Morning Weather Report
Today
Sunny and cold, with a high near 17. Wind chill values between -10 and zero. North wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Tonight
Sunny, with a high near 31. Wind chill values between 5 and 15. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Tomorrow
Snow before 1am, then rain and snow between 1am and 2am, then rain after 2am. Temperature rising to around 38 by 5am. Breezy, with an east wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
Tomorrow Night
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming clear, with a low around 6. Wind chill values between zero and 5. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Westport Property Transfers: December 27th - 31st
Westport property transfers as reported by the Westport Town Clerk’s Office:
Total Conveyance Tax: $24,565.00
Total Sales: $9,826,000
Highest Transfer Price: 22 Coleytown Road: $3,310,000
Lowest Transfer Price: 6 Church Street North: $560,000
Transfers:
22 Coleytown Road: $3,310,000
34 Sturges Commons: $2,300,000
4 Sylvan Road South: $1,520,000
8 Ruta Court: $1,250,000
8 Spring Hill Road: $886,000
6 Church Street North: $560,000
Staples Announces Students of the Month
(L-R): Jackson Oliver, Maxwell Manchester, Sofia Santamaria, Alexa Anastasi, Mia Vindiola. Contributed photo
Timothy HeroldPrincipal Thomas has announced Staples High School's recipients for January Student of the Month:
Maxwell Manchester – Gr. 9
Timothy Herold – Gr. 10
Sofia Santamaria – Gr 10
Mia Vindiola – Gr. 11
Jackson Oliver – Gr. 11
Alexa Anastasi – Gr. 12
Jacob Yarish - Gr. 12
Jacob YarishThe Students of the Month award program recognizes students who help make Staples High School a welcoming place for their peers and teachers alike. They are the “glue” of the Staples community: the type of kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students that keep the high school together, making it the special place that it is.
Students of the month are nominated by their teachers, who are asked to think of those students who come to school regularly, are friendly to the staff and to fellow students, and make positive contributions in class as well as the Staples community. In short, these students are all-around good citizens of our school. Students of the Month are not necessarily star athletes, high honor students, or lead performers, and even if they are, this award recognizes the positive attitude they bring to school every day in making Staples High School a genial place in which to learn and teach
Superintendent Provides Update for Westport Schools
Superintendent Thomas Scarice: Dear Westport Families,
As we continue to endure the Omicron surge, possibly beginning to now see a leveling off with an expected drop off, I would like to provide some updates regarding current measures, along with some modifications.
K-8 Recess Universal Masking: The Governor’s universal masking mandate for schools remains in effect through February 15, 2022. When we returned from break, we required masking for outdoor recess as a precaution. Given our ability to mitigate in the school environment, and the reduction of the risk factor outdoors, we will remove the K-8 recess masking requirement beginning on Tuesday January 18. Of course, families may elect to have their child to continue to wear a mask during outdoor recess.
Before & After School Programs: Before and after school programs were suspended for the first two weeks since the return from the break as a precaution. Given our ability to mitigate within the school environment, and the need for students to continue with programs outside the school day for their emotional and mental wellness, we will restart our K-8 before and after school programs on Tuesday January 18.
Expansion of Weekly Serial Testing to Vaccinated Students: For the past several weeks, the Westport Public Schools have provided the option of a weekly serial COVID-19 testing program for unvaccinated students in grades pre K-6. This program is made available through a collaboration with the State of Connecticut and is free of charge to all families.
This week, we received notification that the screening program would be expanded to include fully vaccinated students as well.
This program is completely voluntary and will require signed parental consent. Students will be out of class no longer than a few minutes and the test itself takes approximately 15 seconds.
Any student who has had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis within the last 90 days should not be tested.
The test will be an anterior shallow nasal swab PCR test that only includes the lower nasal area. Each participating child will be tested weekly at school. Parents will be able to create a confidential HIPAA compliant patient portal where their results will be published and stored. The parent email on the consent form will be the email used to communicate the patient portal information.
If you would like your unvaccinated or vaccinated child to be part of this weekly testing program please complete the consent form in this link. If your child was previously signed up and was vaccinated they may have been taken off the list and you may need to re-register your child by providing an additional consent. Testing is planned for each Monday with the next testing date planned for January 24th.
The consent form and frequently asked question page can be found in the following link. https://progressive-diagnostics.com/school-testing/.
School Performances and Concerts: School performances and concerts were also suspended after the break. Principals are working with our K-12 Music and Arts Coordinator, Steve Zimmerman, to reschedule these events for in-person experiences. Each school will develop their own schedules and this information will be communicated to families when dates are confirmed.
We will continue to monitor conditions as we flexibly employ mitigating measures in response to the pandemic.
Respectfully,
Thomas Scarice
Superintendent of Schools