By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–Forty-six students who live on the west side of Roseville Road between Cross Highway and Post Road East shift from Long Lots to Saugatuck Elementary School this fall.

Two fewer big yellow school buses will rumble through the town daily.

Staples High School students can use cell phones on the first day of school, but they should not get used to it.

There will be a coach’s handbook this fall in an athletic department that has existed for decades without one.

Block S trophies

And, after being unceremoniously replaced last year with plaques, Block S trophies – a tradition that many in the community were unwilling to part with – will once again be doled out during sports banquets.

“It was a problem (Athletic Director V.J. Sarullo) was able to solve,” Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said of the trophies during a summer interview about the school year just past and the one ahead.

The solution to the Block S funding situation also came with the help of boosters and Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo, who found a way to fit the escalating trophy cost into the operating budget for the 2025-26 school year, Scarice added.

Some may have seen the 2024-25 school year as particularly challenging _ between redistricting, nailing approvals for a new Long Lots Elementary School, and a rancorous decision to fire three members of the Staples High School soccer coaching staff. 

Do the right thing

Scarice chocks it up as hurdles that come with the territory. “I have a job to do,” Scarice said. “I have to make decisions. The decisions I make are based on a variety of variables … I will continue to do what I believe is the right thing to do.”

Scarice said he understands some will not be happy with or understand his decisions, such as the one to not renew the contracts of popular soccer coaches. It was a decision ultimately backed by a majority of the school board, but which also had some in the community calling for Scarice and Sarullo to be fired.

Consistent

“You and I can look at the same body of evidence and come to a different conclusion,” Scarice said without going into details about the situation. “I have a standard in my mind in how we will conduct ourselves … anywhere in the system. I think we have been very consistent in applying that standard across administrators, across faculty, support staff, extra curriculars.”

As far as district administrators go, leadership training takes place on an ongoing basis in what Scarice calls a rigorous process.

“This work is never done,” he said in year-end memo to the board. “We raise the bar each year and add to our toolbox.”

Would a coach handbook have prevented what happened last year in soccer? Scarice said he doesn’t think so.

“Handbooks are not intended to cover every possible scenario, especially when it’s related to judgement,” Scarice said.

How the district spent the summer

The recipient of a 4 percent raise and contract extension on a 5-2 vote of the board last month, Scarice said he spent the summer on an agenda that included continued work on the district’s strategic plan.

In addition to working on student leadership opportunities and growth mindset–helping students push through challenges–the Strategic Plan is switching out collaborative problem solving with Artificial Intelligence.

Last year, the district was one of a handful that participated in a state pilot program to test out various AI tools.

AI

That work continues, with 40 to 50 faculty members working in groups to figure out: a district vision of AI and an ethical statement on its use, how students and faculty will use AI, how AI might create efficiencies in the system, and futureproofing–making sure what is developed will have a decent shelf life.

“Things are changing so quickly,” Scarice said. “We don’t want to make investment in things that months later that technology and platform is no longer applicable.”

One thing the district learned from participating in the state pilot was that some tools work better at the high school level than others.

Capital plan

Meanwhile, other district employees spent the summer refreshing the district’s five-year capital plan.

Implemented when Scarice came to the district five years ago, the plan had some missteps this past year, according to Scarice.

“Some studies fell short of the mark… There were a couple of projects we could have executed better,” Scarice said.

One, he said, was the Staples High School auditorium. To keep the Staples project as reasonable as possible, the work was limited to lighting and rigging. It should have been more comprehensive and included sound as well, Scarice said.

The board, and then town funding bodies, will get a fresh, expanded and reordered projects package this fall.

A fall full of challenges

“I think it is going to be an incredibly positive school year,” Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice predicted.

But not without fresh challenges.

Cellphone ban imminent

Among them, the anticipated ban on cellphones at the high school.

Time was spent this summer on a plan to roll out a phone free policy at Staples. Feedback will be sought from a group of parents and students at the end of August.

“We hope to go live sometime in the fall,” said Scarice of the ban. Just when has not been decided.

Breaking ground

Also undecided is when there will be a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new Long Lots and Stepping Stones Preschool. Early fall is as best as Scarice could say.

When construction begins in earnest, Scarice said a police officer will be assigned to the campus to handle traffic patterns.

Scarice is predicting challenges in the operating budget which over the past couple of years has sailed smoothly through the Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting.

“The town has been generous with us. That is not lost on me,” Scarice said.

Staffing and busing

That said, Scarice said several positions recommended in the budget process last year, such as additional assistant principals and a facilities coordinator, were cut.

This year, the district is looking to absorb a spike in transportation costs for special education students placed out of the district. Last year, the district spent $935,522 to transport 43 students to school out of district. This year that number is down to 40 but the cost to transport them full year is estimated to be $1,161,046, or an average of $29,026 per student, according to Longo.

To cut down on cost, some districts purchase their own vehicles to transport out-of-district students.

“I have asked (Assistant Superintendent) Mike Rizzo to study other models,” Scarice said.

Dysregulation

The district is also trying to address a rising number of elementary school students with “dysregulation issues,” kids who have a hard time controlling their emotions and behavior.

It is something Scarice said is happening “across the entire industry, not just Westport.

Federal funds

Another uncertainty is direction and funding from the federal government. 

Westport gets $85,000 in federal funding for the new fiscal year that for a time was frozen. It has since become unfrozen. The funds impact town, not district funding, but Scarice said still impacts community tax dollars.

“If we are going to have constant disruption and destabilizing it is not good for any school district,” said Scarice.

Knowing is better than not knowing, he added.

DEIB

The district is also sticking, for now with its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, despite Trump administration efforts to eliminate such programs nationwide.

In Westport, DEI is DEIB, with the “B” standing for belonging.

“The core of it has always been about belonging,” Scarice said. DEIB efforts remain part of school climate and culture plans across the district.

Local efforts have never been about quotas, he added, but about making sure every kid feels a strong sense of belonging and affiliation with school. 

“When students don’t feel valued seen heard their academic achievement suffers,” Scarice said.