By Shirley Salemy Meyer

Im an avid painter. Fine art, such as peonies rendered in watercolors or portraits captured by oil, is not my forte. I favor the practical arts. Each year, in late spring and early summer, I paint something a room, a radiator, a patio chair, a window seat in my century-old house. In a week or a weekend, I see a dramatic change.

The notion of change is often thought of as difficult changing jobs can be laborious, changing routines can be disconcerting, even frightening. But change can also be transformative. I approached this years painting season, a time when COVID-19 forced me to change my routines and added layers of worry about my elderly parents in quarantine and my teenage children in remote learning, with a profound need for something new. The slowness of rolling a fresh paint color along nine-foot-high walls, of brushing another layer of semigloss onto wide, decorative wood moldings, allowed contemplation during this disquieting time, a stocktaking of present-day problems and future possibilities.

During my weeks of isolation in Essex County in the midst of the dangerous pandemic, sobering protests urging us to acknowledge and fight racial injustice, and stubborn national leadership one project led to the next. I painted the attic, the mudroom and two bathrooms.

Painting is a methodical, meditative process. I use a roller to cover broad areas of the walls, and then carefully drag my brush along the narrow spaces that the roller is unable to reach. I dont use tape to protect the window and door casings, the crown and baseboard moldings, when I cut in. Instead, I rely on my steady hand and a sharply angled brush. My body leans into the wall, nearly hugging it, as I pull the brush along the edge of the molding to get a clean line. The result of this slow, intimate work is a new look.

Sometimes, change can cause harm. The baseboard moldings are a mess, scuffed up by kids shoes and toys, and contain sections that are wavy and chipped. But lead paint is present amid the layers of paint. Ill never risk sanding the molding to attain a smooth finish when lead paint dust can be so damaging to our health. I can live with the moldings flaws.

But most change is a mark of progress. My drop cloths are a historical record of change in the house: old sheets with dump trucks or bright green polka dots, discolored shower curtains and plastic tablecloths splattered with glitter glue. After each painting project, I wash them all, then store them in a basement room where I keep supplies. The room is filled with old gallons of paint and quarts of colors I tested in various rooms. I recently cleaned out the cans that I will never need again: an electric blue and lime green that were on the walls of the girls room a decade ago; a soft blue that adorned the baby room the bedroom with the crib and changing table that two of my kids cycled into as infants and out of as toddlers. My youngest remained there a twin bed replaced the crib and the changing table became a bookcase and now three of its walls are painted white, the fourth a brick red.

The dining room has been three different colors in 19 years: golden yellow, off-white, and now a saturated, smoky blue. The color of the living room has changed from gold to beige to taupe during that same time period. The most dramatic makeover during my current painting season was in the mudroom, with the walls changing from fiery orange to a serene blue-green hue.

Each time Ive painted a room, Ive gained a new understanding, a new way of looking at the house and my environment. I never realized the usefulness of a bedroom window seat with storage until I painted it. I didnt appreciate the intricacy of the balusters in the attic until I painstakingly brushed them with paint. That gorgeous new color in the mudroom, which toggles between blue and green depending on the time of day, opened my eyes to how much sunshine enters the room.

Right now, we all would benefit from such a new perspective a shake-up in our thinking, a revitalization in our own lives and a much-needed boost to the collective well-being of the country. If only it came as easily as a few fresh coats of paint on imperfect walls.

Shirley Salemy Meyer, a Maplewood resident, is a part-time lecturer in the Writing Program at Rutgers-New Brunswick.

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Painting is slow, meditative and a way to bring change | Opinion - NJ.com

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The main stained-glass windows at St John's Anglican Church in Reid have served as a reminder to the church's parishioners of the story of John the Baptist for nearly 150 years, but time can take its toll on the delicate assembled panels of glass. Now, a $10,000 heritage grant from the ACT government will see the church develop a conservation plan for the building's windows. The church's rector, Father Paul Black, said no conservation work had been done on the windows for 25 years, and the church did not know what condition the windows were in. Stained-glass window experts from Brisbane will be brought in to assess their condition and make a plan to best care for them. Father Black said he and the parishioners hoped the windows were in good order and little needed to be done to maintain them well into the future. He said the church's heritage was part of its attraction to its parishioners, who were drawn from a wide social circle. "There are a lot of people right across the generations who are attracted to a sense of history: a church that actually looks like a church rather than an auditorium, and so on and so forth," Father Black said. Apart from the main windows, the church has stained-glass placed in memory of members of the Campbell family, some of the earliest settlers on the Limestone Plains. Two small windows composed of fragments collected from ruined churches on the First World War Somme battlefields in France by Chaplain F.G. Ward were installed in June 1929. Last year, the church, which predates the establishment of Canberra by more than 70 years, replaced its shingle roof with Welsh slate, raising $360,000 to complete the project. Father Black said when the original wood shingle roof came to be replaced in 1960, the new wonder material chosen was asbestos. Although the church was spared from the January hailstorm, which lashed Canberra in a band from west to east wreaking havoc on many of the city's heritage buildings, Father Black said it was a difficult church to maintain. Father Black, who has been rector at the church for more than a decade, said there was a lot of community support for the church as a piece of Canberra's history. "This precinct is wider than say Christianity. It's to do with who we are as a Canberra community," he said. The coronavirus pandemic has meant the church's services have shifted to accommodate more people. It can comfortably fit 120 people normally, but is presently limited to 40 people. On Saturday, the first wedding since March was set to be held in the church. "It's very difficult to disinfect historic pews and all those things," Father Black said. Other projects to receive grants include more than $11,000 to help conserve murals at the Free Serbian Orthodox Church St George in Forrest and nearly $30,000 for conservation works at Cuppacumbalong Homestead near Tharwa. Expanded audio and augmented reality experiences will also receive heritage funding. Grants will be made to individuals, schools and local historical and residents' societies. More than $370,000 will be awarded under the scheme in 2020-21. Heritage Minister Mick Gentleman said the grants would help support new tours, signage and digitisation projects, as well as conservation work in private, heritage-registered homes. "All the projects celebrate Canberra's wonderful heritage and will help preserve our local history for future generations," Mr Gentleman said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc7c3cu7aullv1l98x8f47.jpg/r6_192_4100_2505_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

The main stained-glass windows at St John's Anglican Church in Reid have served as a reminder to the church's parishioners of the story of John the Baptist for nearly 150 years, but time can take its toll on the delicate assembled panels of glass.

Now, a $10,000 heritage grant from the ACT government will see the church develop a conservation plan for the building's windows.

The church's rector, Father Paul Black, said no conservation work had been done on the windows for 25 years, and the church did not know what condition the windows were in.

Stained-glass window experts from Brisbane will be brought in to assess their condition and make a plan to best care for them.

Father Black said he and the parishioners hoped the windows were in good order and little needed to be done to maintain them well into the future.

A stained-glass window at St John's in Reid. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

He said the church's heritage was part of its attraction to its parishioners, who were drawn from a wide social circle.

"There are a lot of people right across the generations who are attracted to a sense of history: a church that actually looks like a church rather than an auditorium, and so on and so forth," Father Black said.

Apart from the main windows, the church has stained-glass placed in memory of members of the Campbell family, some of the earliest settlers on the Limestone Plains.

Two small windows composed of fragments collected from ruined churches on the First World War Somme battlefields in France by Chaplain F.G. Ward were installed in June 1929.

Last year, the church, which predates the establishment of Canberra by more than 70 years, replaced its shingle roof with Welsh slate, raising $360,000 to complete the project.

Father Black said when the original wood shingle roof came to be replaced in 1960, the new wonder material chosen was asbestos.

Although the church was spared from the January hailstorm, which lashed Canberra in a band from west to east wreaking havoc on many of the city's heritage buildings, Father Black said it was a difficult church to maintain.

Father Black, who has been rector at the church for more than a decade, said there was a lot of community support for the church as a piece of Canberra's history.

"This precinct is wider than say Christianity. It's to do with who we are as a Canberra community," he said.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant the church's services have shifted to accommodate more people. It can comfortably fit 120 people normally, but is presently limited to 40 people. On Saturday, the first wedding since March was set to be held in the church.

"It's very difficult to disinfect historic pews and all those things," Father Black said.

A stained-glass window at St John's in Reid. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

Other projects to receive grants include more than $11,000 to help conserve murals at the Free Serbian Orthodox Church St George in Forrest and nearly $30,000 for conservation works at Cuppacumbalong Homestead near Tharwa.

Expanded audio and augmented reality experiences will also receive heritage funding. Grants will be made to individuals, schools and local historical and residents' societies.

More than $370,000 will be awarded under the scheme in 2020-21.

Heritage Minister Mick Gentleman said the grants would help support new tours, signage and digitisation projects, as well as conservation work in private, heritage-registered homes.

"All the projects celebrate Canberra's wonderful heritage and will help preserve our local history for future generations," Mr Gentleman said.

Read more:
St John's at Reid will receive heritage grant to help maintain stained-glass windows - The Canberra Times

Bassem Mroue, Associated Press

Beirut residents determined to save heritage lost to blast

BEIRUT (AP) For the past decade, art collector Nabil Debs has been working on turning his 19th century ancestral home in a historic neighborhood of Beirut to a hotel and art gallery. He planned to open it to the public in mid-August.

Within seconds, his lifelong dream came crashing down, along with the two-story buildings stone facade and front balcony as a massive explosion tore through Beirut, shearing off facades, blasting holes in buildings, doors, stones and shattering glass across the capital.

The Aug. 4 blast resulting from nearly 3,000 tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrates igniting at the port of Beirut killed more than 180 people and wounded nearly 6,000. It also damaged thousands of buildings, including dozens of charming Ottoman and French mandate-era structures which had been among the few survivors of a years-old construction frenzy replacing traditional houses with modern buildings. They include old homes, restaurants, museums and churches.

In the streets of two Beirut historic neighborhoods, Gemmayzeh and Mar Mikhael, workers are erecting scaffolding to support buildings that have stood for more than a century - now at risk of collapse.

Among them is the house of Debs, who says he is more determined to go ahead with his project, called Arthaus, that consists of 25 rooms. Days after the explosion, after hed recovered from the shock and workers started renovation works. Now he plans the inauguration for mid-September.

We have been working on this project for the last 10 years. For us it is a labor of love, said Debs, standing in a yard between his ancestral red-brick house, which was built in 1860, and another family home built in 1780. We love the project, we love Beirut and we love Lebanon and thats what we are.

The day of the blast, Debs was at the house. He stepped outside into the backyard with a friend who wanted to smoke a cigarette. They were lucky. Had they gone to the front, the whole facade would have fallen on them. They miraculously escaped without a scratch.

It was a horror story, Debs said.

He estimates his losses to be at least $250,000 and could reach $1.5 million, as some art pieces including sculptures were damaged.

Naji Raji, an activist and spokesman for Save Beirut Heritage, said the blast damaged more than 600 historic buildings in Beirut, of which about 40 are at risk of collapse. He said out of the 40 buildings, work has begun to support 17 of them. Raji said some estimates put the cost of renovating old buildings at about $300 million.

The renovation work is being carried out by the Beirut Heritage Initiative, a coalition that includes among others the U.N. culture agency UNESCO, the French embassy and the architects syndicate, Raji said. The state is largely absent, apart from producing licenses for work.

Many of the buildings destroyed in the blast were proud holdouts. Since the end of the 15-year civil war in 1990, many old buildings have been demolished and replaced by modern high rises, as speculators stepped in to make fortunes. Since the blast occurred there have been reports of middlemen scouting destroyed neighborhoods and making offers to buy old buildings.

That appears to have provoked a determination by owners to save their buildings.

A giant banner placed on a damaged historic building reads in Arabic and English: We are staying. Another banner hanged on a street in Gemmayzeh reads: Our history is not for sale.

National heritage should be protected. It is very important heritage for the identity of the country, UNESCOs chief Audrey Azoulay told journalists in Beirut on Thursday. She added that UNESCO launched a campaign titled Li Beirut, or for Beirut, and called on states, the private sector and individuals to donate money.

She called for preserving the historic districts of Beirut through laws that prevent selling buildings by taking advantage of weak owners.

Earlier this month, caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni issued a decree preventing the sale of any historic building without permission from the Culture Ministry, a move that aims to prevent exploitation.

In Gemmayzeh, Aida Qazoun, 80, moved around her four-room apartment on the ground floor of a century-old three-story building as workers fixed broken windows and cemented holes in the walls.

She returned from her sons home in the mountains, where she moved for two weeks after the blast along with her daughter who suffered an arm injury from flying glass and who also returned home.

I got married and moved into this apartment 60 years ago. I will stay here, said Qazoun as she prepared a pot of Arabic coffee for the workers to take a rest during a hot and humid summer day.

Read more:
Beirut residents determined to save heritage lost to blast - The Herald Review

After looters crashed through his floor-to-ceiling windows and stole $1 million worth of booze in May, Chicago-Lake Liquors owner John Wolf wanted to protect himself from a repeat occurrence.

Like property owners throughout the world, he wanted to install security shutters on the outside of his building. The investment would not only prevent rioters from entering his store, it would protect his windows which cost $50,000 to replace.

But Wolf ran into a big obstacle: The city of Minneapolis has barred security shutters on building exteriors since 2004.

Unlike St. Paul, which allows external shutters as long as owners request a permit, Minneapolis limits security shutters to the inside of a property, leaving windows vulnerable to attack. In a report justifying the rule change, Minneapolis officials argued that external shutters "cause visual blight" and create the impression that an area is "unsafe" and "troublesome."

But in the wake of the riots, when police failed to prevent widespread looting and damage to more than 1,500 businesses in the Twin Cities, property owners said they can no longer count on the city to protect their property.

"Times have changed," Wolf said. "I am going to spend millions of dollars to bring my business back, and I don't want to buy 20 window panes and have them broken the first day. Property owners should have options on how to protect themselves."

Wolf is one of many small-business owners who have taken a sudden interest in security. At QMI, an Illinois company that bills itself as the largest provider of security shutters in the U.S., orders have doubled since this spring, when riots broke out across the country in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Tom Miller, QMI's vice president of marketing, said the company is hearing from restaurants and mom-and-pop stores that never expressed an interest in shutters before.

"It's nationwide, and it's impacting the whole industry," Miller said. "We have more business than we can handle."

Miller said Minneapolis is one of the few big cities that ban external shutters, noting the shutters are widespread in Europe and many major American cities, including New York. "It is usually the landlord that restricts their use rather than the cities," Miller said.

Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins, who represents many of the businesses destroyed in the riots, said any property owner who wants external shutters can seek a variance from the city. She said the city would show "flexibility" regarding the rule.

"In general, I think people should be able to protect their property," Jenkins said.

Since Minneapolis put the rule into effect 16 years ago, just one business owner has sought permission for external shutters, city records show. The property owner said he needed the shutters to protect his retail shop, which had been burglarized several times after criminals broke in through the windows. The request was denied.

"While someone is authorized to file a variance, it is challenging to meet the legal findings that are necessary to grant a variance from this type of provision," said Sarah McKenzie, a spokeswoman for the city.

Quality Coaches owner Mark Brandow, who wants to install shutters on his car-repair shop on W. 38th Street, said Minneapolis officials told him his property wasn't "eligible" for a variance when he tried to file the paperwork in July.

McKenzie acknowledged the "miscommunication" in an e-mailed response to questions. "We apologize for the error," she said.

Brandow said he is glad city officials will now let him make his case because he was prepared to install a set of interior shutters for about $25,000. Brandow said even though his business wasn't damaged in the riots he is concerned that another round of rioting could break out if one of the police officers charged in Floyd's death is acquitted.

"I have never felt so vulnerable," said Brandow, whose shop is two blocks from another car-repair business that was destroyed in the May riots.

Brandow has been fixing imported sports cars and other vehicles in south Minneapolis since 1975. Though his shop was burglarized once, about 10 years ago, Brandow said he didn't consider barricading his windows until this year. Now in his 70s, Brandow said he needs to protect his business, valued at $860,000, because he can't afford to rebuild and won't be able to retire if his shop is wrecked.

In 1992, Brandow received an award from the American Institute of Architects for rehabilitating a historic building. But the property now looks like an "orphanage in distress," he said, because he has not removed the plywood he used to protect his windows during the riots as a protest to the city's stance on shutters. The boards are covered with graffiti.

"People in the neighborhood have asked me to take the boards off because it is ugly," Brandow said. "But I don't need to be pretty. I'm going to leave it ugly until I get some satisfaction."

Some business owners said they can't wait for the city to act on a variance request, so they have moved ahead with other forms of protection. Last week, Wolf traveled to Broadway Liquor Outlet in north Minneapolis to inspect a new system installed by store owner Dean Rose, who spent $12,000 for metal gates that sit inside his giant windows.

Though the gates won't protect the glass, they are designed to keep intruders out, Rose said.

Wolf was not impressed. "How long would it take to get through here? Two minutes?" he asked, as general manager Travis Smith showed him around the store.

Smith agreed that anyone with bolt cutters could probably make short work of the barricade, but he said it was the best the store could do.

"I didn't have much choice," said Rose, who reopened his store in July. "I know there is an ordinance against shutters, and I couldn't wait."

Rose, who estimates he lost more than $500,000 when his store was looted during the riots this year, said he spent about $30,000 to replace his 14 window panels. He said he is preparing to petition the city for a rule change that would allow many business owners to install external shutters.

"I think there is a way you can make an aesthetically pleasing security barrier that doesn't give a derogatory impression to somebody," Rose said. "The reality is, certain businesses needed to be protected because they are hot spots that people go to loot because of what's inside."

Jenkins said she is willing to consider changing the rule at the City Council.

"New York has metal shutters that come down at night, and it really does look like a fortress, so I think there were some valid reasons for instituting that ordinance," Jenkins said. "But everything is subject to change. So I would be open to looking at it given the new realities we are in."

See more here:
Minneapolis businesses fight ban on exterior shutters owners wanting to protect their windows after riots face obstacle - Minneapolis Star Tribune

We reported a month ago that Microsoft appeared to be showing off a new version of the Windows 10 Start Menu with rounded corners which appeared to be based on the latest versions of Fluent Design.

Now WindowsLatest may have an explanation of what we were seeing, with new references to WinUI showing up on Windows 10.

Specifically, a scan of Microsoft Program Database (PDB) files in Windows 10 Build 20197, reveals:

WinUI is a user interface layer that contains modern controls and styles for building Windows apps. As the native UI layer in Windows, it embodies Fluent Design, giving each Windows app the polished feel that customers expect.

WinUI 3 is the next version of the WinUI framework, shipping later this year. It dramatically expands WinUI into a full UX framework, making WinUI available for all types of Windows apps from Win32 to UWP (and presumably also OS development) for use as the UI layer.

Currently, the Start Menu, Action Center and other modern elements are written in XAML with UI components from Windows.UI.XAML.

It looks like Microsoft may be planning to update that code to point to use WinUi instead, which should help with developer adoption of the new UI framework in the future.

Read more here:
Microsoft may be getting ready to replace the Windows 10 desktop with a Fluent WinUI version - MSPoweruser - MSPoweruser

We all know that Microsoft has been working towards making Windows look more appealing to the eyes as part of a major overhaul. And one of the design changes that the company has planned was to introduce rounded corners.

Over the last few days, the company has pushed out updates for internal applications like Maps, Calculator, Calendar, Sticky Notes, Windows Images, Movies and TV etc. where you can notice Microsoft dropping sharp-edged corners. Remember these changes are subtle as of now and can be found in the internal menus or pop-up alerts.

These rounded corners are expected to replace the sharp-edged corners that can be found in almost all other apps in Windows. To recall the older Windows operating systems did have rounded corners, however, when Microsoft adopted the Metro UI with Windows 8 and the Windows phones, the company chose to go with a boxy and formal user interface.

Since Windows 8, as well as Windows phones, are a thing of the past, this dated design also needs a change and Microsoft is doing just that. Unlike Apples macOS Big Sur where the corners are well rounded, the edges in Windows are subtle and are expected for Xbox, Office, and other Microsoft products in due course.

In a related piece of news, Microsoft is testing a ton of new features on the Windows 10 UI and the company is planning to replace the Windows 10 user interface with the modern and Fluent WinUI.

Senior program manager of the Windows Insider Program Brandon LeBlanc offered further insight on the preview build's most important feature in a blog post, saying:

We mentioned we had more Settings work on the way, and heres the next one as of todays build youll now be able to manage your disks and volumes from within the Settings app. This includes tasks such as viewing disk information, creating and formatting volumes, and assigning drive letters.

Via: Windows Latest

Read the original:
Windows 10s new look has been revealed early in some apps - TechRadar

Restoration work could resume this fall on one of the oldest buildings in the D.C. region Magruder's Blacksmith Shop, a stone cottage in Potomac, Maryland, built four decades before George Washington laid the cornerstone at the U.S. Capitol.

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

WTOP/Dick Uliano

Restoration work could resume this fall on one of the oldest buildings in the D.C. region Magruders Blacksmith Shop, a stone cottage in Potomac, Maryland, built four decades before George Washington laid the cornerstone at the U.S. Capitol.

The small stone house, the oldest building in Potomac, is a familiar landmark on River Road at Seven Locks Road just outside the Capital Beltway. But when its new owner installed a copper roof last summer and made other changes to the historic structure, the project was slapped with a Stop Work order, requested by the county Historic Preservation Office.

For nearly a year, the cottage, believed to have once been a blacksmith shop, has been bracketed on one side by scaffolding and surrounded by a chain-link fence.

I was shocked to see that copper was not an approved material. They explained to me the historical reason as to why that is, said Gus Stefanou, a Gaithersburg accountant who bought the historic building early last year. Its the oldest structure in Montgomery County, thought to have been built somewhere around the mid-1700s.

Stefanou also had installed vinyl windows against the historic character of the building.

Since the county ordered work to be stopped on the stone house last year, Stefanou has worked carefully with the Historic Preservation Office to ensure that the improvements he makes adhere to the structures history, according to Rebeccah Ballo, historic preservation supervisor with the Montgomery County Planning Department.

He has agreed to replace the new copper roof, installed last year, with a wood shake roof, replace a large dormer in the rear of the house with two smaller dormers and install wood frame windows to replace the white vinyl windows that were installed last summer.

The project now has been cleared by the historic preservation committee Im all about it being correct, Stefanou said.

Planning Department documents indicate that Stefanous second round of restoration plans were approved by the Historic Preservation Commission on June 29.

Stefanou is hoping that the work can resume on the historic house this fall.

Its a top priority for me. I do not like seeing the property in the current state its in, said Stefanou.

Link:
Restoration work could resume this fall on historic Maryland cottage - WTOP

Updated 8:00pm EDT, Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Trumbull may not have enough teachers to reopen school

TRUMBULL Less than two weeks before students report for their first day of classes, Trumbull officials are hoping they will have enough teachers to reopen the schools in-person.

The information was disclosed at Tuesdays school board meeting following a report that about two dozen teachers will not be returning to their classrooms because of concerns about COVID-19.

Were making progress, Interim Supt. Ralph Iassogna told the Board of Education at the meeting. Worst case scenario: Not enough returning teachers, and substitutes not adequate. We may have to consider another learning model.

The district had planned to reopen Sept. 8 using a hybrid learning model, with students divided into two groups and splitting time in the buildings. One group would attend live classes Mondays and Tuesdays, the other on Thursdays and Fridays. Each group would have remote classes on the three days they are not in school.

But the number of teachers who have opted out of returning to the classroom, which Iassogna estimated at between 20 and 25, is causing concern.

Right now, our numbers are OK, but there are a number of staff members whose (return to work status) are not processed yet, he said. It could go over 30, but I doubt it.

Information on the status of the non-returning teachers, what buildings and grades the teachers had been working in and what percentage they were of the districts teaching staff was not immediately available. Trumbull has six public elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school.

School officials are in daily contact with local colleges seeking eligible candidates to hire as long-term replacements, he said.

Though he remained optimistic that the buildings could reopen as scheduled, he conceded that the district may have to call a special board meeting next week if it became necessary to delay reopening. The Wilton school system made a similar call earlier this week.

If you cant get teachers, you cant run in-school or hybrid learning, he said. We are monitoring the situation very closely.

Board members had plenty of questions for Iassogna following his statements. Jacqueline Norcel expressed her concern that a last-minute change in plans could put families in a difficult position, especially considering many families had scrambled to arrange child care for a partial school return. Even temporary distance learning could be really difficult for a family, she said.

Scot Kerr also expressed concern over the impact of even temporary return-to-school delays.

Just to clarify, its possible we could open remotely before transitioning to hybrid learning? he asked.

Iassogna confirmed that was possible, adding that the district would continue to search for replacement staff during the period of remote learning, if necessary.

We may have to say, lets go remote for the first month while were still trying to hire them, he said.

Assuming the schools do resume in-person learning on some scale, there also is a need for as many as 40 more lunch monitors, according to Assistant Superintendent Jonathan Budd.

The issue, Budd said said, is that lunch monitors typically supervise the elementary school students while they are eating lunch in the cafeteria. But the current plans call for meals to be delivered from the cafeteria and eaten in the classrooms. Teachers contractually have a break during lunch times, he said.

Now we need two types of monitors, Budd said. Some to deliver the meals, and others to watch the children while they are eating in the classroom.

The district is currently seeking to add lunch monitors for two to three hours each school day, and Budd said the schools would work with people who were available only on certain days.

Aside from staffing, board members also had numerous questions about the readiness of the buildings to receive students. Chairman Lucinda Timpanelli commented that many of the schools do not have central air conditioning and asked about improving air circulation in those buildings.

John Morello, the facilities director, said adding ventilation to the buildings was a tricky task given the age of most of the buildings.

The only thing would be exhaust fans, like a bathroom fan on a larger scale, he said.

Portable air conditioners, which also have built-in particle filters, were out of the question because of the schools antiquated electrical systems, he said. Portable air purifiers were a possibility, given their much lower power draw compared to air conditioners, but finding them was a challenge.

The quickest place to get them is Home Depot, he said. But the school system would need dozens of the $270 units. Six Trumbull teachers required air purification for their classrooms because of existing health problems, Morello said, and so far he had only been able to find purifiers for five of them. A search of the stores around the state showed that most had either none or very few in stock, he said.

The (Home Depot) location in Trumbull is the only one, they received a pallet of 23 today and 20 of them are going to Sacred Heart, he said. Theyre going to see if they can get more.

Even placing cheap box fans in the windows of classrooms is not feasible because of their design, he said.

The windows dont open like a window in your home so you can put the fan in the window blowing out, he said. The windows swing open.

Simply placing a fan on a table pointed at the window would not work, since the angle of the glass in the open window would deflect air back into the classroom, he said.

Iassogna, who took over as interim superintendent when Gary Cialfi took early retirement in January, said the entire staff deserved praise for the can-do attitude and round-the-clock effort with which workers had addressed a series of unforeseen and unprecedented challenges.

People dont realize what we have overcome, he said. He rattled off a handful of issues that the schools have faced in just the past six months, including a new interim superintendent and search for a permanent one, a board member resigning during a public meeting, a national examination of race relations that has been led in part by students, COVID-19, emergency remote learning, and a $1.2 million budget shortfall.

These things take their toll, he said.

So with those challenges met, finding 20 teachers, 40 lunch monitors and a truckload of air purifiers doesnt seem quite so daunting, he said.

Or, as board member Tim Gallo said, a whole new set of problems could be right around the corner.

One thing were sure of is that tomorrow things will change, he said.

deng@trumbulltimes.com

Excerpt from:
Trumbull may not have enough teachers to reopen school - Trumbull Times

Manhattan: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, in The right way to reopen schools (op-ed, Aug. 19), suggests that we not open the schools until after September, and, even then, only for the youngest children, phasing in older students gradually. If we do not heed his message, schools will open and close within two weeks, and, instead of providing instruction, we will have increased infections. I was a teacher and supervisor for 32 years in the NYC DOE. Do the powers that be really think children can socially distance and wear masks all day? All you need is one child who takes off the mask, or goes over to a friend for a chat, and youve potentially infected an entire class. Mayor de Blasios plan is doomed to failure. Do not open the schools. Begin with remote learning and proceed from there. Barbara Guinan, Ed.D.

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Readers sound off on camp in COVID, Broken Windows and car accidents - New York Daily News

In 1990 I had the remarkable good fortune to spend a week with Roger Tory Peterson. I could write a book about that one week, but for now I only want to emphasize the importance of one particular conversation.

Peterson changed the interaction between people and wildlife when he invented the field guide a concise yet detail-packed book for identifying species but small enough to carry comfortably in the field.

When you invented the field guide, I said, you made it possible for people to identify birds without having to learn about birds.

After a quiet moment, Peterson replied, Youre right.

Our ensuing conversation made it quite clear that it was a subject that bothered him. As he mentally developed the concept and physically assembled it, he never thought of birding as a replacement for ornithology. He conceived it as an adjunct that would augment the degree to which the human-bird interface would produce positive outcomes.

This one particular unintended outcome progressively became a rhetorical point with profound ripple effects. The impact begins with the separating of birding and ornithology, and the ripples elaborate from there.

Just because a birder can distinguish a rock wren from a canyon wren for a checkmark on a list does not make that person an ornithologist.

Just because a person can catch a rainbow trout on bait, lure or fly does not make that person an ichthyologist.

Just because a person owns 15 wildflower identification books, spends dozens of hours afield every summer to find wildflowers and can give both American and Latin names for 100 species despite all this effort and accomplishment does not make that person a botanist.

The examples are almost endless, but three are of special importance right now.

First, just because a person hunts big game animals such as deer, elk and moose does not make that person a mammalogist.

Second, just because a person owns a ranch does not make that person an ecologist.

And third, just because a person finds aesthetic pleasure or even intellectual gratification in wildlife identification does not make that person a wildlife biologist.

All of this and other aspects as well can be collectively summarized in a single meaningful appraisal: Familiarity with selective wildlife, by itself, does not qualify as a credential of expertise.

As relevant as this concept is right now, it will be crucial when three months from now Coloradans vote whether or not to restore the gray wolf to Colorados ecosystems.

I assert without reservation that personal opinions should be based on best available knowledge and not on bondage to tradition. From this perspective I pose the earnest and legitimate question: What do you know biologically, mammalogically, ecologically and biogeographically about the gray wolf?

This question reveals the distinction between assumptive knowledge and actual knowledge. The two are not the same. So study up!

Next month, I will be quizzing you for what you actually know about the gray wolf.

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Wildlife Window: Time to study up on the gray wolf - Loveland Reporter-Herald