John Dodig: Health order will “completely change how we do business at Staples High School.” WestportNow.com photoWith limited exceptions, the days of students snacking on foods in hallways and teachers celebrating special days in the classroom by bringing in food are over at Westport’s Staples High School.

In an announcement to students and an e-mail message to parents today, Staples principal John Dodig outlined a strict “no-food-outside-of-the-cafeteria” policy. He said it would “completely change how we do business at Staples High School.”

Dodig said the policy was in response to an order from the Westport/Weston Health Department aimed at ridding the school of vermin.

“Recently, Staples High School was issued an order from Judy Nelson, Health Director of the Westport/Weston Health Department, requiring us to cease consuming food in unauthorized areas of the building,” he told parents in the e-mail.

Mark Owades, a Republican member of Westport’s Board of Education, announced tonight in a computer-enabled appearance ֖ that he intends to resign.

“It is with great sadness that I must announce my intention to resign from the Westport Board of Education,” Owades told fellow board members via a computer connection from California.

“My business obligations have become more time consuming and travel intensive than I had hoped.

“I wish to express my sincere regrets to the citizens of the town of Westport who elected me to the board with the expectation that I would complete my term in good order.”

Saturday’s New York Times, in a roundup of New York-area public and private schools and their records of getting graduates into Ivy League colleges, counts Westport’s Staples High School among the region’s “high-wattage schools.”

In a comparison box in the newspaper’s Education Life section, Staples ranked lowest among eight public and private schools in the survey, with 5 percent of its 2004 graduates admitted to Ivy League schools.

Tops were Saint Ann’s in Brooklyn with 36 percent admitted, and a tuition of $21,500 in the private category, and Hunter College High School in Manhattan with a 29 percent rate in the public school category.

The only other Connecticut school on the list was Hopkins, a private school in New Haven, with 27 percent admitted and an annual tuition of $22,285.

The Westport Board of Education held an all-day budget session at the Westport Public Library today to discuss the superintendents 2005-06 proposed budget which calls for a 6.5 percent increase to $79.5 million. Lynn Shain, assistant superintendent of curriculum/staff development, (holding microphone) told the session that emphasis is being placed on ғuse of data to inform instruction so that test results and other feedback is not ԓjust put in a drawer. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Shane Mulligan: Wins $1,000 and chance for more. Contributed photoA 17-year-old senior at Westport’s Staples High School said today he was “surprised and happy” to be named a semifinalist in a prestigious national science talent competition sponsored by Intel Corp.

Shane Mulligan said he learned Wednesday that he was one of 300 national semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent search.

“I knew it was being announced, but still I was surprised and happy to hear the positive news,” he said.

Shane, who was a regional semifinalist last fall in the equally prestigious Siemens-Westinghouse Science Competition, was one of three semifinalists from Connecticut.

The Westport Board of Education and its search consultant firm are seeking community input on hiring of a new principal of Staples High School, the school system announced today.

It said the board and the consultant, Goens/Esparo, LLC, are seeking to develop a profileӔ of the kind of educator Westport seeks in its next high school principal.

John M. Dodig is serving as interim principal at the high school following the departure last October of John J. Brady to take the superintendent’s job in the Amity Regional School District near New Haven.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 19 and 20, Dr. Louis Esparo and Dr. George Goens will conduct a series of focus groups to obtain information about the characteristics the Westport community considers essential for Staples High Schools new leader, an announcement said.

The Westport public schools today announced the balance of the winter schedule for students.

Schools will be closed Monday, Jan. 17 for Martin Luther King Day, Monday through Friday Feb. 21-25 for the winter recess, and Monday, Feb. 28 for staff development day, an announcement said.

The Westport Board of Education tonight began discussions on the superintendent’s proposed 2005-06 school budget which provides for a 6.5 percent increase over the current year.

The board will hold a all-day session to discuss the $79.5 million proposal Friday beginning at 9 a.m. at the Westport Library’s McManus Room.

The budget calls for a $4.8 million increase, 70 percent of which Superintendent Elliott Landon said is to maintain current services.

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.

The Connecticut Association for the Gifted has awarded a grant to an archaelogy workshop linking sixth grade students at Westport’s Bedford Middle School with eighth grade students from Bridgeport’s Longfellow School, it was announced today.

The $2,250 grant, written by Bedford teacher Kerstin Warner and Longfellow teacher Bonnie Hole, will bring the students from the two schools together in a study of archaeology that includes several field trips.

Students will meet together to hear Dr. Nick Bellantoni, the Connecticut State Archaeologist, travel together to the archaeology labs at Yale University, and share a hands-on archaeology experience at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center.

The Connecticut Association for the Gifted is a non-profit volunteer organization created to support the needs of gifted youngsters across the state.