The third annual Westport “Minds in Motion” event next month will feature an address by nationally-known child psychologist Dr. Sylvia Rimm.
Sylvia Rimm: keynote speaker. File photo

She will be the keynote speaker at the Saturday, March 19 event from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Bedford Middle School. Her topic will be The Pressures Gifted Children Feel and How to Keep Them Motivated.”

An announcement described the event as “an afternoon of fun, fast-paced, hands-on workshops geared to high-ability, motivated children” and said the workshops are designed to enrich and encourage interested—not necessarily gifted—students in grades K-8.

This yearӒs offerings are diverse and include 32 workshops divided by age group, sponsors said.

Westport’s Republican Town Committee has recommended three persons to fill the unexpired term of a resigning Republican member of the Board of Education.

Party Chairman Peter Wolgast said his group recommended Richard Chappo, Dewey Loselle, and James Marpe to fill out the term of Mark Owades who has announced his intention to resign from the board in March. (See WestportNow Jan. 18, 2005)

Under the Westport Town Charter, the remaining members of the Board of Education have the sole responsibility of replacing him. Since Owades was elected as a Republican, the Town Charter calls for his replacement to be a registered Republican.

Typically, in this type of situation the remaining members of the Board of Education choose someone who is recommended by the town committee of the party to which the resigning member belongs, according to Wolgast.

Staples High School today announced the names of students chosen as “Students of the Month” for February.

The students, selected by their teachers, represent the all-around positive spirit of Staples High School and are recognized for their commitment to the school, their hard work and their cooperative attitude, an announcement said.

They are considered to represent the essence of what makes Staples a special high school with exemplary citizens.

The students are: Erica Adler, Laura Blackburn, Dan Bowen, Michael Delson, Taylor Fries, Brian Hawell, Geoffrey Jordan, Emily Langham, Matt McIntosh, Elle Nussbaum, Geoffrey Rice, Phillip Seo, David Sobel, Thomas Stroud, Allie Vega, Jaclyn Wainer and Megan Wormser.

The Westport Board of Education tonight approved unanimously the superintendent’s proposed $79.5 million 2005-06 school budget which provides for a 6.5 percent increase over the current year.
Elliott Landon: “No dimunition of program.” WN photo

Outgoing Republican member Mark Owades made a motion to reduce the budget by $100,000 in anticipation of possible insurance cost-savings, but it failed 1-6 with Owades the only yes vote.

The budget calls for a $4.8 million increase, 70 percent of which Superintendent Elliott Landon said is to maintain current services. Noting that neighboring districts had asked for larger increases, Landon said,“We have not engaged in any dimunition of program in doing this.”

The proposal includes a $1 million increase in the insurance fund as well as eight new teaching positions at Staples High School, which is undergoing a $74 million expansion and renovation.

Westport school officials today reported the latest results of the Connecticut Mastery Tests, given to fourth, sixth and eighth graders this past fall.

They said Westport students scored uniformly high, ranging from 81 to
94 per cent at or above the state goal.

An announcement said “year-to-year comparisons are not especially useful” because different groups of students are being examined.

It said this year such comparisons are particularly questionable since, in 2004, fewer special education students were exempted from the test or allowed to test out of grade level,” producing somewhat lower results in several categories.

Two students at Westport’s Staples High School have been named winners in a national science competition, it was announced today.

Staples senior Amanda Zarrilli and junior Jon Sellon are two of the five national winners of this years American Academy of Neurology, Neuroscience Creativity Award, the announcement said.

The competition asks students to design a study based on current neuroscience research.

Amanda’s proposed experiment focused on studying the genetics of depression, and Jon’s research proposal focused on studying how music affects attention deficit disorder.

The PTA at Westport’s Long Lots Elementary School has formally launched its class Web page project. Its goal is to support teachers in creating and keeping current class Web pages. The entire third grade teaching team at Long Lots is now represented with a http://lls.westport.k12.ct.us/longlots/Default.htm”>Web presence. Shown are (l-r) Long Lots teachers Kerin Tighe, Francesca DeRosa and Beth Messler working on their class Web pages. Parent volunteer Beth Lloyd-Thomas offered her support. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Westport First Selectwoman Diane G. Farrell has asked school administrators to provide a detailed explanation of a request for the town to seek additional office space for school administrative needs.

In a Jan. 20 letter to Schools Supt. Elliott Landon, Farrell said she would not pass on a request to the town’s Public Site and Building Commission to find more space until the schools have prepared a presentation showing that they have exhausted every available space in school buildings.

“Elliott, I am deeply concerned about the cost of this initiative,” Farrell wrote.

“Coming on the heels of a 6.5 percent requested annual operating increase, and an additional capital request of $2.5 million for completion of Staples High School, expending funds for office space is an added burden to the taxpayer at a time when a great deal has been asked already in support of education.”

The Board of Education Monday night put off recommending an additional $2.5 million requested by the School Building Committee for the $74 million renovation and expansion of Staples High School.

The board acted after receiving a memo from project director Susan Chipouras saying it would cost $900,000 to make 746 windows throughout the school able to open and close as was specified in the original educational specifications for the project.

The board was told that the Staples Subcommittee had decided to eliminate operable windows as part of its “value engineering” that reduced the cost of the project by $500,000.

Earlier, committee officials had told the board that making all windows operable was not necessary because of the modern air-handling technology installed in the school.