Roundup: Schools Reopening, Milling Project, Food Scraps, MoCA Bags, More

It’s official: Westport schools will open next month with a hybrid model.

Still to be determined: the elementary school schedule. Those students will still alternate between morning and afternoon sessions, but the original plan — to switch which youngsters are in which session every week — may not be utilized. The Board of Education put off a vote on the elementary schedule, pending a parent survey.

In related news: Coleytown Middle School will not be available to begin reopening until November 18. The first day for students will likely be after Thanksgiving.

Our rough roads are getting a bit better.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has begun a milling and resurfacing project on 1.27 miles of the Post Road, from the Sherwood Island Connector to Maple Avenue.

Certain lanes will be closed from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Work is expected to be done by August 31.

Sustainable Westport‘s food scrap recycling program got off to a great start.

In the first 3 weeks of the project — part of the town’s Zero Food Waste Challenge goal of decreasing residential food waste by at least 25% — Westporters dropped off 2 tons of food at the transfer station.

The site was temporarily closed to enable Department of Public Works staff to assist with cleanup after Tropical Storm Isaias.

Food scrap recycling will resume at the transfer station on the Sherwood Island Connector this Saturday (August 22).

To get a food scrap recycling starter kit, email zerowaste@sustainablewestport.org.

The Paparo family was the first to drop off food scraps for Sustainable Westport’s recycling project.

In other environmental news, Wakeman Town Farm is giving away its precious Brown Gold. The all-natural compost/fertilizer is rich in nutrients from WTF’s organic gardens, select organic veggie scraps, and animal manure.

In other words, it’s really good s—.

It’s also free. Just BYOB (bag or bucket), and haul away a load for your fall garden. It’s outside the red barn at 134 Cross Highway.

Wakeman Town Farm’s Brown Gold. BYOB (bag or bucket).

MoCA Westport is selling messenger bags, as a fundraiser.

But these are not glorified grocery bags, with “MoCA” stamped somewhere.

Made of high-quality material and featuring digitally printed artwork, they feature 10 local artists: Trace Burroughs, Yvonne Claveloux, Bethany Czarnecki, Susan Fehlinger, Jana Ireijo, Amy Kaplan, Susan Leggitt, Fruma Markowitz, Dale Najarian and Jay Petrow.

The bags are $200 each. But the opportunity to carry a handsome bag with great art, everywhere you go — while supporting an important Westport institution — is priceless. Click here to see all 10 bags, and purchase (at least) one.

The bag designed by Yvonne Claveloux.

And finally … on August 18, 1920 — exactly 100 years ago today — Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution. It was the 36th (and final) state needed, to ensure that women had the right to vote. Less than 3 months later, 26 million women were eligible to vote for the first time in a presidential election.