Coleytown Elementary School Principal Janna Bell (r) poses with staff members as they get ready to greet students today on the first day of school. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

Westport’s E.S. Strait Marina at Longshore Club Park was the venue today for the kick-off of the Pencil Warrior tutoring program co-founded by Staples High School grads Gabe Schindler (l) and Greg Lewis (r). (See .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Joining them was Jackson Yang, a Staples High School senior who offers his tutoring services in 14 different areas including English, math and science subjects. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

What if your child’s tutor not only knew the subject well, but but had taken the very same class with the same teacher and knew the classroom and school dynamic to boot?

Greg Lewis (c) and Gabe Schindler (r), both 19 and Staples 2011 grads, show U.S. Rep. Jim Himes their Pencil Warriors website outside Oscar’s Delicatessen on Westport’s Main Street today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

Those ideas came to Greg Lewis, a 2011 graduate of Westport’s Staples High School, during his senior year. This past year at Amherst College, the 19-year-old economics major thought about it long and hard.

Driven by the entrepreneurial spirit, Lewis and close friend Gabe Schindler, also a 2011 Staples graduate, teamed up this summer to launch a business that does just that, linking high school students who do well with those who could benefit from their expertise. Their venture is called Pencil Warrior, their website http://www.pencilwarrior.com.

“The page is still completely under-construction and in ‘beta’, although the aesthetics and programming will be complete within the next few days,” says Schindler.

School standardized test scores released today by the state showed a slight decrease in performance by Westport’s high school students this year over last. The table above shows the 2012 and 2011 results of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) which is administered to high school sophomores each March. Click here for searchable results of the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) administered to elementary and middle school students. Westport middle schoolers also showed a slight decrease in performance while elementary school students improved. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed graphic

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

The results are in on how nearly 300,000 public school students did on standardized tests this spring—and the big achievement gap between students from low-income families and their more affluent peers remains largely unchanged since last year.

“Significant gaps in achievement continue between economically disadvantaged students and their peers,” Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said when releasing the results late today.

Major disparities on math, reading and writing tests among black, Hispanic and white students also persist.

For example, the number of 10th-graders proficient in science, reading and math was 30 percent larger than proficient black and Hispanic students.

Click here for more of story

The Horizons at GFA program opened this week at Green’s Farms Academy with 145 low income students from Bridgeport (grades K-8). Students study for six weeks to combat “summer learning loss.” The program is in its 12th year and will also include about 30 Bridgeport high school students in a special two-week program later this summer. Horizons employs 48 staff and an additional 52 volunteers from local schools and colleges. Above, Kelly Hatton from Fairfield in her job as kindergarten teaching Intern. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Alison Freeland for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

According to Westport School Superintendent Elliott Landon, over the years, nonresidents have have come up with some creative tricks to claim they live in town so their children can get into its nationally acclaimed school system.
Elliott Landon: “We’re not heartless.” Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“They do all kinds of things,” Landon said today. “They’ll give a business address, buy a very tiny house and say they live there, rent office space and say they live there.

“You could say it’s flattering, but actually it’s a violation of the law and a theft of services,” he added. “In virtually every case, the people pay up. They get caught, and they pay up. But if they don’t pay up, we exercise our right to sue them.”

Such is the case with the Seymour couple against whom the Board of Education brought suit last week in Stamford Superior Court for falsely registering their daughter for two years.

By James Lomuscio

Saying he felt ” like a proud parent today” since he and most of the students started in the school system 13 years ago, Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon offered some fatherly advice to Staples High School’s Class of 2011.

Valedictorian Matthew Scott Silver:  “Even the small actions you make can make a difference.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“Like a parent I will leave you with this advice: follow your passion, do what you love and make a difference,” Landon told the 451 graduating seniors at the school’s 125th commencement.

Making a difference in the world beyond Staples was a prevailing theme underscoring the ceremony in the Staples Field House where the number of attendees swelled to about 3,000, according to Fire Marshall Ed Zygmant.

Despite the large crowd, the event was unseasonably cooler than in past years, cool enough to prompt Principal John Dodig to quip that it said something about the students.

Highlights of today’s 2012 Staples High School graduation. Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com