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Shoppers browse silent auction items at AugustFest to support programming at Hunt Library.
Patrick L. Sullivan
FALLS VILLAGE The Hunt Library’s AugustFest fundraiser on Sunday, Aug. 24 featured bratwurst, live music, a silent auction and a relaxed atmosphere.
Karl Munson and Lou Timolat, sporting aprons and tongs, were already busy in the bratwurst tent as things kicked off at 4 p.m.
Vance Cannon and Friends warmed up with an arrangement of Bob Marley’s “Don’t Worry About a Thing” before the start of the first set proper, with “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay.” Later on they took on the tricky syncopation of Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken.”
An arbitrary sample of the silent auction items included a cooking class at Hillsdale Home Chef; gift cards for Jacobs Garage and Off the Trail Cafe, one acre of organic tick spraying from Nature’s Way, and a beef sampler from KM Cattle Co.
Bill Beebe and Terry Blass sat on a stone bench and observed the crowd. They were asked if it was the “regular guy” bench.
They shook their heads.
Another person approached and inquired if it was the “old fogey” bench.
Nope, that didn’t resonate either. Blass thought about it.
“The Originals Bench. That’s what it is.”
“Yep,” said Beebe.
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Salisbury Band performs at Scoville Library on Saturday, Aug. 23.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — The end of the summer means a concert by the Salisbury Band on the lawn of the Scoville Library.
This happened on Saturday, Aug. 23.
About 50 people turned out, most with folding chairs
Conductor Brian Viets thanked the crowd for coming and reminded everyone that this is the band’s 97th year.
Everyone stood for the National Anthem, and then the band launched into “Invercargill.”
Prior to the concert band members were making their way through the children’s area of the library, which was busy with youngsters reaping the rewards from the summer reading program, to the inner reaches of the library basement, where sheet music, uniforms and assorted instruments such as sousaphones are stored.
Viets thanked the library for the storage and for allowing the band to rehearse in the Wardell room on Monday evenings.
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Back to school in Region One — progress and peril
As high school students in Region One head back to school at the close of a magical summer in Northwest Connecticut, there is much to celebrate from the past year. Housatonic Valley Regional High School will begin the new academic year with the completion of an ambitious capital improvement project that included major upgrades to their auditorium, lunchroom, and tennis facility.Students will also have access to a comprehensive on-site health clinic and they will be greeted by an exciting array of learning opportunities including a new ceramics program and journalism internship opportunities available through a partnership between Housie and The Lakeville Journal. And the school’s Academic Bowl team will start the year as defending champions in several of the state’s competitions.
But make no mistake about it: storm clouds are looming. After half a year of turbulence ushered in by President Trump’s campaign to remake American education, the effects are now hard to miss — even here in our small rural high school. In late spring, Region One Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley informed the Region 1 Board of Education and local town school boards that the federal government was discontinuing a grant to EdAdvance. This $8.7 million grant was canceled because it allegedly violated civil rights laws, promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and undermined student well-being.It enabled 32 schools, mostly in rural areas of Litchfield County, to serve 7,000 students and its cancellation will have palpable results
The loss of any adolescent mental health services in our high school is a gut punch to students. Their mental health needs have only grown in recent years due to the lingering effects of COVID, rising school violence, increasing economic uncertainty, and unrest in higher education. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in five adolescents aged 13–18 experiences a mental health disorder. The Centers for Disease Control reports that nearly one in four adolescents has seriously considered suicide.These problems are particularly acute in rural areas like ours. With the near absence of private mental health providers in this corner of the state, the Trump administration’s rollback of student mental health services amounts to an attack on the health and safety of our entire community.
Unfortunately, replacing this lost federal funding will not be easy. Region One’s costs — many of which the district has little control over — continue to rise. So far, the region has largely succeeded in sparing student-facing programs, asking voters to approve only a 4.5% budget increase for the coming year. This is despite a significant rise in electrical costs, an almost double-digit increase in employee health insurance premiums, and a steep jump in the number of eligible dependents opting into the Region One health plan.
But the chaos coming from Washington extends far beyond budget cuts. A recent Supreme Court ruling allows parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ+ curricula if they believe it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Region One educators will now return to school facing the challenge of how to update and monitor policies in order to comply with this ruling.Such “opt outs” can entail considerable administrative burden to say nothing of their potential impact of various school populations. Most worrisome, these developments come at a time when educators are already wrestling with other critical issues—such as school safety, cellphone use, and artificial intelligence in schools. The confluence of all these challenges ensures that RegionOne school boards and administrators will have a full plate this year as they work to ensure that students continue to have the resources and programs they need to build on the successes of recent years.
The author is a retired historian and clinical social worker in the Northwest Corner.She represents Salisbury on the Region One Board of Education.