Three Staples High School students addressed the Westport Rotary Club Tuesday and told of their feelings about being the first local students to participate in the club’s one-year academic and cultural exchange program abroad. Pictured (l-r) are: Cindy Shuck, a senior who will spend an academic year in Spain, and sophomores Margaux Sarin and Emilie Blaine, who will spend their academic year in Ecuador. Concurrently, three students from other countries will come to Westport for the same one-year academic period and live with host families. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport’s Middle School Traveling Math Team is tops in Fairfield County.

With 102 points (cumulative for the year) the team aced its opponents to take the top position in the Fairfield County Math League for the current school year.

In an 85-point tie for first place with Ridgefield last month, the Westport students blew away the opposition in Tuesday’s meet in New Canaan, winning by six points overall.

Coleytown Middle School math teacher Christina Zadravec coaches the team for both Coleytown and Bedford Middle School) students.

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Staples High School Principal John Dodig told the Board of Education Monday night that the school’s staff takes cheating very seriously and is trying to stop any of it happening at the school.

Cheating has been an issue facing the school since Westport students were highlighted in a New York Times piece about the issue several years ago.

Dodig said there have been 13 instances of cheating this school year that were reported to the assistant principals for action, and two of them were appealed.

The punishment ranged from the student receiving an F on the project to removal from the course, he said.

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The Westport Board of Education voted unanimously tonight not to seek restoration of any part of the $1 million cut to its proposed 2006-07 budget.

A week ago the Board of Finance cut the funds from the proposal saying the cut should be made to the insurance fund. The finance board will hold its restoration hearing on Wednesday.

The changes mean the 2006-07 school budget would be $82 million if the Representative Town Meeting gives its final approval in May. It is a 4.3 percent increase over the current budget of $78.6 million.

Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon recommended the board not seek restoration, and he said tonight that Board of Finance members gave assurances that if there are problems with the insurance fund it would be fixed.

Westport native Tom Nixon was sworn in Friday as a deputy chief in the Greenwich Fire Department. Nixon, a 1981 Staples grad, is shown with his father, Westporter Joe Nixon. Tom, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ithaca College in 1985, joined the Greenwich department in 1987 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2001. He recently moved from Westport to New Milford with his wife Tracie and their three children, Cate, John, and Emily. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

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After almost three years of construction, the community got its first taste of the new Staples High School tonight.

The Westport PTA Council hosted “Staples at a Glance” that allowed the community to get a glimpse of not only the building but the classes that take place inside.

“What makes this school so great is the teachers and students,” said Faith Taylor, PTA Council co-president.

Staples Principal John Dodig said he wanted the crowd of about 100 people—which included a number of elected officials—to leave with a sense that building the new school was worth it.

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The Westport Board of Finance voted unanimously tonight to cut $1 million from the proposed 2006-07 school budget, but members said the cut should not come from educational programs.

Instead, finance board members said the money should be taken from the school system’s insurance fund.

School officials will have a final opportunity to ask for some or all of the money be restored before the Board of Finance makes its final budget recommendation on April 5.

The finance board reviewed all of the town’s budgets tonight, but only made changes to the school board’s budget.