Instructional committee reviews legislative policy updates on employment checks, family leave and school admission procedures

At its Jan. 6 meeting, the Wallingford Board of Education Instructional Committee reviewed multiple policy updates that reflect recent legislative changes and clarified how the district will apply those rules.

Mrs. Latour presented policy 4112.53 on employment and student checks, noting the district added language specifying that a previous employer is not required to disclose information about a substantiated allegation of abuse or neglect or other misconduct if the substantiation was reversed on appeal to the Department of Children and Families. She said the language was recommended by the law firm Shipman & Goodwin and cited Public Act 24-41. Latour also described clarified language about the Board's responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act when deciding whether to take adverse action based on background reports.

The committee also reviewed Family and Medical Leave Act-related updates. Latour said recent legislative changes require boards of education to provide benefits equivalent to the federal FMLA to noncertified employees (not just paraprofessionals) who have been employed at least 12 months and worked at least 950 hours in the previous 12 months; the presenter attributed the change to section 18 of Public Act 24-41. The policy text also clarifies that an employee's available accrued sick leave may run concurrently with unpaid FMLA and includes technical edits and updated legal citations.

On admission policy 5112.2, Latour said technical edits removed a dated July 1, 2024 reference and clarified that requests for early screening or early entrance to kindergarten must be submitted to the school serving the student's attendance area — not to any district school.

Committee members did not record extended debate on these points in the transcript. The presentation framed the updates as legislative and technical changes; the transcript does not record a formal committee vote on these specific policy language changes during this meeting.