Dionna Carlson

‘A Powerful and Lasting Legacy’: District Honors Hazel Hobbs on Retirement from Board of Ed

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The school district on Monday night honored a well-known and widely respected New Canaan woman who has dedicated her life to education and left an indelible mark on this town and others nearby. 

Hazel Hobbs is retiring from the New Canaan Board of Education after 12 years, capping a career launched here a half-century ago, as a teacher at Center School, and that has included two principal positions of elementary schools in Greenwich and founding Pear Tree Point School in Darien. 

In recognizing Hobbs during a regular Board of Ed meeting, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi called her “one of the most knowledgeable, committed, insightful and caring educators that I have ever had the honor to know.”

“Hazel leaves a powerful and lasting legacy, and everyone associated with the New Canaan Public Schools will continue from her service for years to come,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. Hobbs’s husband, Mike, sons Ian and Scott, daughter-in-law Diane and grandchildren Charlie, Jack, Elllie, Faith and Holden attended the meeting, which followed a reception. (Daughter-in-law Lisa had to attend a different board meeting.)

Though “determined, resolute, and persistent when needed,” Luizzi said, “what truly sets Hazel apart” is “the size of her heart.”

“Hazel truly loves our work, she values each and every child, respects the hard work of our teachers and administrators, and she brings a gracious dignity to all that she does. All of us serve with pride knowing that Hazel is in our corner. In the 12 years that Hazel has been on the Board of Education, she has had a positive impact on thousands of children.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Elects Brendan Hayes as Chair by 7-2 Vote

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The Board of Education on Monday night by a 7-2 vote elected Brendan Hayes as its new chairman. A Democrat who has served on the elected body for three years, Hayes “has been a thoughtful leader on the Board of Education,” outgoing Chair Dionna Carlson said during a special meeting held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. Hayes has served as chair of the group’s Education Resources Committee and “was instrumental in updating the Board of Education’s facilities rental policies as well as being a consistent advocate throughout the Board’s budget process,” Carlson said. In addition to Hayes and Carlson, Board members Sheri West, Penny Rashin, Jennifer Richardson, Hazel Hobbs, and Katrina Parkhill voted in favor of making him chairman. Board of Ed members Maria Naughton and Tom Cronin voted against.

News

District Officials, Police Affidavits Detail Lunch Ladies’ Theft of Nearly $500,000

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When New Canaan Public Schools’ budget director returns from summer break next week, she’ll help create reports that could establish or rule out the notion that the lunch ladies arrested last week depleted school parents’ funds while stealing nearly $500,000 from the district itself, officials said Monday night. Tracy Haberman knows the point-of-sale or ‘POS’ software system used at cash registers in Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School “very, very well,” according to Dr. Jo-Ann Keating, director of finance and operations for the district. “We are going to look at pulling reports and I am not certain that all the transactions are time-stamped, but that would be a key piece to doing an audit and reviewing accounts that have been modified,” Keating told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “So, we can see where transactions take place—a parent deposits to a child’s account, it is pulled in through the system, a child goes to a register to purchase something, it’s keyed in there—and we can also see if there are double entries at that point and we can also see if someone went in and modified after-the-fact. So those are the kinds of things that we are going to try and audit and we are going to be looking at situations surrounding those changes, if there are any, and also look at the frequency of that.

Government

‘It Will Not Be Easy and It Will Not Be Pleasant’: Board of Finance Hears Passionate Calls for Fiscal Prudence, Full District Funding as Vote Nears

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New Canaan must be careful as a community to have frank, detailed conversations about its financial situation and not “succumb to the tyranny of the parent,” a homeowner and mother of four children in public elementary and middle schools here told members of the Board of Finance on Tuesday. Everyone loves their kids and wants a good school district, yet this idea floating around New Canaan now that spending on the public schools somehow fuels property values is false, according to Rita Nagle. “That is simply not the economic relationship that exists,” Nagle said during a budget hearing held at Town Hall. “Property values fund taxes, which fund school spending. That is the way the relationship works.

News

Proposed ‘Alternative High School’ Program Built into Superintendent’s $90.7 Million Spending Plan

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The superintendent of schools on Monday night proposed an approximately $90.7 million budget for New Canaan Public Schools next year, a 3.5 percent increase over current spending. Of the approximately $3 million increase in spending over this fiscal year, about $2 million is due to salary increases, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting. And of that $2 million, $1.3 million is due to contracted wage increases, while $203,000 is from salary adjustments from units in negotiations and $186,000 represents anticipated raises for teachers at they progress in their careers, for example, after earning advanced degrees. Another approximately $827,000 of the overall increase comes from spending on benefits, Luizzi said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. His proposed budget is the first step for the Board of Ed toward developing its full spending plan for review and final approval (in April) by town funding bodies.