By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — The Board of Education voted unanimously to stay the course as far its leadership is concerned for the coming year.

With no discussion and following an hour-long executive session to evaluate the “performance of individual board members,” the seven-member panel Thursday re-elected Democrat Lee Goldstein as chair, Republican Dorie Hordon as vice chair and Democrat Neil Phillips as secretary.

The three will remain board officers until the next election of officers in December 2025.

’Tis the season for giving

At the last meeting of the calendar year, the school board also accepted three gifts.

Two benefit Staples High School.

The Staples Players Booster Club donated $8,800 to cover stipends to support the fall production of “Elf: The Musical.” Among those paid through the stipends were a lighting mentor, additional choreography, an assistant choreographer, a painting mentor and a rollerblade coach.

“We are very grateful for the fundraising, for anybody who saw ‘Elf,’ ” said Goldstein.

In addition, the Staples PTA donated $2,316 to buy two wireless microphones through a Wreckers Mini Grants program to benefit the Staples music program. They will also be used for open houses, professional development days and other events, said Stefanie Shackelford, co-president of the Staples PTA.

The third gift comes from the Coleytown Elementary School PTA, which had previously donated swing sets and other playground equipment. An additional gift of $1,284.22 was made to purchase six benches and two picnic tables for the playground.

Scarice on swatting incident

Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice also addressed last week’s swatting incident at Greens Farms Elementary School.

After receiving a texted threat Friday afternoon — also sent to several other school districts in the state — police were dispatched to the school on Morningside Drive South and the school was ordered to shelter in place.

“The response on Friday was beyond anything I could have imagined,” Scarice told the board.

He said by the time he arrived at the school, there were already six police officers there as well as about 60 parents in the parking lot who had arrived for a holiday party.

“It did end up being a hoax, but at the moment you don’t know that.” Scarice 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.