Board of Education

Superintendent: Final Review of Proposed Changes to School Start Times Coming This Month

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District officials this month will review more specifics of a proposal to change school start times in New Canaan prior to formally planning for its implementation in the middle of next academic year, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night. The district, including Transportation Coordinator Roy Walder, will meet with the bus company and then will then “be able to share the routes and times with more specificity,” Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held via videoconference. Citing a reference document that Town Clerk Claudia Weber prepared regarding a potential referendum vote on Board of Ed funding, Luizzi noted that the town in any case is not empowered to dictate how the schools spend funds on a line-item basis. “We should continue to move confidently forward in our discussions and our work and putting together the implementation committee as we have spoken about at the meeting last week [April 29], so that we can continue moving forward and making the decisions that need to be made,” Luizzi said. “So at our next meeting on the 17th [of May], we will have information to share about a couple of different scenarios, more updates.

News

Superintendent: District Officials ‘Optimistic’ for NCHS Class of ’21 Graduation Ceremony at Dunning with Students and Parents

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District officials said this week that they’re hopeful New Canaan High School’s class of 2021 will be able to have a graduation ceremony at Dunning Field with at least parents in attendance and possibly others. The state issued guidance on end-of-year events and it includes many of the strategies long in place at New Canaan Public Schools, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting Monday night. Those strategies include wearing masks, social distancing, limiting the number of people in attendance, keeping track of who’s there, providing hand sanitizer and prohibiting anyone showing symptoms or who has tested positive for COVID-19 virus from attending, he said. Graduation ceremonies, specifically, are to be held outdoors, Luizzi said during the meeting, held via videoconference. Luizzi said he met with NCHS Principal Bill Egan and Athletic Director Jay Egan to figure out “how can we safely hold a graduation for our families that at least gets the students and their parents in and maybe does a little bit more.”

“We’ve got to work within the limitations of the facility, but we do have the great fortune of having Dunning to use for graduation.

Bill Egan

New Sign Coming To Farm Road Side of New Canaan High School

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The Board of Education last week voted unanimously to accept a donation of more than $32,000 from the New Canaan High School PFA for a new sign on the building as well as several outdoor tables for student use. NCHS Principal Bill Egan said the new plastic lettering at the “band entrance” on the north end of the school will serve to inform visitors and passersby on Farm Road of what the building is. “When you drive up Farm Road, you would not necessarily know what school this is,” Egan told members of the Board of Education during their March 15 meeting, held via videoconference. “So we have visitors who come in and they drive up and sometimes we will hear, is that the school?”

He shared an early-stage rendering of the planned sign from the chosen vendor, Hung Well Signs LLC. The same company did the “Home of the Rams” sign at the back of the school, overlooking Dunning Field. 

Board of Ed member Penny Rashin thanked the PFA “for making these amazing donations that so improve the look and quality of our schools.”

“It’s just fantastic and I am just so appreciative as a Board of Ed member for all you do for our students,” Rashin said.

News

‘That’s the Reality of the World We Are In’: Superintendent Updates Board of Ed As K-12 Nears Full In-Person Learning

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Transitioning all New Canaan Public Schools students back into full in-person learning from 50% to 75% and, this week, 100%, has been helpful in getting students, families and staff accustomed to strategies designed to mitigate transmission of COVID-19 virus, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday night. So far this week, officials have received very good reports on the return of New Canaan High School seniors to 100% in-person learning “and we anticipate the same for our juniors and then our ninth- and tenth-graders on Wednesday,” according to Luizzi. 

“It does mean when there are positive cases there are likely to be more quarantines, because of the balance between running at full capacity and maintaining that social distance of six feet, people understand that,” he said during a regular meeting of the Board of Education, held via videoconference. 

“When I sent out the announcements about bringing back the seniors and phasing everybody back in, that same day we had a positive case at Saxe and a positive case at one of our elementaries, and we had to quarantine a classroom at the elementary and a team at Saxe for a period of time. That’s the reality of the world we are in. So we have the great news about bringing those kids back. But we also just have to be grounded in the reality that when a positive case arises, we are still using those mitigation strategies.”

The comments came during Luizzi’s regular update on COVID-19 and the schools, whose buildings had been closed almost exactly one year earlier as the pandemic set in.

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.