Government & Politics
Jayme Stevenson 2019 SOTT

First Selectman Jayme Stevenson’s 2019 State of the Town Address

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A plan to replace the Noroton Heights Train Station is going to the state for approval, the town will take measures to protect and improve its sanitary sewers and the town government hopes to get natural gas service to the next Ox Ridge School building,  First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said Monday in her State of the Town address. Her speech was one of four delivered Monday to the Representative Town Meeting. Stevenson also noted that the Police Department hasn’t assigned an officer to narcotics investigations, although additional civilian dispatchers have been hired, in part to enable the department to do that. Full Text, as Prepared
None of Stevenson’s words were removed here, but paragraph breaks were added, along with sub-headlines, and minor editorial style changes were made. For her full speech, as delivered, see the Darien TV79 video, below. Good evening Mr. Moderator, members of the RTM, fellow elected officials and everyone watching from home on TV79.

Education
Tara Ochman SOTT 2019

Board of Ed Chairperson Tara Ochman’s 2019 State of the Town Address

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The Board of Education and the school district hope to get rid of the portable classroom buildings at schools in town and early reports say the new school psychologists at Darien elementary schools are helpful, Tara Ochman, chairperson of the Board of Education said Monday night. Ochman also said the proposed teacher contract, negotiated between the Board of Education and the Darien teachers union “respects our teachers, and initiated workload changes which will provide the town with both immediate and long term savings.” The contract, which increases the workload of middle school and high school teachers from 4.5 to 5 classes at any one time, increases teacher pay by a total of just over 11 percent over three years. The proposed agreement is expected to go before the Representative Town Meeting in December for a vote in January. The contract would be the biggest part of the town education budget (making up about half of it), and the education budget itself takes up two thirds of town spending.