Board of Education

‘The Dome’: School District Aims To Open Renovated NCHS Planetarium This Fall

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The Board of Education during its most recent meeting voted to update the district’s goals and objectives, including new language around one of its major and most widely discussed initiatives in recent years. During its Aug. 21 meeting, the Board voted in favor of a number of updated objectives including “begin implementation of short- and long-range plans for integration of the renovated Dome into the student experience K-12.”

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jill Correnty called the renovated planetarium, known as “the Dome,” “one of the most exciting” areas of the regularly updated goals and objectives document. “Obviously the Dome is moving along,” Correnty said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “It’s kind of exciting to walk in and see the renovations taking place and we’re very excited.

Board of Education

Podcast: Board of Ed Candidate Lara Kelly

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Board of Education candidate Lara Kelly. The Republican is one of eight total candidates seeking a four-year term on the school board Nov. 7. There are four four-year seats up for election. There also is a contested two-person race for a two-year Board of Ed term.

Board of Education

District Hires 44 Educators for Upcoming School Year; Higher Pay Offered To More Active Substitute Teachers

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District officials said this week that they’re offering more money to substitute teachers who commit to working three more days within a week. New Canaan Public Schools administrators met this summer with two companies that “professionally secure substitute candidates” in order to address a recurring shortage within the district, according to Director of Human Resources Darlene Pianka. While discussing the issue among members of the administration’s “cabinet,” Director of Finance Sean O’Keefe shared the higher-pay strategy that came out of Greenwich. “So if a substitute is working for us and commits to working three or more days within a week, we’re looking to offer more money, and hope to secure them for us,” Pianka said during an update on hiring at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. 

“And we put that out there on the website and hopefully announce that in public. We’ll see how that goes.

Board of Education

‘Students Have Benefitted’: Board of Ed Reviews Survey Results, Feedback on New School Start Times

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The new school start times schedule that took effect last fall following years of discussion and analysis has received positive feedback for its intended outcomes, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said this week. 

Citing the results of a survey launched in the spring, Luizzi told Board of Education members during their regular meeting Monday that the new schedule “appears, based on this feedback, to have met our goals as we were looking at improving these three domains—overall wellness, amount of sleep, academic performance.”

“Students have benefited,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. Nearly 2,500 people participated in the survey, which used a platform from Norwalk-based ThoughtExchange. They shared more than 1,500 thoughts to answer the overall question of “What impact has the new start times had on your (or your students’ or children’s) overall well-being and academic experience?” They also provided more than 24,000 “rankings,” in the survey itself and by up- or down-voting thoughts shared by other participants. (Luizzi’s full presentation can be found here—during the presentation, he thanked New Canaan Public Schools Webmaster and Social Media Specialist Michelle Schneider “who really became a ThoughtExchange expert in doing all of this and put it all together and really has been a amazing help in using this tool and putting together the slides.”)

About 80% of responding students—nearly all of them at NCHS—agreed or strongly agreed that “my overall well-being has improved because of change in school start times,” according to the results, while 73% of K-12 parents agreed and 64% of faculty and staff disagreed or strongly disagreed (speaking on behalf of themselves, not their students). Luizzi noted that the new schedule is a “brand new implementation” and there are “some challenges around rebalancing the ecosystem.”

“The school exists in an ecosystem of individuals’ lives,” he said.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Divided on Filling Vacant Seat [UPDATED]

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Republicans on the Board of Education said last week that they won’t fill a vacancy on the elected body because it could interfere with the party’s upcoming Caucus. Former Chair Dan Bennett resigned April 26. Under Section 7-4 of the Town Charter, the Board of Ed can fill a vacancy prior to the next municipal election, where a successor is elected to fill the balance of the term (Bennett’s four-year term expires in 2025). “If the Board of Education fails to fill any vacancy which occurs on the Board within 90 days after the vacancy occurs, the Board of Selectmen may fill such vacancy until the next biennial municipal election,” according to the Charter. During a special meeting held July 5, Board of Ed Chair Katrina Parkhill said, “Of note and interest to this Board, the Charter language suggests that it would like the Board to act, but also acknowledges that there could be circumstances under which the Board cannot or chooses not to act.”

“Since May, our Board has undergone a process to evaluate candidates who wanted to be considered for the vacancy,” Parkhill continued at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and via videoconference.