Teacher of Year Mary Elizabeth Fulco (sitting, c) of Staples High School, was honored tonight at the Board of Education meeting. She is pictured with nominees (seated, l-r) Lisa Thomas, Greens Farms Elementary School, and Jamie Viesselman, Kings Highway Elementary School; (standing, l-r)  Candace Banks, co-president PTA Council; Michael Gordon, chair, Board of Education; nominees Amy Koppe, Greens Farms Elementary School; Priscilla Jones, Kings Highway Elementary School; Alycia Dadd, Staples High School; Janet Zamary, Staples High School; Karen DeFelice and John Horrigan, co-presidents, Westport Education Association (WEA), and Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer. Teacher of the Year nominees not present are Susan O’Hara, Staples High School, and Sarah O’Mahoney, Bedford Middle School. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By Mark Pazniokas and Keith M. Phaneuf

www.ctmirror.org

In a broad indictment of how Connecticut supports its poorest schools, Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher ruled today that the state’s method for distributing education aid is irrational and unconstitutional, while declining to second-guess the General Assembly on the ultimate level of state spending. 

Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher: orders the state to come up with a new funding formula for public education. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Ctmirror.org photo

Moukawsher said the plaintiffs failed to meet their high burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the quality of public education violates the state Constitution by the standards of minimum funding or the adequacy of instruction in the state’s classrooms. But he gave them a victory on the question of how aid is distributed, special education is funded and the standards to which students and teachers are held.

He handed the state, the plaintiffs and General Assembly an ambitious five-point outline for action on revamping how teachers are evaluated and paid, special education students are evaluated and served, and more broadly, how the state directs $2 billion in annual state spending for local education, plus another $1 billion in reimbursements for school construction and renovations.

“So, change must come,” Moukawsher said. “The state has to accept that the schools are its blessing and its burden, and if it cannot be wise, it must at least be sensible.”

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Westport’s Greens Farms Academy today welcomed 715 PreK-12 students from 20 towns in Connecticut and New York to their first official day of school. A group of Upper School boys was among the first to arrive on campus. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Greens Farms Academy GFA Head of School Janet Hartwell today greets students as they arrive for their first day of school. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

New Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer, in an invocation at tonight’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM), reminded members that 22 percent of their constitutents are students in the Westport school system and most do not have a vote. She lauded the body for its support of education, adding:  “In Westport, we don’t simply educate our students for academic success. We empower them to think critically and creatively … we prepare them to thrive as active participants in democracy and to serve others.”  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matliow for WestportNow.com

UPDATE The Westport Board of Education announced today it seeks candidates for a vacancy on the Board created by the resignation of Brett Aronow. 

She announced at the board’s Aug. 29 meeting she is resigning because she is moving out of town. (See WestportNow Aug. 29, 2016)

The successful candidate will serve on the Board of Education from the date of appointment until the Board of Education election scheduled for November 2017.

Any individual interested in being considered for appointment to the position is required to be a registered Democrat; willing to be interviewed separately by the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) and the Board of Education prior to appointment; and willing to serve and attend Board of Education meetings immediately upon appointment, which appointment will take place as early as October.

Westport’s Greens Farms Elementary School on Friday opened its new playground. The GFS PTA raised more than $100,000 last April to build the playground, presenting the funds to the Board of Education in June. Construction began with the end of school, and it was completed in time for Thursday’s school opening. Joe Feinleib and Coastal Construction generously donated the demolition of the old playground. The new playground is bigger, allows for more creative play, and is handicap accessible. Testing a new slide were Lisa Thomas (l), a gym teacher, and Michele Carey-Moody, last year’s GFS PTA president. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Jeffrey Golubchick, in his second year as principal of Long Lots Elementary School, today welcomes students on the first day of school. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com