Westport’s Staples High School placed 446 on a Newsweek survey of the nation’s top 1,000 high schools.

The survey, published in the weekly magazine’s latest issue, was compiled by Jay Matthews, Washington Post education reporter and author of �What�s Wrong (and Right) With America�s Best Public High Schools.”

The magazine said its “Best High Schools List” uses a ratio—the number of Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) tests taken by all students at a school in 2004, divided by the number of graduating seniors.

“Although that doesn’t tell the whole story about a school, it’s one of the best measures available to compare a wide range of students’ readiness for higher-level work, which is more crucial than ever in the postindustrial age,” Newsweek said.

By James Lomuscio

Usually it’s Westport’s Board of Finance that trims proposed school budgets, not the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). In fact, historically the RTM has restored some of the cuts to Board of Education budgets when they are finalized.

But Tuesday night at 7:30, Richard A. Lowenstein plans to ask the RTM to break with tradition and start wielding its own ax. The District 5 representative wants to trim $300,000 from the school board’s proposed $79.5 million 2005-2006 budget. It’s the same $300,000 that the Board of Finance restored April 13 after rethinking its $600,000 cut in March.

Educators say Lowenstein’s request will severely hurt programs, education and ultimately the town’s quality of life. Lowenstein says his proposed cut is minimal and that the RTM has to lake the lead somewhere in containing ever-escalating spending that puts a strain on taxpayers.

“This is going to be a donnybrook,” said Lowenstein, noting that Schools Superintendent Elliot Landon has been galvanizing teacher and parent opposition. “What I’m going to say is not going to be that long, but the responses to it will be. I just hope the reaction is civilized.”

Atka, an Arctic wolf accompanied by a Wolf Conservation Center worker, parades before Westporters Carl and Andrea Sherman during Saturday’s Earth Day Festival at Earthplace, The Nature Discovery Center. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Julia Mally for WestportNow.com

A giant earthworm puppet will be featured at Saturday’s Earth Day festival at Westport’s Earthplace, The Nature Discovery Center.  Ten people can walk in the puppet, which was created last week by kids in the April recess workshop. The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 10 Woodside Lane. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Julia Mally for WestportNow.com

Actor/producer Matt Salinger visited Westport’s Greens Farms Academy Thursday as part of its James M. Coyle Endowed Visiting Scholars Program. He attended classes and gave a public lecture afterwards. The visiting scholars program was set up by school trustees to introduce students and the community to people of scholarly and contemporary interest. Salinger is the son of author J.D. Salinger. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Eighth-grade artist Obiju Dan-Udekwe was surrounded by an admiring crowd of students as he worked on a caricature of Kevin Clark (far right) at Bedford Middle School’s Student Art Exhibition Wednesday night. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Julia Mally for WestportNow.com

An eighth grade Chamber Ensemble played a concert of classical music that enhanced the atmosphere for art lovers at Bedford Middle School’s Student Art Exhibition Wednesday night. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Julia Mally for WestportNow.com

Sunday’s New York Times spotlights Westport’s special education controversy, saying school board meetings often explode into shouting matches between parents and administrators over the topic.

Under the headline “Amid Affluence, a Struggle Over Special Education,” the newspaper reported:

“Special education is a hot topic here, with school board meetings exploding into shouting matches over what services children are entitled to under federal law and parents spending thousands of dollars on appeals to force the school district to provide those services for their children.

“The parents say they have no choice: the district, one of the state’s most affluent, is fighting just as hard to hold the line on skyrocketing special education costs.”

The Westport Public Schools next month wil conduct a screening to identify �at-risk� preschool children who meet federal and local Title I eligibility criteria, it was announced today.

The Title I screening looks at the child’s development in the areas of concepts, motor, and language. The current Title I program is incorporated into the Westport preschool program, �Stepping Stones.” 

Screening for Title I will be held at Pupil Service Administration, Staples High School, 70 North Ave., on Friday, May 6, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The screening will take approximately 45 minutes.

Only Westport residents are eligible for this screening. Children must be 3 years of age by June 30, 2005.

The new sign went up Monday on the new Staples High School. A worker (bottom) gets set for the unveiling. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photos

The Westport Board of Finance, after earlier voting to reduce the education budget by $1.2 million, tonight voted to restore $300,000 of the cut, half of what the Board of Education asked for.

The vote was 5-1 with Republican Gavin Anderson opposed. An earlier attempt to restore $400,000 was defeated.

The board voted after its chair, Steven Ezzes, repudiated comments made Monday night by Board of Education member and former chair—Steven Halstead. Both are Democrats.

The education panel member was highly critical of the way the Board of Finance decided to make its earlier cut, calling the process “distasteful, disrespectful, and bordering on abusive.”