Monthly Archives: August 2021

Pic Of The Day #1596

Posted on August 31, 2021 | 2 comments

Long Island Sound clouds (Photo/Michael Lonsdale)

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Roundup: School, Robots, Cycling …

Posted on August 31, 2021 | 3 comments

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It’s an annual tradition: On the first day of school, parents take photos of their kids at the Juniper Road/Caccamo Lane bus stop.

Here’s this year’s edition. Parents: Save for posterity. Kids: Don’t be embarrassed — decades from now, you’ll appreciate this.

PS: The little one on the far left? He’ll be graduating before you know it.

(Photo/Pam Long)

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Another tradition: Staples High School senior girls design t-shirts, decorate their cars, then drive in a motorcade to school.

Here are just a few of the 200-plus seniors girls from the Class of 2022:

(Photo/Lisa Rowan)

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In the mid-2010s, Staples had one of the top robotics teams in the world.

Now a new generation of students is gunning for the top again.

Ben Saxon — a junior who is a black belt in karate, and a competitor on both the squash and math teams — has added robotics to his resume.

He’s got a 3D printer, and has built robots at home. He and 8 or so passionate friends are recruiting others to join them, with a competitive club. 

They’ve begun fundraising, to purchase components including hardware and software. Their goal is $3,500.

Click here to help. Click below for an intriguing video, and to meet team members.

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Speaking of Staples:

For his 40th reunion last weekend, 1981 graduate Dan Gallant created a race-quality cycling jersey. The front includes an image of the school; the back, the Staples seal.

Classmates loved it. One suggested it might be popular beyond just those alums.

Great idea! Even better: Dan is donating all proceeds to Staples Tuition Grants.

Click here to order. Show your pride — and support STG. NOTE: Today is the ordering deadline!

Front, rear and side views.

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How hard is it to make a pizza? (The real — not microwave — kind.)

You can find out on Sunday, September 26 (10 a.m. to noon).

Wakeman Town Farm fires up its outdoor wood-burning pizza oven for a fun class.

Chef Annalyce Loretto and pizzaiolo Carl McNair will teach how to make traditional pizza — ending, of course, with samplings. Ages 12+ are welcome.

All ingredients and materials are provided. Click here to register.

Also ahead at WTF:

  • Build-a-grazing board (food & wine experience): September 30, 7 p.m.
  • Al fresco fall farm dinner with chef Genee Habansky of Herbaceous Catering, with locally sourced ingredients: October 2, 6 p.m.
  • Oktoberfest dinner with AMG Catering’s Alison Milwe Grace: October 14, 5:30 p.m.

Click here for details.

Celebrating Wakeman Town Farm’s pizza oven.

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If you can’t find a MoCA Westport fall course that piques your interest, you haven’t looked hard enough.

The Newtown Turnpike museum offers classes in categories like Exploring Art Together for Babies and Toddlers, Academic & Art Enrichment, Digital Animation and Cinematography, Drawing, Fashion and Floral Design.

Click here for the catalogue. Then expand your horizons!

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A reminder: The Westport Country Playhouse’s “Stars on Stage” shows will be taped tonight (August 31), and tomorrow and Thursday (September 1 and 2) — and will be edited, then broadcast to a national television audience.

There are 2 shows each night, at 7 and 9 p.m. A few tickets remain ($75 and $20). Complimentary tickets go to first responders, students, teachers, and groups and organizations.

For tickets or more information, click here, call 203-227-4177, or email boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org.

(From left): Shoshana Bean, Gavin Creel: Westport Country Playhouse stars.

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(Photo/JC Martin)

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And finally …  what better song for August 31?

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Posted in Children, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Sports, Staples HS, Teenagers, Westport Country Playhouse

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Student Enrollment Spikes; Schools Add Sections

Posted on August 31, 2021 | Comments Off on Student Enrollment Spikes; Schools Add Sections

The COVID surge in real estate has led to a spike in students.

Westport’s 5 elementary schools have 88 more students than officials planned for previously. With a total of 2,335 boys and girls in kindergarten through grade 5, that means an additional 6 teachers.

Brian Fullenbaum reports that assistant superintendent of schools John Bayers provided those figures at last night’s Board of Education meeting — the day before school opens. He noted that Long Lots had the highest rise — 581 students, up 40 over projections — resulting in 5 kindergarten sections.

Coleytown and Greens Farms both added kindergarten sections, while Kings Highway added one in 4th grade.

Numbers continue to fluctuate. Bedford and Coleytown Middle School figures, and those for Staples High, were not provided last night.

Enrollment at Long Lots rose more than any other elementary school.

District supervisor of health services Suzanne Levasseur said that Westport’s COVID rate is higher starting school this year than last year. There were 18 cases in town last week, 4 of them in school-aged youngsters. Some of the new cases were in fully vaccinated people.

In Westport, 94.9% of 12-17-year-olds have received at least one vaccination. 86% are fully vaccinated.

Vaccinated students do not need to quarantine if they have been in the same class as someone who has been exposed — unless they show symptoms.

Levasseur also noted that the statewide mask mandate in schools runs through September 30. Westport does not allow teachers to unmask, although the state permits it.

Visitors to schools must show proof of vaccination.

There is no remote learning this year. However, the district has 8 on-call tutors for students who need to quarantine.

Levasseur said that the town has expressed interest in a sate program that would allow free voluntary testing for students in grades K-6.

Superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice and Westport Police captain Ryan Paulsson talked about patrols at Westport schools.

Currently, a School Resource Officer monitors Staples. An additional officer was posted at Bedford last year.

Scarice suggested that there should be a patrol position for a police officer to monitor all 7 elementary and middle schools, including perimeters. He noted the positive influence on students of seeing the officer as a a friendly face and role model.

The Board of Ed also discussed the Staples High School roof project. The original budget was $5.3 million; this might be lowered to $5 million. If approved on September 8, the project is scheduled to start after school ends in June. It would be finished by the start of the new school year.

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School Bells Ring

Posted on August 31, 2021 | 5 comments

Forget January 1. Pshaw, Rosh Hashanah. Today — at least for Westport parents and students — is the real start of the new year.

It’s the first day of school.

Whether you’re a kindergartner heading off on your own, a Staples senior already counting the days to graduation, or a mom or dad feeling pride, trepidation and the warp-speed passage of time — or anyone else, who has ever gone to school — this story is for you. It was first published a few years ago, but is back by popular request.

Summer vacation ends with a thud today. Each year it’s the same: One day a kid’s free as a cat; the next he’s trapped, chained to the rhythm of the school calendar for 10 long months.

Greens Farms Elementary School.

Some youngsters love this time of year; they’re eager to greet old friends, and meet new ones. Or they can’t wait for the smell of newly waxed floors, the security of assigned seats, the praise they know will be lavished on them day after day.

Others abhor it. The thought of entering a strange building filled with strange faces, or trying to be part of a group of peers who won’t accept them, or sitting for hours at a time, doing work they can’t stand, is excruciating — even physically sickening.

Around this time each year, I think about the entire school experience. I wonder which kindergartner will hate school for the rest of the year because his teacher makes a face the morning he throws up in front of everyone, and which will love school because an aide congratulates her the afternoon she almost puts on her coat all by herself.

Which 1st grader will invent any excuse not to go to gym because he can’t throw a ball, and which will get through the school day only because he knows gym is coming soon?

Saugatuck Elementary School

Which 4th grader will walk meekly into class each morning with just one ambition — to get through the day without anyone noticing how ugly, or stupid, or poorly dressed she is — and which will look back on 4th grade as a turning point in her life because a guidance counselor took the time to talk to her, to show her how to comb her hair better, to make her feel good about herself?

Which 5th grader will have a teacher who does nothing when she catches him cheating on a test — too much effort to raise such a touchy issue — and which will have a teacher who scares him so much when he’s caught that he vows to never cheat in school again?

Which 6th grader will enter middle school intent on making a name for himself as the best fighter in his class, and which with the aim of never getting a grade lower than an A?  Which 6th grader’s ambition will change, and which will remain the same?

Bedford Middle School.

Which 9th grader will temper his fledgling interest in current events with the feeling “it’s not cool; no one else in class cares,” and which will visit the New York Times website every day because her class is working on “this really neat project”?

Which 10th grader will hate English because all she does is read stupid books assigned by the stupid teacher from some stupid list, and which will go to Barnes & Noble on his own for the first time because his teacher suggests there are more books by the same author he might enjoy?

Which 12th grader will have the brains to apply to 3 Ivy League schools, but lack the common courtesy to thank a teacher who wrote glowing recommendation to all of them? And which will slip a note in a teacher’s box the morning of graduation that says, “Thanks.  I’m really glad I had you this year”?

Staples High School

It’s easy to wrap our school years in nostalgic gauze, or try to stuff the bad memories down our mental garbage disposals.

We also tend not to think in concrete terms about what goes on inside school walls every day. Learning, we assume, happens. Kids read, write, use laptops, draw, eat and see their friends.

We seldom realize how much of an impact this institution we call “school” has on our kids.

Or how much it has had on us.

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Pic Of The Day #1595

Posted on August 30, 2021 | 3 comments

Kids enjoy the Weston Historical Society sculpture (Photo/JC Martin)

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Roundup: Wheels, Donut Crazy, Challah …

Posted on August 30, 2021 | 3 comments

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Effective today, Wheels2U Westport — the Westport Transit District’s on-demand, group ride, door-to-train platform shuttle service — is expanding to serve even more of Westport.  The area from Coleytown Road to the Weston border is now included.

The new addition is bounded by North Avenue, Lyons Plains Road and Coleytown Road and includes all of Arlen Road, Fraser Road, Fraser Lane and Snowflake Lane. Wheels2U Westport now provides convenient service to over 90% of all Westport.

Residents living in the service area can use the Wheels2U Westport app to request a pickup  between 5:45 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., and 4 and 8 p.m., to be taken to or from the Saugatuck or Greens Farms train platform and their front door.

Pickups should be requested about 20 minutes before you would normally leave to drive to the station.  The fare is $2 when paid with the Wheels2U app.  A Metro North Uniticket rail/bus pass can also be used.

For more information, click here. For more information about the Westport Transit District’s services for the elderly and people with disabilities, click here.

New service area.

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Westport’s VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 reserved a special table today. The setting honored the 13 US servicemembers killed last week in Afghanistan.

The “Missing Man Table” — also known as the “Fallen Comrade Table” — is steeped in symbolism. It is a humble way to remember the sacrifice of the men and women who gave their lives protecting our freedom.

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Just in time for the new academic year, the Westport Public Schools have unveiled a new website.

The look is clean and fresh. There’s tons of information, in an easy-to-navigate, intuitive layout.

Click here to explore it on your own. Be sure to check out the drone video for each school. Just click on the name, and get a bird’s-eye view of every facility. (Hat tip: Seth Schachter)

Screenshot of the new website

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Donut Crazy is back open. This is the most recent sign, on the train station door:

(Photo/Gary Nusbaum)

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Last night’s almost-season-ending Levitt Pavilion performance — Dr. K’s Motown Review — had a filled-to-capacity audience dancing in the street.

Or at least, in their pods.

Three shows remain: Always-popular DNR, in a benefit for Westport EMS and first responders (September 10, 7:30 p.m.); Barboletta, a tribute to Santana (September 11, 7:30 p.m.), and Sheryl Crow, a ticketed benefit show (October 8, 8 p.m.).

Click here for tickets and details.

Last night’s Levitt Pavilion show. (Photo/Lauri Weiser)

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Dogs are not allowed on Compo Beach (until October 1).

So this one — at Winslow Park Animal Hospital on the Post Road — made his own.

(Photo/Molly Alger)

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Every home should have a challah.

And not just on the East Coast.

The Westport-based delivery company has just acquired ChallahFresh, Silicon Valley’s tech-enabled business.

“My goal is to deliver a freshly baked challah, candles, a weekly dose of inspiration each week, plus black & white cookies, rugelach or hamentaschen to as many homes, nursing homes and college dorms as possible in the US, says CEO Scott Sharkey.

“Now we ae one step closer to accomplishing this.”

Sharkey donates a portion of each challah subscription to a charity of the customer’s choice. A dropdown menu offers a dozen or so options, including ADL, Doctors Without Borders, Feeding America, Red Cross, Save the Children, St. Jude’s Hospital, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund, Hadassah and UJA Federation.

For more information, click here.

Challah, from Every Home Should Have a Challah.

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Wendy Crowther explains today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo:

“Two bumble bees harvest resources on a stand of thistle at Baron’s South last week. Thistles have a high wildlife value. They not only provide pollen and nectar to bees and butterflies, but later the flowers turn to seeds that will be eaten by goldfinches. Even the down from the seeds will be used by birds to line their nests.”

(Photo/Wendy Crowther)

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And finally … in honor of today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo (above):

 

 

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Posted in Education, Entertainment, Local business, religion, Transportation

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Too Much Traffic? Try This!

Posted on August 30, 2021 | 31 comments

Westport may not be able to solve every traffic problem by ourselves.

We need help from the state — synchronizing Post Road lights, for example.

It would be nice if Waze could rejigger its algorithms, so the slightest fender-bender on I-95 or the Merritt does not send highway drivers onto local streets.

But we’re not blameless.

There are things Westporters can do to alleviate traffic congestion and stress. We don’t help matters, with our aggressive, me-first driving styles and attitudes.

You know who you are, and chances are you’re not going to change.

Just another day at Bedford Middle School. (Photo/Adam Vengrow)

But here’s one simple tweak that could go a long way toward making traffic flow more smoothly. It comes from Jimmy Izzo, the RTM member and native Westporter who has spent decades living in, watching and wondering about the town he loves.

Jimmy says: “Observe the yellow light.”

That’s right. When the traffic light turns amber: Stop.

Don’t speed up. Don’t try to beat it. Just put on the brakes, and wait for red, then green.

Think about it. How many times have you seen (or been the driver of) a car that has just come over the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen (Post Road) bridge downtown. You floor it on yellow, trying to turn left onto Riverside.

But you get stuck in the intersection. Every car on Riverside and Wilton Road, turning and heading toward town, has to maneuver around you. By the time it’s all sorted out, another cycle of traffic has backed up on all 4 corners.

Trying to beat the yellow light.

It works the other way too. Drivers turning left from Wilton Road, and right from Riverside, who try to beat the yellow cause similar chaos.

Or consider the Compo Shopping Center (CVS)/Compo Acres (Trader Joe’s) cluster****. You come down the hill in front of Gold’s. You try to make the yellow light. You stop smack in the middle of the CVS exit. No one moves — though cars try desperately to maneuver around you. Meanwhile, the CVS/Gold’s lots get even more crowded.

Another spot where drivers try to beat the yellow.

Westporters treat yellow lights like greens, Jimmy says. In fact, they’re closer to red.

Believe it or not, stopping at yellows might actually make traffic flow more easily when the red turns to green.

And drivers wouldn’t have to resort to such colorful language all the time, either.

This may soon be obsolete in Westport.

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Posted in Downtown, Transportation

Pic Of The Day #1594

Posted on August 29, 2021 | 1 comment

As summer wanes: A look back 2 weeks, to Sunday, August 15. (Drone photo/Franco Fellah)

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Photo Challenge #348

Posted on August 29, 2021 | 6 comments

The manmade structure looks like the old telephone switching station on Myrtle Avenue, opposite Sconset Square. Deadman’s Brook flows past it.

But readers who thought that was the answer to last week’s Photo Challenge did not look closely, at the waterfall in the background.

There’s no waterfall near downtown. But there is at one end of Nash’s Pond. Peter Tulupman’s photo showed he spillway near the dam and former icehouse, at Kings Highway North. (Click here to see.)

From there the water flows as Stony Brook, underneath Post Road West. It re-emerges at Sylvan Road and Riverside Avenue, where it empties into the Saugatuck River.

Elaine Marino, Diane Silfen, Jalna Jaeger, Eric Bosch, Bobbie Herman, Wendy Cusick, Dave Brown, Dave Eason, Lynn Untermeyer Miller and Derek Fuchs all knew the Nash’s Pond answer.

So did Kristan M. Nash. Then again, she should!

Can she — or anyone — guess this week’s Photo Challenge?  If you know where in Westport it is, click “Comments.”

(Photo/Dick Lowenstein)

 

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Roundup: Chocolate Hearts, Art Craft Show, Playhouse Shows …

Posted on August 29, 2021 | 2 comments

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For the 2nd year in a row, Aarti Khosla of Le Rouge Chocolates is helping Westporters show love for teachers.

“They are the backbone of our society. In these unprecedented times, hey need our love more than ever,” says the owner of the popular shop at 190 Main Street.

“We came together as a community to salute them with our ‘Give a Little Love’ chocolate hearts campaign on the first day of school last year. It was humbling and heartwarming to hear so many teachers say how touched they were by this small gesture.”

The tradition continues — with a twist. For just $8, you can show you appreciation to the Westport Public Schools staff (including teachers, administrators, nurses, secretaries, paraprofessionals, custodians and others).

And 20% of each “Chocolate Heart” that goes to a teacher will be contribute to the Malala Fund, which helps educate women and girls in Afghanistan.

Click here to buy a chocolate heart, and for more information.

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Talented Westporter Jo Ann Miller-Swanson has her first Art Craft Show today Sunday, August 29, Christie’s Auto Service parking lot, 161 Cross Highway, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).

Jo Ann is working with Amy Bruno, wife of Westport assistant superintendent of schools Anthony Bruno. They expect to make the show a Sunday Christie’s ritual.

Untitled work by Jo Ann Miller-Swanson.

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The Westport Country Playhouse’s star turn starts Tuesday.

On 3 consecutive nights (August 31, September 1 and 2), Broadway stars perform before a live audience. The concerts will be taped, edited, then broadcast nationally (with a “Westport-centric” opening). The show will be called “Stars on Stage from Westport Country Playhouse.”

Shoshana Bean (“Wicked,” “Waitress”) kicks things off. She’ll be followed by Gavin Creel (a Tony Winner in “Hello, Dolly!”; “The Book of Mormon”) on September 1. Brandon Victor Dixon (Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” an Emmy nominee in “Jesus Christ Superstar”) completes the triple play on September 2.

There are 2 shows each night, at 7 and 9 p.m.

Westporter Andrew Wilk is the creator and executive producer of “Stars on Stage!” That means the production value will be high.

This is not his first rodeo. He was executive producer of PBS’ “Live from Lincoln Center” from 2012-19, and has won 5 Emmys for his production work.

A limited number of tickets ($75 and $20) are available to the public. Complimentary tickets are reserved for first responders, students, teachers, and groups and organizations.

For tickets or more information, click here, call 203-227-4177, or email boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org.

(From left): Shoshana Bean, Gavin Creel, Brandon Victor Dixon.

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“Gunsmoke” fired up the crowd last night, at the Levitt Pavilion. Tonight’s show — “Dr. K’s Motown Revue” — is already sold out.

(Photo/JC Martin)

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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo is one any boat owner can relate to. Everyone wants a free ride!

(Photo/Judy Stone)

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And finally … today is the birthday of Dinah Washington, in 1924. The jazz-influenced singer and pianist died. She died at just 39, of a combination of insomnia and diet pills. She’s remembered for outstanding performances like:

 

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