Author Archives: Olwen Logan

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Board Sets Nov. 8 Referendum on $57.6 Million Building Plan

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Renovations at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School are included in the $57.6 million plan on which will residents will vote in a referendum on Nov. 8.

OLD LYME — At their meeting on Wednesday evening, Sept. 7, the Region 18 Board of Education voted to hold a referendum in the Towns of Lyme and Old Lyme on Tuesday, Nov. 8, on the proposed $57.6 million building plan for Mile Creek, Center, Lyme Consolidated, and Lyme-Old Lyme Middle Schools.

Nov. 8 is also the national Election Day.

The referendum question will be a simple Yes/No regarding the amount of funding and the result will be obtained by combining the numbers from both Towns.

Visit this link to view a recording of the meeting.

Editor’s Note: More to follow on this developing story.

Old Lyme Shopping Center Goes Up for Auction

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The Old Lyme Marketplace is scheduled to be sold via an online auction. File photo.

OLD LYME — The Old Lyme Shopping Center is currently for sale via an online auction opening Sept. 6 (previously Aug. 23.) At the time of writing (7:10am), the highest bid is $2,750,000 but it also states on the site that the reserve has not yet been met.

Ten-x.com’s NorthEast Private Client Group is handling the sale and the property details are listed as follows:

Primary Property Type: Retail
Gross Area (Sq. Ft.): 50,223
Year Built: 1964
Occupancy: 77%
Occupancy as of Date: 07/06/2022
Lot Size (Acres): 5.22
Parking Count: 154
Bidding opens Aug. 23 and closes Aug. 25, with the starting bid set at $1.5 million.
The property is being marketed per the agent’s description as, “Ideally located immediately off exit 70 on I-95 (59,000 ADT) on US Route 1 (11,000 ADT) in the heart of a primary retail and commercial corridor.” The description also notes, “Annual consumer spending within a 5-mile radius surpasses $435,000,000.”
The potential sale was mentioned at yesterday’s Old Lyme Board of Selectmen meeting by members of the Halls Road Improvement Committee (HRIC), who were presenting their proposal for a Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) to the selectmen.
Asked this morning for her reaction to the planned sale, HRIC Chair Edie Twining responded by email, “If you look at the announcement, they go on about how convenient to the highway it is.  [That could likely mean] More gas stations??

She added, “So until that overlay [the proposed HROD] is in place, this [property] is most appealing to highway service plazas and the like. If we had the overlay, highway-focused developers would have to compete for the space with those interested in pursuing our vision:- retail up front with multi-family residential, with its better ROI.”

Twining concluded optimistically, “We are aiming to submit our application for the Halls Road Overlay District in September. After some productive meetings with the [Old Lyme] Zoning Commission, I am hopeful that this will become a reality this year.”
Editor’s Note: We will have more on the Halls Road Overlay District in a subsequent article.

Stephen Hackett Sworn In as Member of Old Lyme PD, Graduated From LOL High School in 2007

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Old Lyme First Selectman Timothy Griswold swears in Stephen Hackett as the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department.

OLD LYME — On Thursday morning, Stephen Hackett was sworn in as the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department by First Selectman Timothy Griswold. His official title will be Officer Hackett, FC36.

From left to right, two members of the OLPD, First Selectman Timothy Griswold, Officer Hackett FC36, Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Selectman Matt Ward.

The other members of the board of selectmen and some current members of the OLPD were on hand for the ceremony. Griswold explained to LymeLine in a text message that Hackett becomes the sixth member of the OLPD, adding that Officer Roche had resigned in July and Officer Milardo has returned to work.

Applause was given for the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department.

Hackett was a member of the Lyme-Old Lyme High School Class of 2007 and was most recently serving as a Patrol Sergeant in Old Saybrook.

Old Lyme’s Rowing Program Sees Three of Its Own Selected to US Team for 2022 World Championships in Czech Republic

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Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) graduate Hannah Paynter, seen here rowing in the 2021 Head of the Charles, has been selected as an Alternate for the US team at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Photo submitted.

OLD LYME — Three rowers with strong Old Lyme connections have been selected for the US roster for the 2022 World Rowing Championships, which are scheduled to be held Sept. 18-25 in Račice, 25 miles north of Prague in the Czech Republic.

Liam Corrigan, a 2014 LOLHS graduate, has been chosen as a member of the US Men’s Eight for the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Photo submitted.

Liam Corrigan, whose parents have now live in Lyme after spending many years in Old Lyme, has been selected for the US Men’s Eight boat. Corrigan is a Class of 2015 Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) graduate, who went on to Harvard University, and now rows with the California Rowing Club.

Hannah Paynter, who also graduated from LOLHS in 2015 and whose family lives in Lyme, has been selected as a US team Alternate. She attended Princeton University, where she received numerous rowing awards, and currently trains with the Advanced Rowing Initiative Of the Northeast (ARION) program based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The third rower, Dominique Williams, lives in Madison, Conn. but trained for four seasons with the Old Lyme-based Blood Street Skulls. He has been chosen to row in the US Men’s Quad boat. After graduating from Daniel Hand High School, he went to the University of Pennsylvania and now trains with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia, Pa.

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics saw Corrigan along with Old Lyme native and 2010 LOLHS graduate Austin Hack row in the US Men’s Eight boat, which ultimately just missed out on a medal coming in fourth in the final.

Hack was the only returning member of the 2021 US Men’s Eight, having been part of the 2016 US Men’s Eight team, which came in fourth in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil. Hack, whose family still lives in Old Lyme, has now retired from competitive rowing.

Austin Hack (third from right) looks to his right at the end of Heat 1 in the US 8+ Olympic championship at  Tokyo.

And if you go back beyond Hack, there are several other Olympians, who came through the ranks of the Blood Street Sculls/Old Lyme Rowing Association. In 2008, Andrew Bolton was an Alternate for the Men’s Lightweight Four and in 2012, Sarah Trowbridge rowed in the Women’s Open Double Sculls.

In fact, since record-keeping was initiated in 1997, over 100 athletes in Old Lyme rowing programs have gone on to  represent their university in collegiate rowing competition

So how does a small rowing program in a tiny town continue to produce world-class rowers  on such a regular basis?

Paul Fuchs

We asked Paul Fuchs of Old Lyme that question. He was well-placed to respond since he is is a longtime board member of the Blood Street Sculls, Director of Rowing, and also the LOLHS Girls’ Varsity Rowing Coach. An accomplished rower himself, Fuchs holds the men’s lightweight course record for Head of the Charles, and competed on seven US World Championship teams. He has coached at both the Olympic and World Championship levels.

A nautical architect by profession, Fuchs is also Chairman of the US Rowing Equipment and Technology Committee and, in that capacity, will be traveling to Račice for the 2022 Rowing World Championships.

Coincidentally, Nobuhisa Ischizuka, who rows as an adult member of the Blood Street Skulls, is the President of US Rowing and also lives in Old Lyme. He too will be going to Račice.

To answer our question, Fuchs explains that, “Since we’re a small place and rarely have enough people to make a full boat of fast people,” the goal of the club is not only to teach the students to row well, but also, “to develop in them a love of the sport,” and [in some cases] a desire, “to go further with it”

Fuchs says evocatively, “We want them to get involved [with rowing], stay involved … and  evolve.”

He also commends the coaches for the program’s effectiveness, saying, “We’ve got a great group of coaches that know what they’re doing,” noting, “We all really pride ourselves on what the students are achieving.”

Another key part of the Blood Street Skulls philosophy, which helps students overcome tension and keeps them focused on enjoying the sport, relates to stress. “We don’t believe in burning them out,” emphasizes Fuchs, adding, “We want them to leave loving the sport … and if they happen to have have good high school scores, that’s good too.”

The latter point relates to the fact that several of the, ‘”Eight or nine rowers,” who started their rowing careers with Blood Street Sculls, went on from high school in 2022 to row at college with financial scholarships in hand. Four 2022 LOLHS graduates were planning to continue rowing at college.

Asked his personal feelings on the success of the Blood Street Sculls rowing program, Fuchs responded, “I just like that we’re producing something that a lot of people like. The kids are accomplishing stuff, they’re learning stuff, but most importantly, they’re having fun.”

Editor’s Note: i) Hearty congratulations to all three rowers!

ii) We have corrected the location of the World Championships thanks to a reader, who kindly pointed out they are taking place in Račice in the Czech Republic, and not Prague itself. We apologize for the error.

CT Test Results Give Lyme-Old Lyme Schools “Highest Scores Ever” (LOL Supt. Neviaser), Placing Them in Top Tier Across Subjects, Grades

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Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Achieve Highest Place Rankings Across the Board in New London County, Take First Place in CT Rankings on 5th Grade English Language Arts, All Results Feature in Top 10 of State

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser. (File photo)

LYME-OLD LYME — On Friday, the Connecticut State Department of Education released the results of the 2021-2022 Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), which is the accountability assessment in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics for students in Grades 3-8, and the Connecticut School SAT results.

Numerous articles have been published since with headlines such as this, “Tests show students still not caught up to pre-pandemic levels of proficiency” (The Day) or “Student Achievement Lags Pre-Pandemic Levels” (CT News Junkie)or “Connecticut test scores show extent of pandemic learning loss …” (Hartford Courant).

But if you look exclusively at Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools, the numbers tell a very different story with results not simply holding at pre-pandemic levels but rather in many cases, improving, and in one case — 5th Grade English Language Arts — taking the top place in the state.

Comparing results across all Connecticut Public Schools and School Districts, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools took 5th and 3rd place respectively for the Fifth Grade SBAC in ELA and Math. Eighth Grade results showed a similarly strong result with LOL Schools achieving 4th place in both subjects.

The SAT results were equally strong with LOL Schools placing 7th in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (ERW) and 4th in Math.

Across all these results, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools were consistently the top school or school district in New London County and the only schools ahead of them in the rankings were located in Fairfield County.

Perhaps even more significant than these stand-alone results for 2021-22 is a comparison of where students placed in the pre-pandemic year of 2018-19 compared with these new results. In all but one case, the percentage of students achieving results at or above goal increased or (in only case) held level.

Fifth grade LOL students went from 7th place to 1st in ELA, while eighth grade students held level at 6th place.

In Math, eighth grade LOL students improved from 19th place to 11th, but fifth grade students recorded the only fall in positions moving down from 2nd place to 5th.

Regarding a comparison of the SAT results, 11th grade LOL students rose to 5th place from 7th in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: the same students rose from 12th to 5th place in Math.

Asked by phone his reaction to these remarkable results, especially in light of how most other schools and school districts in the state had fared, LOL Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser said enthusiastically, “We crushed it! These were our highest scores ever. We’re in the top [tier] in everything!”

He went on to explain that he attributed the overall success of the scores to the simple fact that students were in school, “The entire time,” unlike most schools and school districts in the state — LOL Schools were in session from start to finish of the 2021-22 academic year.

Neviaser added quickly that he also knew the results could not have been achieved without the hard work of the teachers, who were, “Absolutely committed to teaching,” throughout the pandemic.

Finally, he noted that the students’ success in many ways reflected the ongoing, “Support of the local community,” and particularly during the pandemic, for which he said he was “Always grateful.”

Editor’s Note: The complete results for the state, districts and schools, and student groups are available on the public EdSight portal at http://edsight.ct.gov.