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.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Election 2023: Democrats Put Up Three for BOE; Murphy Carroll Accepts First Selectman Nomination

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A Democrat seeking election to the Board of Education on Tuesday night described New Canaan as “a large community with a ton of tiny communities within it.”

For Lauren Connollly Nussbaum and her husband Matt, town residents for 10 years whose three daughters—ages 8, 10 and 13—attend South and Saxe Middle Schools, those communities include one in special education that they’ve found “remarkable and humbling,” she said during the Democratic Caucus, held at Town Hall. 

Other communities “may be in the sports world, in a house of worship, that may be in the Beautification League,” Connolly Nussbaum told 75-plus Democrats in attendance . 

She continued: “Wherever people in New Canaan are, we are building communities. And that is what I want to do on the Board of Education. Continue to build community and include everyone.”

Connolly Nussbaum added, “I feel ready. I feel nervous. I feel excited.

Alicia Meyer

Board of Ed Vows To Take Action on Rewritten Goal Around ‘Inclusive’ and ‘Equitable’ School Environment

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Following wide division in New Canaan after removing the words ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ or “DEI” from a working draft of the district’s goals and objectives, the Board of Education at its most recent meeting signaled that it would try to reset and de-politicize the tone of its discussion and future work. In what appeared to be a highly scripted section of the meeting—multiple Board of Ed members read from prepared statements—the elected body on Sept. 7 voted unanimously in favor of including the following language in the district’s goals and objectives:
“Continuously strengthen all schools and classroom communities to ensure every student feels they belong and are safe, connected, welcomed and engaged in inclusive, respectful, equitable and supportive learning environments. NCPS will deepen students’ understanding of a range of differences among people by fostering empathy and respect for all and to celebrate the unique and varied contributions each of us makes to the community and beyond. In this regard, NCPS will initiate a process including the Board of Education and other stakeholders and, informed by research, to develop a district-wide statement supporting this goal with short- and long-term action items.”
Board members said that the last sentence, presented by Board Chair Katrina Parkhill, reflects their commitment to “the spirit” of what had previously been written into the district’s goals and objectives as “diversity, equity and inclusion” or “DEI” (now removed). 

Board member Erica Schwedel said, “To me, diversity is valuing and celebrating students for all of their differences, equity is giving students differentiated tools and support to reach their own greatest potential, and inclusion is making sure every student feels valued, accepted, a part of the community and that their voice matters.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Poised To Remove ‘DEI’ from School District’s Goals and Objectives

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In a series of proposed changes that has generated wide community discussion, the Board of Education is poised this week to replace language around diversity, equity and inclusion or “DEI” in the school district’s goals. Board members agreed at their most recent meeting that the following sentences rightly should be added to a draft version of the goals that the elected body has been discussing since July:
NCPS [New Canaan Public Schools] will strive to deepen students’ understanding of a range of differences among people. NCPS will work to foster empathy and respect for all and to celebrate the unique and varied contributions each of us makes. Yet the Board of Ed is divided on a third proposed sentence for the goals:
In this regard, NCPS will seek independent expertise, research and develop next steps to advance this initiative. Four Board members—Secretary Dan Bennett, Julie Toal, Hugo Alves and Phil Hogan—objected to the word ‘expertise,’ saying they were against hiring an outside consultant to assess New Canaan Public Schools and make recommendations. 

They stopped short of saying that New Canaan’s lack of diversity is not a problem for the public schools.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Debates COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies at Emotionally Charged Meeting

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Saying they hope COVID-19 infection rates continue to go down after a post-holiday peak, district officials last week proposed a series of changes to mitigation strategies that could take effect after winter break. Starting Feb. 28, school cafeterias could return to full capacity during lunch if the COVID trends continue to move in a good direction, while classrooms could have more flexible seating arrangements and New Canaan Public Schools could start hosting in-person school events and meetings again, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said during the Jan. 24 Board of Education meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. While a requirement to wear masks is in place at least through Feb.