Board of Selectmen

Superintendent: New Canaan Public Schools Grapples with Lack of Substitute Teachers

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New Canaan Public Schools’ most pressing day-to-day need is bringing in more substitute teachers, Superintendent Dr. Bryan Luizzi said last week. The number of teacher absences varies, though January-February “is typically the highest month because of flu season,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting, held Jan. 26 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Asked by Selectman Nick Williams what number of absences “stresses you,” Luizzi responded, “Our system is stressed with more than a handful, to be honest with you, right now, because of the shortage of subs.”

Asked whether “a handful” means three or four, Luizzi said yes. “Saxe is different because of the upper/lower division,” he said. “High school is a little bit different.

Board of Education

School Security: Board of Ed Seeks To Add 10th ‘Campus Monitor’

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Saying it will make New Canaan Public Schools even safer, the Board of Education is seeking to hire an additional “campus monitor” for next academic year. Currently, the district has nine campus monitors at the public schools—one at each elementary school and three each at Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School. The tenth monitor would allow the “lead campus monitor,” who works in a supervisory capacity, to “go around, check protocols, check buildings, do training with staff, work more closely with the principals,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told the Board of Selectmen during a budget meeting, held Jan. 26 at Town Hall and via videoconference. The lead monitor would “be involved on a district level,” Luizzi said.

News

‘We Could Not Accommodate Those Students’: NCPS Projected To Welcome Largest-Ever Kindergarten Class in 2026

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Based on the number of babies born to New Canaan families last year, the public schools are poised in the 2026-27 academic year to welcome a kindergarten class larger than the district’s facilities currently can handle, officials say. New Canaan’s 201 known “live births” in 2021, added to the town’s regular move-ins of young families coming for the outstanding public schools, is projected to result in a kindergarten class of 397 students five years later, officials said at the Board of Education’s regular meeting last week. “We could not accommodate those students given the facilities we currently have,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said during the Nov. 7 meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “It’s just too many more students than our schools could handle.

Dr. Bryan Luizzi

Podcast: Superintendent Dr. Bryan Luizzi on ‘Renovate the Dome’ Planetarium Project at NCHS

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi about Renovate the Dome, a public-private partnership to renovate the planetarium at New Canaan High School. Discussed in recent years within the Board of Education and with the town, plans to not only refurbish but also reimagine “The Dome” at NCHS are well underway. Here’s an FAQ on the Renovate the Dome website, here’s information on how to support the project and here’s a video overview:

Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Board of Education

Superintendent: New Canaan Public Schools Plan To Make Mask-Wearing Optional Feb. 28

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Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said in an email to parents Wednesday evening that the district plans to make mask-wearing optional in school buildings for all students and staff K-12 starting Monday, Feb. 28. That day follows winter break, which starts Feb. 18. “Thanks to our rapidly declining case rate, successful implementation of mitigation strategies, and high vaccination rates, the NCPS plans to go mask-optional upon our return from Winter Break,” Luizzi said in the email.