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Donna Christopher

Contributing Writer

dchristopher@dailyvoice.com

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Schools

Around Fairfield Schools: Pride En Plein Air, Euro Winners, No Parade So Musicians Step In A Plein air painting project is giving art students at a Fairfield County school the chance to express their talent. One at a time they are taking turns to paint designs on benches to display school pride at the entrance to Saxe Middle School in New Canaan. The effort begun in May is through a newly formed Saxe Spirit Benches club. Art Teacher Cara Beatman is leading the project. The way it works is parents may sign up their child 15-minute painting appointments. Masks and gloves must be worn by students the entire time. “The whole premise of this project is to keep art alive during th…

by Donna Christopher

05/26/2020

Schools

Coaches Honor Class Of 2020 Under Friday Night Lights In Westchester A lit contest field and beaming scoreboard display of 20:20, void of people, must have seemed odd Friday night in Westchester. The May 15 spectacle was a fitting and pride-packed tribute from the athletic senior athletes at John Jay High School in Cross River. It was the second in a Friday Night Lights series of videos that will be posted every Friday exactly at 8:20 p.m. on the Katonah Lewisboro School District Facebook page here. The remarks include a welcome by Chris McCarthy, the director of Health, Physical Education, Athletics and Wellness, followed by tributes from the various coach…

by Donna Christopher

05/18/2020

Politics

Westchester's Eisen Rejoins Congressional Race In Westchester, Rockland For Lowey Seat Congressional candidate Josh Eisen, who was previously running as a Republican then withdrew his candidacy for U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey's 17th District seat being vacated at the end of 2020, wants to run again. Only now he wants to run as an independent candidate. The Republican candidates in the race are Yehudis Gottesfeld and Maureen McArdle-Schulman and there are eight Democrats on the ballot. Both primaries are set for June 23. The 17th District includes Westchester and Rockland counties, with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans by a more-than-2-to-1 margin. Eisen, a Harrison res…

by Donna Christopher

05/18/2020

Politics

Around Fairfield County: Restaurant Week, Dining Permits, Census For PPE, Call In Crisis This Fairfield County city is gearing up to re-open restaurants with outside dining but right now you can order your favorite takeout and snag a deal. The Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce and City of Danbury are hosting Virtual Restaurant Week until Sunday, May 17. This event promotes curbside pick-up and delivery and here's the list of participants. With Connecticut on target to start Phase 1 of its reopening plan on Wednesday, May 20, in response to Gov. Ned Lamont's May 14 Executive Order, the City of Danbury announced its two-tiered process for the reopening of …

by Donna Christopher

05/15/2020

Schools

No European Tour But Fairfield Choir Draws Thousands As It Calms With 'Troubled Waters' Dates at European concert halls may be canceled, but a calming "Bridge Over Troubled Water" virtual performance by Fairfield County Children's Choir posted on Facebook drew 17,000 views so far. The moving cadence of young voices singing Paul Simon's lyrics as "When evening falls so hard. I will comfort you. I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes" is perfect in these unsettled times. The video has a message of comfort and celebrates the power of children singing separately, but together. The virtual video came months since the novel coronavirus …

by Donna Christopher

05/14/2020

Lifestyle

No Rush On Buying But Right-Priced Homes In Desirable Areas Still Sell In Fairfield County Fairfield County real estate is on a bumpy road, but a realtor here has seen a "fresh wave of interest" among buyers since the start of May. "About half the home buyers in Fairfield County are on hold, "said Jeff Woda, a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker, but the full picture, he continued, is not yet known. That will come in the second and third quarters to compare. Ridgefield, for example, had 25 sales in April, down 32.4 percent from 37 sales in April of 2019. The figure is 21.9 percent lower than the 32 sales in March. "Buyers are starting to come back out and inventories are stil…

by Donna Christopher

05/12/2020

Schools

'Meaningful' Matters In Distance Learning, Instructional Videos Not New In Education Do you wake up feeling like your children are in a Petri dish and can't wait for the hindsight to know how well it's working? White Plains Middle School- Highlands Principal Ernest Spatafore takes a glass-half-full approach looking back over the past two months. The biggest challenge, he said in an email, is finding out "the appropriate balance between providing engaging, worthwhile instructional activities, and being sensitive to the physical and emotional toll of the current COVID-19 crisis." Spatafore applauds WPMS teachers for their hard work and especially for their ability to provide …

by Donna Christopher

05/11/2020

Schools

Art Comforts & Inspires Children, Says Award-Winning Educator In Fairfield County District When's the last time you've taken a long pause to enjoy one of your child's paintings? Notice the colors. Look for symbols. There are clues about what your child is thinking if you look closely. "A child's artwork is really about communicating who they are and how they understand their world," said Greenwich Public School art teacher Le Ann Hinkle, who teaches at Julian Curtiss School and North Mianus School. "Children have so much to say. Everything is new to them and they are constantly evaluating and reassessing what they know." Families lately, she's noticed, have been using creat…

by Donna Christopher

05/06/2020

Schools

Around Fairfield County Schools: Free Meals For Children, Band Learning From Best In Country Staying home to stay safe is not easy if you're a band student so a local instructor thought of a way to kick it up in virtual learning. He asked members of the country's most prestigious marching bands to record themselves playing the same music his students were. The professional musicians belong to the President's Own United States Marines Band. Their instrumental recordings are ones and students were learning at Greenwich High School and have become 11 virtual masterclasses provided to all band students in the district. “There is nothing more powerful for a young musician than seei…

by Donna Christopher

05/05/2020

Schools

Stuck At Home: Addiction Experts Say Watch For Signs Of Alcohol, Drugs It may seem counterintuitive but teens and tweens at home, possibly even under the watchful eye of remotely working parents, could be using or abusing drugs and/or alcohol as much as before. Addiction experts and someone in recovery from drug addiction suggest moms and dads pay attention to the signs especially now when stress is at its height. Jade (not her real name), 33, of Fairfield County, has been in recovery since 2007 from an addiction to prescription pills and heroin, a drug habit that began when she was just 12. "I broke my ankle and was in so much pain the doctor prescribed me O…

by Donna Christopher

05/01/2020

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