Amy Murphy Carroll

Board of Finance Approves Bonding for Estimated $2 Million Roof Replacement at South School

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The Board of Finance on Tuesday voted unanimously in support of nearly $2.2 in bonding for the replacement of the roof at South School—a project that’s expected to take place this summer and to be completed by the start of next academic year. As Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi had outlined during the budget season just passed, the 20-year-old roof has reached the end of its useful life and has started to fail, with water coming in through the ceiling in places following heavy rain. The project, which is expected to come in at about $2 million, went out to bid in January and will be completed by North Haven-based Greenwood Industries Inc., New Canaan Public Schools Director of Finance and Operations Dr. Jo-Ann Keating said. The overall $2,046,000 figure is less than the nearly $2.2 million that town funding bodies approved in the capital budget for fiscal year 2020—it represents $1.6 million with a 20% contingency and $100,000 in soft costs, according to Keating. The town will only bond what is spent, officials said.

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New Access Road Connecting NCHS To Waveny Proposed, Including Parking Expansion

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Saying New Canaan High School students already park in the area, town officials are proposing a new access road that will be flanked by parking, connecting the southernmost NCHS lot with an unpaved lot that will be improved and expanded to offer even more spaces. The new access road would run along the same line laid out by the pedestrian path that led to the former Summer Theatre of New Canaan site in Waveny Park and could be gated at either end for specific hours to control vehicular access to the high school, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

As it is, the unmilled parking area closest to the water towers yields about 25 parking spaces, or 40 when motorists pull onto the grass and in among trees that flank it, Mann told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their most recent meeting. “So the thought was to try and basically make the parking a little bit more uniform and maximize the amount of space that we have and maximize the amount of parking,” he said during the Commission’s March 13 meeting, held at Town Hall. “It’s not going to draw more cars—they are already here in the park—we want them not to park so haphazardly, on the grass and the canopy not under trees, compacting the soil and preventing air and water from getting to the trees and killing the trees.”

The plan would yield about 75 new spaces, he said. In addition, the expanded parking and improved ingress and egress to the the high school would improve emergency vehicle access to the campus, and would help serve new turf athletic fields that town officials envision using as a revenue source by hosting regional sports events, Mann said.

Brendan Hayes

Board of Ed Chair Defends Spoken Word Poet Performance at NCHS

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The chairman of the Board of Education on Monday voiced his support for a spoken word poetry presentation and workshop at New Canaan High School that’s generated some questions and criticism. Held last month, the presentation from Carlos Andrés Goméz was designed to help participants learn about and experience spoken word poetry, district officials have said, and most of the feedback from students and staff has been positive. Yet some viewed the presentation as political and slanted, promoting Board of Ed Chairman Brendan Hayes to say that he “spent some time looking at the situation and the poems that he put forth and presented and I didn’t see any political issues at all.”

Goméz’s presentation was designed to “focus on the issue of empathy and mutual respect and really just understanding various perspectives,” Hayes said during the Board’s regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “I saw an effort to teach kids and present in an impactful way what empathy means, what mutual respect means and I think that is very important for us to teach whether that’s part of this ‘emotional intelligence’ initiative specifically or not and I think it gets kids talking about their various interests and their various concerns and probably in a way they would not necessarily do had that speaker not come to school and given that presentation. So I think that is the type of thing that we should be doing.”

Though no video recording of the presentation exists—district officials said that’s because of copyright restrictions—Board of Ed member Maria Naughton said “it was a little edgy,” with poems addressing “controversial topics” such as “toxic masculinity” and racial profiling.

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Elementary School Cafs Ace Health Inspections 

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The cafeterias at New Canaan’s three elementary schools aced unannounced health inspections last week. 

East School earned a perfect score of 100 out of 100 during a March 25 inspection conducted by a sanitarian from the New Canaan Health Department, while South and West Schools earned scores of 98 and 97, respectively, during surprise inspections conducted March 26, records show. In surprise inspections, municipal health officials note any violation on a form that categorizes and grades each of them from one to four, with four being the most serious. A total of 100 points are possible, and each violation is deducted from that score. A food service establishment is said to have “failed” an inspection if its total score is less than 80 or if it’s cited for even a single 4-point violation. South and West Schools were cited for very minor issues only.

Dionna Carlson

‘A Powerful and Lasting Legacy’: District Honors Hazel Hobbs on Retirement from Board of Ed

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The school district on Monday night honored a well-known and widely respected New Canaan woman who has dedicated her life to education and left an indelible mark on this town and others nearby. 

Hazel Hobbs is retiring from the New Canaan Board of Education after 12 years, capping a career launched here a half-century ago, as a teacher at Center School, and that has included two principal positions of elementary schools in Greenwich and founding Pear Tree Point School in Darien. 

In recognizing Hobbs during a regular Board of Ed meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi called her “one of the most knowledgeable, committed, insightful and caring educators that I have ever had the honor to know.”

“Hazel leaves a powerful and lasting legacy, and everyone associated with the New Canaan Public Schools will continue from her service for years to come,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. Hobbs’s husband, Mike, sons Ian and Scott, daughter-in-law Diane and grandchildren Charlie, Jack, Elllie, Faith and Holden attended the meeting, which followed a reception. (Daughter-in-law Lisa had to attend a different board meeting.)

Though “determined, resolute, and persistent when needed,” Luizzi said, “what truly sets Hazel apart” is “the size of her heart.”

“Hazel truly loves our work, she values each and every child, respects the hard work of our teachers and administrators, and she brings a gracious dignity to all that she does. All of us serve with pride knowing that Hazel is in our corner. In the 12 years that Hazel has been on the Board of Education, she has had a positive impact on thousands of children.