Sippy Discusses Proposed Middle School Transition

Region 15 Superintendent Dr. Frank Sippy met with parents living in a proposed transitional zone regarding their sixth grade students last week.

According to a recent news release, the essential "takeaways" from the meeting were that parents wanted to avoid putting their middle school child through a possible second transition in 2013, and that splitting siblings was not as critical a consideration as originally thought.

The Region 15 Board of Education is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Monday, September 10, in the central office at 286 Whittemore Rd., Middlebury.

Unless there is a compelling reason not to do so, Sippy said he plans to offer the following:

• Open the RMS sixth grade opportunity to all families living in the proposed transitional zone.
• Assure parents/guardians that whichever middle school a child enrolls in this year, prior to the Board of Education's (BOE) approval of a redistricting plan, that student is "grandfathered" and can complete their middle school experience in that school. However, once the BOE approves a redistricting plan, all children entering the middle school level must attend the middle school as designated by the BOE's redistricting plan.
• No matter the choice of middle school, student transportation will be provided by Region 15.

The proposed redistricting plan has not been approved by the board and would not go into effect until August 2013, according to the release.

Possible transition areas can be viewed on the region's website. 

Parents living in the Proposed Middle School Transition Zone are asked to contact Sippy as soon as possible via e-mail at fsippy@region15.org or by phone at 203-758-8259 to let him know their sixth grade child's name and which school they wish he/she to attend.