Westport’s Staples High School came in No. 9 in Connecticut in the U.S. News and World Report best high school rankings released today. Nationally it was No. 303.

A year ago in the survey, Staples was No. 7 in the state and No. 296 nationally. In 2012, Staples was No. 5 in Connecticut and No. 302 nationally.

Staples this year came in behind Fairfield County schools Weston, which was No. 3, Wilton, No. 6, and Ridgefield, No. 8.

The Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Hartford was rated No. 1 in Connecticut and No. 15 nationally.

Staples High School junior Everett Sussman has been named a Governor’s Scholar, the Westport School District office announced. Only 30 students in the state, chosen from more than 150 applicants, receive the honor. Sussman is a math team star, a key debater with Junior State of America, a multi-faceted member of Staples Players, a pianist with Wreckers In Tune, and an officer in the Hiking Club. Last weekend, he was named a finalist in the state Rotary Clubs’ speech contest. Sussman will be honored on May 22 at a luncheon in Southington. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

Democratic legislative leaders have announced they intend to pass legislation that will pay for thousands more children to enroll in public schools’ preschool programs. Thousands of Connecticut students start kindergarten each fall having never attended preschool and trailing their peers academically.

“This promises to be an answer to a problem that has plagued us for too long,” Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Wednesday.

The lawmakers’ plan – labeled “Smart Start”—calls for $10 million to be spent next school year, and in each of the following nine years—to provide an as yet undetermined number of new seats in public school classrooms taught by certified teachers with college degrees.

Every school district that can “demonstrate unmet need” will be eligible for funding, and districts must make children from low-income families a priority when filling the added preschool seats. Children from middle-class families could also be provided a spot, as districts could require that, based on their income, they pay tuition.

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Hannah Foley (l) editor-in-chief of Inklings, Staples High School’s newspaper, was named Connecticut’s Journalist of the Year by the Journalism Education Association (JEA). This weekend, the JEA National High School Journalism Conference in San Diego will take place and Hannah will find out whether she will be named National Journalist of the Year. She is pictured with features editor Zoe Brown as they work on layout. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Westport’s Staples High School ranked No. 7 in Connecticut in the Washington Post’s annual survey called “America’s Most Challenging High Schools.”

Staples placed No. 830 on the national list with an index score of 2.351. Last year it ranked No. 9 in the state.

The Connecticut list was topped by Connecticut IB Academy, East Hartford; followed in order by Farmington; Conard, West Hartford; Weston; Ridgefield; Westhill, Stamford; Staples; Coventry; Greenwich, and New Fairfield.

According to the newspaper, America’s Most Challenging High Schools “ranks schools through an index formula that’s a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. “