Dear Westbrook Families,
Welcome back! Today was an amazing and positive start to the new school year! This morning, we welcomed 576 students PK-12 to the start of the new 2024-2025 school year. District-wide, we also welcomed 35 new families to our community and 60 new students to our schools.
Press Release from Dr. Kristina J. Martineau, Westbrook Superintendent of Schools
Westbrook Public Schools is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Westbrook High School (WHS) Hall of Fame Award to honor WHS graduates who have excelled in their careers and serve as role models for the children of Westbrook and future generations of graduates.
This year, the new WHS Hall of Fame Committee reviewed more than 30 nominations from its school and alumni community. After careful consideration, the committee selected two distinguished graduates who are both role models through their success in their chosen careers: Ms. Bernadette Carver (Class of 1977) and Ms. Heather Vogell (Class of 1992). Carver was also selected for her extensive and ongoing commitment to community service in Westbrook.
The 2024 WHS Hall of Fame honorees were recognized by the Westbrook superintendent of schools, Dr. Kristina Martineau, at the WHS Class of 2024 graduation ceremony on June 14.
Bernadette A. (Pagano) Carver—WHS Class of 1977
Ms. Carver began her career with Essex Savings Bank as a high school junior through an internship program. After high school, Carver attended The Stone School of Business in New Haven and completed the accounting program, graduating early with honors. In 1978, she accepted a job with Essex Saving Bank as a teller and has been with the bank for 45 years, holding many positions, including high level leadership and management positions. Currently, she holds the position of vice president, corporate secretary & compliance officer. She was instrumental in implementing the Operations and Lending departments at the bank. While working at the bank, Carver also attended the Connecticut School of Finance and Management and The National School of Banking.
Carver has always been very loyal and involved in her community. Her current involvements include the Bankers Compliance Association of Connecticut, Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce, Exchange Club of Old Saybrook/Westbrook, Westbrook Daisy Dash, Beach Jam for Cancer Patient Care, Shoreline Soup Kitchen, and Connecticut River Museum. Carver has been an active volunteer in the community of Westbrook in many ways, with the Westbrook tree lighting, Westbrook Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and Vista Life Innovations to name just a few. As a result of her loyalty and service to her small town and surrounding areas, she is a pillar in these communities, earning an award from the Community Foundation of Middlesex County as a “Behind the Scenes Unsung Hero.”
Heather Vogell—WHS Class of 1992
Ms. Vogell is an investigative reporter at Pro Publica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Vogell has had a highly successful and award-winning career in journalism. She has exposed abuse at group homes for the developmentally disabled and high schools which push out low achievers to raise their graduation rates. A series she co-authored, “Cheating Our Children,” which examined suspicious test scores in public schools across the nation, was a 2013 finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. She has also received several other prizes.
After attending WHS, Vogell attended Georgetown University, where she received a BA in English. Vogell continued her education and earned two graduate degrees from prestigious programs in her field: an MS degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a second MS degree in public administration from the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice Inspector General program.
Nominations for the 2025 Westbrook Hall of Fame Award will open in the fall of 2024. Honorees will be selected in the spring of 2025 and then be recognized at the WHS Class of 2025 graduation ceremony in June.
Dear Families of Third- and Fourth-Grade Students,
I'm reaching out to notify you that our students in grades 3 and 4 will be participating in Smarter Balanced Assessments over the next two weeks at Daisy.
These standardized assessments are not something that your child needs to prepare for as they are simply a check on instruction that students have been involved in all throughout the school year. We just ask that you help your child to be best prepared by being fully rested; on time to school each morning; and fueled for the day. It's helpful, always, to get a good night's sleep and students will do well to have breakfast--either at home or on arrival at school--each day.
The assessments are scheduled for mornings and there are five sessions (split between Reading and Mathematics) over the next two weeks for each class.
Thanks so much for helping your child to be ready for school--and on time each day--in order to do their best.
Sincerely,
Ruth W. Rose, Principal
Daisy Ingraham School
Nominations and applications are now open for the Westbrook Hall of Fame Award. Westbrook Public Schools is looking to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates as a model for our current and future students. We are proud of our graduates and look forward to sharing and honoring their accomplishments with our community as well as with our graduating Class of 2024 as they consider their own future after graduation and how they will contribute to their profession and community.
Please consider nominating a Westbrook High School alumnus who has excelled in their career, vocation, business, community service, sport, performing arts, or other interests that would serve as a model for our students to aspire to on their own journeys in the future after high school graduation.
Anyone may nominate a Westbrook High School graduate who has graduated at least ten years prior to the nomination. All nominations will be reviewed by the Westbrook High School Knights Hall of Fame Committee. One alumnus will be selected each year and will be publicly recognized at the graduation ceremony at Westbrook High School on Friday, June 14, 2024.
Nominations are made in one of the following ways:
Nominations are due no later than Friday, March 1, 2024, to be considered for June 2024 recognition.
Daisy Students dismiss at 1 pm.
Daisy students dismiss at 1 pm.
Professional Development for Teachers
Art Show...
Our new preschool playground!
Fabulous fresh veggies for lunch.
Using our Code and Go Mouse in the Innovation Station in the Pit.
Pink Day to benefit "Susan G. Komen For the Cure"
Working on our Lego Wall in the Innovation Station in the Pit.
Alyssa Lindquist (Gr. 1); Karis Lagasse (Gr. 3); Abigail Kolstad (Gr. 5 ELA); Laura Furcolo (Gr. 5 Math); Alicia Grendi (Special Education); Christine Koplas (Kitchen Staff); Dr. Christina Davia (Occupational Therapy)
