Government

Police Commission Weighs Teacher-Student Parking Spot Swap at New Canaan High School

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Town officials say the best way for New Canaan High School to ensure the safety of students who now must cross a bustling main access road through the campus in the mornings might be to have the teens and teachers swap parking areas. As it is now, most students park in the long lot that runs up alongside the track, then cross the accessway to get into the school, while teachers who have arrived earlier are parking in lots closer to the building itself, according to members of the Police Commission. Based on a suggestion from a working group that oversees traffic calming in New Canaan, the Police Commission on Wednesday opened the possibility of recommending that the district try out the swap. “I like the idea of swapping, because if teachers are coming at 7 o’clock and the kids are coming at 7:30, get the teachers out by the track and let them walk,” Commissioner Paul Foley said during the group’s meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. Ultimately it will be the school’s own decision how to address what Police Chief Leon Krolikowski flagged as a pedestrian safety hazard at the high school.

News

Police Chief Calls for Crosswalks for Students Parking at New Canaan High School

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Saying students who drive to New Canaan High School need a safer way to walk across the main access road once they’ve parked, New Canaan’s chief of police is calling for the creation of a crosswalk or two that will connect them to the building. As it is now, according to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski—one of dozens of parents who makes the bumper-to-bumper trek along Farm Road each morning to drop off a student—there’s no defined way for those parking in the track-side lot to get to the school. “The students all park there and they’re trying to get across the road, and there’s nowhere to cross,” Krolikowski said. “I know it’s a little bit of work, but why not create a safe area for them to cross? Otherwise, you see four, five, half a dozen kids waiting on the side.”

Asked about the matter, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said the high school is open to any suggestion that bolsters safety.

Around Town

On Ponus, a Family’s Barn Restoration Project That’s Benefitting the Larger New Canaan Community

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From the start, the antique barn out back drew the Larsons to the 2-acre Ponus Ridge property and Colonial home they moved into 18 months ago. In plain view at the bottom of a hill that runs toward the rear property line, the red, cupola-topped ca. 1910 structure not only graced the tree-lined view but also had potential for practical use for the active family which includes three boys and is headed by a Midwest native dad who grew up on a sheep ranch and mom from Dallas. When last winter’s snowfall took a massive toll on the structurally deteriorating barn—the roof began to sag, on the verge of collapse—the Larsons conceived of one way they might pull together the wood to restore it, namely, by seeing whether any of the dead or dying trees already surrounding their new home could be used. “It’s been fascinating for all of us and exciting for all of us,” Kristina Larson said on a recent afternoon as she stood about halfway down the hill, near five piles of wood that had been salvaged from the carefully dismantled barn.

News

New Canaan Marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month [VIDEO]

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Dede Bartlett-New Canaan Marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month
For a sweeping view of domestic violence’s prevalence here, our town may not need the 1,000 purple pinwheels now stuck into the knoll outside Vine Cottage, each representing a resident who called New Canaan Police in the past decade because of violence in their homes, according to one local expert. To know just what domestic violence looks like, New Canaan also doesn’t need to recognize October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Dede Bartlett, co-chair of the New Canaan Domestic Violence Partnership, said Wednesday morning. “I think Ray Rice has done that for us,” Bartlett told dozens of New Canaan High School students who gathered in the main lobby with teachers, faculty, administrators, SROs and town officials for a proclamation reading. “How many of you saw the video clip of the Baltimore Ravens football player punch his girlfriend, knock her out and drag her by the hair out of the elevator?” Bartlett said, prompting everyone to raise a hand. “Yes, you, me and about 50 million other Americans saw that tape, and maybe for a whole lot of folks, it was the first time that they saw what domestic violence looked like.

News

‘Streetchat’: New Canaan High School Students’ (Newest) App for Cyberbullying

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Just as New Canaan High School administrators renew a “geo fence” that prevents the use on campus of Yik Yak—a smartphone app that some students last year used to post derogatory and often graphic comments about others, anonymously—a new mobile platform has emerged that offers all of that plus photos. So many NCHS students have been using “Streetchat” this week to attack classmates, administrators and parents—all against the company’s own terms, their identities in no way protected should law enforcement seek to investigate— that the company late Monday issued this statement through the app itself:

“New Canaan High School, at this rate, Streetchat’s going to be prohibited at your school shortly. Here’s a few ways to make sure Streetchat doesn’t get blocked at your school. Do NOT insult faculty and staff. Do NOT target each other personally.