With Westport public schools opening today, the school office released the following bus schedules and memo for parents:
(Click on links)
Transportation Information
Greens Farms Elementary
Kings Highway Elementary
Long Lots Elementary
Saugatuck Elementary
Coleytown Elementary
Bedford Middle School
Coleytown Middle School
Staples High School
By Dave Matlow
Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon today marked the official opening of the 2014-2105 school year by welcoming an overflow crowd at the annual teacher orientation in the Bedford Middle School auditorium and introducing the 2015 Teacher of the Year.
Lisa Almeida, a Spanish teacher at Coleytown Middle School, was selected as the Teacher of the Year.
Other nominees were announced as Megan Stone and Eric Lawrence, Saugatuck; Jennifer Benson, Kings Highway; Michelle DeCarlo, Greens Farms; Kerry Jean Douglas, Bedford; Anne Fernandez, Joel Kabak and Enia Noonan, Staples, and Rick Quiricone and Christina Zadravec, Coleytown Middle.
Landon’s welcome message included introductions to 44 new teachers—“the most new hires that we have had since 2008”—two new administrators as well as recognition of 25-year school veterans Enia Noonan at Staples, Ellen Zunick at King’s Highway, and Janice Price at Staples.
By Mark Pazniokas
Stefan Pryor announced today he will not seek another term as state education commissioner and is seeking a new job—a step that could diminish some of the teacher dissatisfaction with the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as the governor seeks re-election.
“Having served for nearly three fulfilling years as Commissioner, I have decided to conclude my tenure by the end of this Administration’s current term and to pursue new professional opportunities,” Pryor said in a statement. “Because I believe it’s important to communicate my decision proactively to the Governor and the public, I am doing so now.”
Malloy, who had resisted calls for Pryor to resign, praised the commissioner.
“Commissioner Pryor has worked hard and well on behalf of Connecticut students,” Malloy said. “In the three years he’s led the department, we’ve taken tremendous steps forward to improve education, with a particular focus on the districts that have long needed the most help.”
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By James Lomuscio
Six new administrators promoted from within school ranks, 20 new teachers to replace longtime ones who retired, more uniform start times, and program and curriculum initiatives that include college math and ethics will mark the 2014-15 academic year as classes begin Aug. 25, Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon said today. 
Elliott Landon: few places can match Westport. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Landon added that enrollment remains stable with about 5,700 students system wide, and that student population increases as grades rise, a fact he attributed to parents becoming more well heeled to afford moving to town as their children grow. Population at Staples High School, he said, has shown a steady increase, currently at 1,854.
“My feeling is that with kind of publicity this town gets, there are few places that match it,” Landon said. “It’s a place where people want to raise their kids and have a good life. I can only see a boom.”
He said the school system is seeing enrollment rise with grade levels, “350 kids in kindergarten, 380 in first grade, and then it moves up to 469 in the sixth grade.”
By James Lomuscio
The banner suspended from the ceiling of the field house, where 5,000 family and friends had gathered for the 127th commencement exercises at Westport’s Staples High School, spoke of the future.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams,” read the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.
Valedictorian Eliza Clare Llewellyn, however, asked her 462 fellow graduates to focus on the present, especially today.
“We live more in the future than in the present,” she said. “Today there is so much to celebrate, not in the future, but in this moment.”
Scenes from today’s Staples High School graduation. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
UPDATE Grant Heller, Staples class of 2014, poses with grandparents Garson and Velma today following the graduation ceremony. Garson said that Grant’s graduation ends a 49-year period during which a member of the Heller family either attended Westport schools or was employed there. Grant’s father, Grant, Sr. who attended Westport schools from kindergarten through high school, graduated from Staples in 1978 as did his three children, Bonnie, 23, Katie, 20 and now Grant, 18. The youngest sibling of Grant Sr. graduated from Staples in 1984 while Velma was working in the Westport Public Schools. She retired in 2001 and now serves on the Representative Town Meeting as deputy moderator. Garson has served on the Board of Assessment Appeals for more than three decades. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Eliza Clare Llewellyn, valedictorian, addresses the Staples High School class of 2014 at the graduation ceremony today. “It is Important for us to have a vision of ourselves,” she said. “I feel as along as long as we move forward with a perception of what we want to be….we will have less trouble navigating what is to become.” More than 5,000 persons attended the event in the Staples field house that saw 463 students graduate. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
By Dave Matlow
There were plenty of smiles and entertainment at the baccalaureate ceremony tonight at Staples High School on the eve of Friday’s 2014 class graduation.
Salutatorian Melissa Beretta, who will attend Duke University in the fall, told classmates: “No matter where you go or what you become, you will always know where you’ve come from. It will always be with you.”
“Westport breeds innocence and worldliness,” she added.
Beretta differentiated high school life in Westport with a TV show she saw where the valedictorian went into labor during the graduation ceremony.
Looking into the audience, Beretta said, “I can guarantee that it’s not so, mom and dad. You’re welcome.”
Staples High School senior Kelsey Shockey, who presented the “Happy Tip of the Week” on the Staples channel 78 TV show “Good Morning Staples,” presented her final tip to the class of 2014 at tonight’s baccalaureate ceremony. “Happiness is a choice,” she said. “You can deal with anything that comes your way. Simply choose happiness.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
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