Staples High School teacher Cathy Schager’s Contemporary World Class today hosted a Disarm Gun Violence Forum to discuss gun violence in a modern context. Participants included Deputy Police Chief Sam Arciola; Jonathan Perloe, Connecticut Against Gun Violence programs and communications director; Selectwoman Melissa Kane, and local attorney Joshua Koskoff.The forum was moderated by Staples Senior Nicole Arellano. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Charlie Colasurdo for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

Westport and its school system are strong and well positioned to tackle present and future challenges.

First Selectman Jim Marpe (l) and Board of Education Chairman Michael Gordon address today’s Town Hall meeting as moderator Jeff Wieser watches. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

That’s the good news to hear First Selectman Jim Marpe and school board chairman Michael Gordon tell it at today’s “State of the Town and Schools” talk at Westport Town Hall.

The not-so-good news is that the Connecticut’s fiscal crisis is hitting home with less state funding, and health insurance claims are straining school budgets. 

On top of that, the new federal tax law limiting local property and state tax deductions might dissuade prospective residents from moving to Westport, or make it difficult to retain current ones.

By James Lomuscio

Avery Landon said she and the Staples High School boy had been friends, and she didn’t want to ruin her classmate’s life.

Superintendent: there is an ongoing sexual harassment and assault awareness campaign at Staples. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com

That’s why she didn’t go to the police to report his unwanted advances, touching and groping, things that happened off campus. Still, she said she wanted it to stop and not spill over onto campus.

To that end, Avery and three other girls who had similar experiences with the same boy, this year went to Richard Franzis, the school’s vice principal. He is also Title IX coordinator who addresses sexual harassment and assault reports.

Unhappy with the results, three of the girls and Avery’s mother Stephanie Landon surprised school officials at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting by speaking out, saying the administration let them down.

Many Staples High School students gathered today in the Great Hall of the Westport Library to prepare for mid-term exams. According a library staff member, the number of students coming to the library to study for mid-terms has grown steadily since around Martin Luther King, Jr Day. Mid-term exams began Friday and go through Wednesday with Thursday open for make-up exam situations. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe and school board chairman Michael Gordon will hold a “State of the Town” meeting Sunday, Jan. 28, at 4 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium, it was announced.

The Westport Sunrise Rotary and the Westport Rotary clubs are sponsoring the event, which will be moderated by Jeffrey Wieser, deputy moderator of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and president-elect of the Westport Rotary Club.

For further information, contact Eileen Lavigne Flug, Sunrise Rotary president elect, at (203) 520-0397.

Col. Jason Musteen, chief of International history at the United States Military Academy, tonight told a Westport Library audience of how the West Point program commemorates World War I. He said it was done through literature, poetry and the memoirs of its soldiers. His talk was in conjunction with the Library’s WestportREADS selection, “Regeneration” by Pat Barker, which delves into World War I history, the price of war on veterans, and how healing can happen. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled today that the state is providing students in Connecticut’s most impoverished school districts with the minimally adequate education the constitution mandates.

The 4-3 decision draws to a close a 12-year legal saga in which a group of mayors, teachers, school board members and parents teamed up to sue the state, alleging it is not providing enough funding for the state’s poorest districts to provide students with the education they deserve.

While there is no question that schools are struggling to help students cope with the plights of poverty, mental health issues at home and other non-educational issues, the majority opinion says that those are not constitutional obligations.

“It is not the function of the courts … to create educational policy or attempt by judicial fiat to eliminate all of the societal deficiencies that continue to frustrate the state’s educational efforts,” Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers wrote for the majority. “The state’s offering [must be] sufficient to enable a student who takes advantage of them to become a functional member of society.”

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