Podcast: LiveGirl Founder Sheri West

This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan’s Sheri West, founder of LiveGirl, about the nonprofit organization’s efforts to address a growing mental health crisis among young people and especially girls. An important part of LiveGirl’s plan includes a new partnership with Silver Hill Hospital to help train mentors. We plan to interview Silver Hill for next week’s podcast. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

New Canaan Public Schools Enrollment Projections Call for Slight Decline Next Academic Year

Despite a high number of move-ins in this strong local real estate market, enrollment projections for New Canaan Public Schools call for an overall slight decline next academic year, district officials say. As of June 18, the district had 4,070 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade, and is projected to reach 4,095, according to data made public at last week’s Board of Education meeting. The figures compare to 4,176 students enrolled K-12 in the school year that just ended, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jill Correnty said during the June 21 Board of Ed meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. District officials said that by the time the 2021-2022 starts, the enrollment figures could end up rising, for a number of reasons. Many of the move-ins likely not have enrolled their children yet, Correnty said, and the figures do not include those who are “pre-registered” or in the process of finalizing residency and other documentation for the district.

LiveGirl, Carriage Barn Open ‘She is Rising’ Art Exhibition

Two nonprofit organizations in New Canaan teamed up to organize an art exhibition celebrating women that opened Thursday. “She Is Rising,” presented by LiveGirl and the Carriage Barn Arts Center, runs through June 5 at the well-known gallery in Waveny Park. Sheri West, LiveGirl’s founder and CEO, said the exhibition reflects her organization’s work to “build confident, inclusive, leaders.”

“We’re working to close the female leadership gap, and we’re working to create a world where women can rise and take on positions of power and leadership,” West said. “She Is Rising” features artists such as Ashley Longshore, TL Duryea, and Michele Voight. The art, ranging from embroidery to paintings, makes “powerful statements,” according to Hilary Wittman, the executive director of the Carriage Barn.

2020-21 Academic Year: District’s Phased Plan Calls For All Students To Be in Public Schools in Early-October

 

If health data supports it, New Canaan Public Schools will aim to allow students to attend all classes in-person in early October, district officials said Monday. School will look different at that time, officials said during a regular meeting of the Board of Education, held via videoconference. For example, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said, those in school will be wearing masks and observing physical distancing, hallways will be marked one-way, classrooms will be assigned designated bathrooms, visitors will be prohibited and all assemblies will be held virtually. Though Fairfield County has what health officials are calling “low community spread” of COVID-19 virus—meaning the state is allowing local districts to fully reopen with in-person learning—the first several weeks of the upcoming academic year will be spent re-acclimating students and parents, as well as teachers and faculty, to the changed environment, officials said. Available here in a continuously updated operations guide, the four-phase plan is geared toward the school community’s “on-boarding and reengagement,” Luizzi said.