Last night, the Board of Education approved the Westport Public Schools’ $158 million budget for the 2026-27 school year. The result: a 4.98% increase over the current year’s budget. “06880”‘s John H. Palmer reports:
The budget was approved after a motion to reduce the total bottom line by $750,000. It will be replaced with money from the district’s healthcare reserve funds, to keep the full increase below 5 percent.
The budget — if approved as recommended — will contain funding for a new assistant of facilities and security director, a behavioral specialist in the elementary schools. and $95,000 to provide athletic uniforms for high school sports.
The budget now goes to the Board of Finance. It has until late April to conduct workshops and make any changes, before sending it to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) for final adoption in May or June.
The unanimous vote came during a busy meeting for the board. The session also included the next step toward forming a building committee to replace Coleytown Elementary School, and the first look for board members and the public of a survey to be distributed to parents, students and staff later this year. It would determine a baseline of how technology is used for instruction and homework.
The board also voted unanimously to recommend forming a building committee to oversee construction of a new Coleytown Elementary School.
In recent years the school has been plagued with progressively worsening structural problems, including humidity control issues and mold, forcing officials to consider whether to renovate the current building or replace it.
Superintendent of school Thomas Scarise said discussions with prospective architects led to the decision to completely rebuild. The project will take several years.
“We have a very positive learning environment and a safe facility, but it is most certainly a building that is aging and we are seeing that,” said Coleytown Principal Safiya Key. “It’s mostly the ceiling, the roof and things that are aesthetic. But we are starting to age in a way that makes the learning environment vulnerable, and we’ve had to displace classrooms based on that.”
The Board of Selectpersons will now oversee the process of forming the building committee.
Coleytown Elementary School
Meanwhile, the board discussed the technology survey — the second of a 3-prong audit process started by the district in October, to explore how to maximize the power of AI in school instruction, while minimizing overall wasted screen time.
The first step was an ongoing technology audit. The next will be to engage teachers and administrators in auditing curriculum materials and instruction tactics to determine how technology is used in the classroom.
The proposed survey will be reviewed by teachers during professional development time February 13. It is expected to be distributed to parents and students after winter break.
Each grade level will have an option to opt out of the paper and pencil survey.
The survey will be given to students in grades 3 and up. K-2 students will not take the survey, but it will be given to those parents with students in those grades.
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But will they clean up the girls locker rooms?
What did Supe say? MBWA?
Given all the artistic talent in Westport, can’t the Board of Ed do better than a W. How about a horizontal seal with the original one-room school off Morningside Drive or a vertical seal with a cupola–as adorns the current Kings Highway School, and topped the original Naugatuck School and the 1880s Staples High School?