There was a special treat Friday for some youngsters at Westport’s Coleytown Elementary School. F. Richard Myers (r), a top official with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope project, visited the school where his sister, Annie Roesler (l), teaches kindergarten. He told the students about the scheduled 2018 launch of the telescope, successor to the Hubble Telescope and the largest and most sophisticated space telescope ever conceived. He later lunched with two children from every grade who were chosen based upon essays they wrote. Their questions included specifics about the James Webb Telescope, black holes, age of the sun and earth, and whether life will ever be found in outer space. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Alexandra Jabick,a 2012 Staples High School graduate, has been awarded the Outstanding Senior Woman Award at the Neag School of Education University of Connecticut, Storrs.The award, sponsored by The Woman’s Center, Alumni and University provost, is given each year to one female student from each school. She is pictured with the dean of the NEAG School Richard Schwab. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Family, friends, and colleagues will fete Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon, who is scheduled to retire at the end of June.

The event honoring Landon, who has headed the Westport school district since 1999, will take place on Thursday, May 26, at 5 p.m. at the Shorehaven Country Club in Norwalk.

Event planners say the retirement party is set to begin with light hors d’oeuvres and cocktails with the program starting promptly at 6 p.m.

Shorehaven Country Club is a waterfront facility located at 14 Canfield Ave.

Westport’s Saugatuck Elementary School (SES) today held a “walk-a-thon” kickoff ceremony as part of a fundraiser to benefit the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Among those celebrating with students and staff were Melissa Newman (r), daughter of Hole in the Wall Gang Camp founder Paul Newman, as well as Andrea Keefe (2nd r) of the Hole in the Wall Gang organization. Also present was Emily Carr (l), volunteer physician at the camp who was a camper herself and beneficiary of the full-paid tuition. Also pictured are (l-r) Katie Bloom, third grade teacher, Beth Messler, SES principal, and Rae Anne Locke, library/media specialist. Youngsters are Ty Levine, Ali Chodash, Nicole Sternberg, and Sophie Sheeris, all fifth graders and Caring Council Members. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Jacqeline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

Connecticut has the fourth highest pension costs for its public school teachers in the U.S., a new report released today shows.

The high costs are largely attributed to a failure to save enough to pay for future pension promises, the report from TeacherPensions.org concludes.

The report is a project of Bellwether Education Partners, a nonprofit funded by The Joyce Foundation and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

“Like the proverbial Pac-Man, the rapidly rising costs of teacher retirement and insurance benefits are pushing out money that could be spent on salaries,” the report concludes.

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The Westport school system is scheduled to conduct screenings of preschool children at risk for learning from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, June 3, at the Coleytown Middle School.

The screenings are under the federal an local Title I eligibility criteria that examines a child’s development in the areas of concepts, language and motor skills, school officials said. The current Title I program is incorporated into the Westport preschool program, Stepping Stones Preschool. 

Officials say each screening will take about 45 minutes. To qualify for a screening, the family must be a residents of Westport, and the child must be 3 years old by September.

Those who are interested can contact Carol Haberlin at (203) 341-1712 to set up an appointment, as screenings are by appointment only, school officials said. For further information, contact Gwen Goldman at (203) 341-1764.

Today is the last day of school for seniors at Staples High School. Members of the class of 2016 will be off to their internships around the tri-state area starting Monday. Today is Senior Day, an all-day event that happens every year to celebrate the last day for seniors, complete with games, food, and music. Pictured is the college board in the office of Assistant Principal Karyn Morgan on which each student has written his/her college destination, getting a personalized congratulations from Morgan. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jaime Bairaktaris for WestportNow.com

Elaine Daignault (2nd r), student outreach counselor at Westport’s Department of Human Services, was at Staples High School today showing students the true “size” of a drink using iced tea as part of Grim Reaper Day activities to discourage drinking and driving. It was the 13th annual Grim Reaper Day put on by the Teen Awareness Group (TAG) and was dedicated to Christopher Lemone, youth outreach counselor at the school for 17 years who died last October. (See WestportNow Oct. 19, 2015) TAG also showed a video by some involved in drinking accidents. Click here to view. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jaime Bairaktaris for WestportNow.com