News

Letter: Two BOE Members Endorse Brendan Hayes and Julie Reeves

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Editor,

We are writing in support of both Brendan Hayes and Julie Reeves for re-election to the Board of Education. Brendan Hayes works hard to make sure New Canaan Public Schools efficiently educate each child to the fullest. He leverages his financial expertise to ensure that the Board of Education budgets are transparent, clear and deliver the maximum return on our Town’s investment. He serves on the BOE Resource Committee and updated the BOE policy that charges non-BOE entities for using school property. In recognition of his leadership, Brendan was elected Chair of the BOE this year, where he ably stewarded the budget through the town approval process and built strong relationships with town officials. Striving for the highest quality public education for New Canaan’s students comes naturally to Brendan Hayes. Brendan’s parents were teachers and then administrators.

Around Town

Podcast: Restoring the Ponus Ridge Chapel

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Ainsley and Brendan Hayes, new owners of the ca. 1911-built and previously neglected Ponus Ridge Chapel, and Ted Sihpol of Renaissance Partners LLC, general contractor on the closely followed job of restoring it. If you have a memory of the Chapel to share, please send it to Ainsley Hayes at arhayes@me.com. Here are a few photos of the Chapel:

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Christine Saxe and Associates, New Canaan resident specialist ranked as one of America’s Best Real Estate Professionals by Real Trends. View her fine collection of New Canaan homes for sale at halstead.com/christine.

Bill Egan

New Rule: No Cellphone Use in NCHS Classrooms

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Starting this year, New Canaan High School students are not permitted to use cellphones in class during the day, Principal Bill Egan said Monday night. In the past, the decision on cellphone use had been left up to individual teachers’ discretion, but the feedback from those educators has been that it’s simply “not a great thing for anyone,” Egan told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting. “The cellphones are a distraction, so we want them out of the classroom,” Egan said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “So they will not be there during the class. They will have cellphone cradles that we will put them in.

News

District: 116 More Students Than Projected Enrolled in New Canaan Public Schools

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When the academic year starts next week, New Canaan Public Schools are expecting to see 116 more students K-12 than had been projected, district officials reported Monday. 

The above-projected figure of 4,180 total students reflects higher-than-projected registration across all levels, with the elementary schools 79 students over projections, Saxe Middle School 18 and New Canaan High School 19, according to Darlene Pianka, the district’s director of human resources. The overall figure does not include pre-kindergarten. “Big numbers,” Pianka said during the Board of Education’s regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. The figures show that “there is clearly demand for New Canaan Public Schools,” Board Chairman Brendan Hayes said. “This is great news, I mean seeing 116 students overall greater than what we predicted is pretty amazing and remarkable,” he added.

Brendan Hayes

Solar Panels To Be Installed on South School Roof This Summer

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Officials are moving forward with the first phase of a plan to install solar panels on the roofs of New Canaan’s public schools. 

New Canaan Public Schools Director of Finance and Operations Dr. Jo-Ann Keating told the Board of Education at its regular meeting July 15 that a revised contract with the party providing the panels had been finalized. The revised contract is “about 73% less than our current rate that we pay per kilowatt hour,” Keating said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “The panel system is going to cover about 80% of our demand requirement, so we’ll still be going out to the grid for about 20% of what we need,” she added. The revised contract follows months of progress in bringing the sustainable power source to New Canaan Public Schools. At the Board’s April 22 meeting, Keating said that solar panels are to be installed on the roof of South School this summer, with a plan for installation on East and West schools and Saxe Middle Schools over the next three years.