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Two First Presbyterian Nursery School Students Tour the New Canaan Police Department

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On a recent afternoon, Wyatt and Henry Rotchford’s dreams came true when they had the opportunity to get a tour of the New Canaan Police Department with Chief Leon Krolikowski. The 4- and 5-year old brothers won the trip to the Police Department through a drawing at First Presbyterian Nursery School, which they attend. Accompanied by their mother, Leslie Rotchford, the brothers said they were excited to see where the police officers work—Wyatt could not stop talking about how many police Legos he had at home. Before the tour began, Henry told New Canaanite: “I’m most excited to see the jail where the bad guys go.”

The boys got a sneak peek into the offices where police work, had their fingerprints taken and even sat in a police car. They also stopped in to see Officer Ron Bentley, who showed the brothers how he receives a 911 call.

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Reunited: Center Schoolers Joanne LaVista and Marie Pinchbeck Back Together at First Presbyterian Nursery School

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In 1980, Marie Pinchbeck was teaching kindergarten while Joanne LaVista was teaching sixth grade down the hall at Center School. LaVista recalls her and Pinchbeck’s classrooms being close to each other and creating a partnership with the “veteran teacher” at the elementary school when she joined the Center School community in 1980, right out of college at the age of 22. “Our classrooms were right near each other and right away we just started being good friends,” LaVista said. “What we set up was that my sixth graders would go to her kindergarten room once a week and read the library books and she would say, ‘I can never get through everyone’s library books. The kids feel bad when they have to turn their book in and they hadn’t read it in school.’ So we had this great partnership going and my sixth graders loved it.