Nothing like walking into a news story

By Patricia Villers
Register Staff

    I’m torn about taking a stroll on the Ansonia Riverwalk today, even though it’s a sunny and springlike afternoon.
    That’s because shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, when I was finished with my work, my daughter and I decided it was time to check out what the new Riverwalk has to offer, in the way of 1) exercise and 2) photo ops.
    We headed down the hill from our Ansonia Hilltop home, only to get in the middle of a traffic tie-up on the bridge that carries Division Street over the Naugatuck River.
    We heard sirens and saw flashing lights ahead.
    It turned out that a fire had just been reported at the Taco Bell at 205 Division St., just a few yards from where we were stopped on the bridge.
    We went past the scene to the driveway leading into the Stop and Shop parking lot and parked. We walked quickly over to the Taco Bell area where volunteer firefighters from Ansonia and Derby were rushing and where firetrucks and ambulances from both cities were parked.
    Talk about being in the right place at the right time. As luck would have it, I had my camera with me, since I had planned to take photos of the vistas along the river to post here.
    I called a co-worker to tell her what was going on, and snapped some photos.
    A few minutes later I spoke with another colleague and dictated a brief story for the Register’s Web site.
    It could only be described as a deja vu experience for me, since only days before I had dictated a story for the Web site to the same colleague from the scene of a blaze at a six-family house at 92-94 Olivia St., Derby.
    In that fire, an Ansonia man rescued an elderly tenant.
    In this fire, the restaurant’s employees and customers evacuated unharmed.
    I am still thinking about going to photograph some river vistas this afternoon; guess I’ll just keep my fingers and toes crossed that all is quiet.

Derby School Superintendent Stephen Tracy resigns

By Phyllis Swebilius
Register Staff
DERBY — Superintendent of Schools Stephen Tracy resigned Monday to take a job with the state Department of Children and Families, Board of Education Chairman Ken Marcucio said this morning.
Tracy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Tracy gave Marcucio a letter telling of his resignation as of July 1 after an unrelated meeting with Mayor Anthony Staffieri.
Tracy will be superintendent of Unified School District 2.
Marcucio said Tracy’s departure was not a surprise. “We knew that he was looking in other places, it was just a matter of time.”
He said Tracy’s new job is “a real good fit for him,” as he likes to work with underprivileged children.
Marcucio praised Tracy’s work in the system. He said Tracy and the board “all had vision of getting our students to a higher level of achievement.”


Read the full story here.

Upgrade to Seymour's Chatfield School ends 1st stage (video)

Paul E. Chatfield School in Seymour is being renovated and has some new construction. The gymnasium is part of the new construction and today was the first day children, including third-graders Viktoria Biblekaj, left, and Kenneth Dong, right, could use the new facility. Mara Lavitt/Regiuster

 
By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
Register Correspondent
SEYMOUR — A major milestone was reached at Chatfield School Monday: the end of the new construction phase of the $32.5 million upgrade of the elementary school.
A sprawling new gymnasium, more than twice the size of the old one, and a sleek, new wing for administrative offices, nurses suite and conference room, made its debut after about a year of construction.
“I am literally speechless,” said Principal Dave Olechna, standing inside the gym and admiring the regulation-size basketball court and six hoops, gleaming hardwood floor and the school’s blue-and-gold color scheme throughout.


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Firefighters douse blaze at Taco Bell in Ansonia

 

Ansonia and Derby firefighters battle fire Monday at Taco Bell in Ansonia. Patricia Villers/Register

By Patricia Villers
Register Staff
ANSONIA — City and Derby firefighters doused a late-afternoon blaze Monday at Taco Bell, 205 Division St.
Six employees and five or six customers were in the eatery at the time, but no injuries were reported.
Manager Wayne Wyman said an off-duty firefighter saw smoke by the front door and alerted the staff. He said the fire started near a utility area in the rear of the building.
The call came in at 5:07 p.m., authorities said. Shortly before 6, firefighters were working on a hole in the roof, there were no flames and the smoke was gone.
Ansonia Fire Chief Ron Burgess said when firefighters arrived on scene “there was heavy smoke coming from the back” of the restaurant. He said everyone in the building had already evacuated.
It appeared the fire started “inside the building in the back service entrance,” Burgess said. He said Fire Marshal Ralph Tingley will conduct an investigation to determine the cause.
A Naugatuck Valley Health District official was on scene, Burgess said, “to make sure the food end of it is disposed of” properly.
He said about 50 firefighters from Ansonia and Derby responded to the call.Seymour firefighters were covering at Ansonia’s Fountain Hose Company firehouse, Burgess said.
 Responding to the alarm were the city’s Webster Hose Hook and Ladder Company 3, and Eagle Hose Hook and Ladder Company 6; Storm Engine Company and Hotchkiss Hose Company, both from Derby; and Ansonia Rescue Medical Services.

Gov. Malloy to discuss education in Ansonia Thursday

By Register Staff
HARTFORD — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be stopping in Ansonia to discuss his education overhaul proposals.
Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman will meet with parents, teachers and others during a town hall-style meeting Thursday night at Ansonia High School. It’s the governor’s 10th stop on a statewide tour promoting his education proposals.
Malloy is pushing an education reform package this legislative session that includes expanding access to early childhood education, changing teacher tenure and closing the state’s achievement gap.
Large crowds have turned out to discuss the governor’s proposals and their effects at previous meetings.
Malloy’s office says the governor will continue to tour the state on the issue until the General Assembly passes legislation that addresses his education proposals.

Nearly $2.5M in funding to address home-hazard issues in Naugatuck Valley

By Phyllis Swebilius
Register Staff
SEYMOUR — Residents in the six towns served by the Naugatuck Valley Health District will soon be able to get help with handling lead and other household hazards.
The agency was awarded $2.48 million by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Our goal is to improve 180 housing units, either single-family or multifamily,” said Cindy Vitone, outreach and education coordinator for NVHD.
Of that, $2.3 million is for lead abatement and $180,000 is for the district’s Healthy Homes Initiative, which targets environmental hazards that hurt children, Vitone said.

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Feds to require students to buy fruit, vegetables with school cafeteria lunches

By Brian McCready
Milford Bureau Chief
Beginning next school year, students across the country may be in for a shock when they purchase their lunch in the cafeteria.
In an effort to fight childhood obesity and diabetes, the federal government is requiring students of all ages who buy school lunch to purchase  at least one serving of fresh fruit or vegetable. Even if they toss the produce into the garbage.
Fresh fruit and vegetable portions will double next year. “Some students don’t take one now, but they will have to,” Eileen Faustich, Milford’s food services director, said Friday. “We can’t let a child go by the cashier without a fruit or vegetable on their tray.”
There’s more, a lot more, in the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.
Next year, students can buy only nonfat flavored milk or 1 percent white milk. Half of the grains must be “whole” next year.
In 2013-14, all products must be whole grain. School cafeterias must offer green and orange leafy vegetables, and drastically reduce sodium use over the next three years. Trans-fats are banned.
If a student refuses to take the fruit or vegetable, the cafeteria employees will have to charge an a la carte fee, which typically is higher because the lunch will not be reimbursable under federal guidelines.

Read the full story here.