By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — School officials last week accepted gifts to support high school athletics, okayed an off-year climate survey using a new vendor and began the process of approving calendars for the next two academic years.

Gifts support Staples coaching staff

Spring gifts from Staples High School sports booster clubs will pay the stipends of 21 assistant coaches in baseball, boys and girls lacrosse, boys outdoor track, boys rugby and girls tennis.

Athletic Director VJ Sarullo told the Board Education that at this point in the season when signups are underway, the number of boys and girls hoping to play is about the same.

Board Chair Lee Goldstein said the panel was grateful for the gifts, which totaled $86,660. The board’s vote was unanimous.

“Climate” change for student survey

The climate survey, discussed in detail earlier this month, will include questions that align with district priorities to make all students feel a sense of belonging.

Instead of Panorama Student Survey, the district is partnering this time with Hanover Research, which Assistant Supt. Mike Rizzo said was better able to customize the survey and assist with disaggregating the survey results.

Since the board’s last meeting, when student representative Souleye Kebe asked if a question about student participation in sports could be added, the survey now includes a question about student extracurricular activities.

Other questions deal with student perceptions of school, teachers and classmates, the ability to get extra help if they need it, understand and follow school rules and collaborate with others.

The 10-minute survey will be given in a two-week period following spring break in April, Rizzo said.

Parents have the opportunity to opt their children out of taking the survey, as well as to take it using pencil and paper as opposed to online.

“I like the survey,” said Goldstein, although she wondered about the district’s ability to track changes over time given there is a new vendor and new questions.

Student representative Calum Madigan said he also liked the survey and the intention to randomize the order of the questions so that all have an equal opportunity of being seen first.

Academic year calendars

Before the start of the current school year, the school board added several professional development days for teachers.

The board was told last week that district administrators want to continue that in the 2025-26 academic year with six full-days and four half-days devoted to professional learning, starting with three days before classes for students start.

The plan is to start the next school year for students on Tuesday, Aug. 26, and end with a half-day on June 16, 2026, barring any snow days. Any snow cancellations, up to five, would be tacked onto the end of the year. Any more than that would eat into the April break.

A sneak peak of the 2026-27 school calendar also includes six full days and four half days for teacher professional development.

That school year, Assistant Supt. John Bayers told the board, includes an unusually late Labor Day on Sept. 7. Classes, which will start Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, will be in session nearly two weeks before a one-day break for Labor Day. Classes that year, barring snow days, will end with a half-day on June 11.

For both academic years, students are scheduled to be in class for 182 days and teachers for 188.

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.