News

Superintendent: Plans for June 15 NCHS Class of ’21 Graduation Ceremony at Dunning, Car Parade in the Works

By |

District officials say they’re planning a limited-attendance June 15 ceremony at Dunning Field for New Canaan High School’s graduating class that will be followed by a car parade that invites in the wider community. Officials are “still working through the restrictions and requirements around number of attendees” for the Dunning portion of the day’s events, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education at their regular meeting Monday. NCHS Principal Bill Egan and the PFA are working together on the plan, Luizzi said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “Having it on the 15th, doing it earlier in the day, so that we would then have an abbreviated ceremony,” Luizzi said. “So it would be shorter than usual, and we would still incorporate a car parade into the experience for the kids.

Board of Education

Superintendent: Final Review of Proposed Changes to School Start Times Coming This Month

By |

District officials this month will review more specifics of a proposal to change school start times in New Canaan prior to formally planning for its implementation in the middle of next academic year, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night. The district, including Transportation Coordinator Roy Walder, will meet with the bus company and then will then “be able to share the routes and times with more specificity,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held via videoconference. Citing a reference document that Town Clerk Claudia Weber prepared regarding a potential referendum vote on Board of Ed funding, Luizzi noted that the town in any case is not empowered to dictate how the schools spend funds on a line-item basis. “We should continue to move confidently forward in our discussions and our work and putting together the implementation committee as we have spoken about at the meeting last week [April 29], so that we can continue moving forward and making the decisions that need to be made,” Luizzi said. “So at our next meeting on the 17th [of May], we will have information to share about a couple of different scenarios, more updates.

News

Superintendent: District Officials ‘Optimistic’ for NCHS Class of ’21 Graduation Ceremony at Dunning with Students and Parents

By |

District officials said this week that they’re hopeful New Canaan High School’s class of 2021 will be able to have a graduation ceremony at Dunning Field with at least parents in attendance and possibly others. The state issued guidance on end-of-year events and it includes many of the strategies long in place at New Canaan Public Schools, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting Monday night. Those strategies include wearing masks, social distancing, limiting the number of people in attendance, keeping track of who’s there, providing hand sanitizer and prohibiting anyone showing symptoms or who has tested positive for COVID-19 virus from attending, he said. Graduation ceremonies, specifically, are to be held outdoors, Luizzi said during the meeting, held via videoconference. Luizzi said he met with NCHS Principal Bill Egan and Athletic Director Jay Egan to figure out “how can we safely hold a graduation for our families that at least gets the students and their parents in and maybe does a little bit more.”

“We’ve got to work within the limitations of the facility, but we do have the great fortune of having Dunning to use for graduation.

News

‘That’s the Reality of the World We Are In’: Superintendent Updates Board of Ed As K-12 Nears Full In-Person Learning

By |

Transitioning all New Canaan Public Schools students back into full in-person learning from 50% to 75% and, this week, 100%, has been helpful in getting students, families and staff accustomed to strategies designed to mitigate transmission of COVID-19 virus, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night. So far this week, officials have received very good reports on the return of New Canaan High School seniors to 100% in-person learning “and we anticipate the same for our juniors and then our ninth- and tenth-graders on Wednesday,” according to Luizzi. 

“It does mean when there are positive cases there are likely to be more quarantines, because of the balance between running at full capacity and maintaining that social distance of six feet, people understand that,” he said during a regular meeting of the Board of Education, held via videoconference. 

“When I sent out the announcements about bringing back the seniors and phasing everybody back in, that same day we had a positive case at Saxe and a positive case at one of our elementaries, and we had to quarantine a classroom at the elementary and a team at Saxe for a period of time. That’s the reality of the world we are in. So we have the great news about bringing those kids back. But we also just have to be grounded in the reality that when a positive case arises, we are still using those mitigation strategies.”

The comments came during Luizzi’s regular update on COVID-19 and the schools, whose buildings had been closed almost exactly one year earlier as the pandemic set in.

Board of Education

Board of Education: Cutting $3.1MM Is Not Fully Funding Our School Budget 

By |

The New Canaan Board of Education (BOE) is an elected body whose mission, under state statute, is to govern the town’s public schools, including oversight and spending of town, state, and federal government-allocated funds. We proudly serve as representatives and advocates for the New Canaan community and prioritize the success of the district and its students. 

The Board of Finance cut the requested BOE budget by $3.1 million. In developing its budget, the BOE again fulfilled its promise to the community by providing a detailed annual forecast of the funding needed to continue providing high quality programming for New Canaan’s students. The BOE budgets for its anticipated needs to run the schools and meet its obligations to the community. The Board of Finance has attempted to rationalize this cut as a deferral of funding.