Bill Egan

Police: TikTok Posts Directed at NCHS Originated Out-of-State; FBI Joins Investigation [UPDATED]

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[Note: This article has been updated with a press release from New Canaan Police and a Board of Education statement.]

Police said Monday afternoon that concerning TikTok posts directed at New Canaan High School originated out-of-state. New Canaan Police Department detectives “are working diligently to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the posts, which included derogatory content and messages suggesting students stay home from school,” according to a press release issued Monday afternoon by Police Chief John DiFederico. The FBI and a designated “fusion center” composed of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are working with the New Canaan Police Department following the posts, he said in the release. “The department is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness while applying all available resources to bring it to a swift resolution,” DiFederico said. According to district officials, “mean-spirited and hateful posts” that appeared recently on a TikTok account (since deactivated) included “insulting” and “demeaning” language.

Bill Egan

The Grazing Ram: SAT Tutoring at NCHS Funded by NCCF Grant a Success

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In the fall of 2024, New Canaan High School created an SAT tutoring program available to all students. The program, in partnership with Carnegie Prep, a local leader in standardized test prep, offered eight rigorous courses with the goal of improving students’ scores for the School Day SAT in March. Need-based scholarships for the program were funded with a generous grant from the New Canaan Community Foundation (NCCF).  The program was named Equal Access for SATs (EOS). The primary goal of EOS was to level the playing field for all students and improve college outcomes for program participants

The indispensable team who dedicated their time to the creation of this program included me, along with Principal William Egan, Assistant Principal Kristi Carriero, NCCF Program Officer Meg Soffen and the rest of the organization, Director of the College and Career Susan Carroll, Jerry Carnegie III, and his amazing instructors and staff at Carnegie Prep. 

The EOS program sponsored 12 students with significant financial constraints to be able to pay for this program, all of whom were covered with a generous grant from the NCCF. 

What types of score improvements did these students see? Overall, while overall New Canaan score improvements have not been published, the NCHS students who took part in Carnegie Prep courses saw significant improvements. 

In terms of the EOS program, the students did significantly better from their PSAT to SAT scores with improvements ranging from 30 to 200 points.

Bill Egan

‘The Best Community in the State of Connecticut’: New Canaan Principals Report on First Day of School

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For New Canaan High School Principal Bill Egan, there’s no better day than the first day of school. Newly arrived freshmen and returning students “bring life back into the building,” Egan told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting Tuesday night. This academic year, NCHS welcomed nearly 1,270 students—including 52 who are new to New Canaan— who brought “ the energy only they could bring,” Egan said during a report on school openings. 

“I want to thank you,” he told the Board during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “It truly is an honor and privilege to be a New Canaan High School principal. There is no better job in the world than being a high school principal.

Addie Cannon

‘Go Out Into the World and Have Fun’: Class of 2023 Graduates from NCHS

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Michael LeDuc, a science teacher and department chair at New Canaan High School, once heard a colleague draw an important distinction that has stayed with him, between mere entertainment and the true fun that results from diligence. On Wednesday morning, he urged members of the NCHS senior class to make time for entertainment in their lives, but to understand that “there is a difference between entertainment and true, meaningful, lasting fun.”

“Don’t mistake entertainment for the good stuff—the meaningful and lasting fun that you earn through hard work,” LeDuc told the class of 2023 during its graduation ceremony, held at Dunning Field under overcast and comfortably warm skies. 

“Look at your high school experience,” he continued. “You worked really hard to be where you are today, on this beautiful day. You took on many challenges, some out of necessity. You navigated high school through some of the most challenging educational obstacles in the last 100 years.