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The Greenwich Weekly Newspaper: local, local, local.

January 21, 2022

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The Local News You Need to Know

Girl Scout Cookie Time of Year

UPTICK IN STOLEN VEHICLES Greenwich Police is reminding residents again to remove their car keys and lock their vehicle doors. The Greenwich Police Department reports an uptick of stolen vehicles from the Central Greenwich Business/Restaurant area recently. Thieves are targeting vehicles that are left unlocked with the keys in them while the owners are shopping or dining. They urge residents to lock their vehicles and take their keys with them. This should be a common practice no matter where or when a vehicle is parked. GREENWICH RTM ELECTS FIRST FEMALE MODERATOR Alexis Voulgaris was chosen in a vote of the board’s members this past Tuesday night, and is only the seventh leader of the town’s RTM. She is also the first new moderator in over two decades. TEST KITS FOR HOMEBOUND If you know of anyone who is housebound, people who are non-drivers, and any other people who might not have been included in either Town distribution of COVID test kits/N95 masks at the Senior Center and Grass Island, then they can contact: Alan Gunzburg at 24fado@optonline.net or Steph Cowie at cowiestephanie68@gmail.com COVID UPDATE MORE OPTIMISTIC In a joint update Wednesday, First Selectman Fred Camillo and Greenwich Hospital president Diane Kelly, DNP, RN announced that Greenwich Hospital was currently treating 46 COVID positive patients, five of whom are in the ICU with three on ventilators. This is down from 56 two weeks ago. Town wide 595 cases are being monitored, which is a slight increase. “We are very pleased we are starting to see a decline in this most recent surge,” Diane Kelly said. “Greenwich (Hospital) is, like most health-care

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Illustrated by Wajih Chaudhry

The Anger Cauldron

By Jill S. Woolworth, LMFT

Anger is not bad. It can be a helpful barometer to show us when change is ne e de d . P r oble m s a r i s e when we store anger without understanding it. Most of us have trouble looking into our own anger cauldron, but if we don’t, our anger can heat up. When we or someone we love flies off the handle, it helps to look under the lid of anger for the hurt, the pain, the fear, or the sadness that has not been addressed— that has boiled over. There is always some form of “sad” under “mad.” If our lids f ly of f repeatedly, smack ing those we love in the face, professional support can help us figure out what kind of old pain is hiding in our cauldron. Anger frightens all of us. We typically move toward

another person’s pain or sadness because we want to help, but fury usually pushes us away, just when we or someone we love needs help the most. Trevor and Karen were out of control with anger. Their counselor asked them to hold hands and look silently into each other’s eyes for 60 seconds without breaking eye contact. Those 60 seconds became sacred space. They both cried. They saw the hurt, the pain , and the sadness in each other’s cauldron . Their voices quieted , and they embraced. Excerpted from Greenwich resident, Jill Woolworth's, b o o k , T h e Wa t e r w h e e l , available at Diane’s Books, Dogwood Bookstore, Amazon, and barnesandnoble.com. Jill is a therapist at the Greenwich Center for Hope & Renewal.

Girl Scout Troop 50209 Sets Up Shop in the Riverside Plaza

By Anjali Kishore Never fear cook ie lovers, it’s that time of year again – Girl Scout Cookies are making their long-awaited reappearance! It’s hard to deny the cult status that Girl Scout Cookies have reached – they’re swirled into Dunkin coffee concoctions, crumbled into ice cream Blizzards, and any grocery store you go to is more than likely to have some imitation of the famed Thin Mints or Samoas perched on a shelf. This is especially true for Greenwich, where late winter brings on blooms of cookie stands on street corners, sidewalks,

and in school courtyards. As one of the more active Girl Scout networks throughout the state, Greenwich’s Girl Scout scene is particularly vibrant; town Cookie Manager and Leader of Girl

Late winter brings on blooms of cookie stands on street corners, sidewalks, and in school courtyards.

Scout Troop #50209 Nicole Ehret was somewhat ambivalent about Gi rl Scouts before her now 4th grade daughter joined the troop in kindergarten. But once she saw the positive impact being a part of Girl Scouts was having on her daughter, and the community they were able to build through scouting, she was eager to get involved: “It started as a ‘no way, I’m not going to do this’, but once I realized what it was about, I realized it was a nice mission and program for girls.” The Girl Scout’s impact on her daughter and other troop members was two-fold: not only does scouting

serve as an important social outlet for girls, but also as a platform where they can learn essential life and business skills. As CEO of Girl Scouts of Connecticut Diana Mahoney put it, “It’s not surprising that 80% of female entrepreneurs were once Girl Scouts. Having the opportunity to run their very own cookie business gives them essential tools to achieve their dreams today and in the future.” Some of these skills include the five fundamental goals of the cookie program: goal setting, decision making, business ethics, people skills and

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Meet the Mead School’s Interim Head

By Anjali Kishore Since its founding in 19 69, S t a m for d ’s Me a d S c h o o l h a s a l w ay s t a k e n a n u n c o nve nt i o n a l ap p r o a c h to learning, incorporating founder D r. E l a i n e d e B e a u p o r t ’s neurological research and medical b ack g r ou nd i n t he de sig n of t he s cho ol’s c u r r ic u lu m a nd educational environment. Now, the prog ressive private K - 8 school is in the hands of Peter Herzberg, a longtime member o f t h e s c h o o l ’s b o a r d a n d experienced administrator, with

stints in leadership positions at the Brearley School in New York City and Greens Farms Academy in Westport, among others. “He’s all about student engagement and innovative curriculums, which is what matches up with us so well,” says Jeanette Baxendale, Herzberg’s executive assistant and director of marketing. His presence at Mead began when he was at Greens Farms, a private high school that typically takes on kids from similar area private K - 8 schools. He noticed a singularity about the kids coming from Mead, jokingly calling them

“a glorious pain – they don’t easily defer to authority,” said Herzberg, “and that’s by design. At Greens Farms, I found that they tend to push their teachers.” While he’s worked at 8 schools over his career, Herzberg says that the students at Mead are unlike any others that he’s come across, describing them as “some of the most idiosyncratic and interesting kids that [he’d] met.” There’s a number of things that contribute to the unique character and learning style of the typical Mead student, with both Herzberg and Baxendale

empha si z i ng t he i mp or t a nc e of expressive arts, small class sizes, and the school’s trademark f lexible curriculum to fostering a n env i ron ment of creativ it y and indiv iduality. The school has no grades, opting to assess student’s progress through handson projects and written reports. These projects often integrate the expressive arts: for example, one physics class designed wooden cars for aerodynamic efficiency as well as artistic expression, and in an English class students constructed their own endings Please turn to page 11

New RTM Moderator for the First Time in 26 Years By Anne White Tue s day Ja nua r y 18 t he Representative Town Meeting (RTM) elected Alexis Voulgaris as the new moderator, replacing Thomas Byrne who had served since 1996, a record breaking run in the position. Byrne decided not to serve as moderator for another term but is remaining a member of the RTM. Voulgaris earned 150 votes to become the new moderator while 67 went to candidate Brian Raney.

Voulgaris, who is unaffiliated with any political party, said a f te r w i n n i n g t h e vo te o n Tuesday, “I’m honored to be standing before you this evening as the seventh moderator, the first woman and likely the first independent candidate to hold this position in the 88-year history of the RTM”. Voulgaris ser ved as Pro Tempore for four years under Byrne as moderator and has been an elected member of the RTM for eight terms. She has served in a

number of leadership positions previously as well including Chair of the Health and Human Services committee, Chair of the Community Development Block Grant Adv isor y committee, and Chair of the special RTM Governance Committee. “ There is much work to be done this term,” she said, “and I hope we can all work collaboratively and listen and respect each other in our varying points of view to pass legislation that makes sense for our community. We need

to stay true to our roots, which are that we are nonpartisan and elected to serve the needs of all Greenwich residents.” Icy Frantz, who is beginning her second term on the RTM s a id , “ It ’s a h a r d j ob. T h e moderator needs to be patient, impartial, committed and k nowle dge a ble . A lex is has d e m o n s t r at e d a l l o f t h e s e characteristics in her role as moderator pro temp and as the Chair of the Community Block Grant committee. I have great respect for her. Her opponent,

Brain Raney, newer to me, has a n i mpre ssive re su me a nd wonderful ideas. I hope he will stay committed to making the RTM run even more smoothly. I think we are in good hands. Edward Dadakis, who began his 21st RTM term on Tuesday, is one of the longest serving RTM members. Dadak is feels strongly that the RTM is vital for its representation of Greenwich residents. “The RTM is more relevant today than ever,” he said, “as it truly is the voice of the people.

T he p e ople s omet i me s get frustrated with the path taken by other elected officials. The RT M l i s te n s a nd t he n c a n redirect efforts when called for. My guess is almost every single person in town knows at le a s t one RT M me m b e r they can reach out to for help. That ma ke s t he RT M ver y important.” He a lso pra ised By r ne’s leadership say ing during “Tom’s 22 years as moderator, I think we can say he exerted Please turn to page 4