Board of Ed Celebrates Careers and Achievements

Celebrating the careers of three retirees before the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting on June 9 set a light and festive tone for the night. The retirees were then honored at the meeting, three students were recognized for their accomplishments in creative writing and the assistant principal of the high school was named before the board got down to regular business.

Superintendent Scott Schoonmaker and the BOE recognized Wendy Sawicki, a 22-year 5th-grade teacher; Nilda Gagliardi, with more than 35 years as an art educator; and Patricia Burr,  a cafeteria worker for 24 years, with flowers and proclamations. Schoonmaker not only thanked them for their service, but their family and friends as well.

Mark Fabrizi, an English teacher with , then recognized three students for their accomplishments in creative writing. Carly Donath, Alyssa Merrick, and Melanie Stoeckle each completed a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, which equates to about 180 pages of prose and works out to producing an average of six written pages a day.

Over the five years Fabrizi has held the challenge, there have only been about 15 students who have completed novels.

“This is no small accomplishment,” said Fabrizi.

The recognition continued as the top three students of the graduating class were named including Valedictorian Michael Wray, Salutatorian Rynne O’Connor and Class Essayist Maggie Sullivan. All three will speak at graduation on Friday, June 24 along with Class President Alyssa Arre.

“These are four outstanding representatives of the North Branford school system,” said Schoonmaker.

After Todd Stoeffler was officially hired as principal at the last meeting, he was asked to head a team to recommend a candidate for vice principal. He recommended Carter Welch, the interim assistant principal and NBHS alumni, and the recommendation was gladly accepted by Schoonmaker and the board.

“We are thrilled to have this team together at the high school,” said Schoonmaker.