Board of Ed Recognizes Two
New
Canaan
High
School
Seniors,
13
Retiring
Educators
The Board of Education on Monday honored two graduating New
Canaan High School seniors and 13 educators who are retiring
after this academic year.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Kolek (who is herself
retiring and earned kind words from Board Chair Hazel Hobbs
during the meeting, held in the high school’s Wagner Room),
spoke for a few minutes about both seniors who received
Student Leadership Awards from the Connecticut Association of
Boards of Education or “CABE,” as well as the teachers and
administrators soon to retire.
Here’s a snippet from Kolek on each honoree.
L-R: Board of Education Chair
Hazel Hobbs, Superintendent of
Schools Dr. Mary Kolek, First
Selectman
(and
dad)
Rob
Mallozzi,
Connecticut
Association of Boards of
Education Student Leadership
Award winner Kit Mallozzi, mom
Liz Mallozzi and New Canaan
High School Principal Dr. Bryan
Luizzi. Credit: Michael Dinan
Students
(CABE each year recognizes two students for distinguished
leadership in school activities and daily lives, “And I have
the pleasure of presenting those awards tonight,” Kolek said.)
New Canaan High School senior Kit Mallozzi (also a NCHS
Students Advocates Award winner, headed to Syracuse
University in the fall): “One has only to talk to Kit
for a few minutes and it’s clear, she’s one of the
world’s great optimists. Her nomination submission
portrays Kit as someone who embraces life, a friend to
all and a ray of sunshine. Someone who greets each day
with a smile.”
L-R: Board of Education Chair
Hazel Hobbs, Superintendent of
Schools Dr. Mary Kolek, Jill
Robey, Connecticut Association
of Boards of Education Student
Leadership Award winner Jack
Robey (NCHS ’14), Tom Robey and
New
Canaan
High
School
Principal Dr. Bryan Luizzi.
Credit: Michael Dinan
New Canaan High School senior Jack Robey (the “Jimmy
Stewart of this generation,” Kolek said; he’s headed to
Santa Clara University): “A leading citizen who
understands the importance of leading a thoughtful,
balanced and meaningful life. Someone who does not seek
the spotlight but who serves as a beacon for the life he
leads. Jack’s nomination describes him as a bright,
creative student and a disciplined young man.”
Educators
(Kolek said prior to recognizing each person individually: “I
think we all recognize that although it’s difficult to say
goodbye to people, we know that their influence is going to
carry on with us for many, many years.”)
Here are a group of New Canaan
Public
Schools
retiring
teachers
and
educators
following the June 2, 2014
meeting of the Board of
Education, L-R: Joanne LaVista,
Mary Ellen Lyons, Deborah
Cassens, Anne Mullin, Alexandra
“Bunny” Potts, Wendy Guda, Ann
Clay, Stephanie Moore, Lynn
Holt and Mary Lou Cantrell.
Credit: Michael Dinan
Mary Lou Cantrell, South School teacher: “Miss Cantrell has
taught several generations of families that have attended
South School. She is the keeper of the flame and in many ways
represents the best of South tradition. Her humor, caring,
intellect and work ethic are part of ever fiber of her being.”
Deborah Cassens, East School teacher: “She was passionate
about developing basic movement skills with young children.
Her supervisors note that Deborah motivates students to
develop the confidence, interest and skills that will inspire
them to participate in physical activity outside of the
classroom, thus promoting lifelong health.”
Ann Clay, Saxe Middle School teacher: “Ann is known for her
tireless commitment, arriving at school early, often after
having served late into the night as a member of the town
Emergency Response Team … She not only works to grow her
charges academically, but also as curious learners and
responsible community citizens. Ann consistently challenges
her students to both do their best and be their best.”
Lynn Hohl, Saxe Middle School teacher: “Lynn has been
described as an exuberant learner and inspiring teacher who
establishes and maintains high academic expectations of all of
her students, and challenges them to do their best work at all
stages of learning … Lynn is known for her genuine desire to
bring out the best in each and every student. Her motto is
‘Failure is not an option.’ Lynn believes in educating the
whole child and understands the connections among mind, body
and spirit.”
Wendy Guda, New Canaan High School teacher (also very fondly
remembered here by one former student): “Enthusiastic,
skilled, devoted, filled with seemingly boundless energy,
Wendy Guda is much appreciated and much respected as a teacher
who takes a personal interest in the welfare of her students.
Ms. Guda is known as a teacher who has invested in their
success. Like so many celebrated coaches, Wendy sets high
standards and holds high expectations for her students. Taking
her class means learning not just about math, but what it
takes to work hard and to think hard.”
Mary Ellen Lyons, East School teacher: “Mary Ellen’s students
are invited into a world where music touches the heart and
grows the intellect … Mary Ellen is a multidimensional and
multitalented person. Originally trained as a licensed
practical nurse, she is in her own right a very talented
musician, a devoted educator, a creative innovator and a
devout and devoted member of the East School family.”
Leslie Miles, New Canaan High School guidance director: “It is
impossible to thank Leslie Miles, who as guidance director has
been an unfailing advocate for students, their families, the
school and our community. Leslie, your years of service have
made a difference in countless lives and have contributed
significantly to the pride and accomplishments that are
celebrated by the school and our entire community.”
Stephanie Moore, Saxe Middle School teacher (also a New Canaan
EMT): “Stephanie is known as someone who thrives on a
challenge. Principal [Greg] Macedo describes her as a doer, as
someone who constantly and consistently asks how she can
extend learning and make it come alive for her students.
Toward that end, Stephanie has organized various beyond-theclassroom experiences and is noted for her work at Mystic
Seaport.”
Anne Mullin, East School teacher: “Ann’s supervisors remarked
that because she knows her students so well, she’s able to
enliven teaching by bringing additional learning materials,
aligning to student interests and incorporating them into
every daily lesson. In describing her, others note that she’s
dedicated to carefully structuring lessons to fit students’
needs, and to ensuring that they contain high-level content,
so that her students have something to achieve, something to
reach for in mastering a concept or idea.”
Joanne LaVista, acting principal at West School: “I’m not sure
Joanne knows how much she’s admired. She serves as a role
model for many, and certainly for me personally. She’s
demonstrated grace, strength and perseverance that allow her
to remain optimistic and energized, even when confronted by
challenges that others find overwhelming. I would say to
Joanne that although you gave up the role of high school
cheerleading coach some time ago, you remained a cheerleader
for West and the district throughout the years. Joanne will
say her core values and her commitment to families and
students, motivate, guide and sustain her. But it’s these
qualities that also motivate, guide and sustain those whose
lives she touches. One has only to know her lovely daughter
Allie to understand the power and influence Joanne possesses.”
Alexandra “Bunny” Potts, East School principal: “Everyone
whose life has been touched by Alexandra Potts can attest to
the fact that she is a gifted artist. Bunny envisions and
creates beauty through any role she takes on, be it educator,
advocate, parent, author or sketch artist. You have only to
trace her career path to understand that she possesses a keen
intellect, a prodigious work ethic, an array of talents fueled
by her curious mind and the persistence and passion to pursue
and achieve success in diverse and multiple goals … All who
have had the good fortune of working with her or being taught
by her, know that her work reflects the depth of her intellect
and the quality of her art.”
Retiring New Canaan High School teacher Sydnye Cohen was not
in attendance.
Following the meeting, LaVista—who started her career in
education in New Canaan as a 22-year-old teacher at the former
Center School (now a parking lot, ahem) was kind enough to say
a few words to us about her experience at the school. Here’s a
quick video with “Miss Amelung”:
Joanne LaVista on Center School, New Canaan
Board of Ed Welcomes Kristine
Woleck, East School Principal
The Board of Education on Monday formally welcomed the new
East School principal to that leadership role in the district.
School officials appointed Kristine Woleck to the position one
week ago, the same day Jan Murphy was named principal at West.
Murphy was unable to attend the board meeting, held in New
Canaan High School’s Wagner Room.
There, retiring New Canaan Public Schools Superintendent Dr.
Mary Kolek described Woleck as “an instructional leader of the
highest caliber.”
Kristine Woleck takes the reins
at East School from popular
longtime Principal Bunny Potts,
starting July 1.
“She joined the district in 2002 as a math specialist at South
School, and after two years, we really recognize her talents
and her contributions at the district level, and she was
promoted to the district math coordinator at our elementary
level, and she served as our district math coordinator from
2004 to 2011,” Kolek said.
“During that time, Kris certainly took a leadership role in
terms of looking at how to develop and implement high-quality
curriculum, instruction and assessments in professional
development. But she also contributed significantly to many of
our district-level initiatives, our response to intervention,
certainly she worked with that committee, steering committee,
and she also has taken a lead role in terms of teacher
evaluation, part of that was an outgrowth of Kris’s being
recognized at the national level in 2009, she applied for and
was accepted as one of 13 Classroom Fellows with the U.S.
Department of Education and Kris spent some time working back
and forth, while she was working full time for us,
representing the Northeast Region within the Department of
Education as they studied the connection between policy and
implementation at the level of the classroom.”
She worked for two years under the mentorship of retiring East
School Principal Alexandra “Bunny” Potts—a New Canaan educator
for 25 years—and for this past year worked under West School’s
acting principal, Joanne LaVista, who also is retiring.
(LaVista started in New Canaan in 1980 as a teacher at
popular, beloved and innovative Center School, now a parking
lot.)
Another Center School educator, Board of Ed Chair Hazel Hobbs,
welcomed Woleck to her new role on behalf of the board, noting
the contributions Woleck had made to both the town and the
federal education department.
“We are grateful for all of those and the wonderful tradition
of strong leadership at East School will continue for our
kids,” Hobbs said.
Speaking directly to Woleck, who was in attendance and sat
beside Potts, Kolek said: “We’re proud of you and I know that
the school community and the parents are going to be
thrilled.”
New
Canaan
High
School
Principal Dr. Bryan Luizzi
Named Interim Superintendent
Less than two months after designating itself as a search
committee to find a successor to New Canaan Public Schools’
retiring superintendent, the Board of Education on Tuesday
said high school Principal Dr. Bryan Luizzi has been appointed
to the position on an interim basis.
The Brookfield resident has worked at New Canaan High School
principal since 2011.
In a press release, school board Chairman Hazel Hobbs said
Luizzi will build on what current Superintendent Dr. Mary
Kolek and the school district have created.
“We are excited to have an interim superintendent who can lead
our high-performing school district in the continuous pursuit
of excellence,” Hobbs said. “Dr. Luizzi is an experienced
leader with the skills and passion required to lead the
district.”
Dr. Bryan Luizzi was named
interim superintendent of New
Canaan Public Schools on April
29. Contributed photo
Luizzi said in the release that he was “honored” to be given
the opportunity and said he would collaborate with the “school
board, community, administrators, and staff to ensure a
productive and successful school year.”
“I am very grateful for this opportunity, and I look forward
to the great work that the New Canaan Public Schools will
continue to accomplish going forward,” Luizzi said.
The announcement comes one day after the district named new
principals at East and West Schools.
Here’s some background on Luizzi, directly from the Board of
Ed press release:
“He began his teaching career at Newtown High School as an
English teacher. He then served as the Manager of Technology
Operations for the Newtown school district. In this role, he
used a systems-thinking approach to successfully design and
implement technology initiatives to enhance student learning
district-wide. He then progressed through a number of
administrative positions in the Brookfield school system,
culminating in his appointment as the principal of Brookfield
High School, a position he held for 5 years.
“Throughout his professional career, Dr. Luizzi has been
engaged in higher education. In 2006, he completed his Doctor
of Education degree at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Soon thereafter, he began teaching as an adjunct professor at
Central Connecticut State University and at the University of
Connecticut. In this role, he taught classes in School and
District Leadership, Curriculum Development and Design, School
Climate and Culture, and Educational Policy, among others.”
School
Board
Bridles
at
State-Mandated
‘Regional
Uniform Calendar’
Bucking a state-mandated “regional uniform school calendar”
that doesn’t mesh with what New Canaanites long have practiced
in terms of start and end dates to the school year, or
vacations, the Board of Education is postponing the adoption
of an academic calendar for 2014-15.
Part of the reason for that is to see what happens with a bill
now under review in Hartford that would delay implementation
of the “Uniform Regional School Calendar” until 2106-17.
Dr. Mary Kolek, superintendent
of schools for New Canaan, and
Board of Education Chair Hazel
Hobbs, at the April 7, 2014 BOE
meeting, held in New Canaan
High School.
Originally developed as a cost-saving measure for more
sparsely populated regions in Connecticut, the notion of a
uniform school calendar became law in a mammoth budget bill
that passed last year (it’s 500 pages long, the section that
deals with this can be found on page 423.) No member of the
New Canaan delegation to the Connecticut General Assembly
voted in favor of it.
Part of the law requires “a uniform start date” and “not more
than three uniform school vacation periods during each school
year, not more than two of which shall be a one week school
vacation period and one of which shall be during the summer.”
New Canaanites long have had a week during Christmas, then
February and finally, April.
New
Canaan
High
School
Principal Dr. Bryan Luizzi at
the April 7, 2014 Board of
Education meeting, held in New
Canaan High School.
Here’s what New Canaan’s academic calendar would look like if
the town is left to its own devices for 2015-16 (this is a
draft developed by the public schools largely as a basis of
comparison), for example, versus this, a sample of what
the regional School Calendar could be.
“They have asked us to align with that regional calendar and
they give you five discretion days to work with outside of
that regional calendar,” New Canaan’s superintendent of
schools, Dr. Mary Kolek, said Monday during a Board of
Education meeting held at New Canaan High School.
“Again, the motivation was to save dollars,” she continued.
“We looked at this as a region with our other districts in the
area and we don’t necessarily see any cost-savings with this,
at all. We have had discussion about the fact that districts
select their calendars for local purposes and there are some
local drivers—holidays that we take, vacations that we take,
policies that we have about the beginning and end and the
number of vacation days, and also we built our professional
development days in a particular way to support our
professional learning program.”
In the state’s calendar scheme, New Canaan is part of a region
that includes much of Fairfield County—it’s part of
Cooperative Education Services of “CES,” a Trumbull-based
organization formed as per state law that’s designed to “help
neighboring school districts communicate and collaborate.”
Board member Penny Rashin said, “There are some parameters
that box us in a bit when it comes to the choices we make.”
Others agreed and the board voted unanimously to issue a
statement saying as much to state officials.
In other business, the school board unanimously approved
Tuesday, June 17 as the scheduled day for New Canaan High
School graduation.
“We hold it out on the field as you know, and it’s certainly
one of the nicest graduations I’ve ever seen,” Dr. Bryan
Luizzi, the school’s principal, said during the meeting.
New Canaan School Board To
Start
Search
for
New
Superintendent
The Board of Education on Monday formally accepted
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Kolek’s resignation,
effective June 30, and appointed itself as a search committee
for her successor.
New
Canaan
Public
Schools
Superintendent Dr. Mary Kolek
and Board of Education Chair
Hazel Hobbs. Credit: Michael
Dinan
Chair Hazel Hobbs noted during a short meeting—held in New
Canaan High School’s library—that seven current school board
members had been serving during the prior search, following
Dr. David Abbey’s departure, including five on the prior
search committee itself.
“This is a short timeframe for us, but this is a very
experienced and thoughtful and caring Board of Education, so I
am sure the search is going to be a sincere one, well thought
out and carefully done,” Hobbs said.
The bulk of the meeting saw board members express gratitude
and admiration for Kolek, who last Tuesday announced her
retirement. In an interview with NewCanaanite.com that
day, the superintendent had spotlighted close collaboration
with parents and the town, as well as important programs
recently introduced, such as full-day kindergarten, World
Languages and an evolution of the curriculum.
New Canaan Board of Education
Vice Chair Scott Gress. Credit:
Michael Dinan
Board Vice Chair Scott Gress praised Kolek’s fortitude in
pushing forward with key district initiatives.
“You certainly have come in and—in what is a greatly shorter
period of time than many of us what have liked—done more than
your share of pushing that ball forward down the road,” Gress
said. “In many ways, [you] took on some of the bigger hills
that the road has shown us. But we understand that it is time
to pass that job on to the next one and we appreciate
everything you did, and rest assured that we will keep pushing
the ball as hard and as quickly as we can.”
Kolek credited the team of staff and faculty in New Canaan
Public Schools, as well as the larger community, for success
and collaboration.
“This district values education and educators and that
combination in learning is such a winning combination, and I’m
greatly appreciative that this community also understands that
collaboration—and quite frankly, interdependence—is a critical
ingredient to moving ahead and being successful,” Kolek said.
Here is a statement that Hobbs read during the meeting:
“Dr. Kolek began her educational career 38 years ago and at
every step along the way she has proven herself to be an
outstanding educator. During her 10 years in New Canaan, she
has been the architect of many of New Canaan’s exemplary
programs including continuous gains in student academic
performance, developing a coherent and aligned curriculum, all
day kindergarten, expansion of the visual and performing arts,
Chinese language study, Foreign Language in Elementary
Schools, and an expanded use of technology. She has the
highest integrity, strong people skills, is a persuasive
communicator, an unsurpassed advocate of the education
profession, and a tremendous supporter of teachers, parents
and students. We will miss her greatly, but wish her all the
best in her retirement.”
Here’s a clip from a momentarily emotional Kolek during the
meeting:
via YouTube