Volume 20, Number 21
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, October 16, 2015
Korn closing presented to the public By Mark Dionne Town Times
Approximately 70 members of the public joined multiple school and town officials to listen to Superintendent of Schools Kathryn Veronesi and the Board of Education’s Utilization Committee’s presentation about closing Korn Elementary School after the 2015-16 school year. Called a “dialogue” by BOE Chair Kerrie Flanagan, the Oct. 6 meeting was divided between the presentation and a question and answer session. The presentation was a run up to the BOE’s Wednesday, Oct. 14 meeting at John Lyman, scheduled to include a vote on closing Korn, and part of the BOE’s public outreach, which also includes a FAQ document, available on the district’s web site, www.rsd13ct.org. School administrators detailed the current and projected declining enrollment which led to the possibility of closing schools, but also pushed the idea that reconfiguring the students in fewer schools would be an improvement for the students. Utilization Committee Chair Bob Fulton, who recently retired from the board, said he initially approached the situation as an opportuSee Korn / Page 2
Middlefield’s Old North Burying Ground makes an unusual backdrop for the humdrum activity of Corrado Nane’s lawn mowing. | Photos by Mark Dionne / Town Times
‘Day of Service’ cleans up Middlefield cemetery By Mark Dionne Town Times
Few things feel more like October than spending time in an almost 300-year-old New England cemetery. But the group gathered in Middlefield’s Old North Burying Ground on Oct. 11 were not there to get in the Halloween spirit, they were members of the Wadsworth Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution working to clean up the cemetery, which dates back to about 1735. The project was selected after DAR member Bryna O’Sullivan’s genealogy research brought her to the cemetery where she observed a state of neglect.
A sea of grass hides many of the tombstones and in some cases small trees had started to grow next to the grave markers. The DAR chapter had been looking for a project to recognize the 125th anniversary of the national organization, Oct. 11, with what they called a Day of Service. Wadsworth chapter Regent Marion Driscoll and Vice-Regent Ellen Halstedt took one look at the cemetery and decided cleaning it up was a perfect way for the organization to serve its community and recognize its mission. “It’s just a mess,” said Halstedt, looking over the Debbie Barisano of Middletown uses a cane and a rake to help herself down a hill during the Daughters of the See Service / Page 17 American Revolution’s Day of Service.