By James Lomuscio
Six new administrators promoted from within school ranks, 20 new teachers to replace longtime ones who retired, more uniform start times, and program and curriculum initiatives that include college math and ethics will mark the 2014-15 academic year as classes begin Aug. 25, Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon said today. 
Elliott Landon: few places can match Westport. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Landon added that enrollment remains stable with about 5,700 students system wide, and that student population increases as grades rise, a fact he attributed to parents becoming more well heeled to afford moving to town as their children grow. Population at Staples High School, he said, has shown a steady increase, currently at 1,854.
“My feeling is that with kind of publicity this town gets, there are few places that match it,” Landon said. “It’s a place where people want to raise their kids and have a good life. I can only see a boom.”
He said the school system is seeing enrollment rise with grade levels, “350 kids in kindergarten, 380 in first grade, and then it moves up to 469 in the sixth grade.”
Start times for the town’s elementary schools will be more synchronized this year, with nearly all beginning the school day at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 3:15 p.m., the only exception Saugatuck Elementary School which starts at 8 a.m. due to other scheduling considerations, he said.
All day kindergarten classes will be on the same schedule at elementary schools, except during the first week when the day will end at 1:15 p.m. “to give them time to adjust,” Landon said.
Bedford Middle and Coleytown Middle schools will also have the same start time, 8 a.m., with classes ending at 2:45 p.m.
The new year also welcomes new administrators. Julie Droller, the former principal of Saugatuck Elementary School, has been promoted to director of elementary education. James D’Amico, former chairman of social studies for grades 6 through 12, is now the director of secondary education. He former post has been filled by Lauren Francese, a social studies teacher.
Landon added that Elizabeth Messler, formerly the assistant principal of Coleytown Elementary School, is the new principal of Saugatuck Elementary, and Kim Ambrosio, a math and literacy specialist, is now the assistant principal at Coleytown Elementary, replacing Messler.
Regarding curriculum, Landon said that Singapore Math had been expanded from K-5 to sixth grade, “and we’re offering geometry and algebra at the middle school level, and differential equations, a college course, is being offered at the high school for whoever can handle it.”
The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and math) program that had been implemented in the eighth grade will be offered for sixth through eighth grade students this fall, Landon said.
He added that 2025, his key initiative to prepare students to work on a global scale, is also being expanded.
“We’re getting in ethics, as well as problem solving, so that we not only have global citizens who are brilliant, but who make decisions based on ethics and morality,” said Landon.
Very pleased about the discussion of ethics and morality being part of the curriculum.