Front Yard Skating Rink Brings Wright Street Neighborhood Together
Local siblings and neighbors living in the Wright Street neighborhood spent yesterday afternoon on the ice, enjoying the outdoors and being with one another.
For nearly twenty years the Reilly Family’s front yard has been transformed into an ice skating rink, with neighborhood kids invited to enjoy it on Winter’s coldest days - combatting the doldrums of the season dominated by a pandemic. By Jaime Bairaktaris
The ice rink is custom designed and built by the family and their friends each year around Thanksgiving, allowing ample time for the water to catch a few consecutive days of freezing temperatures to create thick enough ice to skate on. Being only a few inches deep, falling through isn’t disastrous - making it a much safer option than relying on local ponds, and more accessible than the many rinks closed this season due to coronavirus.
To keep the ice smooth, mother-of-five Alison Reilly maintains it with a hot water rake (donated by neighbors) or with a propane blow torch. A true labor of love; the neighborhood tradition is more important this Winter than ever before as the World tries to remain outdoors as much as possible during the COVID-19 crisis.
After school days dominated by at-home-learning and social distancing, ice skating has been a safe way to get kids moving and to promote positive social interaction. The Mayo Clinic cited the benefits of being outside during the Winter, naming ice skating as one of their lowest-risk options to enjoy during the pandemic. Skating and other low-risk social activities are also being promoted as ways to help boost mental health amongst children and adolescents, a goal for many local parents as some push to get kids into schoolhouses full-time in order to grow their social connections and combat isolation.
As temperatures froze and Zoom classes finished, the neighborhood kids waddled down the street in their winter gear last night to get onto the ice to continue the Wright Street Winter tradition. They slipped and fell, and slid and glided, and laughed and chatted under their masks as the friends supported each other on their skates.
With families and neighbors watching from the driveway as smaller kids held the fingers of the older kids leading them around the ice, the front yard rink exemplified how a community can rise up together amidst a pandemic.
The Reilly family has always welcomed their community to enjoy the rink as a way to get kids outside and to make memories together, however never did they imagine how important this year’s memories will be in proving not all was bad during the coronavirus crisis.
With cold weather ahead, the kids on Wright Street won’t be complaining. They’ll be closing their ChromeBooks, lacing up their skates, and gliding out onto the ice.
Board of Education Meeting: Plans Move forward to Reopen; Families Plead to Reinstate Missing Long Lots El. Principal
As the Board of Education meeting began, many families took the non-agenda item public commentary period to plead to the Board of Education to have Long Lots Elementary School principal Dr. Debra Dunn reinstated. The principal has reportedly been on leave from the school for about six weeks for unknown reasons. A petition to the Superintendent has been signed by over 300 families as of tonight’s BOE meeting in support of the return of Dr. Dunn. Former and current Long Lots Elementary School PTA presidents described her return as needed in order to “return stability and leadership to the school” while lauding her work as principal in a school that was in need of strong leadership.
Dr. Debra Dunn was a former Superintendent of the York, Maine School Department before her hiring as LLS Principal in 2017. According to letters, the elementary school has seen nearly one dozen changes in leadership in the past decade, with Dr. Dunn being the one who instilled the most confidence in staff and student, according to some letters, while others described her as a calm face who made hard decisions that needed to be made. No explanation of her leave was given from the Board.
The health update remained positive overall as COVID-19 case numbers remained similar to last weeks, with the Supervisor of Health Services Sue Levasseur describing some “flattening of the curve” as time moves on from the holiday breaks.
Superintendent Thomas Scarice said that last week’s public comments of frustration or worry about returning to school were not ignored, as items such as four hundred K95 masks, and desk shields for the middle school, were all ordered ahead of the district’s reopening of schools for its youngest learners. He also described meeting with both the teachers’ union and paraeducators’ union after last week’s BOE meeting to further discuss options and concerns.
The meeting quickly dove into the Superintendent’s proposed budget, which was requested to be cut from the original 4.98% increase to a near 3% increase at last week’s meeting by the Board of Education. Board of Ed members gave concern over the cutting of SmartBoard updates as well as talks about funding for certain programs and extracurricular activities, citing that many new residents chose Westport specifically for those programs. There was also talk about positions of teachers and paras, however the Board wanted to assure that student education would not be impacted.
The meeting ended with discussions about capital expenses, approval of soft costs and acceptance of gifts, including a new cooling tower at Greens Farms Elementary School and the donation of a $9,000 upright Boston piano to the same school by a local family.
Winter Weather Advisory: Light Snow & Ice Accumulations Could Make for Slippery Commute
From the National Weather Service, New York City. Winter Weather Advisory: Effective 7:00 AM Today - 6:00 AM Tomorrow. Snow, Ice Expected.
Snow, sleet, and freezing rain are all expected to begin just after 7:00 AM today and continue until early tomorrow morning. Air temperatures will remain in the 30s throughout the day, with wind chill temperatures hovering around the mid 20s today.
“Mixed precipitation expected. Total snow accumulations of up to two inches and ice accumulations of a light glaze.”"Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening commute.""The highest snowfall amounts will be away from the coast."