Board of Education

Board of Ed Divided on Best Calendar for 2025-26 School Year

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District officials are trying to figure out the most sensible way to build more wiggle room into the proposed 2025-26 school year schedule. As a proposed calendar now before the Board of Education has it, that school year would start on a Thursday in August and end on a Thursday the following June, meaning the final week of school could absorb just one snow day before threatening to push the academic year into the following week. However, the district by its own policy doesn’t push the school year beyond the third full week of June. “So there’s different things that are conspiring against us here for that start date,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said during the Board’s regular meeting, held Dec. 4 in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. 

The ‘25-’26 school year is already an anomaly in that several months will see a reduction in the number of school days just because of how the holidays fall.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Elects Hugo Alves as Chair [UPDATED]

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The Board of Education on Monday night voted 6-3 in favor of Hugo Alves as the elected body’s new chair. Elected to two-year terms in 2021 and 2023, Alves is a member of the school board’s Resources Committee. In the wider community, the Republican—a financial planner, by profession—volunteers on the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society’s Board of Governors. In nominating Alves during the Board of Ed’s regular meeting, member Julie Toal said, “I love working with Hugo and I’ve sat across from him for two years now.” 

“And I love watching him from across the room, holding court with the administration and the other Board members,” Toal said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “And I think Hugo has earned everybody’s trust and formed solid relationships with all of us sitting up here at this table.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Divided on Filling Vacant Seat [UPDATED]

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Republicans on the Board of Education said last week that they won’t fill a vacancy on the elected body because it could interfere with the party’s upcoming Caucus. Former Chair Dan Bennett resigned April 26. Under Section 7-4 of the Town Charter, the Board of Ed can fill a vacancy prior to the next municipal election, where a successor is elected to fill the balance of the term (Bennett’s four-year term expires in 2025). “If the Board of Education fails to fill any vacancy which occurs on the Board within 90 days after the vacancy occurs, the Board of Selectmen may fill such vacancy until the next biennial municipal election,” according to the Charter. During a special meeting held July 5, Board of Ed Chair Katrina Parkhill said, “Of note and interest to this Board, the Charter language suggests that it would like the Board to act, but also acknowledges that there could be circumstances under which the Board cannot or chooses not to act.”

“Since May, our Board has undergone a process to evaluate candidates who wanted to be considered for the vacancy,” Parkhill continued at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and via videoconference.

News

District: Science ‘Impacted Dramatically’ by COVID-19 Pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on science, district officials say. Many students missed out on lab experiences in 2020 as sixth-graders, as the pandemic set in here, when they went out for four months of remote learning for two units of study, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jill Correnty told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held Oct. 17 at New Canaan High School. Those units, in ecosystems and earth science, “are really critical,” Correnty said during a presentation on K-8 assessments. 

“They were in a hybrid environment and then, as you recall, we had half-day Wednesdays,” she said. “So we had to make some decisions with our science curriculum, and you may have recalled me talking about that last year and some of the changes that we made were in the climate unit, and the changes that we made were because we know that they were going to receive this information again as ninth-graders.

Alicia Meyer

Board of Ed Vows To Take Action on Rewritten Goal Around ‘Inclusive’ and ‘Equitable’ School Environment

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Following wide division in New Canaan after removing the words ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ or “DEI” from a working draft of the district’s goals and objectives, the Board of Education at its most recent meeting signaled that it would try to reset and de-politicize the tone of its discussion and future work. In what appeared to be a highly scripted section of the meeting—multiple Board of Ed members read from prepared statements—the elected body on Sept. 7 voted unanimously in favor of including the following language in the district’s goals and objectives:
“Continuously strengthen all schools and classroom communities to ensure every student feels they belong and are safe, connected, welcomed and engaged in inclusive, respectful, equitable and supportive learning environments. NCPS will deepen students’ understanding of a range of differences among people by fostering empathy and respect for all and to celebrate the unique and varied contributions each of us makes to the community and beyond. In this regard, NCPS will initiate a process including the Board of Education and other stakeholders and, informed by research, to develop a district-wide statement supporting this goal with short- and long-term action items.”
Board members said that the last sentence, presented by Board Chair Katrina Parkhill, reflects their commitment to “the spirit” of what had previously been written into the district’s goals and objectives as “diversity, equity and inclusion” or “DEI” (now removed). 

Board member Erica Schwedel said, “To me, diversity is valuing and celebrating students for all of their differences, equity is giving students differentiated tools and support to reach their own greatest potential, and inclusion is making sure every student feels valued, accepted, a part of the community and that their voice matters.