By Jarret Liotta

Construction at Coleytown Middle School (CMS) remains on schedule for an October reopening, but the big question is whether students will even be going back at all this fall.

Work continues on Coleytown Middle School. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com

“It is literally changing sometimes daily with things that you’re hearing from the C.D.C., from state officials, from other sources,” said John Bayers, director of human resources and general administration, who is co-chairing the School Reopening Steering Committee (SRSC) with Anthony Buono, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.

The two shared an update with the Board of Education (BOE) tonight on formation of the committee that aims to get plans in place for any of a number of potential scenarios for next school year.

“You hear different ideas, (but) we’re not committed to anything,” Bayers said, noting that fall could bring a full return or a partial return to school buildings for smaller groups of students on a rotating basis.

The National Merit $2,500 scholarship winners were announced today, They included five from Westport, three of whom attend Staples High School.

The winners:

Cordelia Chen, Staples High School; Probable career field: Undecided
Nora B. Dockter, Staples High School; Probable career field: Parks and Recreation
Henry C. Fisher, Hopkins School; Probable career field: Academia
Paz Elijah Meyers, Pierrepont School; Probable career field: Biomedicine
Benjamin A. Spector, Staples High School; Probable career field: Chemical Engineering

By Jarret Liotta

It’s going down to the wire, but there’s still a fair chance that Coleytown Middle School (CMS) can be reopened for the next school year.

Don O’Day, chair of the CMS Building Committee, returned to tonight’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting to confirm his assessment that the opening will be delayed between four and eight weeks, based on a revised schedule from Newfield Construction, the project management group.

“We’re looking at an opening date that has an October handle, but we don’t know when in October,” he said, calling some delay a certainty.

At the April 13 BOE meeting, school administrators cautioned that while a delay of up to two months was manageable in terms of transitioning the CMS students out of Bedford Middle School with limited disruption, beyond that it could raise challenges.

A webinar has been scheduled for Monday noon on “Parenting High School Juniors and Seniors During the Coronavirus Pandemic” featuring Westport educators and psychological professionals.

It is sponsored by Westport Together, an alliance between the town, the Westport Public Schools, the PTA and many local nonprofits to strengthen the health and well-being of youth and families through programming and education.

“As families manage the day-to-day realities of staying safe in our homes during the COVID-19 outbreak, many parents of juniors and seniors are contemplating ways to support their children during this critical time in their development,” said Second Selectman Jennifer Tooker in a news release.

The program features local mental health professionals Deb Slocum of the Staples High School Counseling Department, Karen Krupnik of Positive Directions – the Center for Prevention and Recovery, and Dr. Valerie Babich. director, Westport Public Schools Psychological Services.

Staples High School has announced the names of 19 exceptional students graduating with High Honors from the class of 2020.

A student will be designated with “High Honors” if his/her academic grade point average falls in the top 4%t of the graduating class. 

According to Principal Stafford Thomas “this class, my first, is extremely talented and the most astonishing aspect of this accomplishment, is that these students were involved in a number of extracurricular activities and various aspects of school life which took a great deal of focus outside the classroom as well.”

The class of 2020 High Honors honorees include Justin Berg, Audrey Bernstein, Cordelia Chen, Nora Dockter, Brianna Dwyer, Tyler Edwards, Charles Effman, Kathryn Enquist, Natasha Johnson, Edward Kiev, Samuel Laskin, Anella Lefebvre, Edan Leshem, Aydan Moskowitz, Maximus Pace, Patricio Perez Elorza Arce, Benjamin Schussheim, Harrison Sholler and Benjamin Spector.