Board of Ed approves staff changes, sets graduations

FALLS VILLAGE — At the regular monthly meeting of the Region One Board of Education April 7 the board approved the hiring of Liam O’Reilly as summer school principal with a stipend of $7,000.

The Assistant to the Assistant Principal, Katie Wood, has decided to retire. She will be replaced by Theresa Padin, a 13-year veteran of Winchester Public Schools, who will start her position after Memorial Day and will be working alongside Wood to transition into the position at the end of the school year.

The following graduation dates were announced:

Tuesday, June 10: Cornwall Consolidated School, 6:30 p.m.; Sharon Center School, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, June 11: Lee H. Kellogg School, 6 p.m.; North Canaan Elementary School, 6 p.m.

Thursday, June 12: Salisbury Central School, 6:30 p.m.; Kent Center School, 6 p.m.; Housatonic Valley Regional High School Senior Awards, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, June 13: Housatonic Valley Regional High School, 6 p.m.

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State intervenes in sale of Torrington Transfer Station

The entrance to Torrington Transfer Station.

Photo by Jennifer Almquist

TORRINGTON — Municipalities holding out for a public solid waste solution in the Northwest Corner have new hope.

An amendment to House Bill No. 7287, known as the Implementor Bill, signed by Governor Ned Lamont, has put the $3.25 million sale of the Torrington Transfer Station to USA Waste & Recycling on hold.

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Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy
Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.
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In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

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A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

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The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

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