News

Reunited: Center Schoolers Joanne LaVista and Marie Pinchbeck Back Together at First Presbyterian Nursery School

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In 1980, Marie Pinchbeck was teaching kindergarten while Joanne LaVista was teaching sixth grade down the hall at Center School. LaVista recalls her and Pinchbeck’s classrooms being close to each other and creating a partnership with the “veteran teacher” at the elementary school when she joined the Center School community in 1980, right out of college at the age of 22. “Our classrooms were right near each other and right away we just started being good friends,” LaVista said. “What we set up was that my sixth graders would go to her kindergarten room once a week and read the library books and she would say, ‘I can never get through everyone’s library books. The kids feel bad when they have to turn their book in and they hadn’t read it in school.’ So we had this great partnership going and my sixth graders loved it.

News

Luizzi: Cause of Water Leak that Prompted Closing of West School on Wednesday Unknown

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Officials on Wednesday evening had not yet determined what caused a leak at West School that prompted the district to close that school for the day. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said officials have identified where the leak happened since a custodian flagged water in the building early in the morning. “When the custodian went to open the building this morning, one of the things he does in his rounds is to check the boiler room, and he saw some water on the floor of the boiler room,” Luizzi said. The district initially called for a 2-hour delay, then decided simply to close school, citing electrical and other problems. The closing effectively kickstarted April break one day early for West School families. Many of them took advantage of New Canaan Library’s generous offer of an afternoon respite for West School parents, providing a screening of Big Hero 6 in the Lamb Room replete with drop off service and popcorn for the kids.

Around Town

On Ponus, a Family’s Barn Restoration Project That’s Benefitting the Larger New Canaan Community

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From the start, the antique barn out back drew the Larsons to the 2-acre Ponus Ridge property and Colonial home they moved into 18 months ago. In plain view at the bottom of a hill that runs toward the rear property line, the red, cupola-topped ca. 1910 structure not only graced the tree-lined view but also had potential for practical use for the active family which includes three boys and is headed by a Midwest native dad who grew up on a sheep ranch and mom from Dallas. When last winter’s snowfall took a massive toll on the structurally deteriorating barn—the roof began to sag, on the verge of collapse—the Larsons conceived of one way they might pull together the wood to restore it, namely, by seeing whether any of the dead or dying trees already surrounding their new home could be used. “It’s been fascinating for all of us and exciting for all of us,” Kristina Larson said on a recent afternoon as she stood about halfway down the hill, near five piles of wood that had been salvaged from the carefully dismantled barn.

Around Town

Sister Act: New Canaan Siblings Launch Tutoring Business

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While many native New Canaanites move out of town, never to return, there seems to be a high percentage of residents who somehow found their way back. Perhaps no family better represents this group than the O’Connell family. Five of six grown siblings, all of whom grew up and graduated from New Canaan High School, have returned to their roots, raising families of their own. For the two youngest O’Connell siblings–Colleen Bailey and Erin O’Connell–the return to native soil has led to a newly launched business that ties into their roots in New Canaan and professional experience. Clearview Educational Enrichment is a multi-dimensional tutoring service, individually tailored to help each student fully realize his or her potential. The company developed out of an informal brainstorming session this spring between the sisters, both of whom are currently elementary school teachers–Bailey at West School here in New Canaan, and O’Connell at Horace Mann in the Bronx.

Bunny Potts

Board of Ed Recognizes Two New Canaan High School Seniors, 13 Retiring Educators

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The Board of Education on Monday honored two graduating New Canaan High School seniors and 13 educators who are retiring after this academic year. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Kolek (who is herself retiring and earned kind words from Board Chair Hazel Hobbs during the meeting, held in the high school’s Wagner Room), spoke for a few minutes about both seniors who received Student Leadership Awards from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education or “CABE,” as well as the teachers and administrators soon to retire. Here’s a snippet from Kolek on each honoree. Students

(CABE each year recognizes two students for distinguished leadership in school activities and daily lives, “And I have the pleasure of presenting those awards tonight,” Kolek said.)

New Canaan High School senior Kit Mallozzi (also a NCHS Students Advocates Award winner, headed to Syracuse University in the fall): “One has only to talk to Kit for a few minutes and it’s clear, she’s one of the world’s great optimists. Her nomination submission portrays Kit as someone who embraces life, a friend to all and a ray of sunshine.