Van Tasel News Today

Opening Knight Players will perform "Radium Girls" at Ellington High School and at CT Drama Festival Competition

A decision to remove school sponsorship from a student-led event planned for Black History Month has drawn outrage from parents, residents, and activists.

Parents and leaders of the Suffield Race Relations Coalition have brought forth concerns and recommendations about recent racial incidents that occurred within Suffield Public Schools to Suffield Superintendent Timothy Van Tasel and the Suffield Board of Education.

A Suffield teacher is on paid administrative leave after students reported the teacher had used “harmful and highly offensive racial and gender stereotypes in classroom discussion,” according to a letter from the district.

The Suffield public school district is investigating after a student in the district created what school officials said was a racially insensitive Snapchat...

UpdatedTue, Mar 16, 2021 at 8:42 pm ET Replies(7) The Somers Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 Tuesday in favor of an appeal brought by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds. (Tim Jensen/Patch) SOMERS, CT — A marathon hearing by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals, encompassing eight hours of discussion over three sessions, finally ended Tuesday night with the board voting 4-1 to sustain an appeal brought by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds, overturning a decision by the towns zoning en...

Reply A public hearing on an appeal from neighbors of the fairgrounds was continued to next week by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday. (Tim Jensen/Patch) SOMERS, CT — A highly-anticipated public hearing concerning an appeal by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds concerning off-season usage of the property was continued to next week by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals, due to a case of laryngitis on the part of the attorney representing the petitioners. Attorney John Parks, repre...

Replies(5) Some residents of streets abutting the Four Town Fairgrounds are seeking to end off-season rentals of the property, according to documents. (Tim Jensen/Patch) SOMERS, CT — A procedural matter involving affirmation of a longstanding usage agreement for the Four Town Fairgrounds has escalated into a battle between members of the society in charge of the property and residents who own homes neighboring or abutting the grounds. The dispute began last summer, when Zoning Enforcement Off...

SUFFIELD — The Board of Education has announced the appointment of two principals — Gina Olearczyk at A. Ward Spaulding School and Kris Pryce at McAlister Intermediate School — deciding that the women showed exemplary leadership while serving in those roles on an interim basis. Both Olearczyk and Pryce have served as interim principals at their respective schools since July, and school board Chairwoman Susan Mercik-Davis said that the interim period served as proof that both wome...