Community Corner
Ridgefield, May 2018: Music, Dance and The Right Stuff in School
Sure, the weather could have been a bit better, but nothing can stop Ridgefield from singing and dancing.
RIDGEFIELD, CT -- A month that began with a pleasant, artsy, sunlit stroll through town ended with hate symbols scrawled in the park, and a whole lot of displaced trees and power lines in between.
Arts-wise, Ridgefield never disappoints, and even during the darkest days of the tornado and macroburst fallout, residents were able to get excited about the upcoming free music, hi-def opera, Shakespeare performances, dance recitals, and heavy metal cellos. All the while, an ambitious new theater group -- A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) of Connecticut -- took up residency in and began renovation of the Schlumberger Theater.
In May, the scandal and complications surrounding Superintendent Karen Baldwin's alleged plagiarism just got thornier, as the assistant supervisor, Kimberly Beck, announced her resignation, effective June 30 -- same as Baldwin's last day. Acting Superintendent Robert Miller said the district will create a search committee to find Beck's replacement. Such a committee is already in place and on the hunt searching for Baldwin's replacement. Miller is scheduled to hold his current role until -- you guessed it -- June 30, when he will turn the reins over to a yet-to-be-named interim superintendent.
Although it may not be immediately clear who will be steering the ship at the very highest levels, down in the trenches of the classroom, where the real work happens, Ridgefield residents had no worries. Three student inventors from Farmingville Elementary School represented Ridgefield and FES at the state level of the Connecticut Invention Convention, which was held at University of Connecticut at Stors in May. Also in May, two RHS students were honored as CIAC Scholar Athletes at the 35th annual CAS-CIAC Scholar Athlete Banquet. None of this surprises, as Ridgefield High School was named 5th in the state by U.S. News & World Report, and 332 from over 28,500 institutions nationwide. The district's secret? Happy parents and troubled School Board administrators alike will probably tell you it's due to people like Jennifer DeJulio, whom Ridgefield Public Schools named its District Teacher of the Year for 2018-19 in May.
When the storm of May 15 hit, Ridgefield found its fate mirroring its geography -- midway between the damage suffered by Danbury to the north and the total bullet-dodging of Wilton to the south. Still, the extended road closures and loss of power cancelled classes enough times that Ridgefield is seeking a waiver of the state-required 180 school days.
As the month drew to a close, old specters returned to their haunting grounds. Police discovered three swastikas on a wooden fence in Ballard Park. Swastika graffiti has been a recurring problem in town, dating back at least until 2014, when Ridgefield High School Principal Stacey Gross wrote an impassioned letter to parents upon the discovery of two swastikas painted on school grounds.
But ultimately, even macrobursts and Nazis couldn't dampen the spirits of Ridgefielders when the seemingly interminable delays on Route 35 near the Fox Hill condos seemingly came to an end.
Image via Shutterstock.
