News

Letter: Steve Eno for Board of Ed

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To the readers of NewCanaanite.com:

I was born and raised here in New Canaan, the youngest daughter of Harvard Five architect Landis Gores. I progressed through our excellent public school system, starting with Center School and on to Saxe Junior High (as it was then known), and finally to New Canaan High School – all of which prepared me for my acceptance into Princeton University.  

Fast forward to today, five years after returning to my home town with my husband, Craig Donovan, so that my nonagenarian mom could stay in her own home, I am proud to have been elected and to serve on our Town Council. Not just as a former student in our public schools, but as a parent of six and wife of an educator, I know how important our schools are and how critical it is to have the very best people we can on our Board of Education. 

From this long term perspective on our town and schools, I am proud to endorse Steve Eno for Board of Education. His daughter, now a college sophomore, went to Saxe and graduated from New Canaan High School. His younger daughter went to West and is currently in 8th grade at Saxe. Steve wants our schools to stay great just like the rest of us do, but he understands that if you’re standing still, you’re falling behind—and we have to move forward on the issues before us, or our schools and our children will be the ones that fall back. 

Steve Eno will move us forward with the common sense, practical solutions we need including having our school budgets be fully and completely open and shared with our town and its leaders, keeping our parents and town residents fully informed of school issues and discussions, and being sure that your elected BOE representatives—your voices—lead the efforts to evaluate potential needs and changes.

News

Chairman: Board of Ed Moving Forward on Limited Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs in Schools

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The Board of Education may adopt a policy that would see drug-sniffing dogs allowed in public schools so long as students are not present during searches or criminalized as a result of them, the elected body’s chairman said Wednesday. 

Board members have talked about the issue in the last two weeks though they’re “somewhat concerned over because they don’t want dogs necessarily coming into schools and causing a problem as it relates to student stress or health,” according to Brendan Hayes. “So we are thinking about that carefully but that may be something that the Board moves forward on, so that we have a policy that governs dog searches which would never occur when kids are actually walking around,” he said during a Candidates Debate, held at Town Hall. “The dogs cannot come into contact with the kids. So we would do that very carefully if we chose to do it.”

The Democrat later added, “I met with Chief [Leon] Krolikowski and the superintendent a number of months ago, talking about this specific issue of we will do nothing if it results in kids being criminalized when they are in school. We will absolutely not do that.

Amy Zinser

‘It’s a Disgrace’: Parents Speak Out on Proposed Earlier Start Time for Elementary Schools

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Pushing the start of elementary school back to 7:45 a.m. would cost local families with two working parents important time together, create problems with respect to childcare and otherwise harm New Canaan’s youngest students, parents said Monday night. When the Board of Education recommended in June that the district pursue a new schedule that also would push the start of New Canaan High School back to 8:20 a.m., it wasn’t clear that the elected body was ruling out a more expensive option that would see all of Saxe Middle School and NCHS start at 8:15 a.m. and all three elementary schools at 9:10 a.m., according to Jennifer Dalipi, mother to one child at South School and one at Saxe. “That was obviously the one that most beneficial to all of our students, no matter their age,” Dalipi told the Board at its regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at the high school. Saying it’s understood that a scenario where New Canaan buses its public schoolchildren in two tiers rather than three would be more expensive (because it would require more buses), Dalipi said she still “cannot fathom that our children’s health, the wellbeing from our tiniest 5-year-old, to be made to get up earlier, in the dark, and get to school, we cannot find the solution.”

“So shame on us as a community if we cannot make it happen. Our high schoolers should not suffer for the little ones, and the little ones should not suffer for the older ones.

Board of Education

Officials Weigh Potential Conflict of Interest for Board of Ed Candidate  

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Though a New Canaan man’s tutoring business need not represent a conflict of interest should he win election to the Board of Education, he likely would be required to recuse himself in specific instances, officials said Monday night. Steve Eno three years ago launched Teachers Who Tutor, an online service designed to connect qualified tutors with the parents and students seeking them. The Democrat is seeking election to the Board of Ed in a contested race this fall. Eno himself requested an advisory opinion from the New Canaan Board of Ethics on whether the tutor matchmaking service represents a conflict of interest with respect to his duties if elected. Board of Ethics Chairman Tucker Clauss noted that the Board of Ed itself is empowered to revise its policies, and if the one regarding tutoring (see below) ever came before the elected body, Eno would need to recuse himself.

Board of Education

Election 2019: Caucuses Set Contested Races for Board of Selectmen, Board of Ed, Town Council [TABLE]

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New Canaan voters on Nov. 5 will cast ballots in three contested—for the Board of Selectmen, Board of Education and Town Council—following Tuesday night’s Democratic and Republican caucuses. Local Democrats at Town Hall nominated not only Craig Donovan for first selectman and Kit Devereaux for selectman, as announced, but also nominated two candidates for Board of Ed and three for Town Council. Of the four Board of Ed seats up for election, three currently are held by Republicans, meaning the Democrats are seeking to “pick up” a seat. School board Chairman Brendan Hayes and Steve Eno, a parent involved in the effort to start school later for adolescents, were nominated by New Canaan Democrats for the Board of Ed.