Morning Weather Report
Today
Increasing clouds, with a high near 40. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Tonight
A chance of snow showers before 10pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers between 10pm and 11pm, then a chance of rain showers after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. South wind 7 to 9 mph becoming west after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tomorrow
Mostly sunny, with a high near 43. Northwest wind 9 to 16 mph.
Tomorrow Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 26. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Kindergarten Registration Open for Westport Public Schools
The 2023-2024 Kindergarten Registration is underway. If your child turns five years of age on or before January 1, 2024, please register him/her as soon as possible. Registering now allows the District to optimally plan for your new kindergartener. All registration information is located on the district website, via the “Kindergarten Registration” link under the Parents tab. It is also available on the district website via Quicklinks.
Parents and/or caregivers of registered children will be invited to attend a school-based informational meeting about Kindergarten on Friday, March 10 from 10:00-11:00. At this time, you will have an opportunity to hear more details about Kindergarten from kindergarten teachers and other staff members. This event is for parents and/caregivers only. In May, an orientation session will occur at your child’s elementary school for both you and your child. A school specific invitation will be sent to all registered kindergarten families. If you are unsure about the elementary school your child should attend, please go to our school locator.
If you need further assistance, please contact the Superintendent’s office at (203) 341-1026.
TEAM Westport Announces 2023 Essay Contest: “The Dialogue Challenge: Effective Engagement on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and LGBTQIA+”
TEAM Westport, the Town of Westport’s diversity engagement committee, has announced the topic for its 2023 Teen Diversity Essay Contest. Now in its tenth year, the contest asks teens to address “The Dialogue Challenge: Effective Engagement on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and LGBTQIA+”. Prior years’ challenges which tackled topics from ‘White Privilege’ and ‘Black Lives Matter’ to ‘Micro-Aggressions’ and ‘Stereotypes’ have drawn widespread attention and engagement in Westport and beyond. Students attending High School (Grades 9-12) in Westport or who live in Westport and attend High School elsewhere are invited to participate.
The Westport Library is co-sponsoring the event and winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Library targeted for 6pm on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Entry deadline for the essay contest is 11:59 pm on Friday TUESDAY, February 28, 2023 . Subject to the volume and caliber of entries received, at the discretion of the judges, up to three cash prizes will be awarded. The first prize is $1,000, second prize is $750, and third prize is $500.
This year’s prompt which is available along with contest entry rules online at www.teamwestport.org or www.westportct.gov/teamwestportessay, is as follows:
Team Westport’s Mission is to make Westport a more welcoming community with regard to race, religion, ethnicity, and LGBTQIA+. In order to achieve its Mission, one of TEAM Westport’s goals has been to promote opportunities for people to come together in dialogue to better understand each other’s experiences, decrease bias, and learn what we have in common. Meaningful dialogue depends on a good faith effort to set aside preconceived beliefs or what we think we know about other people.
In 1,000 words or less, reflect on your own interactions with people who have different racial, ethnic, religious, and/or LGBTQIA+ identities and/or perspectives. What kinds of conversations were particularly helpful in prompting you to rethink your beliefs or opinions, perhaps causing you to change your mind or enabling you to better understand others' points of view? Based on these experiences, what specific actions would you suggest that individuals, schools, and/or Town entities in Westport take to promote good-faith dialogue, reduce bias, and foster understanding?
“With the controversy and misinformation surrounding dialogues on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from National to Local levels, there is nothing more important than what works for effective connection and genuine understanding,” stated TEAM Westport Chair Harold Bailey, Jr. “Now at the advent of our first decade of the Teen Diversity Essay Contest, TEAM Westport welcomes the opportunity for Westport youth to weigh in on this critical question.”
First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said, “I encourage the youth of our town to participate in discussions and programs that will enhance their experience in Westport, and ultimately, in the world beyond. I am confident that through their words, they will demonstrate that Westport is a community that welcomes conversation.”
“The Westport Library has made a fundamental commitment to creating and supporting inclusive communities, spaces, collections, and programs,” commented Westport Library Director Bill Harmer. “The annual TEAM Westport essay contest supports and extends our obligation to social justice, and ensuring a culture where all people are welcomed, valued and encouraged to succeed.”
ABOUT TEAM WESTPORT: With members appointed by the First Selectwoman and partners from the leadership of key Westport organizations, TEAM stands for Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism. TEAM Westport has developed a unique role by engaging the community in and drawing attention to issues surrounding multiculturalism and diversity -- making the invisible, visible. In addition to initiatives it implements directly, TEAM Westport partners with a wide range of municipal government and community institutions. Examples include co-programming with the Westport Library, the Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Schools, Westport Police, the Westport Museum, the Interfaith Clergy, the Interfaith Council, Westport MOCA, Westport Pride, AAPI Westport, Westport Housing, Westport P&Z Affordable Housing Subcommittee and the Levitt Pavilion.
The State Of Westport is FABULOUS Says First Selectwoman Jen Tooker
More than 100 people filled the Westport Library's Trefz forum on Sunday to hear the First Selectwoman and Board Of Education Chair Lee Goldstein give residents a comprehensive report on the state of the town including a detailed presentation on all things education and schools related.
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The town officials were introduced by the moderator, Tony McDowell a former president of Westport Sunrise Rotary a co-sponsor of the event along with Westport Rotary, a second Westport based club of Rotary International and the Westport Library.
The primary themes of Tooker's presentation were five matters of strong concern to Westport residents. They included: Traffic and Pedestrian Safety, The Longshore Park Capital Improvement Plan, Downtown Revitalization, Flood Mitigation and Stream Management, and Quality of Life issues including diversity and inclusion, emotional wellbeing which Tooker said was a concern due to the widespread effects of the pandemic. Alsoaddressed by the First Selectman was public safety and policing, noting the achievements of the Westport Police Department and our Chief Of Police Foti Koskinas who was recently recognized by CNN as a Champion for Change along with the department "for their community policing strategies and techniques which are setting the standard across CT and well beyond."
When it comes to the issue of traffic, Tooker was candid, saying there are some things we can correct but others we cannot. She did mention one important achievement saying "Most notably we were awarded $450,000 through the Federal Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan Grant. This will help us continue to be strategic in making improvements to our traffic issues. A shout out to Fire DC Nick Marsan who led the effort to obtain this grant.". There is now a report on the issue available on the town website.
Downtown improvement plans were conceived by the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee (DPIC) and are available on the town website at: https://www.downtownwestportct.com.
As for the Longshore Tooker spoke about a "10 year plan is currently under consideration which wold include " pickleball courts, paddle courts, better vehicular and pedestrian circulation, pool renovation and a clubhouse for the golfers among other improvements."
Flood Mitigation and Stream Management is a high priority said the Selectwoman, "given we are a coastal community with the beautiful Saugatuck River running through us - along with 7 streams." AS for these issues Tooker said, "As you can imagine, this work is complicated and long-term in nature. I want to thank DPW, Conservation and P&Z departments for their leadership."
Tooker also provided an update on affordable housing efforts including Suzy's House, a town-owned building leased and operated by Homes With Hope, saying " In addition to these renovations, the Town deed-restricted it for 40 years so it could be officially counted as affordable housing. This was a win-win-win. Homes with Hope is able to fulfill their mission. The Town is able to increase their affordable housing. And young women will have a safe and nurturing place to live. We will continue to look for opportunities like this as the conversation around affordable housing continues." Also a topic was the recent efforts to support our sister city of Lyman (pronounced Lee Mon) in Ukraine, telling the audience, "This was driven by two men who grew up in Westport, Brian and Marshall Mayer who have founded the non-profit Ukraine Aid International. They reached out to me to see if we could help. Dan Woog and a group of concerned and active residents were also on that initial call. Not only did they immediately get on board to help, Dan became the master communicator and fundraiser behind the effort. He’s been amazing. We’ve raised over $250,000 of private money from you – our incredibly generous community. Our police chief and fire chief are providing supplies that are obsolete to us, but vital to them. We’re in regular communication with the Mayor and Police Chief in Lyman."
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Tooker also touched on enhancing the towns tech capabilities which include efforts by town resident's Cliff Sirlin and Stefano Pacifico in their goal of making Westport "the tech startup hub of Connecticut, saying, "Westport is the home to many technology businesses, leaders, entrepreneurs and investors. Startup Westport (which is what we are calling this initiative) will build on our reputation and network to grow the local ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation in information technology and related fields.", also mentioning the newly launched DiscoverWestportCT.com which provides a portal to the many great reasons to live and do business in Westport.
BOE Chair Goldstein lead off the discussion providing a detailed report on the current status and activities of the Westport Public School system. She spoke about the importance of Westport's highly regarded educational system as one essential reasons for the recent growth and high desirability of the town as a premier place to live in Fairfield county.
Goldstein addressed the need to increase the education budget which is now at just over 136 million dollars for 2023-2024, saying, in part, "over the past three years, we have seen explosive growth in our elementary student enrollment. Since fiscal year 2020, we’ve increased 262 elementary students, which has worked out to 13 more classroom sections. She informed the audience of the many accolades awarded to the Westport school system in both academic and athletic achievement. Said Goldstein, "We see state and national - arts awards, newspaper and literary magazine and student science journal awards, individual and group student awards, teacher awards, best school district and individual schools first place rankings by niche and usa today and us world news, sports championships for both our girls and boys teams, coaches awards, music awards, achievements in world languages, financial literacy, academic awards in every discipline – the list goes on and on…"
Also addressed were the effects of the pandemic on students and staff including the increase nationally of "anxiety and depression rates among young people [which] are skyrocketing". The school sytem's efforts to address these issues include "…an increase in the total number of school psychologists, comprehensive training in dialectical and cognitive behavioral therapies for all school psychologists, counselors, and social workers, and continued partnerships with kids in crisis, liberations and Westport human services. We have also successfully implemented Effective School Solutions, which provides intensive, in-school clinical support, for 20 students at a time at Staples, and extending to both middle schools next year."
At the conclusion of their prepared remarks, Tooker and Goldstein engaged in a question and answer forum with inquiries from the audience submitted to the moderator McDowell.
Photos and story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.