News

Athletic Director: NCHS Assistant Basketball Coach Arrested Over Weekend Is No Longer Employed by District

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New Canaan High School officials on Monday said an assistant basketball coach arrested over the weekend is no longer employed by the district. According to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, the coach—Jose Amor, of Stamford—had “passed the mandatory background check necessary for employment in the New Canaan Public Schools.”

“The New Canaan Public Schools has an extensive background check for all employees and will continue to use this system for all future hires,” Egan said in an email addressed to the ‘New Canaan Public Schools Community.’ According to The Advocate, Stamford police found Amor to be in possession of 20 bags of heroin and charged with possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Formerly a basketball coach at Westhill High School, Amor also had been arrested in 2016 following accusations that he had tipped off one of his players there that he was a suspect in a shooting, leading to a misdemeanor charge of interfering with police. Amor’s criminal record in that matter was erased one year ago after he completed a short “accelerated rehabilitation” program, though Google search returns related to the incident remain high.

News

‘We Are Very Close To Reaping the Rewards’: New Turf Fields, Track at New Canaan High School Near Completion

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The sub-surface work for the new turf fields at New Canaan High School was completed last month and lighting towers and fencing there have been installed, according to the volunteer committee that’s overseeing the widely anticipated projects. Turf and fill for both fields—a full-size field and a smaller one—will be installed once daytime temperatures consistently reach 45 degrees and that installation will take about three weeks to finish, according to a information supplied by the Town Fields Building Committee. According to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, an ex officio member of the committee, next week’s warm temperatures are expected to deliver a window for the installation. “Thanks to the town’s contribution and the private donations, as we kick off the spring season, we are going to have some tremendous fields and a track complex for our athletes to use, and for the youth-level lacrosse and soccer players, and so I think it’s really exciting,” Egan said. “We are on the verge of having a complex that will be second to none as far as this area is concerned.”

News

PHOTOS: Nine NCHS Student-Athletes Sign Early Letters of Intent To Play Sports in College

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Nine New Canaan High School student-athletes signed early Letters of Intent on Wednesday to play sports in college starting next year. The gallery above includes photos from a signing ceremony overseen by NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan, held in the Wagner Room. We also asked the students why their future schools are a good fit, and put their responses in each caption.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Chef Luis Lopez, known locally for his eponymous restaurant on Elm Street, has been seen cooking in the open kitchen at Spiga on Main. ***

After school Wednesday, a man was seen trying to enter cars in a New Canaan High School parking lot, according to a communication from NCHS Principal Bill Egan. “We do not believe he was successful, nor do we anticipate his return,” Egan said in an email. “However, please make sure you lock your cars on campus. I would keep them locked before and after school.

News

End of an Era: Danielle Simoneau Steps Down as NCHS Softball Coach; Joel Geriak Named Successor

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The highly successful and widely respected head coach of the New Canaan High School varsity softball team has stepped down, officials said Monday. Danielle Simoneau decided to make the change in order to watch her own daughter Makenzie—a freshman at Trumbull High School—play, according to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan. “We are very grateful for all the time and effort Danielle has given to build the softball program at NCHS and in the community,” Egan said in an email to softball families. “NCHS softball was a perennially weak program before Danielle came on board. We won an FCIAC Championship under her leadership and the youth softball program is viable option for girls in the spring.”

Named to the NCHS post in 2010, Simoneau herself was a standout pitcher, and powerful hitter, at Westhill High School in the early 1990s.