By Isaac Stein

At a recent, “memorable” Westport party, teens drank several bottles of vodka. They drank six–packs of beer. Then there were also Jell–O shots, portions of Jell–O made with vodka instead of water.

The supplier wasn’t a local liquor store. It wasn’t an older brother or sister. No fake I.D.’s were involved.

“Well, they pretty much stole the drinks from the host’s parents,” said the student, who chose to remain anonymous due to the nature of the subject. She described the method of procuring alcohol as “indirect supply.”

As Staples High School sits in the aftermath of a Homecoming in which a number of students were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, the question arises as to where and how underage Westporters acquire alcoholic beverages.

By Robert A. Frahm

Connecticut’s public schools could be required as early as this year to keep most suspended students in alternative in-school programs rather than sending them home, a key legislative committee has decided.

A law limiting out-of-school suspensions was passed in 2007 but has been delayed because some educators and municipal officials have said it would be too costly.

“We’ve allowed a delay in in-school suspensions the past three years. There’s no need to delay it anymore,” state Sen. Thomas Gaffey said Wednesday after the legislature’s Education Committee failed to act on a bill that would have postponed the requirement another year.

Although a postponement still could be considered later by the General Assembly, the existing bill, in effect, is dead.

The Westport Board of Education will seek to restore $500,000 cut from its budget by the Board of Finance when the budget goes before the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) in May.

School officials met with two RTM committees Wednesday night—the Finance Committee and the Education Committee—to outline their reasons for seeking restoration.

The Board of Education had originally asked for Board of Finance approval of a 2.13 percent increase in the 2010-11 budget to $96.87 million. The finance board’s reduction resulted in a 1.6 percent increase.

“A 2.13 percent increase maintains programs and services while a 1.6 percent does not,” the educators said in documents presented to the committees.

By James Lomuscio

After hours of hearing parents and school officials plead from the podium for a full restoration of the $1 million cut from the Westport Board of Education’s 2010-2011 budget, the Board of Finance late Wednesday voted 4 to 3 to restore just half—$500,000.

That amount had initially been proposed by Democratic board member Allyson Stollenwerck as a compromise, but it did not receive a second.

In contrast, board member Avi Kaner, a Republican, had pushed for an $803,000 restoration, an amount seconded by fellow Republican Edward Iannone.

On the opposite side, Helen Garten, the Democratic chairman, made a motion for restoring only $100,000, adding that the school board might recoup an extra $300,000 from its capital and nonrecurring fund. Her motion did not receive a second vote.

Tonight’s 2010 Orchestra Festival featured fifth and sixth grade orchestras from three Westport schools. Music Directors Jim Andrews from Coleytown Elementary School and Nate Brown from Kings Highways Elementary School led a joint performance by the fifth graders. Coleytown Middle School sixth grade Orchestra performance was led by CMS Music Director Eileen Shannon, who also conducted the finale from members of the CMS Chamber Orchestra. The event took place at Coleytown Middle School. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Students from three schools—Coleytown Elementary, Coleytown Middle, and Bedford Middle, participated in tonight’s 2010 Orchestra Festival at Coleytown Middle School. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By James Lomuscio

Westport’s Representative Town Meeting tonight voted unanimously not to reject a three-year teachers’ contract that calls for a 2 percent salary increase next year and only step increases the remaining two years.

By not rejecting the contract, which takes effect July 1 and runs through June 30, 2013, the RTM officially sanctioned the agreement hammered out last summer between the Board of Education and the union, Westport Education Association.

It also avoided the specter of state-mandated binding arbitration, something the school system’s attorney Thomas B. Mooney warned would most likely wind up costing the school system more.

“You never like to gamble,” said Donald O’Day, school board chairman after the vote about the RTM avoiding the risk of arbitration. “We all wanted to arrive at a situation that was a win-win.”