News

Global Citizenship: 50 NCHS Students Participate in ‘Model UN Club’

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New Canaan High School’s Model UN Club promotes a non-U.S.-centric worldview where participating students debate nuanced issues that show them a different perspective and help them become “global citizens,” according to one of the team’s leaders. A central question facing Model UN members is not just “How can I become a good U.S. citizen?” but “How can I become a good global citizen?” according to NCHS senior Melissa Rizzo, who joined Model UN as a fifth-grader at the Zurich International School and continued in New Canaan when she arrived at Saxe Middle School as an eighth grader. A secretary general on the team overseeing three Model UN captions and its executive board, Rizzo said she and others on the team “are exposed to a diverse range of global issues and cultures.” “

“Particularly in The Hague, sitting adjacent to 150 students who are from all over the world, you truly see the different cultures and how it comes into play in debate and how it is important to have an entity such as the UN that addresses issues—global issues—in a way that is individual and productive for each nation,” she told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting Monday, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. 

The comments came prior to the school board voting unanimously to approve an overnight field trip for the NCHS Model UN program. Rizzo in delivering her presentation was joined at the podium by faculty advisor Paul Phillips. Model UN is a program that helps develop research, critical thinking, persuasion, collaboration and public speaking skills, Rizzo said.

Board of Education

‘The Dome’: School District Aims To Open Renovated NCHS Planetarium This Fall

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The Board of Education during its most recent meeting voted to update the district’s goals and objectives, including new language around one of its major and most widely discussed initiatives in recent years. During its Aug. 21 meeting, the Board voted in favor of a number of updated objectives including “begin implementation of short- and long-range plans for integration of the renovated Dome into the student experience K-12.”

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jill Correnty called the renovated planetarium, known as “the Dome,” “one of the most exciting” areas of the regularly updated goals and objectives document. “Obviously the Dome is moving along,” Correnty said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “It’s kind of exciting to walk in and see the renovations taking place and we’re very excited.

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.

Addie Cannon

‘Go Out Into the World and Have Fun’: Class of 2023 Graduates from NCHS

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Michael LeDuc, a science teacher and department chair at New Canaan High School, once heard a colleague draw an important distinction that has stayed with him, between mere entertainment and the true fun that results from diligence. On Wednesday morning, he urged members of the NCHS senior class to make time for entertainment in their lives, but to understand that “there is a difference between entertainment and true, meaningful, lasting fun.”

“Don’t mistake entertainment for the good stuff—the meaningful and lasting fun that you earn through hard work,” LeDuc told the class of 2023 during its graduation ceremony, held at Dunning Field under overcast and comfortably warm skies. 

“Look at your high school experience,” he continued. “You worked really hard to be where you are today, on this beautiful day. You took on many challenges, some out of necessity. You navigated high school through some of the most challenging educational obstacles in the last 100 years.

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.