New Principal Approved for Royle School, Interim Principal John Grasso Departs

Tokeneke Aces Health Inspection ‘Retest’ & All Public Schools Now Inspected

Royle Students in ‘Let Me Run’ Complete Their First Race

Royle School Bus Routes: 2015-2016 School Year

Education

By David Gurliacci | May 25, 2016

Education

By David Gurliacci | January 27, 2016

Education

By David Gurliacci | November 28, 2015

Education

By David Gurliacci | August 26, 2015

Royle School’s next principal has been named by the Board of Education: Dean Ketchum, a former elementary and middle school teacher, principal and education official, will take over on July 1 from John Grasso, who was named interim principal in the summer of 2014. Here’s an announcement about Ketchum’s appointment that the school district sent out Wednesday to staff and parents:

Last evening, by a unanimous vote, the Darien Board of Education appointed Dean Ketchum as principal of Royle Elementary School, effective July 1, 2016. Mr. Ketchum graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor of arts in Classics and went on to earn both his master’s in education and administrative certificate. Mr. Ketchum began his career as an elementary teacher at Madison Elementary School in Norman, Oklahoma. After teaching first, third, fourth and fifth grades at Madison for seven years, he moved to the University of Oklahoma, where he served as senior program development specialist at the College of Continuing Education.

Tokeneke School cafeteria received a perfect score of 100 in its most recent inspection on Jan. 22 after the school received an uncharacteristic “Poor” rating on Jan. 12, when a health inspector found food not being kept at the proper temperatures. Health Director David Knauf later said an item of equipment wasn’t keeping food at the right temperature, so the equipment was relpaced. Darienite.com previously reported on that inspection:

“Hamburgers and tater tots weren’t hot enough at the Tokeneke School cafeteria on Tuesday when a Darien Health Department sanitarian showed up for an inspection, according to the department.

The boys from Let Me Run completed their first race on Sunday, Nov. 22 at Waveny Park in New Canaan. ____________

— An announcement from the Royle School Web page

____________

The boys ran 5Ks at the New Canaan Turkey Trot, completing a grassy and hilly course. Congratulations to:

5th graders

Alex Baliotti and Ian Nicholson

4th graders

Reid Hanson, Teddy Karl, Domenick Zawacki, Jack Ritchie, Briggs McGuckin, Jack Silsby, Sebastian Ocampo, Luke Zerbe and Lyosha Willcox. Many thanks to our Royle moms who supported the team as well, Shannon Silsby, Amy Zerbe, Kathleen Willcox and Deb Ritchie.

« August 2022 »

Update 5:33 p.m., Monday:

The school district has made some changes to the bus route schedules by adding back some stops that had been removed in a new scheduling system. Superintendent of Schools Dan Brenner says the changes are “very limited.” The school district website will have updated information, he said, although as of this point the information on changes to bus route schedules is difficult to find on the website. (We just looked, and we couldn’t find it.) The information should be easier to find starting Tuesday, Brenner said. Original article:

Here’s the 2015-2016 Royle School bus route schedule from the school district:

“2015-2016 Route times are estimated and will vary particularly in the beginning of the school year, during inclement weather and traffic congestion on I-95.”