health, which was a primary focus this past legislative session, um, even leading the legislature to designate a get outside and play for children's mental health day, which we'll talk about later in the presentation.
[00:45:01] Um, so under current law, Connecticut general statute, section 10 dash two 20, oh, requires each board of education to include at least 20 minutes of physical exercise in each regular school day for students enrolled in elementary school, except as determined by a planning and placement team in accordance with the I D E a.
[00:45:25] So beyond that requirement, current law also allows boards of education to include an additional amount of time beyond the 20 minutes required for physical exercise, that's devoted to undirected play, and that also can be during the regular school day for elementary school students. Um, next slide please.
[00:45:45] Thank you. Uh, so beginning this school year. So another one where we really have to be on the ball and, um, get into action quickly. The new law revises statutory requirements for board policies on this topic. Um, the boards were always required or not always, but for some time have been required to adopt a policy regarding when, as a form of discipline, a school employee may prevent or otherwise restrict a student from participating in the entire time devoted to physical exercise in the regular school day.
[00:46:16] Um, next slide please. So the new legislation has a lot of requirements that must be addressed in that board policy and the board policy must allow school employees to prevent a restrict such time when. Either a student poses, a danger to the health or safety of other students or school personnel, or that period of time is limited to the shorter period.
[00:46:39] If there are two or more periods devoted to physical exercise in the regular school day, as long as the student is still allowed to participate in at least 20 minutes of physical activity during the school day. Um, next slide. Thank you. All right. So there's a lot of more requirements. There's still more so the policy has to permit prevention or restriction of that physical exercise time only once during a school week.
[00:47:07] So there's a cap on how, um, often, uh, that time can be restricted or prevented, um, unless the students a danger to the health or safety of other students or school personnel, the policy also, um, there. Other prohibitions, it cannot include provisions that are unreasonably restrictive or punitive. Um, and it cannot allow prevention or restriction of that time devoted to physical exercise.
[00:47:33] If a student doesn't complete their work on time or as a result of the student's academic performance. And then finally the policy must also distinguish between discipline that's imposed before the time devoted to physical activity begins and discipline imposed during such period. I'm sure you're many of you are familiar with situations where things have come up during recess time that need to be addressed.
[00:47:58] Um, in addition, the policy has to distinguish between discipline that prevents or restricts a student from participating in the physical activity period prior to when that time begins and discipline, that uses methods to redirect a student's behavior during the time devoted to physical exercise. So redirection efforts during the recess period, All right with that, we're gonna do a scenario so I will read it.
[00:48:23] And then we can, um, use our voting, uh, mechanism to, to see what everybody thinks. The scenario is fifth grade students at the elementary school regularly get 20 minutes of recess after lunch. There's one student in the fifth grade who never finishes her classwork in the morning because she's off task.
[00:48:43] Instead of going to recess, she's required to return to the classroom, to finish the work from that morning. This happens multiple times a week. Sometimes she finishes her work in only a few minutes and then goes to recess. But often she takes the entire 20 minutes to finish her work. While the teacher is sympathetic, that she doesn't get to enjoy recess with her friends.
[00:49:03] The student is struggling academically and the teacher believes it's more important for her long term, learning that she finish her classwork each. So we put up the voting. Um, the question is, can the teacher require the student to miss recess to finish her work? Um, the answers are yes, no. And maybe under the right circumstances.
[00:49:26] So just pause for a few seconds to allow we're going to vote.
[00:49:40] Okay. Michelle, do we have some of this results in? 
[00:49:43] Kelsey Scarlett: Sure. We have about 
[00:49:45] Jessica Ritter: 60% of folks have voted. 
[00:49:47] Dori Page Antonetti: Okay. That's great.
[00:49:53] Okay. So we have the majority of people saying that, no, she can't require the student to miss recess to finish her work. Um, so here as a lot of people have identified by as shown by their responses. Um, we have an elementary school which allows for the statutory minimum of 20 minutes of recess during the school day.
[00:50:13] Um, and there are several, several problems that are presented by the scenario as, as you've identified, kind of with that, um, majority response of no, uh, the student can't require the student to miss recess to finish her work generally. Right. But maybe there might be some circumstances when they can. Um, so there's several problems under the new law.
[00:50:33] One is that holding her in from recess to complete her work. And as a result of academic performance is something that's restricted by the new law. Um, sometimes. She misses recess for the entire period, which is, which is another problem, especially cuz she's only given 20 minutes a day. Um, and the third problem is that it's happening multiple times during the school week, um, which is only allowable.
[00:50:55] If the student is a danger to the health or safety of other students or school personnel, which was not the case in the scenario. Um, so it might be permissible in a limited circumstance of when a P P T has determined it's appropriate for the student and has included it in her IEP in accordance with the I D E a, but um, absent that unlikely circumstance, there are significant problems withhold in the student from recess under the new law.
[00:51:20] So with that, I'll hand it over to Kelsey for continued discussion about changes in the law that affect students. Story. 
[00:51:29] Jessica Ritter: Um, so, 
[00:51:29] Kelsey Scarlett: uh, switching gears just slightly to special education, this new legislation, which is taking effect July 1st, 2022, requires that the C S D E and 
[00:51:39] Jessica Ritter: boards 
[00:51:40] Kelsey Scarlett: use the term emotional disability instead of emotional disturbance.
[00:51:43] So, um, emotional disability will have the same meaning say will be U be used in the same way as emotional disturbance in the Ida. But again, we're just seeing this change, um, in word from emotional disability to 
[00:51:56] Jessica Ritter: emotional disturbance here.
[00:52:01] Okay. Thank you, Kelsey. Um, so in accordance with a recent court order from last year, public act 22 dash 80, revised Connecticut general statutes, 10 dash 76, a it now defines a child as a person under 22 years of age. So in effect now, boards of education. Are required to provide special education services to our eligible students until they reach the age of 22, no longer the age of 21.
[00:52:33] Next slide, please access to class rank. So obviously we know that our current law allows parents or legal guardians to have access to educational medical, or other similar records that are maintained in a student's record. As long as that information is not privileged. For some reason, under state law, the new law adds access to the student's class rank.
[00:52:57] We have gotten the question we don't do class rank. Maybe we divide our students into Quintiles. I would say in that scenario, I might tell the parents, well, your child falls in the second quintile. There is no statutory obligation that we see that you provide or create a class ranking option. If you don't currently do.
[00:53:24] Let's move to the next slide, please. So menstrual products available in student bathrooms, I've, you know, done my circuit of doing legislative update presentations to some clients. We actually spent a lot of time on this one, surprisingly, um, but effective September 1st, 2023. So we have a year from now, boards of education are required to provide free men products.
[00:53:48] Now listen, in each school, you have to provide the free mens products in the women's restrooms, the all gender restrooms, and at least one men's restroom. Now this has to be accessible to students in grade three through 12, and it is in each school. It also has to be done in a manner that does not stigmatize the child seeking the Menal products.
[00:54:13] We should be getting guidelines from DPH on their website. Which will help us, um, in navigating how best to offer this. Um, we've also gotten the question well, can't we just provide the Menal products in the nurses' office that is not allowable or permissive under this act. Okay. Switching gears to information regarding technical education and career schools.
[00:54:40] So as we know, we're already required to inform our middle and high school students and their parents about alternative availability, um, for vocational technical, technological and other post-secondary educational opportunities, as well as agricultural science and technology education. The blue law now requires that our school counselors provide this information directly to students and parents.
[00:55:08] And that we also publish this information on board's websites. Okay, we're gonna switch gears here a little bit to some of the statutory changes affecting our employees. So the first one and one that I know, uh, triggered a lot of questions from a lot of our clients was the minimum duty free lunch periods for teachers.
[00:55:31] now what's interesting is the law does say that all professional certified employees. So that was current law, um, who worked directly with children must have a duty free period of lunch. But previously we were able to specifically negotiate what that looked like and actually many contracts that was about 20 to 25 minutes.
[00:55:51] Now the new law says, and this took effect two months ago, July 1st, 2022, that the period has to be uninterrupted. And that the length of the period be the greater of 30 minutes or the amount of time stated in the collective bargaining agreement. So for most places, that means that they have to increase the duty free lunch period from their current 20 or 25 minutes to 30 minutes.
[00:56:14] This is not something that we can negotiate away. And so I have gotten the question. Okay, well, I know our teacher's union doesn't wanna add another five minutes to the Workday or to the school day. So can we just keep it at 25? This would say that, no, we cannot do that. The other question I've gotten is, well, it talks about this being offered to professional certified employees.
[00:56:37] So query whether this also applies to our school administrators, I am not aware of any school administrators' unions that have come forward to say, we need to be provided with this. And I do think we could draw a distinction that the spirit and intent of this was meant to apply to our teachers only. Um, next on professional educator certification, there is a lot here.
[00:57:00] Certainly we will provide the material so you will have this information, but what you need to know, um, just as a broad overview is that it amends the law regarding three levels of public school teaching certification. So our initial educator certificate, our provisional educator certificate and our professional educator certificate.
[00:57:21] And in essence extends the initial validity and renewable. Uh, periods for those certificates. Okay. Moving on to our next slide, please. So teacher certification, law review, um, another thing that came up quite a lot. Up at the legislature, but also just with a lot of our clients is you're all experiencing significant teacher shortages.
[00:57:45] We're also having recruitment and retention issues. Uh, COVID burnt a lot of people out. We saw the great resignation happen among all disciplines and a variety of, um, career and, uh, professions. And certainly education was one of them. So in order to address this looming problem, the state department of education is now required to review the state's teacher certification statutes and submit a report.
[00:58:15] To the education committee by January 1st, 2023, they are charged with reviewing the following, identifying any obsolete provisions that are part of our certification statute that really are no longer pertinent or are outdated evaluate the effectiveness of those requirements. And then also analyze whether the laws create a impediment or an undue hardship for recruitment and retention from other states, including Puerto Rico and addressing students' academic needs.
[00:58:47] So we look forward to that report in January. Another slide, please.
[00:58:55] So the, oh, if we could go back to the career and technical pathways instructor permit. So here is another way that we see the legislature affecting the teacher shortage area and also some of our recruitment and retention issues. So for the 2223 and the 2324 school years, the state board of education is now authorized to issue a career and technical pathway instructor permit upon the request of a board of education or risk.
[00:59:24] Now that permit allows individuals to teach part-time up to 20 classroom hours per week in the following fields, manufacturing, allied health, computer tech, engineering, and other construction trades. Now in order to qualify for that permit, an individual does have to meet certain requirements, including they must have an associate or bachelor's degree or qualifying credential in the specialized field in at least two years of experience in that specialized field.
[00:59:57] Next slide piece. The new law also requires that the board of education or the risk that is employing this instructor provide a program that is to be developed in consultation with the state department of education to assist these instructors with academic and classroom supports, um, and to regularly observe and evaluate the performance of these instructors.
[01:00:21] One thing I'd like to point out is the new law does make clear that boards of education may not displace a certified teacher with a permitted instructor. And it also makes clear that these instructors are not eligible for membership in the teacher's retirement system, simply because they just have this permit.
[01:00:41] Now, in terms of displacing a certified teacher, the, uh, textbook definition of displacement is to remove from the usual place. So we view this as to mean, you know, certainly we couldn't engage in a reduction in force or terminate a teacher to make room for this instructor, but we also think we would take a conservative approach on this and say, you couldn't transfer a teacher from one position to another involuntarily to make room for this instructor.
[01:01:14] Okay. Uh, moving on to freedom of speech. So for those of you who are holding captive audience meetings, where you are conveying your religious or political beliefs, um, this is now prohibiting you from disciplining or discharging or threatening to discipline or discharge an employee because they refuse to attend your captive audience meeting.
[01:01:38] If we just move to the next slide, here's the definition of a political matter matters relating to elections for political office, political parties, proposals to change legislation, to change regulations and the decision to join or support any political party or political civic, community fraternal or labor organization.
[01:01:59] And then our next slide defines religious matters as matters, relating to religious affiliation and practice. The decision to join or support any religious organization or association. Obviously we would recommend, um, from not having these conversations at all, let alone just saying that we wouldn't discipline or discharge or threaten to do so.
[01:02:22] Um, so if we are holding these meetings, our recommendation would be that we cease and desist from doing so, okay. Switching gears here. So we now have that our domestic violence victims are now a protected class under our anti-discrimination laws. That means they have the same protected status as I would for my gender identity in expression as I would for my ethnicity, my race, et cetera.
[01:02:49] So it does add the status as a domestic violence victim to that list of protective classes. So what does that mean now for our employers? We cannot discriminate on the basis of status because someone is a domestic violence victim. If an employee has a physical or mental disability as a result of a domestic violence incident, the employee must be treated with the same, um, in the same manner as employees with other disabilities.
[01:03:19] So query whether we would, and we would have to look at this under some of our, um, ADA analysis, the new law. Also, interestingly enough, amends the definition of employee for purposes of this, to include board of education members. And if we could go onto the next slide, I'll, I'll further elaborate as to, um, uh, some of the, the implications for that.
[01:03:46] So under the new law, which takes effect in about 10 days, October 1st, 2022, it is a discriminatory practice for you, the employer to deny a reasonable leave of absence for the employee to do the following. So if we know that they are a victim of domestic violence, We have to grant them a reasonable leave of absence to seek attention for injuries caused by that domestic violence to obtain services, including safety planning from a domestic violence agency or rape center, obtain psychological counseling, take other actions to increase safety from future incidents, including temporary or permanent relocation.
[01:04:26] So it takes me back to the fact that they've identified an employee as a board of education member. I got the question in query, whether I'm a board of education member. I now, um, unfortunately have been the victim of a domestic violence violence incident in order to ensure my safety. I have relocated, let's say from my town of west Hartford to another town, but I am required to live in west Hartford in order to serve as a west Hartford board of education member.
[01:04:56] And I'm just using this as an example, I would take the position that this would allow that board of education member to seek shelter somewhere else for a reasonable period of time and still be able to maintain their position with the west Hartford board of education. Also we'd have to grant a reasonable leave of absence to obtain any type of legal services in connection.
[01:05:18] Um, with these incidents, um, an employee though, if I am going to be absent from work under these circumstances, I am legally required to provide a certification. That does meet these statutory requirements upon requests from the employer and with a reasonable time after the absence. So let's move on to our next scenario that relates specifically to this topic.
[01:05:45] The principal of the elementary school is heard through the grapevine that the reading specialist is having serious problems at home. Exactly what's going on is not clear, but there is definitely something happening. She's also used all of her personal days and is out of sick time. She now asks the principal for additional time off for quote, personal reasons.
[01:06:06] What should the principal do? Request a certification, verifying the need for the leave, grant the request without seeking any additional information. And I don't know, it's complicated.
[01:06:31] Michelle, how are we doing on stats?
[01:06:37] About 50% of folks have voted Jessica. All right, let's give it a few more seconds.
[01:06:46] Okay, Michelle.
[01:06:50] Okay. Again, so, yeah, so I would say certainly, you know, you have the right to request a certification, verifying the need for the leave. Certainly we would need to, you know, she is technically out of sick time. We would certainly need to engage in an interactive dialogue with this employee. Look at this the same way we would look through the ADA lens.
[01:07:14] Um, and certainly, I would say in this circumstance, we would need to provide an accommodation though, because she is out of accrued time. Certainly a reasonable accommodation could be an unpaid leave of absence. Um, again, this is going to be very specific to the facts at hand and on a case by case basis, but you certainly have the right to ask for the verification.
[01:07:37] So that concludes our overview of the statutory changes affecting our employees. We're gonna shift now to the changes related to mental and physical health services in schools. So as we've been talking about it is clearly a theme of this legislative session that we're really focused on the mental health, particularly of our students, as you may recall.
[01:07:58] And what I understand triggered a lot of these changes is that many kids during the COVID crisis were seeking help in our children's hospitals, whether it be here in Hartford, um, Yale, new Haven, There wasn't enough room or space for these kids. There were not enough beds to treat these kids because there was such an overwhelming demand.
[01:08:20] And you started to see our emergency rooms at hospitals being flooded, um, and in a demand that we just weren't able to meet. And so that is what has triggered a number of these changes. So the first one is a peer tope mental health support program. So this requires the department of children and families to collaborate with our state department of education and develop by January one of this year, a peer-to-peer mental health support program, and to make that program available to our boards of education, that program has to provide services to assist our students grade six through 12, with problem solving, conflict resolution and other techniques related to stress management.
[01:09:05] Next slide please. And I'll turn it over to Kelsey. So a 
[01:09:10] Kelsey Scarlett: story mentioned previously in this, um, presentation, um, we see this new piece of legislation requiring the governor to proclaim May 26th as to get outside and play for children's mental health day. So this is of course trying to, and attempting to get students to, to, to play outside, but also emphasizing, um, and raising awareness about children's mental health, as well as the positive effects of being outside and, and has, and being outside that being outside 
[01:09:37] Jessica Ritter: has for children.
[01:09:40] Dori Page Antonetti: Next slide, please. 
[01:09:42] Kelsey Scarlett: So this legislation requires that suitable exercises be provided and held in a state capital on May 26th. It also requires that schools, um, provide suitable exercises and in their public schools, either on that, on that day, um, on the day after or on a day, that's prescribed by the board, um, that is a school calendar day.
[01:10:05] So it, it gives you a bit of flexibility. So it can be on that 26th. It can be on the day after or another school calendar day that works for that district. And finally starting this year, the, the 20 22 20 23 school year, this new legislation requires that the C S D E provide board's notice of this designated day, including suggestions of material.
[01:10:26] Of suitable exercises for that day. So, um, this will be something that will be on the lookout for, um, seeing what the C S D E provides and, um, what the materials suggest, um, for suitable exercises for, for districts to implement on this this day. 
[01:10:44] Jessica Ritter: Thank you, Kelsey. So I'm gonna move, uh, through some of these next slides rather quickly, because Dory is, uh, prepared to talk about the opioid antagonist in school.
[01:10:54] And I, I do know that that is a topic of interest for many. So I'm just gonna go through these quickly and kind of highlight and emphasize the most important takeaways so that we can get to that topic before we run out of time. So, uh, student trauma assessment is now added to the strategic school pro profile.
[01:11:12] As you know, you have to annually submit to the state department of education, a strategic school profile that obviously regarding information on, uh, med metrics and measures of student needs. The new law requires you to include a needs assessment that identifies. Resources necessary to address student trauma, impacting students and staff in each school, and also resources necessary to adequately respond to students with mental, emotional, or behavioral health needs.
[01:11:46] The next statute family care coordinator. So beginning this year, you either have to hire a family care coordinator or designate an existing employee to serve as the school district's family care coordinator. This is a position that's really gonna work as a liaison between our school, social workers, our school, psychologists and counselors with mental health service providers.
[01:12:11] Next slide, please. We also have an EMPH, excuse me, an emphasis on our mental health plan for our student athletes. So this requires the state department of education to establish by July 1st, 2023 in collaboration with our other agencies that govern intramural or interscholastic athletics, like C IAC, a mental health plan for student athletes to raise awareness about mental health resources.
[01:12:40] Next slide please. The mental health plan for student athletes must cover the following access to the school. District's mental health service teams screening and recognizing appropriate referrals for our student athletes, uh, management of the administration of medication for our student athletes, um, crisis intervention service.
[01:13:03] Mitigation of risk and also a transition plan for student athletes who are leaving athletics because they are going on to college or graduating from high school, or they've been dismissed or suspended from school shifting now to student identification card. So this requires beginning the 2324 school year, um, that you include the 9 88 national suicide prevention lifeline number on all student identification cards that you distribute to our students in grades six through 12.
[01:13:38] If you do not currently distribute identification cards, there is no statutory requirement that we are aware of that you now do. So, but if you do distribute these cards next year, You will have to put on the 9 88 suicide prevention lifeline number, unless that number has not been operational for more than one year before the 2324 school year begins, then this legislative act postpones that requirement until a future school year, immediately after the number has been operational for at least 366 days.
[01:14:16] Okay. So now I wanna turn it over to Dory to cover the, the very important topic of the, the opioid antagonist in schools. 
[01:14:24] Dori Page Antonetti: Thank you, Jess. Um, So prior to this year, the law was silent as to whether boards of education were able to administer opioid antagonists to students in schools, in emergency situations.
[01:14:39] It just wasn't addressed. And as I'm sure everyone on this call is aware. There was an incredibly tragic incident last year in which a seventh grader died from a drug overdose. And so I think that that incident highlighted this issue and. In response, a lot of Connecticut, um, state officials pledged to take action.
[01:14:59] Um, so this legislative session, we saw a significant change in the law. Um, just a little bit of background already in the law, Connecticut general statute, section 10 dash two 12, a addresses the administration of medication in schools generally. Um, and generally what's required is a written order of a qualified medical professional and the written authorization of a parent or a guardian before any medication can be administered to a student at school.
[01:15:30] And that makes sense, right? We need position from the doc, a permission from the doctor and from the parent, before we give medication to a student, um, the new law, which is effective this year, this school year. It allows, but it doesn't require that is one question we've gotten are, are, do we have to have opioid antagonists in school?
[01:15:49] You don't have to. Um, so the new law allows, but does not require school nurses or in their absence qualified school employees to maintain and administer opioid antagonists on an emergency basis without any prior written authorization to students who are experiencing an opioid related drug overdose.
[01:16:12] But there are several requirements that must be met now that this is addressed in our state law. And we're gonna walk through those statutory requirements in the next few slides. So the first thing is to just define what is an opioid antagonist, an opioid antagonist means Naloxone hydrochloride. Um, the most common example of this is Narcan.
[01:16:33] I think that's what most of our school districts are familiar with. Um, but it can be any other similarly acting and equally safe drug that the FDA has approved for the treatment of drug overdose. Um, and for those of you who might not know, um, this is something I had to learn. Narcan is a nasal spray. Um, that's used for the treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose in an emergency situation.
[01:16:59] So next slide, um, a school nurse or principal must select qualified school employees to administer an opioid antagonist. Um, and at least one of those qualified school employees, if you're going to have opioid antagonists, um, to be administered in schools has to be on school grounds during regular school hours.
[01:17:21] When the school nurse is not on school grounds, um, and that qualified school employee or employees may administer the opioid antagonist when the school nurse is absent or otherwise unavailable. Okay. So next slide. So who is a qualified school employee? The law defines qualified school employees as a principal teacher, licensed athletic trainer, coach paraprofessional, or licensed PT or OT.
[01:17:52] Who's employed by the board of education. Um, And this part is very important. A school nurse or a qualified school employee who administer an opioid antagonist must do so in accordance with the board of education's policies and procedures regarding the administration of medication. Um, so in light of this new law boards that want to have the administration of opioid antagonists available in their schools, um, they have to update their new, their policies, um, regarding administration of medication in accordance with the new law.
[01:18:28] Um, one important note, I just wanna pause there for one second. Um, state law and regulations require boards of education when reviewing their administration of medication policies, policies to reduce such review by annually. and to seek the advice and approval of the school medical advisor, if you have one other qualified, licensed physicians and the school nurse supervisor with respect to any policy changes.
[01:18:54] So if your district is considering any proposed revisions to your policies about the administration of medication, those revised changes must be made with the advice and approval of your school, medical advisor, school, nurse, supervisor, or other qualified licensed physician. Okay. So, and that makes sense, right?
[01:19:12] Cause this is an important, um, medical issue. So we want the medical professionals to be weighing in, um, If your board does adopt such a policy, the new provisions allow, but don't require a school nurse or qualified school employee to distribute and or administer an opioid antagonist only after completing a training in its distribution and administration.
[01:19:36] So it's very important. These, um, school nurses and qualified school employees have to be trained in accordance with the law. Um, that training has to be either offered by the state department of education, the department of consumer protection and the department of public health, or the training can be offered pursuant to an agreement with a prescribing practitioner or pharmacist.
[01:19:58] So our understanding is that prescribers, um, and pharmacists have offered similar training to entities like police departments in the past that have been authorized to enter these similar agreements. So it might not be difficult to set up, um, this type of training agreement because they're used to doing it for other entities.
[01:20:16] Okay. So our next slide is gonna talk. Some additional requirements, any agreement that a board of D um, education enters with a prescriber, um, has to address the board of education's opioid, antagonist storage handling. Labeling recalls and record keeping. So it has to have all of those components. Um, in addition, the agreement has to provide that the prescribing practitioner or pharmacist train the individuals like the school nurse and the other qualified school employees.
[01:20:51] Who've been identified by the, the administrators, all of the individuals who will either distribute or administer opioid antagonists under the agreement and in an emergency situation. Um, so boards of education have been authorized by this state law to enter these local agreements, just like a highly regulated area, because we're dealing with, um, medication prescribed medications, but you are authorized to enter into these local agreements, um, beginning July 1st of this year.
[01:21:20] So starting anytime. Okay. Um, a couple other things to point out is that similar to the statutory provisions regarding the emergency administration of epinephrine, the new law prohibits schools from administering opioid antagonist to a student, if the student's parent or guardian has submitted a written request that the opioid antagonist shall not be administered to their child, um, that request can be submitted again.
[01:21:49] It has to be in writing and it can be submitted to the school nurse or the school medical advisor. If you're a district has one. Um, next slide. Additionally, the department of consumer protection and collaboration with our state department of education has to provide information regarding where boards can acquire opioid antagonists.
[01:22:11] The information, um, has to include the name and contact information of any opioid antagonist manufacturers that provide the medication at no cost to school districts. Um, and additionally by October one of this year, so just 10 days from now, the state department of education is charged to consult with the DCP and DPH, um, and develop guidelines for boards of education regarding storing and administering opioid antagonists in schools.
[01:22:38] So we will stay tuned. Um, we'll just run through this scenario really quickly, cuz I know we're short on time, but I think that was some important information to cover. Um, the scenario is that your district is keenly aware that opioid use is a problem at the high school and perhaps the middle school.
[01:22:55] Nothing's more important to you than student safety and wellbeing. You decide that your school will have opioid antagonists in case there's an overdose at school right before one of the first soccer practices, a student athlete appears to suffer an overdose. The trainer jumps into action grabs the appropriate medication and administer the opioid antagonist.
[01:23:14] So the question is, are there any problems with this approach?
[01:23:23] Okay, so Michelle, do we have some responses there's only two choices this time, so it might be easier to, to move along quickly. 
[01:23:32] Jessica Ritter: Sure. They're coming in. We're at about 30% response. Okay. 
[01:23:35] Dori Page Antonetti: We'll just wait another five seconds or so.
[01:23:46] Wow. 50 50. It's a good thing. It's a good thing to cover. So, um, I guess there maybe should have been. Maybe there should have been an, it depends answer. Maybe that would've solved the 50, 50 split, um, split, but a couple things we wanted to use this scenario to point out is that, um, the board of education with this new law in place must have adopted a policy and procedures after consultation with their medical advisor and super advisory nurse personnel that meets all of the statutory requirements that we covered on the prior slides.
[01:24:22] So among other things, the athletic trainer must have been identified as a qualified school employee in accordance with the law and board policy, um, regarding the emergency administration of the opioid antagonist. Um, and it must that athletic trainer must have undergone all of the training that's required by the.
[01:24:41] The follow up question is what if this was an assistant coach that was suffering the overdose, not a student. Um, it's important to flag that the new law in its requirements only applied to students because those are the individuals for whom parental authorization would normally be required. Um, so here in a life and death situation would be up for the district to decide.
[01:25:01] Um, but all of the protocols and requirements that we just discussed regarding the new law, those specific requirements, um, will not apply, uh, because it's not a student. So I'm gonna hand it over to Kelsey. We'll discuss some additional changes in the law. 
[01:25:16] Kelsey Scarlett: Sure. And, um, I know that we're running short on time, so I'll just power through these next two slides.
[01:25:21] So this new legislation, um, develops a starting July 1st, 2023. So about a year from now, the state department is required to develop and distribute a new survey, two boards of education related to the numbers of school, social workers, school, psychologists, school, counselors, nurses, and licensed marriage and family therapists that are employed.
[01:25:42] So, um, once completed and distributed from the state department boards will be expected to complete this survey on an annual basis. Next slide 
[01:25:50] Dori Page Antonetti: please. 
[01:25:52] Kelsey Scarlett: So this new survey will include information concerning the number of these types of professionals assigned to each school. Um, in the case of licensed and Mar licensed marriage and family therapists, the number of employ of the number that is employed by the board.
[01:26:07] Um, also whether the professional is solely assigned to one school or with the, whether the professional works with multiple schools. Um, if the professional is providing services, um, for more than one board, uh, what that geographic area looks like for the professional and that they're covering. And finally, an estimate of the number of students receiving direct services from each of the five types of professionals during the five year period.
[01:26:29] Before the survey is completed. Just an important note here is that this new survey directly relates to a new grant program, um, for hiring these professionals, um, that was established, established in this legislative session. Um, the grant applications will actually, um, be determined by the commissioner of education and must include a copy of this completed survey.
[01:26:48] So, uh, for more information on that new program, please feel free to reach, uh, reach out or to look at our legislative summary that we have on our website and are happy to provide.
[01:27:02] Dori Page Antonetti: Okay, thank you, Kelsey. Um, similar to the survey that Kelsey just described, the new law also requires the state department of ed to develop and distribute a survey concerning school, mental health specialist, um, which includes school SU social workers, psychologists, trauma specialists, behavior technicians, board certified behavior analysts, school counselors, um, licensed professional counselors and L MFTs.
[01:27:28] Um, The survey is required to include among other things. And we have 'em listed on the next slide, the total number of school, mental health specialists in the school district, the total number of school, mental health specialists assigned to each school. Um, and an estimate of the annual number of students who receive direct services from each of these mental health specialists during the five year period proceeding, the survey, um, boards of education are required to complete the survey beginning in the 23, 24 school year and annually thereafter.
[01:27:58] Um, and as Kelsey mentioned, this seems to be an effort by the legislature to collect information on the mental health resources available to students and where there might be some unmet need. Um, and our guess is that, and part of the requirement for future grant applications is that such information will be used to inform grant decisions.
[01:28:17] Um, and as Kelsey mentioned, more information available in our, um, legislative update, um, There is also a requirement that the department of public health beginning this school year and biennial thereafter administer the Connecticut school health survey to students in high school. As long as DPH receives funding from the centers for disease control and prevention.
[01:28:39] Um, when it does DPH will provide guidelines to boards regarding the administration of the survey to high schools that are randomly selected by the CDC. So it doesn't appear that every high school is gonna be affected. Um, we did look into what is this Connecticut school health survey there's information about it on the state department of ed website, if you're interested, um, it's nationally known as the youth risk behavior survey, and you can click on some, um, former samples of it.
[01:29:06] If you wanna know the types of questions that will be asked, um, but looking at past versions of it kind of informed, um, me about why the new law also requires the state department of education by January this year, um, to develop a uniform parental notification policy and form for boards of education to use in administering the survey.
[01:29:27] Um, I think that's probably appropriate given, uh, some of the topics that might be covered in the survey and, um, among other things, state law, Um, mandates that parents have the opportunity to exclude their children from participating in the survey and the surveys have to be anonymous. Um, I think we're right at 10 o'clock, but, uh, let's just go to the next one.
[01:29:47] Just super quick reminders of new policies required as of, um, July one 20. 22. These were laws that were passed in the 2021 legislative session, which require, um, the following policies to be implemented this year policy concerning the eligibility criteria for enrollment in an advanced course or program, um, a policy concerning challenging curriculum.
[01:30:11] A policy for the equitable identification of gifted and talented students and a policy to improve FAFSA rates. So the common thread among all those policies has they're equity based, ensuring broad access to things like advanced courses, challenging curriculum, and to encourage all students, um, to have an opportunity to be college and career ready.
[01:30:30] So with all that, we just wanted to wrap up our legislative update. Um, as you can see, the legislature was very busy this year, as it has been in the past years. And there are significant changes across a spectrum right. Of, of areas. And on behalf of shipment, we just wanted to thank you for joining us today and thank you all for the incredibly important work that you do for schools and students across the street.
[01:30:53] So thank you and, um, enjoy the rest of the. Thank you Dory. 
[01:30:59] Michelle Spadaro: So ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's presentation. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us. Thank you to our speakers, Kelsey, Dory, and Jessica. As a reminder, for those of you who have submitted questions during today's program, we will be addressing them following the presentation and you will be contacted, uh, outside of this program.
[01:31:19] I invite you to please visit shipment goodwin.com/events for more additional information about upcoming programs. Uh, thank you and have a good rest of the day.