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New Canaan High School Principal Dr. Bryan Luizzi Named Interim Superintendent

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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.”

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.

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The WPA in New Canaan: ‘Fantasy and Beauty’

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The next time you visit South, East or West School, seek them out. They hang high and proud in each of our three public elementary schools. Their vibrant colors and scenes virtually burst from the walls with playful images that spark creativity and imagination for the hundreds of students passing by them every day, perhaps unaware of their rich history—not only in New Canaan, but in the United States as well. And had it not been for a few key New Canaanites, these treasures might have been lost forever. The paintings were originally commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, a Depression-era government program developed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal initiative.

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New Canaan Public Schools: Search Underway for East, West School Principals

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New Canaan Public Schools released the following information to local media Friday afternoon (and posted it to the district’s website here). The update follows the announcements that East School Principal Bunny Potts (announced last month) and West School Acting Principal Joanne LaVista (announced two weeks ago) would retire at the end of this academic year. The search process also has been kickstarted to find the next superintendent of schools for the district, following Dr. Mary Kolek’s announcement this month that she would retire June 30. Here’s the district’s news:

“The search has begun for two new elementary school principals. With the goal of welcoming two outstanding new principals to East and West Schools on July 1, 2014, the elementary principal search committee has been assembled.

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Cafeterias at East, NCHS Cited for Minor Health Violations

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New Canaan Public Schools cafeterias largely aced their most recent inspections by local health officials. Each of the schools scored 92 or better (out of a possible 100) during an inspection in the fall by a sanitarian from the New Canaan Health Department, and none was cited for a major, 4-point violation. Only two schools—East and NCHS—were cited for what’s called a “risk factor” violation (details below). The overall scores were:

East School: 93
South School: 98
West School: 96
Saxe Middle School: 95
New Canaan High School: 92

Just as with restaurants in New Canaan, a school cafeteria is said to “fail” an inspection if it’s cited for a major, 4-point violation, or if violation points assessed total more than 20. None of the school cafeterias failed during inspections conducted in September and October.