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.

Alicia Meyer

‘His Conduct Caused It’: Moynihan Points to Complaints, Issue of ‘Respect’ in Emergency Management Director’s Ouster

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First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Thursday that he had received complaints regarding Emergency Management Director Mike Handler’s conduct prior to seeking his resignation. Asked during a press briefing what was the issue that led to Handler’s ouster, Moynihan said, “Respect.”

“Respect for co-employees,” he said during the briefing, held via videoconference. 

Health officials “among others” had lodged complaints, Moynihan said. Asked what were the nature of the complaints, he said, “You can’t crush other people and expect them to work as colleagues.”

The sudden news of Handler’s resignation, made Wednesday at Moynihan’s request, traveled quickly through the community and drew strong reactions. On social media, many have voiced concerns about the dismissal of a volunteer who has been in regular communication with residents on town-wide outcalls during the COVID-19 public health emergency. 

Asked during the briefing about feedback saying Handler’s resignation is regrettable given how much he has done for the town, Moynihan replied, “It’s regrettable that his conduct caused it, so you have to put the blame where it belongs.”

Yet it remains unclear just what Handler did, how his conduct merited pushing him out of an Emergency Operations Center that he himself helped steer during the ice storm of December 2008 or whether complaints about him amounted to a pretext for his dismissal. In a statement issued late Wednesday, Moynihan said Handler’s job was to “coordinate and communicate as the ‘voice’ of the EOC, but not as the ultimate decision maker,” adding, “Throughout any crisis, and especially during this pandemic emergency, decisions must be made after thoughtful and respectful discussion and debate.”

Asked during the briefing what decisions Handler had made or attempted to make that weren’t in his purview as emergency management director, Moynihan said he never asserted such. 

In an email sent to EOC members Wednesday morning that was obtained by NewCanaanite.com, Moynihan said that he asked Handler to step down “due to a disagreement over his handling of the Covid testing and his treatment of staff and other personnel.”

Moynihan opened Thursday’s briefing by complaining about an article breaking news of Handler’s ouster based on that email.

Alicia Meyer

‘The Goodwill Has Been Taken Away’: Two Resign from Human Services Commission

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Saying they felt poorly treated in their volunteer roles, two members of a town body that oversees the New Canaan Department of Human Services on Thursday resigned from their positions. Judy Dunn, a member of the Human Services Commission since 2010 and its chair for the past five years, said in a letter read aloud at the appointed body’s regular meeting that First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had acted inappropriately in selecting the nine-member body’s next chair himself. Because the Commission had a quorum, the first selectman also had been incorrect in January to postpone an organizational meeting for the body to elect its own chair, Dunn said in her letter, and wrongly asserted that Commissioner Renate Dolphin should resign for missing meetings. “Mr. Moynihan said Renate Dolphin had missed three meetings and should be asked to resign,” Dunn said in the letter, read out by Commissioner Alicia Meyer. “He said I should ask her to resign.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Something must’ve happened out front of the 1850-built commercial building on the corner of Main Street and East Avenue, home to a gift shop, swimwear store and tailor. The town on Wednesday received a Freedom of Information Act request from a Stamford-based law firm for all New Canaan Police Department incident reports this month concerning snow or ice at 102 Main St., including abutting sidewalks. The request, from Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky, also seeks info on falls, complaints, fines, blight citations, 911 calls and building permit applications related to gutters, downspouts, roofs or sidewalks there. ***

Now that we’re in budget season, here’s a look at what the highest elected official is paid in New Canaan and nearby towns:

 

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The developer who earned high praise recently from historic preservationists for his design of a new house on Forest Street said throughout the process that it was important to him to be respectful of the neighborhood’s history. In fact, Tom Sturges is the great-grandson of Imogene Seymour, who had been curator for the New Canaan Historical Society from 1959 to 1968.