Tag Archives: Staples High School

Ozzie And Harriet, Smoking In The Boys Room

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 10 comments

Jessie Thompson Humberty recalls her Staples High School Class of 1952 as “very Ozzie and Harriet.”

There was football, cheerleading, after-school clubs — “a very idyllic 3 years,” she says.

And, she stresses, “it’s not just looking back from a distance. We felt it was a great time even back then.”

Staples cheerleaders, 1950’s style.

There were 130 students in her graduating class. On the weekend of August 24-26, 70 will return for their 60th reunion. (That includes members of the “older” Class of ’51; they’re invited too.)

They were the last Wilton students to attend Staples, before a high school opened there. Jessie remembers Frank, the bus driver, picking up 40 students all over Wilton, then driving down Riverside Avenue to the high school (now Saugatuck Elementary). The original building — dating back to 1884 — was still in use too (where the auditorium now stands).

Jessie and her classmates — now pushing 80 — still recall English teachers like V. Louise Higgins and Gladys Mansir; social studies instructor Eli Burton, and Bob Dowling of the math department.

They remember ski club trips to newly opened Mohawk Mountain. And much more.

And if they’ve forgotten some things — well, here’s my chapter on those years, from my book Staples High School: 120 Years of A+ Education.

———————–

In 1951, 21 students completed Staples’ 1st driver education course. Two classes were held each week; the other 2 periods were used for practice, and group and individual projects. The Department of Motor Vehicles sent an instructor to test the new drivers, using the school’s dual control car.

Meanwhile, Staples adopted a student government and constitution that was among the most far-reaching in the country. Called the Staples Student Organization (SSO), its innovations included an executive branch (with both a Senate and General Assembly) and a judicial branch (student court).

Other school news included an appearance by students Joy Young and Wendy Ayearst on Kate Smith’s television show. Two questions were asked: “Should high school girls smoke?” and “Are cliques undesirable in high school?” The girls answered yes to both, while noting that cliques are unavoidable.

Inklings – Staples’ highly regarded student newspaper – ran a story describing the devastation an atomic bomb could do to Westport.

The high school on Riverside Avenue (shown here from a yearbook, with the alma mater) was getting crowded in 1952…

Yet just as powerful – and as real a threat as an atomic bomb — was the growing realization that the Staples High School the town had known for nearly 70 years was inadequate for the modern era. A tsunami of post-war students would soon wash over Westport. In 1951 the town fathers knew they needed a new high school.

In January 1952, the RTM appointed a building committee to examine construction of what the Westporter-Herald called “the so-called North Avenue school.”

On November 29, 1951, a rap from Chief Justice Hope Collier’s gavel opened the first session of the first Student Court in Staples history. Seventy people – nearly one-sixth of the school – crowded into Harold Allen’s room. Six justices – three seniors, two juniors and a sophomore – sat in a semicircle at the front of the room, with a court clerk on one side and Lyle Hayes, lawyer for the defense, on the other.

…even as the original building, built in 1884, was still in use.

The first defendant, Tom Acquino, was accused of violating a new rule prohibiting smoking in Staples from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or on Staples grounds from 8:40 to 2:51.

He pleaded not guilty, but Senate President Tiny Young told the court that several days earlier he had caught Tom smoking in the boys room. When Tiny could not answer Lyle’s question about the exact day in question, Tom blurted out “It was Tuesday you caught me.”

Witness Dick Banner testified that he was in the boys room, and saw smoke inside. After 5 minutes Chief Justice Collins pronounced Tom guilty. He was put on probation, and told he would be severely punished for another offense.

Principal Douglas Young pronounced himself pleased that student proctors had begun policing the no-smoking law. If their watchfulness continued, he said, there was no reason students could not also assume responsibility for corridor and traffic control.

10 Comments

Posted in Looking back, People, Staples HS

Tagged Jessie Thompson Humberty, Staples High School

It Won’t Win Any Oscars, But…

Posted on May 18, 2012 | 16 comments

..for a great, wide window into Staples and Westport life in 1972, this YouTube video gets our vote.

Does this make you nostalgic for back-in-the-day? Are you glad you grew up then — or are you glad you’re growing up now? Click “comments” for thoughts as random as this video.

16 Comments

Posted in Looking back, Staples HS, Teenagers

Tagged " YouTube, 1972, Staples High School

“A Good High School Will Raise The Price Of Onions”

Posted on May 14, 2012 | 24 comments

Last Friday’s post on the portrait of Horace Staples spurred one reader to ask who the founder of Westport’s high school was, anyway. Here — direct from my book Staples High School: 120 Years of A+ Education — is the answer.

In 1866, Horace Staples was perhaps the wealthiest man in Westport. A direct descendant of Thomas Staples, one of 5 settlers who founded Fairfield — and of Mary Staples, accused but acquitted of witchcraft during the fever of 1692 — he had worked since he was 8 years old.

At age 27 he started a lumber and hardware business in Saugatuck. It soon grew into a general store carrying grain, groceries, household furnishings and medicines. He bought sailing vessels, a silk factory, and an axe factory. He owned a thriving pier off the west bank of the Saugatuck River. In 1852 he helped establish a bank. In addition to everything else, he ran a farm.

Now Horace Staples was 65. Every morning he watched Westport boys and girls board the Post Road trolley. Some headed west to Norwalk; others east to Bridgeport – the 2 nearest towns with high schools. It was time, he thought, for Westport to “get up” a high school of its own.

Horace Staples

He offered to give the town a lot for a building. But no one did anything. He offered again; again the town refused to act. Year after year, young Westporters left town for education. Others, at age 14, began to work.

In 1880 Horace Staples’ only daughter died. His sole remaining heir was a grandson. He decided that the fortune he intended to leave his daughter should benefit all young people in town. Nearly 80 years old – and so hard of hearing he carried a yard-long ear trumpet – Horace Staples embarked on a final project that, more than a century later, would dwarf every other endeavor of his long, successful life.

In 1882 he redrew his will, directing some of his money toward a new high school. The following year he planned a red-brick building just up the street from his West (now Riverside) Avenue colonial home.

Though over 80 years old he was in good health, and came from a long line of long-living people. “I might as well see my name up in bricks while I am still around,” he said.

Though the Staples High School seal says “1885,” the school opened in 1884.

“A suitable building for a school house” would be erected on vacant land he donated. His builders assured him the school would be finished by July.

On April 22, 1884, whistles and sirens blew; church bells rang. Businesses closed. A procession formed in front of National Hall, turned left onto West Avenue, and made the short walk to the site of the ceremony. The crowd was estimated at 2,500.

Governor Thomas Waller arrived. Pastors offered prayers and addresses. A choir sang a hymn composed for the occasion. The cornerstone was laid.

Governor Waller finally stepped forward. The Westporter did not print his address. It did note, however, that “A good high school will increase the value of property, and raise the price of onions.”

Before it was Fairfield Furniture (and later the Inn at National Hall), the “National Hall” building housed the very first Staples High School. Classes were held on the top floor.

Despite his builders’ assurances, the building was not ready when the first term began in September. For a few weeks classes were conducted on the 3rd floor of National Hall (Horace Staples’ First National Bank of Westport occupied the first floor). Sixty students enrolled, from Westport, Norwalk, Southport and Weston.

The red-brick and stone building on West (Riverside) Avenue opened officially on October 31, 1884. The 1st floor contained 2 classrooms, a cloakroom, a laboratory and a 250-volume library.

The 2nd floor contained 2 more classrooms, another cloakroom, and a 350-seat “Assembly Hall” that doubled as a gymnasium. The entire school assembled there once a day, for devotional exercises.

During the first year of operation, there was no running water. The next year water pipes were fitted in the building, and wash bowls placed in the cloakrooms.

The original Staples High School. The building sat on what is now the site of the Saugatuck Elementary School auditorium.

Classes were held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The curriculum included the usual courses of the day — advanced arithmetic, algebra, English grammar, physical geography, botany, geometry, trigonometry, English history, physics, chemistry, French, German, ancient history and the United States Constitution – plus 4 courses not generally offered in high school: Greek, Latin, physiology and genealogy.

The latter was a particular favorite of Horace Staples. It is “not enough to know where you’re going,” he said. You “also have to know where you’re coming from.”

The inclusion of those 4 courses is noteworthy. From its inception, and all the way through to today, Staples has done things other schools do not do.

But in other ways, the Staples of 1884 was very different from the modern Staples High. The first graduating class to enter the halls of Westport’s new school consisted of just 6 students.

And all were girls.

(My book on the history of Staples High School is available at the Westport Historical Society. Click here to order.)

24 Comments

Posted in Education, History, Looking back, People, Staples HS

Tagged Horace Staples, Staples High School

We’re #1 (And 32)!

Posted on April 25, 2012 | 18 comments

As Washington and Hartford squabble over the many ways to measure education, there’s no debate about one area in which Staples is Number One.

The high school has set a world record — authenticated by Guinness — with 16 sets of twins in one class. Those sophomores shatter the previous record of 13.

Luke Foreman –a 10th grade twin himself — tracked down every set. He organized the exhaustive documentation required.

Most impressively, he got all 32 twins to school this morning — at 7 a.m. — for a group photo. Channel 12 was there too.

Congratulations, guys and girls.

Even more importantly, congrats to your moms and dads. Without them, this world record would have been impossible.

18 Comments

Posted in People, Staples HS, Teenagers, Totally random

Tagged Guinness Book of World Records, Luke Foreman, Staples High School

Staples’ Mega Mathletes

Posted on April 7, 2012 | 19 comments

First there were nearly 1,000 teams — and 5,000 students, from 29 states — vying for $115,000 in prizes in the Moody’s Mega Math Challenge.

Next — after more than 100 noted mathematicians pored over their papers — only 134 teams were left. That was then whittled down to 55.

Now there are 6.

And one is Staples.

Seniors David Haswell, Robert Perry, Matt Silver and Connie Zhou, plus junior Michael Menz, are now hard at work. On April 26 they’ll make a presentation before a panel of Ph.D.-level applied mathematicians, at the Manhattan headquarters of Moody’s Corporation.

Either Staples — or a school from New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina or Florida — will be crowned Moody’s Mega Math Challenge champ.

Staples Mega Math stars (from left): Matt Silver, David Haswell, Connie Zhou, Robert Perry, Michael Menz.

The contest involved mathematical modeling. Each team had to identify and rank the best regions in the country for establishing high-speed rail lines, as part of a nationwide network. (Yeah, Congress is currently debating the same thing.)

Math knowledge, critical thinking, research and analytical skills were all part of the puzzle. Participants provided mathematically founded recommendations based on potential ridership numbers, cost of implementation, and effects of the program on foreign energy dependence.

Each team had just 14 hours to receive the issue, study it, collect data, devise models, and upload their solutions in the form of a research paper.

The Challenge is now in its 7th year. Staples has competed all 7 times. The school won it all the 1st year, when it was limited to the tri-state area. They finished 6th in 2009, and in the top 15 in 2008, ’10 and ’11.

The top prize is $20,000. Only 5 other schools stand in Staples’ way.

Not bad for 5 teenagers who spent a 14-hour day solving an issue Congress is also grappling with.

Or — looked at another way — it’s the capstone of their 13 years of school, and a lifetime of observing the world, analyzing and synthesizing information, and loving learning.

19 Comments

Posted in Education, Staples HS, technology, Teenagers

Tagged Moody's Corporation, Moody's Mega Math Challenge, Staples High School

Ed Board Dollars And Sense

Posted on March 27, 2012 | 69 comments

With the budget season in full swing, the Board of Education presents its figures to the Board of Finance this Thursday (March 29, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall — it’s a public meeting).

Among the key points to be made by chairman Don O’Day:

The Board of Ed has weathered 3 years of budget reductions. Each year, its budget has been reduced by the Board of Finance and RTM to levels below the contractually required salary increases for the union staff (94% of the total 872 Board of Ed employees). In response, they’ve cut — while delivering great services. That quiver may no longer hold any arrows.

This year, the Board of Ed made the very tough decision to reduce staff — and not through attrition. They did it before the Board of Finance and/or RTM told them to — to $300,000 below the contractual salary increases. They hope that in return, the Board of Finance affirms the budget — resisting the temptation to cut further, for the sake of cutting.

(Staff has been reduced by 28 positions — 3% — since the market crash of 2008. Enrollment, meanwhile, is up by 50 students.)

The Board of Ed denied a proposal to add more money to the budget, in order to lower elementary school class sizes. Yet as enrollment increases, and dollars become scarce, larger classes loom at Staples. We’re talking 25+ in some required subjects.

Coleytown is the #1 middle school in the state, according to Conncan.

Once again, Westport is at the low end within its District Reference Group (similar towns), for annual budget increases. And once again, Staples is rated the #1 high school in Connecticut — and Coleytown and Bedford are the #1 and #2 middle schools, respectively, in the Conncan assessment.

In addition, the Board of Ed switched insurance carriers. Meanwhile– pretty impressively — overall health benefit costs have been held flat.

The Board of Education’s goal is to do whatever it can to save money — without impacting services. Starting Thursday night, it gets the chance to hear what the town thinks of its plan.

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Posted in Education, Politics, Staples HS

Tagged Bedford Middle School, Coleytown Elementary School, Don O'Day, Staples High School, Westport Board of Education

A Spectacular Student Challenge

Posted on March 22, 2012 | 2 comments

Tuesday’s “06880” addressed the stultifying consequences of standardized testing — and a proposed state bill that would lead to even more of it.

Today’s post shows exactly what happens when students are set free — and encouraged to learn for learning’s sake. (Plus $14,500 in prize money.)

The event was the 3rd annual Staples Spectacular Student Challenge. For 12 solid hours — from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — 10 teams of 5 students each sacrificed sleep, engaged their brains, pooled their wits, and created a blueprint for education in the 21st century.

If anyone should know about learning, it’s students. But to get them so excited about it that they’ll spend an entire Saturday thinking, arguing, researching, planning and writing about it — well, that’s learning at its best.

Every Staples Spectacular Student Challenge team had its own style. Above, from left: Michelle Mastrianni, Eric Lombardo, Daniel Ciotoli, Michaela MacDonald, Judy Feng.

Early Saturday morning, the 50 sophomores, juniors and seniors received some background material. It read, in part:

Education has long been the avenue to train and equip individuals and societies for the shifting jobs and skills that are necessary to evolve our world. At the moment, however, education is at a crossroads. The old system of school presents a model of a 5-day-a-week, rotating schedule of subject specific classes that assess your individual content and skills with traditional testing. Many wonder if this is the best model for training our students for the future.

Westport has recently initiated the “Westport 2025” program to address the future of education in our town. The goal of Westport 2025 is to prepare students with the skills they need to operate in the global 21^st century. The initiative is currently looking at what teachers teach and how they teach it. However, the Task Force for Westport 2025 wants to hear from you. If Westport is to meet the 2025 vision and create the global student, what do we need to do to and within the school to create the optimal environment for 21^st century learning?

2012 students, designing education for the rest of the century. Above, from left: Tiffany Yang , Megumi Asada, Mark Schwabacher, Neloise Egipto.

Each group had to:

Define the skills of a “global 21st century student” (including content and a means for assessing mastery of those skills)
Redesign Staples to provide a vehicle for learning those skills (including daily and yearly calendars, academic organization and building infrastructure), class size, use of technology, and assessment
Design a plan to bring items 1 and 2 to life — and sell it to the community. Items to consider: feasibility (cost, faculty, qualifications); impact of the plan on local, state and federal funding; how to win over the Staples community, town government and education leaders; whether the plan could be adopted by other school districts.

Most groups agreed on the need for critical thinking, not memorization. They understood the need for students to be creative, apply knowledge in meaningful ways, and think independently and differently.

All were skillful in the use of multi-media to hone their arguments, and make their cases.

Is an all-male team up to the challenge? Above, from left: Mike Holtz, Jacob Meisel, Cole DeMonico, Andrew Bowles, Jordan Shenhar.

Beyond that, each group had its own approach. Some hailed technology; others worried it would overpower social skills. Some thought concretely, others abstractly. Some relied more on numbers, others on words.

All worked furiously, for the entire 12 hours.

It was education at its core. And it spoke directly to Staples’ school goal: understand a local theme with much larger real-world implications, and work collaboratively using math, science, social studies and English skills to craft a solution.

There was not a bubble sheet in sight.

(The $14,500 prize money was donated by Melissa & Doug and the Gudis Family Foundation. Next step: The 10 papers will be reviewed by a group of Staples staff members, representing all academic areas. Five will be selected; group members will then make a public presentation in late April, from which the top 3 will be chosen. Prize money is donated directly to each winning student’s college.)

Taking a quick break from solving a crucial educational problem. Above, from left: Baxter Stein, Katie Zhou, Melissa Beretta, Max Liben.

2 Comments

Posted in Education, Staples HS, Teenagers

Tagged Staples High School, Staples Spectacular Student Challenge

A Few Real Resolutions

Posted on January 9, 2012 | 25 comments

Staples principal John Dodig is a keen observer of teenagers — and of the environments that shape them.

In this month’s PTA Newsletter, he offers some insights into how we can more positively shape those environments. It deserves an audience far wider than just the parents of local high school students.

I have been going to the same gym in the early morning for about 10 years now. I have noticed that beginning in late January of each year, the number of people who show up at the door at 5 a.m. increases visibly. These must be people who resolve to do something about their weight, their lethargy, their health, etc.

John Dodig

By the end of February they are all gone. What good are New Year’s resolutions when we know from the start there is no way we will stick with them? Knowing that resolutions should be easily doable, I came up with a list to share that some of you may find useful:

Resolve to allow your child to experience failure or rejection without coming to her/his aid. If your child gets a “C” on a test or gets cut from a team or doesn’t get a part in a play, offer a shoulder to cry on but let her/him know that things like this will happen throughout life. Being resilient is a helpful skill for one’s entire life.
If you don’t already, tell your children that you love them at a moment when nothing special is happening. I know this sounds silly, but I keep hearing from kids that they only hear those words when they bring home A’s on their report card or score a goal or get a part. In other words, for an accomplishment. They can’t sort through the message that it is really them that you love just for being your children.
It's okay to say no to your child.

Try saying NO once in a while to a request that you know in your gut is not appropriate, and that the decision may incur the anger of your child. I can’t tell you the number of parents who just can’t say no when asked for permission to go to a concert on a Tuesday night, for example. Coming home at 1 a.m. seems inappropriate when the next morning is a school day, but saying no is so difficult.
Resolve never, ever, ever to leave your child at home alone on a weekend. This may work for some of you, but I stopped counting the number of times we hear about a child being left alone, perhaps with a sleepover friend, and the home being crashed by a dozen teenagers. It is impossible for your child to monitor that situation.
When your child comes home Friday or Saturday night at whatever time you establish, get up and give her/him a great big hug. Remember to take a deep breath in mid-hug and be prepared to smell something you don’t want to smell. For most of you, this will not be a problem, but you would be surprised how many times you will smell something, and then be faced with a decision on what to do.
I know it may be difficult, but try to have dinner as a family once or twice a week. Don’t accept silence. Ask about school, life, sports, music, friends, and keep on asking until a conversation begins.
Hanging out with your kid can be fun.

Think of something simple that you can do with just one child and make your way through all of them over a month. Take a walk on the beach. Take a bike ride. Get a cup of coffee together, etc. You are creative. You will think of something. It is not so much what you choose, but that each child gets alone time with you.
When you are at a party with people who don’t have any children at the high school, resolve to bring up something about the high school or a student or a team that you know is outstanding. Maybe pick something that I have written about in my monthly messages. Let everyone in town know what an extraordinary school this is, and what great kids come here every day.

I will stop my suggested list of New Year’s resolutions at this point. None of these suggestions will improve your health, take off weight or build muscle. But they will all improve someone’s life, strengthen relationships, make you happy, and/or help the high school in some way.

Thank you in advance. Happy New Year!

25 Comments

Posted in People, Staples HS, Teenagers

Tagged John Dodig, Staples High School

Holiday Songs With The Staples Choir

Posted on December 23, 2011 | 3 comments

Yesterday, the Staples choir went caroling throughout the school.

Click below to hear a rousing “Deck the Halls,” a version of “Jingle Bells” with the seldom-sung final stanza — and a chance to pretend you’re in the middle of a group of really great singers.

(Justin Miller, director)

3 Comments

Posted in Arts, Staples HS, Teenagers

Tagged Justin Miller, Staples High School

71st Annual Gift To The Town (New Photos Added)

Posted on December 11, 2011 | 4 comments

Every year since 1940, the Staples High School music department has offered the Candlelight Concert to the town.

This weekend, several hundred teenagers — and instructors Adele Cutrali-Valovich, Nick Mariconda and Justin Miller — provided the gift of music to 3 wildly appreciative audiences.

The program included solemn hymns, classical music, a rousing African number, whimsical tunes — and of course, a production number.

In everyone’s thoughts were Nava Zeevi, the longtime accompanist whose husband Kuti was killed in a robbery Thursday night. Todd Simmons, assistant director of the Westport School of Music, stepped in to take her place.