By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — School administrators are exploring ways to resume awarding “Block S” trophies to top Staples High School student athletes, although not mandated by the Board of Education to do so, Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice told the board Thursday.

A motion to require restoration of the 70-year-old Block S tradition, and retroactively award trophies to fall and winter recipients of the MVP and Coach’s awards, failed on a 2-to-4 vote.

Only board member Robert Harrington, who made the motion, and board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon, both Republicans, voted in favor of the motion that would also have required the district to find funding for Block S trophies in its existing $143.6 million budget.

Board Chair Lee Goldstein, Secretary Neil Phillips and members Kevin Christie and Jill Dillon voted no. Board member Abby Tolan was absent.

A 70-year tradition

Harrington had raised the issue last month, and put it on the April 24 agenda as an issue for discussion, acknowledging that a trophy may seem like a small thing in light of what is going on nationally.

“But I think it is a really big issue,” Harrington said. Two trophies awarded per Staples sport uninterrupted for 70-plus years is important in terms of tradition, he added.

“I just feel the way we reward or recognize the character, the commitment, the passion of our student athletes … is a really big deal,” he said.

Scarice told the school board that administrators routinely make decisions without running them by the board, and that the decision to replace the trophies with less-expensive plaques did not raise concerns until after plaques had been awarded at two sports awards banquets.

“We make tough decisions,” said Scarice. “This award, no one is denying … is important.”

But the cost increase for trophies — from $9,400 to almost $16,000 — took district officials by surprise and a substitute was made.

Since then, Scarice said other options are being investigated and a survey will be done with the fall and winter recipients of plaques to get feedback.

“We are working on it,” he said.

Should social media matter?

The superintendent warned the board, however, about making decisions based on social-media outcry.

The realization that traditional Block S trophies were instead to be plaques became the talk of Westport Front Porch, a private Facebook group.

At last month’s meeting, some were critical that the issue was raised on social media instead of by officials who could have helped.

Terry Brannigan, parent of a Staples wrestler who brought the issue to light on social media, told the board during the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting that he had initially reached out in vain to several district officials.

“I did not mean to ambush anyone on social media,” he said.

Brannigan said he knows some things don’t last forever, but that traditions like the Block S award are one of the little things that define Westport.

Jodi Harris, co-president of the Staples High School PTA, said she was grateful to social media for alerting her to elimination of the trophy.

“It absolutely stunned me,” Harris said.

Holding her daughter’s Block S trophy at the podium, Harris said the award represents four years of hard work her daughter devoted to her sport. Receiving it was a highlight of her senior year, she said. The trophy itself, she added, is a conversation piece and important to her.

A decision to eliminate awarding the trophies with no notice to parents or the community, Harris added, was wrong.

“I am asking you, when something like this is going away, let us know,” Harris said.

Respecting traditions and how they are handled

Harrington apologized for things he said directed at Goldstein during the last meeting, and said his intent was not to criticize the administration. He said he just thinks the way the tradition ended was wrong.

To right the wrong, Harrington said the district should be able to find the funds to purchase the trophies and also reach out to booster clubs to assist going forward.

Hordon wondered if the administration had looked into alternative vendors to make the trophy.

“Is there only one vendor in the world that can do this?” Hordon said. “Couldn’t there be another vendor that could make the Block S award for less money.”

Scarice said it is being looked into.

“I do like traditions. I think traditions are important,” Hordon said. Traditions, she said, hold communities together.

Scarice said the issue involves more than the cost, but how decisions like this are made.

Phillips said it should be the superintendent’s call. “It’s an important issue, but I have full confidence you can figure it out,” he said.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.