West Hartford Public Schools teachers begin the 2024-2025 academic year on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, and all students return to buildings on Aug. 28.

By Ronni Newton

The start of a new school year always brings an aura of eager anticipation, and this year is no exception, West Hartford Superintendent Paul Vicinus said as he looks ahead to convocation on Monday, Aug. 26, and the return of students on Wednesday.

This year will begin with the welcoming of a slew of new administrators, due to restructuring at all 11 elementary schools and the domino affect of several promotions. In addition, there are some major construction projects underway – most notably the installation of air conditioning and new windows to enhance airflow at Duffy Elementary School.

Heading into the new school year, Vicinus said he expects some important topics to be discussed in classrooms, and perhaps by the Board of Education, including such antisemitism, Islamophobia, race and gender identity, artificial intelligence, and cellphone use.

Vicinus, who was named superintendent in the spring of 2023 and is entering his second full academic year in the role, provided an update during an interview in his office on Thursday.

Administration and staffing 

“We welcomed 11 new assistant principals among our elementary schools,” Vicinus said. When the Board of Education approved the budget for the 2024-2025 academic year, the plan included restructuring to eliminate the curriculum specialist position and replace it with an assistant principal role.

All 11 are internal hires, and come from the ranks of existing administrators, curriculum specialists, and classroom teachers. When the appointments were announced in early June there was one assistant principal job still open, pending the naming of the new principal at Bugbee Elementary School. Kelly Brouse, the former Bugbee principal, is now assistant director of Pupil Services, and the new Bugbee Principal, Susan Horvath, has appointed Nichole Richman, former Social Studies Department supervisor, as assistant principal.

Several other elementary schools in town have new top leadership for this fall as their former principals have taken new positions in the district – including Kelly Sousa Purcell who has been named interim principal Whiting Lane in place of Karen Kukish, who is now the Sedgwick Middle School principal, and Maureen Lantner, a retired educator and administrator, taking over at Webster Hill on an interim basis following the announcement that Melissa Behrens will serve as director of Elementary Education.

After serving as an assistant principal at Sedgwick Middle School on an interim basis, Michelle Graveline has officially been named to the role, Vicinus said. Sonya Stemmer will be returning to West Hartford Public Schools as an assistant principal at King Philip. And Meghan Zingle, whose role as assistant principal at Bristow Middle School has been part time, will also serve as the coordinator for REACH.

At the high school level, Jocelyn Tamborello-Noble will begin her first full year as the principal of Conard after serving in an interim role for most of last year, and Juan Melián, who had stepped down as principal of Sedgwick, is excited for a new chapter as an assistant principal at Conard.

Sarah Isaacs was named interim principal at Hall High School in July, after Dan Zittoun announced he was leaving for an administrative position in Farmington. She was formerly an assistant principal, and her replacement will be announced shortly, Vicinus said.

Finally, there are two new department supervisors in Pupil Services – Lauren Dell, who supports all out of district placements, and Jolene Piscetellom, who supports STRIVE, the Post Secondary Transition Program, and private schools in the Town of West Hartford.

“I’m excited. There’s a fair number of internal moves but there’s also some new blood that’s come in, and a lot of energy,” Vicinus said of the administration.

Overall, there are about 50 new staff members joining the ranks of West Hartford Public School teachers for 2024-2025, replacing those who have retired, moved, or taken positions elsewhere, and Vicinus said “overall we’re in excellent shape.” Many new teachers are at the elementary school level, with a handful at the middle and high school level. In 2023, there were 61 new teachers to start the school year.

There are a total of roughly 950 teachers, he said. “We feel really good about our staffing … poised and ready to start,” said Vicinus.

Enrollment

“We’ve been watching kindergarten enrollment through the summer,” said Vicinus, particularly in light of the potential impact of a new state law taking effect this year that requires public school students to be 5 years old by Sept. 1 in order to begin kindergarten, unless a waiver is obtained. Vicinus did not have available the total number of students who received waivers, and said that assessments of late registrants were still being finalized in the last week.

“I will say that the total enrollment in kindergarten came in higher than initially projected (last spring) and we have seen steady registrations across all grade levels throughout the summer – likely explained by an active real estate market and new housing within the town,” Vicinus said.

At three of the elementary schools there was the possibility that additional sections might have to be added, and that proved to be the case at both Smith STEM and Wolcott. None of the planned and budgeted sections at any of the elementary schools were collapsed, he said.

There are a total of 201 elementary school sections, for kindergarten through grade 5, in the district.

Overall enrollment is roughly 9,500, which includes pre-K and post-secondary students, Vicinus said. A complete report on enrollment will be given to the Board of Education, with preliminary numbers provided in September and the formal report in early October.

Prior to the start of school, incoming high school students will complete orientation with the assistance of the student-led Link Crew teams, and middle school students will engage in orientation through WEB leaders.

Construction

“Duffy is the lead story regarding construction,” Vicinus said.

After years of planning and discussion, the long-awaited elementary school air quality improvement and air conditioning installation is underway in earnest. Duffy Elementary School, which opened in 1952 and is two stories, was from the beginning deemed the “most critical” and first in line for the upgrade.

Work has been underway throughout the summer, and includes not only installation of brand new windows, that open, but also extensive wiring and ductwork installation. “As of yesterday we finished the majority of the work on the first floor,” Vicinus said Thursday, and work has now moved to the second floor.

The building has been mostly closed to everyone other than contractors this summer, but teachers will be able to return to their Duffy classrooms on Monday, Vicinus said. Some of those teachers will be housed temporarily in portable classrooms that have been installed behind the school, near the basketball courts. “A pod of rooms will be in the portables,” Vicinus said, and as areas of the school are completed, those classrooms will return to the main building and a new group of teachers and students will temporarily relocate to the portables.

“It’s much too big of a project to accomplish just in the summer,” Vicinus said. The project is “on track,” he said, and will be completed during the current school year.

“Webster Hill is set to begin their HVAC installation next summer,” Assistant Superintendent for Administration Andy Morrow said. Webster Hill, which opened in 1949, will be less complicated because the school has mechanical tunnels underneath the building and doesn’t have a second story.

“Webster Hill won’t be as invasive. We don’t need 5,000 square feet of swing space,” Morrow said.

Wolcott Elementary School is the final elementary school that needs its front office and entrance reconfigured for security purposes. “We will start after the school year,” said Morrow, and drop-off will be diverted to a different location. The main office won’t be moving until later in the construction process, he said.

Much of the other construction work that took place over the summer is standard updating like painting, and replacement of flooring and roofs. Several of the elementary schools have also received new playground equipment, that was funded by ESSER grant money.

Transportation, safety, and attendance

Morrow said the community should be reminded that school buses will be returning to the roads, and to be aware and slow down. As part of the town’s Vision Zero Action Plan, several new Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) have been installed in crosswalks near West Hartford Public Schools, but Morrow said he is not aware that the added safety measure will result in any changes related to crossing guards.

There will be increased police presence at all schools during the first week for drop-off and pick-up, Morrow said.

Bus drivers have been practicing their routes, and new students have been able to participate in trial runs. Families of students who utilize buses for transportation will be able to opt-in to have access to a GPS system that can show them the current location of their childs’ bus, Morrow said.

Regarding COVID-19, “we will continue to follow CEDC recommendations and guidelines from the health district,” Vicinus said. That includes encouraging the school communities to wash their hands and to test if they are experiencing symptoms – all measures to successfully keep people safe and prevent the spread of germs and illness.

Chronic absenteeism is a topic that’s been in the news in aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Vicinus said West Hartford’s drop in the rate of chronic absenteeism is double what has been experienced in the state. Overall, the rate has dropped from a high of 14.8% to 10.9%, with chronic absenteeism defined as being absent for 10% or more of school days.

While people should stay home if they are sick, Vicinus said, “We need to get back to the mindset that [attending] school is important.”

Cellphone use, artificial intelligence, and other hot-button topics

The use of cellphone and the dangers of social media have been widely covered in the news in recent weeks, and last week Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker issued guidance to local school districts. They are asking districts to consider implementing recommendations outlined in the document “Personal Technology Use in Connecticut Schools: Impact of Social Media and the Use of Cell Phones on Student Learning and Mental Health” which has been provided as a PDF below.

“The guidance from the state aligns very well with what our policy has been,” Vicinus said. West Hartford already has district-wide policies with separate guidelines for elementary, middle, and high school students that will be reviewed at the start of the school year.

“The effort will really be around continued enforcement and education with kids, and it will open up some really important and powerful conversations about the use of electronics outside of schools,” Vicinus said.

Vicinus said there have not been any issues with the use of cellphones by elementary school students, and in middle schools, when many more students have them, it’s expected that the phones will be off during the school day, and stored either in a locker or backpack.

In the high schools, “it’s the expectation in the classroom that phones are off or not visible unless requested by a teacher for instructional purposes,” Vicinus said, noting that teachers will occasionally make use of cellphone applications such as for polling purposes. High school students are able to access their electronic devices during free time, including lunch periods.

Vicinus said the biggest objection regarding cellphones not being available for use throughout the day comes from parents, who want to be able to reach their children in case of emergency. He said it’s best to go through the school if there is an emergency, because staff can set the proper conditions for relaying information, and provide wraparound support if needed.

The following specific policies for the middle and high school levels are included in student handbooks and discussed extensively with students, Vicinus said:

• Middle schools: “Students are not allowed to use a cell phone, smart watch, personal headphones, or other comparable device to send/receive phone calls, take pictures/videos, listen to music, or send/receive text messages during the day. Cell phones and other devices should be powered off and left in the locker throughout the course of the school day unless a teacher has specifically directed them to bring it to class. This will ensure the devices are safe. Any student in possession of a cell phone/personal electronic device will be asked to return it to their locker. Repeated offenses may result in confiscation of the phone where an adult must come to school to reclaim the device.”
• High schools: “Mobile learning devices (cell phones) and electronic music devices/earbuds may not be used in the learning environment except at the discretion of the teacher when deemed useful as an instructional tool. If the use of these devices is deemed disruptive or unsafe (i.e., not kept at a safe volume in the hallway), they may be confiscated, and other disciplinary actions may be taken.”

Other topics that have been in the news, and which Vicinus expects will be topics of conversation in classrooms, include antisemitism, Islamophobia, and race and gender identity. “We will educate students to teach them of our shared values of equity and inclusion,” Vicinus said.

Artificial intelligence will be the topic of an upcoming learning experience for teachers, Vicinus said. It isn’t going away, he said, and the focus of the professional development will be on “impact on the educational setting, how we evolve, guardrails we put up, and the opportunity to leverage it.”

Convocation 

All teachers have been invited to attend the annual Convocation ceremony on Monday, Aug. 26, at Conard High School.

A different school hosts the program each year and this year the honor falls to Duffy Elementary School. The program will include a greeting from the Board of Education, remarks from Teacher of the Year Nora McHugh, a student speaker from Duffy, and musical performances.

Vicinus will deliver his “Superintendent’s Message,” but there will not be an outside speaker this year, he said.

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