News

Board of Ed Unanimously Elects Katrina Parkhill as Chair, Phil Hogan as Vice Chair

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The Board of Education on Monday night elected Katrina Parkhill as chair. A Republican member of the Board since 2017 who served as chair through the COVID-19 pandemic—from late-2019 through last November—Parkhill was unanimously elected during a brief organizational meeting at the start of the BOE’s regular meeting. In nominating Parkhill, Board member Hugo Alves said, “I’d like to nominate Katrina to be chair of the board if she’d do it again.”

“Obviously it’s been an interesting time and an unfortunate one considering the circumstances, but Katrina has at least proven to me and the rest of us in town that she not only cares about the town, cares about the school system, she’s got the experience to lead and I think that whatever transition we experience over the course of the rest of the year, it would be helpful and important to have some continuity and that level of experience,” Alves said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. Board members Bob Naughton, Brendan Hayes, Parkhill, Erica Schwedel, Alves, Phil Hogan and Penny Rashin voted 7-0 in favor of Parkhill. Board member Julie Toal was absent.

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.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Candidates Debate Curriculum Development 

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Candidates for the Board of Education this week debated whether changes should be made to the process through which curriculum long has been developed and approved for New Canaan Public Schools. As it is, a team of educators led by the superintendent—known as the Curriculum Leadership Council or “CLC”—draft, continuously review, update and approve curriculum so that New Canaan’s schools are meeting educational standards set by agencies such as the Connecticut Department of Education. The Board of Ed receives regular presentations on curriculum—a practice that has slowed amid the COVID-19 pandemic—and in cases of large-scale changes to those standards, the school board dedicates even more time at its meetings to corresponding decisions such as new classes or updates to the district’s goals and objectives. While Republican candidates for the Board of Ed said they’re not advocating for public meetings of the CLC (such as through appointment of a school board member to it), they called during Tuesday night’s League of Women Voters debate for the ability to weigh in on its development earlier and with greater detail and frequency than the elected body currently does. “I think that what we are pushing for is more oversight, more balanced thoughtful oversight at periodic stages,” GOP candidate Dan Bennett said during the debate, held at Town Hall.

Board of Education

Podcast: Board of Ed Candidate Hugo Alves 

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Board of Education candidate Hugo Alves. The Republican is one of two candidates seeking a two-year term on the Board of Ed Nov. 2. There also are eight total candidates vying for five four-year terms on the school board. 

Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

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Board of Education

Election 2021 Republican Caucus: Board of Education Candidate Hugo Alves

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New Canaan resident Hugo Alves is seeking the endorsement of the Republican Party for the two-year term on an open Board of Education seat at the July 20 caucus. We put some questions to Alves about his candidacy. Our exchange follows. New Canaanite: Tell us about yourself—how long have you lived in New Canaan, what have you been involved with here in town and what led to your decision to seek re-election? Hugo Alves: My wife, Maria, and I have lived in New Canaan for the past 11 years.