Prioritizing Projects Dominated School News In 2005

By Susan Coney

The year 2005 proved to be a busy one for the Newtown School District. Amid the goal of meeting the academic needs of the town’s students, many controversial issues remained in the forefront.

 The Board of Education spent a good portion of the year struggling to prioritize major issues, most notably the underbudgeted Hawley Elementary School heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) project and the exploding population at the high school.

The town previously approved spending $3.3 million for the Hawley renovations and had included the first year of debt service funding in its 2005-2006 budget. When an additional $1.2 million was needed to complete the work, the school board asked the Board of Finance and Legislative Council to approve the increase. The council voted against funding above the level approved by the voters, leaving Hawley back at square one, no closer to receiving the updates needed than it was a year ago.

The High School Space Needs Committee, headed by Chief Appellate Court Judge William Lavery, met for more than a year to address the overcrowded conditions at Newtown High School, where the population has ballooned from 1,012 students in the 1994-95 school year to more than 1,700 by the fall of 2005. The present facility allows for a capacity of 1,600 students.

The Space Needs Committee recommended construction of a freshman house addition on the existing high school to help alleviate the overcrowding.

School board members hesitated to act on the recommendation to add an addition to the existing facility, fearing the expansion plan would be outgrown within a year of completion; they wanted to consider a more long-range plan to alleviate the problem. Also the board recently learned of serious environmental concerns in adding an addition, such as the removal and disposal of massive rock ledge present at the site and causing disturbances to the aquifer.

After further review of the cost of an addition, which at one point escalated to a $41 million place holder for the proposed project, pressure from members of the community and from within the board itself caused the school board to postpone any action regarding the high school expansion until 2006.

 

Fresh Leadership

In other high school news, after a comprehensive search to relieve interim principal Patricia Llodra, seasoned administrator Arlene Gottesman was selected for the position. Ms Gottesman comes to Newtown after serving for seven years as the principal of Jonathan Law High School in Milford.

In addition to the change in the principal position, Jason Hiruo, who previously served as dean of students at the high school, replaced assistant principal Lorrie Rodrigue, who resigned to take a position as principal of Shepaug Valley Middle School in Regional School District 12 (the Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington area).

Mr Hiruo’s position as dean of students was filled by Scott Clayton, who previously worked as a middle school social studies teacher and coach in Stamford Public Schools.

Assistant principal Cathy Ostar joined Newtown High School last year, coming from Torrington High School.

Class Rank System

In June the school board approved a proposal to change the way a high school student’s academic profile is presented. The change in guidelines for class rank amounts to reporting the students’ performance on a graph in context with their class as opposed to the previous ordinal number system, such as a student is 35th in a class of 360 students.

Students are placed on a graph according to their grade point average. Two separate graphs will be used: one is weighted according to the difficulty level of the courses taken, the other unweighted showing a student’s position in context with the rest of his/her peers.

Dr Evan Pitkoff, superintendent of schools, emphasized that a valedictorian and salutatorian would still be designated for each graduating class based on academic achievement. He also stated, “If a college requests a class rank we will provide it for them.”

 

Drama Teacher Charged

An ongoing saga throughout the year found the school board confronted by angry parents and students who adamantly defended Newtown High School drama teacher Sabrina Post when she was placed on paid administrative leave in February without explanation. The move left drama students dangling for direction weeks before the largest production of the year, Show Boat, was scheduled to run in early April.

With a tremendous effort on the part of the students who chose to remain in the production and area adults familiar with running theatrical ventures, Show Boat proved to be a huge success.

Ms Post was arrested in April, charged with one count of first degree larceny, two counts of second degree larceny, four counts of second degree forgery and one count of criminal attempt to commit fifth degree larceny. In August, Ms Post reached an agreement with the school board, resigning her position retroactively to June 30 and agreeing to provide $11,194 in restitution to the public school system. (See related year end story in police news).

Nutrition Becomes A Priority

Chartwells School Dining Services, which provides the food service for all of Newtown public schools, made a commitment this year to follow the nationwide trend toward providing students with healthier food choices at school.

The food service provider implemented the new Balanced Choices program, which encourages students at all grade levels to choose healthier dietary selections. An eye-catching sticker logo identifies the “better for you” snacks and beverages that are available at all Newtown schools. The children are encouraged to try new foods and are allowed to return for refills on all vegetables served. All soda and sport beverages have been removed from the schools, replaced by water and 100 percent juice products. The schools now serve only baked chips and offer lighter snack alternatives such as sherbet push ups, Fudgsicles and Italian ices rather than just ice cream products.

Oil Spill Cleanup At Reed

An oil spill days before the start of the year led to a massive cleanup at Reed Intermediate School that extended through the year. Approximately 4,000 gallons of #2 heating oil leaked as the result of a mechanical failure at the school, some of it into nearby Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River. As part of the cleanup, wells were drilled through the school’s boiler room floor and a classroom corridor to extract the oil. Town officials budgeted $1.2 million for the cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined the town $15,000, which included $5,000 in cash and $10,000 in contributions to environmental projects along the affected waterways.

Sandy Hook School Recognized For High Performance

Sandy Hook School was selected in November as one of Connecticut’s first Vanguard Schools for high performance. The Vanguard Schools Initiative is a public/private partnership designed to identify and recognize schools where students performance is high and/or significantly improving, and to share their best practices with other schools to help them replicate effective practices.

As part of the honor the school will receive a $15,000 award for discretionary use and $5,000 to be used to mentor schools in need of improvement.

School Board Officials To Remain The Same

At its regular meeting held on December 20, the school board voted to elect new officers for the upcoming year. With a vote of 4 to 2, Elaine McClure was reelected as chairman of the board, Lisa Schwartz was unanimously reelected as vice-chairman and Andrew Buzzi was unanimously reelected as secretary.