By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — Filing through what remains a construction zone in Staples High School’s parking lot into the auditorium Thursday morning, roughly 1,000 school district staff members started the 2023-24 school year being told every one of them matters.

“Small, incremental changes can be profound,” Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice told the audience during a pep talk to set the stage for what he said will be an aspirational year for the district. The first day of the new school year is next Tuesday, Aug. 29.

“All of your roles matter,” he continued. “You have a challenge. Which strike at the stone will you make? Which act of kindness will you make?”

The 90-minute convocation included the introduction of more than 80 new staff members — 47 of them educators — and announcement of Westport’s 2024 “Teacher of the Year.”

Teacher of the Year: Louis DeFichy of Bedford Middle School

Louis DeFichy, a Bedford Middle School sixth-grade social studies teacher whose accomplishments include helping students last year raise funds to build a water well in southern Sudan, will represent the district in the state Teacher of the Year competition this fall. The educator selected to represent the state will then go on to compete for the national title, which has been captured by a Connecticut teacher four times.

DeFichy, whose parents were both teachers, said it is a job he always wanted to do.

“It was the best decision I ever made,” DeFichy said of the job he has held since 2010

Borrowing from Teddy Roosevelt, DeFichy said students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. It is something, he admitted, educators who taught him as a child lacked.

“I never had a teacher who spoke to me outside of an academic setting about what I was working on,” he said, vowing to become a teacher who cared enough to make small connections with students and build on them.

Bedford Principal Adam Rosen said he has witnessed DeFichy’s leadership, integrity and professionalism over 12 years.

“He is a curriculum innovator,” said Rosen, adding the teacher breathes life into the history, politics and social topics covered in his classes.

Rosen noted the Sudanese water well that resulted from efforts by DeFichy, Bedford students and generous Westport donors is acknowledged with a dedication etched into the well’s concrete pump.

One-time gathering for all school staffers

Scarice told the convocation that the gathering is the only time all the school district’s staff members are in the same place at the same time.

There were also several Board of Education members in attendance, including Chairwoman Lee Goldstein, Secretary Neil Phillips and member Kevin Christie.

Staples students were on hand to sing the national anthem with Lauren Pine, their choral director.

The Staples High library staff were easy to pick out in the crowd. They wore matching T-shirts proclaiming they were “I’m with the Banned,” a clear reference to last year’s attempt by some members of the public to strip the library of books they considered controversial. The effort failed.

Schools’ top rank matters only on individual level 

Scarice said of 13,542 public school districts in the nation, a website called Niche.com ranks Westport 17th best in the nation and first in the state.

That means nothing in isolation, Scarice said. It matters on the individual level, he added.

He challenged staff to bring humanity back to the schools, to show empathy and listen to students.

“Reserve judgment and really be in a state of curiosity,” he said.

To illustrate the point, he mentioned two members of the Class of 2022 — one of whom is now a student at West Point — and asked how many staff members had some contact with them over the course of their time in the district. Dozens of hands shot up.

Westport public schools this fall have close to 5,400 students.

The number of new staff members is expected to grow from 82 as hiring for remaining vacancies continues.

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.