The assistant principal at Westports GreenҒs Farms School. Brenda J. Anziano, has been named principal at Fairfields Dwight Elementary School.

Anziano, who has been assistant principal at the Westport school since 1999, will take over her new $112,382 a year post Aug. 16. The Fairfield Board of Education formally appointed her at its meeting Tuesday night.

Staples senior Robert Sobleman, 18, addresses the Westport Board of Education tonight on the issue of school start times. He said he has seen no evidence that a later start time produces more sleep for students. The photo is from a live telecast of the two-hour session, the first televised Board of Education meeting in a decade. WestportNow.com photo

The Westport Board of Education tonight held a reception to honor retiring teachers, administrators, and school staff in the district. Shown here are back row, (l-r):  Ann Reeves, Christine Cimino, Elliot Kraut, Ken Hanson, and James Welsch. Front row (l-r): Carol Muller, Antoinette Gombeda, Joyce Campbell, Connie Miller, and Grace Welsch. Missing are Arlene Johnson, Barbara Hauer, Bruce McFadden, Britta Nilsson, Richard Rollins, Linval Sinclair, and Barbara Sands. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)  WestportNow.com photo

The Westport Board of Education today announced the teachers and administrators retiring from the school system this year who will be honored at a reception Monday.

They include:

Bedford Middle School
Joyce Campbell
Christine Cimino
Richard Rollins

Coleytown Elementary School
Barbara Hauer

A new parking lot at Long Lots Elementary School where parents and school officials have long complained that inadequate parking causes dangerous conditions ֖ is a little closer to reality.

The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Finance and Education Committees Tuesday night unanimously recommended an appropriation of $2,455,950 for completion of the project.

The full RTM will take up the measure at its June 1 meeting pending Board of Finance action later this week.

Members of the School Building Committee (SBC) told a joint meeting of the committees that the cost might seem especially high because the project actually involves more than parking spaces.

Westport Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon Monday night will present a revised list of recommended reductions to meet the $450,000 cut made by town funding bodies to the Board of Education’s proposed 2004-2005 $75.6 million operating budget.

In a memo to the board in advance of the meeting, Landon said his recommendations were modified from ones he made in earlier memos of March 22 and April 12.

The biggest change from the last memo concerns a proposed $165,000 cut for three elementary reserve teacher positions. The recommendation came under intense criticism by some members at a subsequent board meeting.

Instead, Landon’s new proposed cuts include a secretarial position at Staples High School for a savings of $38,000, a technology assistant part-time position for a savings of $17,500, and $50,000 in preventative maintenance.

The Board of Education Monday night made two personnel appointments.

Kris Bienkowski will replace retiring principal James Welch at Coleytown Middle School and Elaine Schwartz takes over as guidance director at Staples High School.

Bienkowski had been a principal at a Griswold middle school and Schwartz had been guidance director at Newtown High School.

The Westport Board of Education, after lengthy discussion, decided tonight to endorse a recommendation of Schools Supt. Elliott Landon and not seek to restore $450,000 cut from its proposed $75.1 million budget.
The Board of Education decided tonight not to seek restoration of $450,000 cut from its proposed $75.1 million budget. WestportNow.com photo

The Board of Finance had cut $1.25 million from the educators’ budget last month only to vote later to restore $800,000.

The budget next goes before the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) next month which could restore the deleted amount.

Board members Steve Halstead said he favored asking for $402,000 to be restored and was joined by Mark Mathias in voting for that amount, but the five other members voted against it.

A motion by member Lewis Brey to seek $195,000 in restoration failed when only Linda Merk-Gould joined him in voting for the amount.

Westport Schools Supt. Elliott Landon is recommending that the Board of Education not seek to restore $450,000 cut from its proposed $75.1 million budget.

In a memo prepared for Monday’s Board of Education meeting, Landon said the $800,000 restored to the BOE budget by the Board of Finance at its March 31 meeting had mitigated the board’s earlier $1.25 million reduction.

The superintendent recalled that at the BOE’s March 22 meeting he had presented a list of items to be cut in case restoration was not forthcoming.

“That list represented the best collaborative thinking of the whole administration,” he said.