Volume 20, Number 21
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, September 12, 2014
Brian Falcone, pictured in June at the Coginchaug Regional High School Class of 2014 graduation, began his first school year as principal at CRHS. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
New principal starts at CRHS By Mark Dionne Town Times
The first day of this school year also marked the first school year at Coginchaug Regional High School for new principal Brian Falcone. Falcone, who began in July after serving since 2010 as principal at Terryville High School, has been walking the halls and stepping into classrooms to meet students. The new principal is part of a wave of administrative turnover in recent years and that change, according to Falcone, will have an impact. “You have a new superintendent, a new athletic director, a fairly new assistant principal, and a new principal ... so with that, there’s going to be some changes that occur based on the vision that we all have to move our schools forward.” In an interview with the Town Times, Falcone said, “We’re going to be evaluating and basically auditing things that have been going on at the high school for a long time. For example, the block schedule has been here for a long time ... There are concerns with regards to consistency in instruction” with the block schedule. CRHS is only slightly larger than Terryville and, according to Falcone, the district’s CORE ethical values were similar to those at his former school. High community and student involvement at CRHS impressed Falcone. “The main thing that attracted me here was the community’s investment in education, in seeing the importance of it.” Falcone stressed public support for the See Falcone / Page 5
Event organizer Lisa Davenport waves the white cowbell she received as a gift before the party. | Photos by Mark Dionne / Town Times
Diners spend ‘An Evening in White’ By Mark Dionne Town Times
An unusual gathering took place in Durham on the evening of Sept. 7. Ticket buyers for the outdoor dinner party, called “An Evening in White,” did not know where they would be going until getting a text message or e-mail at 2 p.m. that afternoon. Like a slow-moving flash mob that focused on eating and drinking instead of dancing, the event came together quickly. In the afternoon, the lot at 281 Main St. in Durham was empty and at 6 p.m. it was filled with tables, chairs, the Jack Riotte and Friends band, and about 250 guests. As instructed, guests wore entirely white. Some women choose simple white outfits or dresses. Others wore elegant white fashions and a few sported
Jack Riotte & Friends played jazz music during the dinner. white feathered boas. Men, a mi“When you look at the color nority in the crowd, were allowed white and see all of these people, to cheat with khaki pants, and many did. See Dinner / Page 6