News

District: With Enrollment ‘Bubble’ Headed for Saxe, an Urgent Need for More Classrooms

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Though administrators at Saxe Middle School have been creative with using existing space to accommodate more students in recent years, projected enrollment is high enough that the district—and wider New Canaan community—needs to look at capital needs for the facility now, officials say, including temporary classrooms and new construction. With Saxe designed to accommodate a student population of 1,200, a five-year outlook that puts that figure steadily in the mid-1,300’s means that planning needs to happen right now, Board of Education Vice Chairman Scott Gress said at the group’s meeting on Monday night. “I think that the 800-pound gorilla in the room is: What do we do? Where do we go?” Gress said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “We are moving and we’re putting things together and we’re creating the best opportunities in the short term, but we really need to think start to think and now about the future and is the future temporary classrooms or semi-permanent classrooms?

News

Dr. Bryan Luizzi Named Superintendent of Schools: ‘Hard-Working, Insightful, Forward-Thinking’

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Calling Dr. Bryan Luizzi a talented, knowledgeable, articulate and energetic visionary who leads by including community stakeholders in important discussions regarding the district, the Board of Education on Monday named the longtime educator Superintendent of Schools. In the position on an interim basis since April, and prior to that serving for three years as New Canaan High School principal, Luizzi said during the school board’s meeting that “the excellence of the New Canaan Public Schools, I believe, will only continue to grow in the years ahead and the fact that we are such an outstanding district today really makes it inspiring to consider the things that we have ahead.”

Addressing the Board of Ed for the first time as superintendent, Luizzi thanked his wife and daughters (in attendance), described his colleagues in the district as “among the finest anywhere” and called his hiring to the permanent post emotional “because I have truly invested heart and soul in these last few months.”

“And education I do believe is the single most important endeavor that someone can put their heart and mind to as a career, and to do it here in New Canaan with people who are supportive, dedicated, who truly believe that every student deserves the absolute best—there’s no better place to do it,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. He succeeds Dr. Mary Kolek in the role. According to a press release issued by the district’s public information and communications specialist, Susan Kelley (read it here in full), Luizzi has worked in education for 18 years, including as an English teacher at Newtown High School, manager of technology operations for the district there, principal at Brookfield High School and adjunct professor at Central Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut. He earned his doctorate degree from the Teachers College at Columbia University eight years ago.

News

South School Windows Project On Time, Budget

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The first phase of the closely watched $2.75 million windows project at South School—removing part of the original 1955 glass block, long porous and out-of-code, with caulk that has PCBs—has been completed on time and budget, district officials say. The work wrapped up Aug. 8, leaving the gym, “café-torium” and some inner courtyard spaces such as the library for the second phase (to be completed next summer), according to Nancy Harris, interim secretary of the South School Building Committee and interim director of finance and operations for New Canaan Public Schools. “At this point in time, I have to tell you that from a personal perspective, as you look at where the glass block was, it’s covered in plywood, covered by Tyvek, covered by a rubber membrane and boards so that it’s weather-tight, it actually looks neater and less jarring than the original glass block, and now you can see the comparison between the gymnasium and the Tyvek covered space so it was really a success,” Harris said at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. The glass block system and original windows at the school need to be replaced, and building expansion joints and caulking and trim in the windows repaired, Shelton-based engineering and environmental consulting firm Tighe & Bond and SLAM Construction Services of Glastonbury have found.

News

Concerns Arise as Enrollment Drives up Projected Class Sizes at Elementary Schools

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The district will see a steep increase in the number of kids in New Canaan’s elementary schools this coming year, preliminary data show, prompting concerns from some education officials about average class sizes. Projections call for 1,674 elementary-level students in New Canaan Public Schools. Though that figure may be higher than the number of kids who actually show up next Wednesday for the first day of school, it represents a net increase of 72 kids over the last academic year. District officials said during Monday night’s Board of Education meeting that East, South and West schools plan to absorb the additional students with a net increase of just one more class/section. (Tables with average classroom size projections for each school are interspersed throughout this article.)

School board Secretary Dionna Carlson said she’s concerned that six out of the 15 grades (kindergarten through fourth, in each of the three elementary schools) are either at or slightly above class size guidelines.

Around Town

God’s Acre Gets a New Evergreen Tree for Christmas Caroling

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New Canaan resident Scott Gress lost 14 of the 80-foot pine trees on his property when Superstorm Sandy struck two years ago. Shortly after, it occurred to Gress while driving past God’s Acre that if the iconic fir tree there came down, there’d be no centerpiece for one defining community event for New Canaanites: Christmas Eve caroling. Gress said he identifies New Canaan strongly with the annual Dec. 24 gathering on the sloping green in front of the Congregational Church. “There’s no question about it.