Fitch Academy May Be Tardy in Moving Across the Parking Lot from Library to Thorndal Circle Building

Proposed New Site for Fitch Academy: Office Building Across Post Rd from Cemetery

Brenner: Fitch Academy, with 11 Students, Already Saving Town $150K to $175K

How Darien’s New Fitch Academy, an Alternative High School, Is Doing

Board of Ed OKs $98M Budget with 4.5% Increase (2.34% from Loss of State Aid)

Education

By David Gurliacci | July 26, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | February 15, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | October 11, 2017

Education

By David Gurliacci | October 11, 2017

Education

By David Gurliacci | February 15, 2017

Permit application map Thorndal Fitch Academy

Fitch Academy is expected to open for the new school year not even a block away from Darien Library, although the alternative high school program may be at the library for a little while after school starts, a school district officials say. The building, 6 Thorndal Circle, is the one everyone sees when they park in the library parking lot, and students in the program will be dropped off by a bus in the same parking lot as last year — in fact, they’ll have a shorter walk to their new classrooms, which will be on the second floor in the part of the building nearest Darien Police Headquarters, Michael Lynch, the school district’s director of facilities, said Tuesday to the Planning and Zoning Commission. “We anticipate being in that building by the opening of school,” Acting Superintendent Elliott Landon told the Board of Education a little earlier on Tuesday night. “But if not, we will be permitted to stay in the library until it is ready, and then we’re confident that that will be a short time after the opening of school.” Darien Library had hosted the school program in its Teen Library room for the first school year, but wanted to get the room back, permanently, when the school year ended in June.

With the agreement to house Fitch Academy at Darien Library expiring at the end of the school year, the school district has an agreement with the owner of a commercial building at 1540 Post Road to move the program there, as long as the Planning and Zoning Commission agrees. A school district official, Facilities Director Michael Lynch, appeared before the P&Z on Tuesday as the first step in getting approval. The P&Z voted unanimously to let the proposal for use of part of the building proceed. In March, the district plans to provide a detailed plan for use of the space, where as many as 30 high school students would spend their school day.

Fitch Academy is an alternative program for high schoolers who find it emotionally difficult to attend regular school — a problem that can lead to absences, district officials have said.

With 11 high school students from town getting taught in the Fitch Academy program of Darien Public Schools, the school district is saving between $150,000 and $175,000, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Brenner told the Board of Education on Tuesday. Brenner made the point during a presentation about Fitch Academy, which started this school year. The program was created for those students at Darien High School who have emotional problems — often anxiety and depression — that cause them to avoid regular attendance at the high school. Often these same students are either educated at home with tutors provided by the school district, or they go to other schools outside of town, where their special needs can be met. The program, which takes place largely in one room and has a very low student-to-teacher ratio with a lot of individual attention, has been getting the students to come to classes more often.

Fitch Academy, an alternative high school for students who have trouble attending regular school, is successfully teaching kids and getting them to come to class, said a teacher and a school psychologist in the program and the superintendent of schools. The teacher and psychologist gave a presentation Tuesday to the Board of Education about the new program, which started with the current school year, and Schools Superintendent Dan Brenner also discussed it with the board. As of Tuesday night, 11 students are in the program, and a 12th was expected to be selected Wednesday from among two candidates, the board was told. The program operates from a room in the basement of Darien Library. Anxiety and depression are some of the students biggest challenges, said Eileen Whalen, a school psychologist from Darien High School who is involve in the program.

« August 2022 »

The Darien Board of Education approved a 2017-2018 budget of 98,073,175, which represents a 4.5 percent increase over the budget passed last year. The removal of about $2.1 million in state aid accounts for a 2.34 percent increase in the burden on taxpayers, and school district spending would also increase 2.16 percent. Working until just past midnight, the board voted on the budget after a 4 1/2 hour public meeting (with a half-hour executive session before that). The board supported the funding of two special education department chairs instead of the one originally proposed by Superintendent Dan Brenner. One would supervise special education in the high school, the other in Middlesex Middle School.