Moynihan on Superintendent’s Proposed Board of Ed Budget: ‘I Wasn’t Too Happy’

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said Tuesday night that he’s unhappy with the spending plan that the superintendent of schools has proposed for next fiscal year. The Board of Education is expected to vote later this month on Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi’s $95.7 million operating budget for fiscal year 2022. Driven mainly by salary and benefits, it includes about $460,000 for what Luizzi described Monday as a student health and wellness initiative in the form of new start times. 

The approved Board of Ed budget for the current fiscal year is $90.9 million, town finance documents show. The Town Council in making its final budget vote last April reduced the Board of Ed’s requested amount by about $1 million, effectively forestalling a change to school start times. Addressing the Board of Finance during its regular meeting, Moynihan said, “The budget numbers are coming together very nicely on the town side.

Board of Education

COVID-19: State Reports Three More New Canaan Deaths

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State officials in recent days reported the deaths of three more New Canaanites with coronavirus disease, new data show, and the town is seeing a sharp rise in confirmed COVID-19 virus cases. The town’s cumulative total of 845 cases reported Monday is up 27 from Friday’s report by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. The DPH also is reporting  39 deaths for New Canaan in its most recent COVID-19 data tracker, up from 36 one week ago. Municipal officials said last week that most new cases are young adults and middle-aged parents infected through small gatherings over the holidays. A recent rise in cases among New Canaan High School students prompted district officials this week to pull back for now on the number of students attending in-person at the Farm Road school at one time.

Dr. Bryan Luizzi

Superintendent: NCHS To Start 2021 in ‘Hybrid’ Model Due to High Number of COVID-19 Cases

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Citing a sharp rise in the number of New Canaan High School students who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the holidays, the Farm Road facility will operate under a hybrid learning model starting Monday, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said. Just half of the student body will be in the NCHS building at a given time following one week of fully remote learning, Luizzi told the New Canaan Public Schools community in an email Sunday. Plans originally had called for about 75% of students to start this week with in-person learning, yet “[r]emaining in a traditional hybrid at NCHS for the short-term reduces population density, which strengthens the mitigation strategies, reduces the likelihood of close-contact with a positive case, decreases the number of quarantines required when there is a positive case, and, ultimately, minimizes the likelihood of spread in school,” Luizzi said in the email. “We are excited to move to the Hybrid Plus plan, and to begin enjoying all of the benefits it will bring to our school community; however, first and foremost, we remain steadfast in our commitment to prioritize health, safety, and wellness above all else, and the current data does not indicate Monday is the right time for its implementation,” he said. As of Jan.

Alicia Meyer

COVID-19: School Parents Concerned About New Canaan Families Extending Vacations During Week of ‘Remote Learning’

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Many New Canaan parents are concerned that some families are undermining efforts to keep the public schools safe by extending their vacations this week instead of learning from home as a post-holiday safeguard against the spread of COVID-19 virus, officials said Thursday. Theoretically, this week of school was designated for district-wide remote learning to give New Canaan families time, after returning from travel, to get tested and for COVID symptoms to surface, according to Health & Human Services Commissioner Alicia Meyer. Yet “unfortunately, a lot of people took it as an opportunity to extend their vacations,” Meyer said during the appointed body’s regular meeting. “At Thanksgiving, New Canaan Public Schools were requiring that kids who travel be tested when they got back to Connecticut, after they travel,” Meyer said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “But now, after Christmas, the requirement is just within the 72 hours of travel, so before they left their destination.”

She continued, “I have been getting a lot of emails from people concerned that kids are still on vacation right now, are going to be tested in Florida or Turks-and-Caicos or wherever they are, another day of vacation, fly home, crowded customs hall, and then roll right back into school, because they were tested before they left the vacation destination.”

“People just are concerned about this,” she added.

News

Op-Ed: A Reflection on 2020 

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As we close out the year 2020, we do so with an immense sense of pride for the New Canaan Public Schools. Thank you to our school administrators, teachers, and staff for your unwavering dedication to our students this year. Your courage, compassion, and wholehearted commitment have lifted up our students and our entire community during this time. Our students have benefited greatly from consistent in-person and remote learning, robust health and safety mitigation strategies, and a collective spirit that we will persevere and achieve great things through working together. 

Dr. Luizzi, together with his team of exceptional administrators, building principals, and department leaders, continue to lead fearlessly with a focus on delivering educational excellence to our students under extraordinarily challenging circumstances. 

Together with our administration, our unions have demonstrated the power of partnership and communication, and a commitment to continuous education for our students in a time of great need. This partnership should serve as a model for our state and our nation. 

Our teachers, counselors, and aides have gone above and beyond to educate and support our students across in-person, hybrid and remote formats, and have gracefully juggled, adapted, and transformed continuously this year.