Westport’s Staples High School ranked No. 8 among the top high schools in Connecticut and No. 394 nationally, according to a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

The annual report, released today, said the rankings are based on the school’s performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college. Last year, Staples was No. 5 in the state and No. 391 nationally.

The public school with the highest ranking in the state is Ridgefield High School, which ranked No. 5 and No. 322 nationally.

In the 2018 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, Connecticut has 15 gold medal schools, including Staples, 26 silver medal schools and 15 bronze medal schools.

A Westport senior at New Haven’s Hopkins School today was named a National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winner.

Helena Cecilie Lyng-Olsen, 17, was chosen from a talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding finalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program, an announcement said.

National Merit $,2500 Scholarship winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, it said.

Helena, who will attend Yale University in the fall, has been a student at Hopkins since the seventh grade and will graduate next month. She enrolled in Hopkins from Bedford Middle School.

Westport Public Schools will be conducting a screening to identify preschool children who are “at risk” for learning under the federal and local Title I eligibility criteria, the school system announced today.

The Title I screening looks at the child’s development in the areas of concepts, language, and motor skills.

The current Title I program is incorporated into the Westport Public Schools, Stepping Stones Preschool Program.

Screening for Title I will be held on Friday, June 1, 9 a.m. to noon at Coleytown Elementary School, 65 Easton Road.

An agreement announced late today between the Westport Board of Education and the teachers union will result in about $1 million in budget savings and avoid most teacher layoffs.

Colleen Palmer: “pleased” with agreement.  Dave Matlow/ WestportNow.com file photo

Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer, in an email to parents, said the board and the Westport Education Association (WEA) were “pleased” to announce the agreement on the teachers joining the state health plan.

“In recognition of the fiscal challenges the Board of Education faces for the 2018-2019 school year and in the spirit of collaboration, the Westport Education Association has agreed that the district may seek to move health insurance to the State Partnership Plan 2.0, effective September 1, 2018,” she said.

The agreement will help the board make up for a cut imposed by the Board of Finance on the proposed 2018-19 education budget following this week’s finance board restoration session. (See WestportNow April 25, 2018) Board of Education members had pledged to return savings to the town if agreement were reached with the teachers.