The feeling might not be mutual – School is ready for children to return

NORTH CANAAN — A pretty much status quo beginning to the new school year can be expected when North Canaan Elementary School (NCES) students return on Aug. 31.

The same faces will greet them in their classrooms; no new teachers have been hired. Some fresh paint and a meticulously cleaned building, desks and chairs will be about the extent of upgrades that can be expected on that first day back. The anticipation of a new year — with new goals to strive for — will have to be excitement enough.

Principal Rosemary Keilty reported that the final phase of an extensive basement waterproofing was completed earlier this month.

“There won’t be anything for students to notice, as far as that goes,� she said, “but we are happy to have it done. When the heating system conversion was done last year, the unused end of the basement was found to be very wet. The liner was really just a vapor barrier. What we have now is real waterproofing — and peace of mind that we won’t be faced with any mold problems.�

The computer network was changed over the summer. For students, all that means is a new login screen will pop up.

“But they adapt to that very quickly,� Keilty said. “After a few days, they won’t even notice.�

Families are reminded to check an upcoming Lakeville Journal for bus routes. Pick-up and drop-off times, and locations can change from year to year. The reduction from six to five school buses for the coming year, in response to a drop in enrollment at NCES, means there will be notable route changes as well.

As a reminder to parents, the board of education decided earlier this year to ease up a restriction as to who may ride buses. A policy that requires students in third through eighth grades, who live within one mile of the school, to walk to school remains in place. In the past, requests for exemptions to the policy were granted only when a hardship existed. There was often a question of whether or not there was room on a particular bus.

Now, at the urging of the PTO, and with plenty of extra bus seats, requests for any of those children to be picked up will be automatically honored.

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