To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, changes have been announced at St. Luke’s Parish and Noroton Presbyterian Church, which will each only have livestream, online church services, and at Darien’s two Catholic churches — and all of Fairfield County — the obligation to attend Mass has been suspended for Catholics for the upcoming three Sundays. Darienite.com found no announcements about changes in services or meetings on the websites of the Darien churches United Methodist Church, First Church of Christ Scientist or St. Paul’s Church in Darien. This article will be updated when more is known.
After half a year as interim principal of Royle School, Garan Mullin has been appointed principal by the Darien Board of Education. The previous principal, Dean Ketchum, resigned about two weeks before the start of the school year, on Aug. 16, 2019. At the time, schools Superintendent Alan Addley gave no reason for Ketchum’s resignation. The school district sent out this announcement on Friday:
At Wednesday’s meeting, the Darien Board of Education unanimously appointed Garan Mullin as principal of Royle Elementary School.
Darien Senior Center programs will be shut down starting this Monday, at least as far as having anyone go in the Mather Center for them, the town government announced Friday morning. But a new drive-through, lunch pickup program in the parking lot outside the Mather Center is being started, only for seniors already enrolled in the Senior Center. The announcement didn’t specify exactly when. The announcement also gave some advice for seniors to protect themselves during the COVID-19 outbreak. Darienite.com reported on Tuesday that the Senior Center had opted to stay open, although it was following direction from First Selectman Jayme Stevenson and town Health Director David Knauf and state authorities on that.
Darien schools Superintendent Alan Addley told parents and district staff in an online message Friday morning that (1) the district’s eLearning program is entirely voluntary for students, (2) the program won’t count as a substitute for state-mandated school days, (3) although Governor Lamont waived the requirement that districts provide at least 180 days of schooling, that only applies if a district tries to meet the requirement, and (4) possibly for that reason, spring break from April 6 to 10 may be cancelled. Parts of Addley’s statement were difficult to understand. The full text of the statement is at the bottom of this article. Here’s our best attempt to explain it, and we’re going to attempt to get clarification from Addley or someone else in the district, then update this article. (1) the district’s eLearning program is entirely voluntary for students:
From the second-to-last paragraph:
These activities are voluntary and students are not required to participate.
Here’s how Darien restaurants and other food-serving places fared in the latest inspection reports, released Thursday by the Darien Health Department. The department on Thursday released six reports of inspection visits from Feb. 14 to March 7. Of those, three inspections resulted in a “B” rating and three more received an “A.” No establishment was rated “C.”
These properties recently were sold in Darien, according to records in the Town Clerk’s Office:
—12 Hillside Ave. — Michael Marty to Andrew Redmond and Julienne Redmond, sold March 5, filed March 6, $1,375,000 — PICTURED
—4 Edmond St. — John Corcoran and Karen Corcoran to Brendan Keane and Alexandria Keane, sold March 3, filed March 6, $680,000
—10 Joseph St. — JDKD Development LLC of Darien to Angela Hom and Marcelo Saravia, sold March 3, filed March 9, $1,250,000
—15 Charles St. — Michael Cortese and Ryan Maheu to Connor Grant and PaulaGrant, sold March 6, filed March 9, $749,000
—244 Hollow Tree Ridge Road — Brian Hertzog and Jenny Hsu to Ashley-Henry LLC of Rowayton, sold March 6, filed March 11, $1,750,000
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See also:
Darien home sales:
Buttonwood Road Home Goes for $2,185,000 and Other Darien Home Sales (March 5)
Leroy Avenue House Sells for $1,562,500 and Other Darien Home Sales (Feb.
Deirdre McGovern is a real estate agent who has called Darien home for more than 25 years. She has been involved in many local organizations. She can be reached at 203-554-0897 or deirdre.mcgovern@raveis.com
You can’t beat the convenience of on-demand ride services like Uber and Lyft, but wouldn’t it be great if a similar ride-sharing service was available locally and for free? We’re not talking about existing ParaTransit services for the disabled or even some Connecticut communities’ senior transport services. No, the newest “microtransit” services are much more for the masses. Such a service has met tremendous success in Norwalk, and will soon launch in Westport and several other eastern Connecticut towns. In Norwalk
The Norwalk program is called Wheels2U and is run by the Norwalk Transit District using the agency’s paratransit minibus fleet.
Darien schools will close early, at 11 a.m., Thursday, and not reopen until Thursday, March 26, schools Superintendent Alan Addley announced in an email to parents Wednesday night and at a Board of Education meeting the same night. Separately, Darien Library also announced it will be closed “until further notice,” also as a step to prevent spread of COVID-19 in the community. “Today, the State Department of Health shared that the spread of the Coronavirus is not only imminent but is actively occurring across local communities,” Addley wrote. “While no Darien resident has been diagnosed with the Coronavirus, in an abundance of caution, the district is being proactive in its response to close schools in order to prevent the potential spread of the virus.” No academic, athletic or extracurricular activities at all will take place in the schools during the two-week closure—except for deep cleaning Addley wrote, “and school facilities may not be used for any event during the period of closure.”
In Darien, here’s what the COVID-19 outbreak is causing to be closed down (usually “until further notice”) or causing to be canceled. We’ll update this list as new information comes in (links are to online announcements):
—Darien Community Association: “[T]he DCA is postponing/rescheduling imminent large events and activities. We are contacting those affected, and any rescheduling information will be posted when it becomes available. At this time, all other DCA activities will run/operate as scheduled, including our DCA Thrift Shop.” —Darien Historical Society: “In order to help prevent the spread of corona virus, public programs are cancelled until further notice.”
Entire public school districts in New Canaan, Wilton and Westport announced on Wednesday that they are immediately closing, and remote learning starts Friday in New Canaan. Senior centers in Greenwich and Stamford also announced closings. Donations of clothing (but not food) to Person-to-Person and in-kind donations to the Domestic Violence Crisis Center are now being refused. Avon Theatre in Stamford announced its anti-coronavirus measures and the Stamford Symphony has cancelled its March 21 and 22 performances. That’s the new abnormal in Darien and surrounding communities as various organizations, institutions and agencies batten down the hatches and shut doors to the public in anticipation of COVID-19 breaking out here, too.
For all organizations who have participated in Memorial Day parades in the past and those wishing to participate in the 2020 Darien Memorial Day Parade, the Darien Monuments and Ceremonies Commission requires you to update your contact information. — an announcement from the Monuments and Ceremonies Commission
Specifically, we need your organization name, name of the contact person who will handle communications for your organization, this person’s email, mailing address and phone number. Please send this information to 06820mayparade@gmail.com by April 10, 2020. M&C Commission Vice Chairman Terry Gaffney is the 2020 parade chairman and point of contact for all communications related to the 2020 Memorial Day Parade. The commission is looking forward to another successful Parade, and Memorial Day ceremony.
Judith Hennessey Beavers, 80, of West Norwalk, formerly of Darien, passed away March 10 with her family at her side. She was born in Evanston, Illinois, the only child of Susanne (Needham) and Raymond Hennessey. The family moved to Scarsdale, New York, where she attended the Ursuline School and then went on to Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. in English. After graduating, she worked in radio/TV copy for BBDO Seidman Advertising in New York City. She later worked in sales for Celanese Fibers.
Darien High School banquets for end-of-season winter sports teams are being “postponed,” DHS Athletic Director Chris Manfredonia told coaches in an email Wednesday morning. The postponement comes in response to a just-issued school district rule banning gatherings of 100 or more people at school-related events, but it even covers banquets where less than 100 people are expected, Manfredonia said. “While I understand that some banquets may be less 100 than people, it will become nearly impossible to monitor those numbers,” he said in the 9:13 a.m. email. “We are hopeful that in the future, your teams will be able to celebrate their seasons.” DHS Assistant Principal Katherine Dimoulas, in a 11:18 a.m. email addressed to the “Class of 2020” made a similar announcement:
“[W]e are postponing the 100 Day Dinner Celebration; we hope to be able to reschedule for a later date in the school year,” she wrote.
In one of two messages Tuesday night to parents and staff of Darien Public Schools, restrictions on attendance or even visiting schools were announced by the district’s Nursing Director, Alicia Casucci. “This communication provides you with travel and school exclusion guidelines for students, staff, families and visitors,” Casucci wrote in the March 10 message. “[T]he following district policies will take effect immediately for parents, students and staff.” The new rules say:
Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms (“fever, coughing, shortness of breath”) is not allowed to be in school or at school events until a physician clears them to do so. Anyone within 6 feet, for a prolonged period, of someone with COVID-19, or anyone in contact with “secretions” (such as being coughed on) from someone with COVID-19 is also not allowed in school or at school events.
