Dionna Carlson

Election 2023: Dionna Carlson Announces Candidacy for First Selectman [Q&A]

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New Canaan’s Dionna Carlson, a Republican who served for eight years on the Board of Education, including three as chair, has announced her candidacy for first selectman. We put some questions to Carlson, the first person to announce their candidacy for the town’s highest elected office in this year’s local election. Our exchange follows. New Canaanite: What is your background professionally and in terms of living and volunteering here in New Canaan? Dionna Carlson: I graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a B.S. in Finance.

Board of Education

Superintendent: Elementary School Kids To Begin at 8 a.m. Under Revised Start Times Schedule

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District officials said Monday night that they’ve figured out a way to push back the start time for elementary school kids under a planned new schedule from 7:50 a.m. to 8 a.m.

By adding two smaller-size “type 2” buses to its fleet, the district can “shave off” run time for buses that currently must travel out-of-town in order to find a place to turn around before picking up more kids and getting them to school, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi. At a cost of $63,000 apiece, the two smaller buses (seating about 16 to 20) would be operated by drivers already employed by New Canaan Public Schools and “they would shave off the couple of longest runs and help us move our time tighter and get to that 8 o’clock,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting. “We can get to 8 o’clock with our first tier, the elementary kids,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “It’s 8:35 [a.m.] for our second and 9:20 [a.m.] for our third, but we will keep working on the other two,” he said. “What we are doing is what we said, we are going to continue to dive into it, to look at it, to refine the runs,” Luizzi said.

Homepage Featured

Board of Ed Votes 6-2 in Favor of New School Start Times Schedule; Plan To Take Effect Next April

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The Board of Education on Monday voted 6-2 to change to a school start times schedule that will see elementary schools start first in the morning (at 7:50 a.m.), followed by grades seven through 12 (8:30 a.m.) and then grades five and six (9:15 a.m.). Dubbed “Scenario A” by New Canaan Public Schools officials, the schedule would take effect next April. The Board had also been considering a “Scenario B,” which would have seen grades five and six start first (7:45 a.m.), follows by grades seven through 12 (8:30 a.m.) and the elementary schools last (9:15 a.m.). Saying additional school buses could be hired on a trial basis, Board member Dionna Carlson urged the elected body to either adopt Scenario A on the condition that the district “solve for” an elementary school start time no earlier than 8 a.m., or else adopt Scenario B.

“We need to sharpen our pencils—7:50 is nice but 8 o’clock is not an unreasonable request and I think that because we have these local schools, you could add a few more buses in the early tier and then those buses would be done getting those kids back quicker than they normally would be if it was a Saxe or high school drop off at the end of the day,” Carlson said during the meeting, held both in persona and via videoconference. “The research that I read about elementary start times is when you are looking at giving high schoolers more sleep, don’t ever do it at expense of the younger kids,” she added.

Board of Education

Superintendent: COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics for Staff and Faculty To Be Held Over Next Two-and-a-Half Weeks

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All New Canaan Public Schools staff and faculty seeking COVID-19 vaccinations will have a chance to get their shots within the next two-and-a-half weeks or so, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night. 

Under the continued vaccine rollout that Gov. Ned Lamont announced last week, school staff and teachers are among those eligible to get vaccinated starting in March. 

Luizzi said he connected immediately with Health Director Jenn Eielson to put together a thorough, fair, thoughtful and non-disruptive system for all full-time and part-time district staff members. “This is a milestone in this whole experience, for all of us,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held via videoconference. “And we are really excited to get going.”

He added, “The vaccinations have been foremost on our minds, and that’s a big turning point here with COVID and everything else that we’ve been experiencing.”

The comments came during Luizzi’s general update on COVID-19. 

During an initial clinic at Lapham Community Center that will be held Wednesday, 350 first doses will be administered to all full- and part-time staff members aged approximately 46-and-older, Luizzi said. “And we’re still working and refining that list, so in one week we are able to get to a significant portion of our staff,” he said. “The system that we have in place looks like it might take two-and-a-half weeks or so for everybody who wants a vaccination to get one.”

First-dose clinics will be held on Wednesday afternoons when school is not in session, Luizzi said, and second doses will be offered Fridays so that people can rest through possible side effects.

News

Survey: 93% of New Canaan Public Schools Parents Will Have Their Kids Start Academic Year with In-Person Learning  

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Some 93% of New Canaan Public Schools parents are choosing to have their kids start the academic year with in-person learning, as permitted, as opposed to going fully remote, district officials said this week. Reporting on the results of a survey focused on an academic year that will open amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night that the parents of about 400 students still had not completed their survey, which was scheduled to close 2 p.m. Tuesday. “What we have to do is assume anyone who does not respond is in remote learning,” Luizzi said during a special meeting of the Board of Education, held via videoconference. 

The 2020-21 school year will open next Monday under a phased plan that Luizzi outlined at a Board of Ed meeting earlier this month (a continuously updated operations guide can be found here). It calls for students in grades one through 12 to be divided into one of two cohorts that will attend school in-person roughly half the week to start the school year (kindergartners will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions). Should health data and state guidance allow it, then starting Sept.