Milford Gets Piece of Twin Towers; A 21st Century Gym Class; Trying to Track Education Spending; Fuel Cell Energizes Curriculum

MILFORD – A piece of the Twin Towers arrived in town this week.

Seeing the bent, rusted piece of steel reminded firefighters of the thousands of Americans who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Milford had three citizens who died on 9-1-1,” said Mayor James Richetelli. “This further honors their memory. Everyone was affected that day, and everyone knew someone who was either part of the rescue team or who died.”

Plans for a permanent home for the piece of history are not yet set in stone.

You can view photographs of the piece of the Twin Towers by clicking here.

BRANFORD – A new kind of gym class has taken shape at Branford High School.

Designed as an alternative to traditional physical education classes, the new lifetime fitness and wellness class is earning high marks.

“I tell my students I want you to think of me as your personal trainer,” said Jennifer Stackpole, a physical education teacher who created the class along with her colleague, Jennifer Kohut. “I have students who have lost considerable amounts of weight and are now working out to keep it off. I have students who have gone out and joined gyms or started taking yoga classes outside of school.”

Kaitlyn Salisbury, a 17-year-old senior at BHS, said she uses the lifetime fitness and wellness class as an outlet to relieve stress.

“We are always so busy between jobs and school and extracurricular activities there's not a lot of time to sit down and think, how am I going to eat, work out, keep myself healthy both mentally and physically? This class kind of makes you sit down and think about how you are going to change your lifestyle around that goal,” Salisbury said.

Hear what other students are saying about the class by clicking here.

EAST HAVEN – With an audit that disclosed a $5.19 million deficit in the fiscal year 2010 town and school budget, and that cited the school’s finance department for deficiencies that have been taking place for years, one school board member is calling for an investigation into the school’s accounting practices.

In a prepared statement, school board member Christine Maisano said, "The accounting practices have been unacceptable, misleading and inaccurate. With a staff of seven individuals supervised by a full-time director of finance, I cannot understand why records are not current and complete, why information cannot be provided to the board, who should be overseeing these matters, and why [school superintendent] Mr. Serio seems to be in the dark when it comes to errors being found."

She added, “I’d like to note that I’m embarrassed to be part of a board who is now in the position that they are being asked to present a budget to the town, which at this point in time has no financial credibility. I demand answers to how this has been allowed to happen."

The board has created a subcommittee and is moving forward with its investigation.

School Business Manager Jason Lathrop had no comment, but several members of the community have chimed in through Patch’s commenting feature. See what’s being said and join the conversation by clicking here.

HAMDEN – A new fuel cell at the high school is going to add a whole new dimension of learning to science and math classes.

A Town Council vote this week set in motion the town’s plans to install the state-of-the-art sustainable energy source, which is expected to save the town approximately $40,000 per year on utility costs. The town is teaming up with UTC Power of South Windsor, a United Technologies company, to install the 400-kilowatt fuel cell behind the high school.

"I think it is an excellent idea that I hope is used as a model," said council president Jim Pascarella. "If it works out, I hope we can proceed to use it on some of our other buildings."

Find out more about the deal and how the fuel cell will be used by clicking here.