Board of Education

Board of Ed Unanimously Elects Katrina Parkhill as Chair 

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The Board of Education on Monday night voted unanimously to elect Katrina Parkhill as its new chair. A Republican elected to the Board two years ago, Parkhill worked for a decade in management consulting and the healthcare industry after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, has three kids in New Canaan Public Schools and has served on the boards of numerous community organizations since moving here nearly 14 years ago, including First Presbyterian Nursery School, Newcomers Club of New Canaan, New Canaan Winter Club and West School PTC (as president). 

Since winning election to the Board of Ed, Parkhill has been an “an outstanding member,” serving on its Governance and Communications Committees, according to Brendan Hayes, who just finished his own one-year term as chair. “She has been an active member of the Board, an active member of the community” Hayes said during the Board’s meeting in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School “She has great connectivity with many parents in town and, I think, will be a great leader for our Board.”

In addition to Hayes and Parkhill, Board members Sheri West, Penny Rashin, Dionna Carlson, Jennifer Richardson, Julie Mackle Reeves and Bob Naughton were in attendance. Carl Gardiner was absent. Also unanimously elected as officers were Hayes, vice chair, and Richardson, secretary.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Adopts Policy for Naming of Buildings and Grounds

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The Board of Education on Monday voted unanimously in favor a policy that will allow the elected body to name district buildings and grounds after individuals or groups. 

Created in the wake of a formal agreement between the town and New Canaan Athletic Foundation that’s designed to ensure the long-term viability of the new and re-turfed youth sports fields and track at the high school, the policy calls for the Board to solicit community input, select names and approve changes. “Facility naming shall be considered in cases when it has been recommended to honor a person or organization providing exemplary services or contributions to the New Canaan Public Schools,” according to the policy (which can be found in full here). 

Board members Maria Naughton, Penny Rashin, Dionna Carlson, Brendan Hayes, Tom Cronin and Julie Mackle Reeves voted 6-0 to adopt it after a second read and minor changes. Board members Sheri West, Katrina Parkhill and Jennifer Richardson were absent. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said the policy came forward in conjunction with the NCAF agreement and is designed to establish a process to follow in the event that someone makes a donation that warrants naming rights. “It’s a very big deal to name something after someone,” he said “There should be a relatively high bar, I think, going into something like this, because it’s a significant honor.”

The Board spent time discussing the proposed language in the policy and ultimately decided to do away with a clause specifying that the honored individual or organization must have “an affiliation” with the district.

Board of Education

Enrollment in New Canaan Public Schools Up 59 Students This Year

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Enrollment in New Canaan Public Schools increased by 59 students this year, and the district now has 4,172 students from kindergarten to twelfth grade, officials said Monday. The figure is 108 students higher than projections made by a Marlborough-Mass.-based educational organization, NCPS Director of Human Resources Darlene Pianka said during the Board of Education’s regular meeting. 

Among grade levels, the three elementary schools saw the highest year-over-year increase, up 21 students from the 2018-19 academic year, and were 72 students higher than projections, Pianka said during a presentation on enrollment, New England School Development Council projections and district staffing levels. “Overall, according to our demographer, we are in a period of stable but slightly decreasing enrollment at the middle and elementary schools, with some small growth at the high school level, in general,” Pianka said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “I think that we can say this is all good information and positive in terms of our enrollment and the fact that we do have a lot of new students, which you are aware of from our budget season last year. And moving forward the complexity of this will be with the NESDEC projections and our best info to estimate what our enrollment will become and to plan for that accordingly.”

Board of Ed Vice Chair Dionna Carlson that, despite the increase of nearly 60 students in the district, the Board of Ed added just 1.85 full-time equivalents to the staff for this academic year.

Board of Education

Election 2019: NewCanaanite.com Endorsements for Board of Education

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Among those seeking elected office Nov. 5, all five candidates for the Board of Education deserve special thanks and admiration. 

Like those running for Board of Selectmen and Town Council, they’ve raised their hands to undergo close scrutiny on behalf of the community, and on a volunteer basis. And Board of Ed members face decisions that we expect to upset as many New Canaanites as they please. Open questions of just how to change school start times and how much taxpayer money to seek for a reconfigured busing system must be addressed in the budget-setting weeks that immediately follow Election Day. Additionally, working with district administrators to figure out—based on inconclusive community feedback and with an eye on taxpayer spending—how early is too early for elementary schoolchildren forms just one part of the Board’s work and responsibilities. 

This year, five candidates—three Republicans and two Democrats—are seeking election to seats currently held by three Republicans and one Democrat.

News

Chairman: Board of Ed Moving Forward on Limited Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs in Schools

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The Board of Education may adopt a policy that would see drug-sniffing dogs allowed in public schools so long as students are not present during searches or criminalized as a result of them, the elected body’s chairman said Wednesday. 

Board members have talked about the issue in the last two weeks though they’re “somewhat concerned over because they don’t want dogs necessarily coming into schools and causing a problem as it relates to student stress or health,” according to Brendan Hayes. “So we are thinking about that carefully but that may be something that the Board moves forward on, so that we have a policy that governs dog searches which would never occur when kids are actually walking around,” he said during a Candidates Debate, held at Town Hall. “The dogs cannot come into contact with the kids. So we would do that very carefully if we chose to do it.”

The Democrat later added, “I met with Chief [Leon] Krolikowski and the superintendent a number of months ago, talking about this specific issue of we will do nothing if it results in kids being criminalized when they are in school. We will absolutely not do that.