Superintendent: Masks To Be Optional in Darien Schools Starting Feb 28

Greenwich Doctor Michael Goldstein Announces Run for GOP Nomination for Congress

Latest Report of Check Stolen From Mailbox, Washed and Cashed for Larger Amount

ID Theft From Darien Man Results in Fraudulent Transaction by Phone, Attempt to Cash Check

These Darien Student Swimmers Will Compete in Colleges This Fall, Chelsea Piers Says

Corbin Drive Closes to Vehicle Traffic 8 AM to 2:30 PM, Wednesday, Feb 16

More Reports From Around Town of Catalytic Converters Stolen From Parked Cars

DHS Girls Gymnasts Win 6th Place in County With Best Score of the Season

Noroton Presbyterian Church Member Chris Mead Named the Church’s Executive Director

Porsche Stolen Overnight, Apparently Unlocked and With Keys Inside, Found in North Salem, NY

Check From Another Mailbox in Darien Stolen, Washed, Fraudulently Cashed

Police: Crack Pipes Found in Possession of 63-Year-Old Darien Man

Police: Man Pushed Victim to Ground in Domestic Incident

Online Panel Discussion on Art and Science Education, Thursday Evening, Feb 17

Schools Superintendent: Updates on Masking, Next Year’s Budget, Vax Clinics

Coronavirus 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | February 18, 2022

Fourth District Election 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | February 17, 2022

Thefts from Mailboxes 2022

By David Gurliacci | February 17, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 17, 2022

Chelsea Piers 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | February 16, 2022

Business

By DARIENITE.COM | February 15, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 15, 2022

Sports

By DARIENITE.COM | February 15, 2022

Churches

By DARIENITE.COM | February 14, 2022

Darien Motor Vehicles Stolen 2022

By David Gurliacci | February 13, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 13, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 11, 2022

Darien Domestic Incident 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | February 11, 2022

Art and Science Education

By DARIENITE.COM | February 11, 2022

Coronavirus 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | February 11, 2022

Starting Feb. 28 in Darien schools: masks will become optional for students and staff, lunch practices will return to pre-COVID-19 rules, social distancing won’t be required, masks will still need to be worn on school buses. Those were among the upcoming changes schools Superintendent Alan Adley announced Friday in his regular message to parents and staff. Superintendent’s Friday Message
Here’s the full text of the message, sent out late Friday afternoon:

Feb. 18, 2022

Dear Families & Staff,

Last night the Board of Education convened a special meeting to discuss the transition to local decision making regarding the wearing of masks in schools.

Michael Goldstein U.S. Representative candidate Fourth District

Michael Goldstein of Greenwich, a physician and lawyer, has announced he is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress in the Fourth District, which includes Darien. “I am running to reform healthcare and the wrongs that I have experienced first hand as a physician, which have plagued our country,” Goldstein said in an announcement on his website. Goldstein is an ophthalmologist and a board certified physician for more than 40 years. He founded his own ophthalmology practice decades ago and continues to manage it. Ophthalmologists specialize in treating eye disorders and diseases.

A man who put a check in his own mailbox on Richmond Drive on Jan. 29 told police that it had been cashed for a much larger amount and to somebody he didn’t know, police said. The man called Darien police on Feb. 9, after he saw his bank statement and noticed the discrepancy. Other recent reports of checks stolen from mailboxes in town:

—Check From Another Mailbox in Darien Stolen, Washed, Fraudulently Cashed (Feb.

An officer from a police department in Pennsylvania told a Lake Drive resident that a male tried to cash a fraudulent check using a phony Connecticut identification card “that had all of the victim’s information on it,” Darien police said. The man told Darien police on Feb. 7 that in addition to the call from police in Pennsylvania, his bank told him about a fraudulent phone transaction, Darien police said.

Alexandra Spataro and Eason Jones among Chelsea Piers swimmers to swim in College

Six student athletes from Darien are among the 20 swimmers in the Chelsea Piers aquatics program in Stamford who will be swimming competitively in college this fall, the sports and fitness club announced. — an announcement from Chelsea Piers in Stamford

The swim team began in September 2012 and has grown since then. CP-AC was recognized by USA Swimming as a “Gold Medal” club in 2020 and 2021. The student-athletes who will pursue a career in NCAA athletics next fall include:

—Ryan Roberts (Amherst College)
—Kelly Dolce (Brown University)
—Alexandra “Gracie” Spataro (Gettysburg College)
—Max Scalise (Gettysburg College)
—Kaitlyn Holmes (Brown University)
—Eason Jones (Yale University)

“To have such a large percentage of our senior swimmers be recruited to compete at these world-renowned institutions is a testament to their hard work and dedication,” said Kevin Burton, athletic director of Chelsea Piers Connecticut. “They are true student-athletes and the embodiment of the greater Chelsea Piers athletics community.”

The rest of the 20 swimmers are from Greenwich (eight), New Canaan (two), Rye, New York (two), and one each from South Salem, New York and Westport.

The Darien Police Department announced Tuesday that Corbin Drive, the downtown street where Darien Post Office is located, will be closed to vehicle traffic at the end of the street nearest the Post Road from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 16. The Post Office and businesses on the street can be reached by entering and leaving Corbin Drive from the Old Kings Highway end. The reason: a large amount of planned construction activity. The Corbin District project is particularly active these days on the entire side of the street opposite the Post Office.

Catalytic converters were stolen from four different vehicles at three locations in Darien, police were told during a four-day period last week, from Feb. 7 to 11. Two vans owned by the same business on Noroton Avenue had their converters removed (another pair of catalytic converter thefts happened to a business’s vans at 320 Post Road on Feb. 3). The vans at the Noroton Avenue business had last been driven on Jan.

Julia Decsi FOR FACEBOOK Darien Gymnastics

The Darien Girls Gymnastic Team received its highest total score of the season, 133.85, on Saturday at the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference meet at the Gymnastics and Cheering Academy in Fairfield. — This article was contributed by Holly Russell for the team. “We had the best day we’ve ever had,” said Head Coach Judy Zakim. “It all came together. You can’t ask for better.”

Sophomore Julia Decsi won First Team All FCIAC by placing sixth on bars.

Longtime Darien resident and Noroton Presbyterian Church member Chris Mead has been named NPC’s executive director, a newly created position to oversee and manage finance, administration, and human resources duties of the church. Mead was recently the head of global finance for data and analytics operations of the London Stock Exchange. He had worked for Refinitiv, partly owned by Thompson Reuters until Refinitiv was sold to the London Stock Exchange in January 2021. Since 1991, Mead had worked for Thompson Reuters in various jobs related to finance. Reporting to the chief financial officer, he had responsibilities in finance, management, strategic planning, and operations. “Chris is an immensely talented and personable individual.

A Contentment Island Road resident said a set of keys was left in his 2018 Porsche Cayenne, but he didn’t know if he locked the SUV before it was stolen sometime overnight, Saturday to Sunday, Feb. 5 to 6, police said. According to Darien police:

Surveillance video from a neighbor shows a male looking into vehicles at 1:30 a.m. that Sunday morning. At 2:19 p.m. that day, New York State Police found the sport utility vehicle in North Salem, New York. Darien police detectives are investigating the incident.

Sometime in the last week of January, a check was stolen from a Brookside Road resident’s mailbox, then washed, a larger amount of money written on it and a different payee, then cashed, Darien police said. According to police:

The victim said he put an envelope containing the check in his mailbox on Jan. 26. Then, on Feb. 1, he looked at his bank statement, which showed the check was cashed for a larger amount and made payable to someone he didn’t know.

Officers who were called to assist a 63-year-old man in the Darien Close condominiums off of Old Kings Highway North found crack pipes with him and arrested him, police said. Police gave this additional account, including accusations not proven in court:

While one officer was assisting the man, other officers saw near the man’s feet a broken glass pipe of a type commonly used to smoke crack cocaine. An officer also saw a glass pipe on the dresser of the man’s bedroom. The man was arrested on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and taken to Darien Police Headquarters. He was released on a written promise to appear Feb.

A 53-year-old Darien man got into an argument with another person while they were walking downtown, then pushed that person to the ground, police said. Darien police gave this additional account, including accusations not proven in court:

A witness saw the confrontation and intervened after seeing the victim on the ground, screaming for help. At 10:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20, police were called to the area outside 1077 Post Road, where Scena Wine Bar is located. The victim didn’t report being injured, and police saw no indication of an injury.

Ceramic piece by Gallatin wet lab students

Are art and science two completely different, unrelated areas of learning? Some people may think so, but the researchers, professors and students in the Science Technology Arts + Creativity (STAC) and WetLab programs in New York University’s groundbreaking Gallatin School of Independent Study know that art and science have been intertwined for centuries. — an announcement from the Bruce Museum

On Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022 at 7 p,m,, via Zoom webinar, the Bruce Museum will present The Future of Art/Science: Teaching in the Living Laboratory, a look at how one of America’s premier universities uses student-driven creativity and entrepreneurism as well as a makerspace, workshops, and even the waterfront of Governor’s Island in New York Harbor to explore the latest concepts in immersive art/science learning. Speakers will include three NYU professors (Cyd Cipolla, Ph.D., associate director of science, technology, arts and creativity and administrative director of the Gallatin WetLab; Karen Holmberg, Ph.D., scientific director of the Gallatin WetLab; Eugenia Kisin, Ph.D., artistic director of the Gallatin WetLab).

« August 2022 »

Masking for Darien students and school staff may be over by Feb. 28, as the school District Medical Team has recommended, but the state Legislature and Board of Education will each need to approve the proposal, Superintendent Alan Addley said in his regular Friday message to district parents and staff. Over 99% of students from ages 12 to 17 and staff in their schools have been vaccinated, and 55% of students and staff in elementary schools, Addley wrote. “Making this recommendation is only possible given the success of our mitigation
strategies, our high community vaccination rates […] the sharp decrease in COVID-19 cases; low hospitalization rates; the lack of spread in the schools; and the minimal, if any, serious illnesses,” he said. Addley indicated that even if the mask requirements go, wearing masks would be voluntary, since “some staff and students may need to or want to wear masks.”