Schools

WESTPORT, Conn. – Westport middle school student Lindsey Felner doesn't get to see her uncle David as often as she’d like because he lives in residential housing at Cerebral Palsy of Westchester. That's why she raised money to buy a computer for his entire residence, so she and her siblings can always be in touch with him.

By reaching out to family and friends, Lindsey, 13, raised $1,000 as part of her Bat Mitzvah project. On Jan. 5, she donated all the money to the nonprofit group, which used it to buy a Dell computer for the residence.

"Around the same time I was ...

HARTFORD, Conn. – Student achievement will play a dramatically larger role in evaluating teachers across Connecticut under new guidelines approved by a panel that represents teachers, school administrators and public school boards.

The state’s 10-member Performance Evaluation Advisory Council agreed this week on a new teacher evaluation process after two years of contentious meetings over how much emphasis should be placed on student performance. 

“Connecticut has taken a major step toward a meaningful teacher evaluation system. This is a milestone in what I expect ...

HARTFORD, Conn. – Insisting that “bold education reform” must be Connecticut’s top priority in 2012, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has directed Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor to work with the General Assembly to come up with sweeping changes for the legislative session that convenes Feb. 8. The governor has outlined six areas that need improvement. 

Criticized last year by education advocates for ignoring pleas to fix what they say is a failing system, Malloy conceded that during his first year in office he was forced to focus on balancing the budget and union ...

WESTPORT, Conn. – The Westport school district may have $2 million more to spend next year if Superintendent Elliott Landon's proposed budget is approved as is by the Board of Education. His proposed $100.5 million budget represents a 2.5 percent increase over the current budget.

Despite the proposed increase, however, there will be a net loss of 4.2 teaching positions — four full time and one part time, said Assistant Superintendent of Business Nancy Harris. These reductions are based on projected school enrollments, Harris told the board Tuesday night.

"Enrollment is ...

WESTPORT, Conn. – Anticipating another tough budget season ahead, Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon proposed the district seek savings by reducing the amount of time students in grades 1 through 5 spend in gym class.

Under this proposed structural change, all physical education classes for those grades would be scheduled for a half-hour, two times a week, Landon told the Board of Education on Monday night. This would result in a weekly reduction of 10 minutes for kids in grades 1 to 3, 20 minutes for fourth-graders and 30 minutes for fifth-graders.

"The results ...

WESTPORT, Conn. – Staples High School senior Logan Rosen was honored by the Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday as Young Student Entrepreneur of the Month for his contributions to Staples and the community.

The Rev. John Branson of Christ & Holy Trinity Church introduced Rosen and praised him for "giving back to the Staples community" by redesigning the school's guidance department website and the website for Inklings, the school's student newspaper.

Not only did Rosen give the guidance website a new look, Branson said the improvements also attracted more students to ...

WESTPORT, Conn. — The Westport Farmers’ Market has teamed this school year with Staples High School students and the Gillespie Center to serve up monthly meals. On Friday, Dec. 9, the students cooked a winter meal at the center, using local ingredients mostly purchased by the students at the market.

“By creating this ongoing event where once a month we shop for local and healthy food at the market,” says market Director Lori Cochran-Dougall, “and then take the ingredients to Chef Cecily Gans and her students to prepare and help serve, we help our community members in need by ...