Board of Education

Superintendent: CIAC Views High School Football As ‘High Risk’ Sport

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Given frequent and extended contact among players, football is seen by Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference officials as “high risk” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New Canaan’s superintendent of schools said Monday night. CIAC officials view volleyball as “moderate risk,” Dr. Bryan Luizzi said during a special meeting of the Board of Education, “because it’s indoors, in a gym.”

“And the others they are putting somewhere in low to moderate,” Luizzi said of other fall sports during the meeting, held via videoconference with some Board of Ed members joining him in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “Being that they are outdoors and the duration of contact in the sport—in soccer, in field hockey, it’s a short duration in the contact that they have—which is different from football or volleyball indoors. So they are looking at each sport individually and hoping that by the end of the week they come to an agreement with the [state] Department of Public Health and they are able to communicate that.”

The update—based on an afternoon call that included superintendents of schools and the CIAC executive director, Luizzi said—came as fall sport athletes wait to find out whether they’ll be able to play this season and, if so, under what conditions. The CIAC said in a press release late Sunday that schools could commence conditioning work Monday and “non-contact sport specific skill work” Saturday. 

Yet it remains unclear whether popular and widely followed sports will happen, or whether some sports will go on while others are modified or canceled.

Government

Town Awaits Bids on Waveny House ADA Project as Major Funding Decision Looms

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Municipal officials say they’re eagerly awaiting contractors’ bids this week for a major multi-part project at Waveny House, as the town decides whether and how quickly to redress the historic structure’s noncompliance with ADA standards. Originally believed to be a project of narrow scope costing about $1 million, a multi-year project now expected to cost $2.8 million would include creation of ADA-compliant bathrooms and installation of an elevator so that disabled people could access Waveny’s second floor—where the Parks & Recreation Department is located—as well as required upgrades to a fire escape and entrances to the brick mansion from its west porch and rear balcony. 

While some municipal leaders have said they support the project, including First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, others—including some members of New Canaan’s legislative body—have voiced concerns about spending the money while much of the large structure itself still has no clearly defined long-term use or identified revenue stream beyond the roughly $100,000 to $140,000 generated annually through renting it out for events such as weddings. “We have got to make some decisions about this project, because if we have no project, we probably don’t have a Waveny House,” Moynihan said Monday during a meeting of the Selectmen’s Committee on Facilities and Infrastructure, held via videoconference. 

The Board of Finance and Town Council are expected to vote next month on whether to authorize the funds (the issuance of bonds to pay for the project, and attendant public hearings, would still need to follow). Bid packages expected to arrive Thursday could make a major difference in the town’s decision, officials say, especially given the prospect of cost-savings with contractors finding less work now amid the COVID-19 public health emergency. “The numbers will help us decide,” Moynihan said.

News

‘I Am Being Put in a Very Difficult Position’: Board of Ed Divided on Proposed School Start Times Scenario

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Board of Education members are divided as to whether they have enough feedback and information on a revised school start times schedule to recommend this month that hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending for additional buses be included in a proposed budget for next fiscal year. No one disagrees that starting grades seven through 12 at 8:30 a.m. as opposed to 7:30 a.m. would benefit students in important ways—established medical research recommends later start times for adolescents. 

Under a favored scenario that district officials have developed, New Canaan’s elementary schools would start at 7:45 a.m., though because morning buses could start their routes from the geographically distributed neighborhood schools rather than New Canaan High School, the first student wouldn’t need to be picked up until 7:06 a.m. (currently 6:27 a.m.) when it’s sufficiently light outside that flashlights aren’t needed. 

Yet that proposed new schedule also forces a bus usage system that’s far less efficient than the one New Canaan Public Schools now employs, and it would require about six or seven additional buses—at a clip of $100,000 in additional annual spending, per bus—to make the favored start times scenario work. Board of Ed member Dionna Carlson at the elected body’s Dec. 16 meeting called it “a very expensive option that will go up 3% every year, in perpetuity.”

A similar start times scenario garnered low levels of support in surveys conducted earlier this year, she said, and there are unanswered questions about just how it will affect students seeking extra help from teachers, among other concerns. To include funding for the busing system as part of the school board’s Jan.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Unanimously Elects Katrina Parkhill as Chair 

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The Board of Education on Monday night voted unanimously to elect Katrina Parkhill as its new chair. A Republican elected to the Board two years ago, Parkhill worked for a decade in management consulting and the healthcare industry after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, has three kids in New Canaan Public Schools and has served on the boards of numerous community organizations since moving here nearly 14 years ago, including First Presbyterian Nursery School, Newcomers Club of New Canaan, New Canaan Winter Club and West School PTC (as president). 

Since winning election to the Board of Ed, Parkhill has been an “an outstanding member,” serving on its Governance and Communications Committees, according to Brendan Hayes, who just finished his own one-year term as chair. “She has been an active member of the Board, an active member of the community” Hayes said during the Board’s meeting in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School “She has great connectivity with many parents in town and, I think, will be a great leader for our Board.”

In addition to Hayes and Parkhill, Board members Sheri West, Penny Rashin, Dionna Carlson, Jennifer Richardson, Julie Mackle Reeves and Bob Naughton were in attendance. Carl Gardiner was absent. Also unanimously elected as officers were Hayes, vice chair, and Richardson, secretary.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Adopts Policy for Naming of Buildings and Grounds

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The Board of Education on Monday voted unanimously in favor a policy that will allow the elected body to name district buildings and grounds after individuals or groups. 

Created in the wake of a formal agreement between the town and New Canaan Athletic Foundation that’s designed to ensure the long-term viability of the new and re-turfed youth sports fields and track at the high school, the policy calls for the Board to solicit community input, select names and approve changes. “Facility naming shall be considered in cases when it has been recommended to honor a person or organization providing exemplary services or contributions to the New Canaan Public Schools,” according to the policy (which can be found in full here). 

Board members Maria Naughton, Penny Rashin, Dionna Carlson, Brendan Hayes, Tom Cronin and Julie Mackle Reeves voted 6-0 to adopt it after a second read and minor changes. Board members Sheri West, Katrina Parkhill and Jennifer Richardson were absent. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said the policy came forward in conjunction with the NCAF agreement and is designed to establish a process to follow in the event that someone makes a donation that warrants naming rights. “It’s a very big deal to name something after someone,” he said “There should be a relatively high bar, I think, going into something like this, because it’s a significant honor.”

The Board spent time discussing the proposed language in the policy and ultimately decided to do away with a clause specifying that the honored individual or organization must have “an affiliation” with the district.