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GREENWICH — The Connecticut State Department of Education has put former Cos Cob School Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland's Connecticut teaching certificates on probation for a year and decreed he must take an educator ethics course.

The state conducted an investigation into Boland after he was filmed by Project Veritas speaking about alleged Greenwich Public Schools' hiring practices that discriminated against Catholics, people over the age of 30 and conservatives. Boland resigned as Cos Cob's assistant principal effective June 30, 2023, but the state still put his Connecticut teaching certificates in a year-long probationary period.

Boland has not responded to repeated requests for comment, including one about the result of the state's investigation.

Greenwich Public Schools spokesperson Jonathan Supranowitz declined to comment.

Obtained by Greenwich Time through a Freedom of Information Act request, the five-page consent order between the state education department and Boland states Boland's probationary period started Dec. 22, 2023, the date Commissioner of Education Charlene Russell-Tucker signed the consent order.

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"The Certificate Holder's comments were not factually based and constituted misinformation or misrepresentation of the hiring practices that were appropriately occurring in Greenwich Public Schools," the consent order reads.

During the probationary period, Boland is required to complete and pay for a state-approved three-credit college course that addresses educator ethics. He also must complete at least 12 hours of professional development that addresses "the legal aspects of hiring, including discriminatory hiring practices or such other comparable course as approved by the department's bureau of investigations and professional practices at his own expense," according to the consent order.

As of Jan. 4, Boland's LinkedIn account says he is "open for work" in the Springfield, Mass., metropolitan area.

Boland can work at a public school during this probationary period. If he is employed in a school, his direct supervisor is required to submit a written report to the CSDE between 30 and 60 days before the probationary period ends. The report must say that Boland "has successfully completed the year or working portion thereof without any incidences of misconduct or poor judgement," according to the order.

If Boland violates the consent order in any way, the state can seek "further action," including keeping his teaching certificates on probation until the requirements are met, according to the documents.

"Before taking such action, the department will offer the certificate holder the opportunity to surrender the certificates," according to the consent order.

The state's investigation is the last of five that different Greenwich and state entities pursued as a result of the Project Veritas video. The others included the office of the state's Attorney General, an internal Greenwich Public Schools investigation, a town of Greenwich independent investigation and Connecticut's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

Both the town and CHRO found no evidence of discriminatory practices in the district's hiring protocols. The school district's investigation concluded in October 2022 with a finding that Boland did not use discriminatory hiring practices as part of the district's job interview process. The OAG also found no evidence that Boland exercised discriminatory hiring practices.

"The certificate holder exercised poor professional judgement when he met in a restaurant with a female that he met on a dating app," the consent order states. "The female was actually an investigative reporter for Project Veritas and unbeknownst to the Certificate Holder, the conversation was being videotaped. ... These statements of misinformation caused grave concern regarding the hiring practices occurring in the Greenwich Public Schools for many agencies."

The trail would stretch from Old Greenwich to southwest Stamford. The Greenwich RTM will consider planning & design funds for the project.

GREENWICH, CT — The Greenwich Representative Town Meeting is scheduled to consider $338,000 for planning and design work on a 2.5-mile multi-use trail that would stretch from Binney Park in Old Greenwich up to Boccuzzi Park in southwest Stamford.

The town's legislative body will gather for its December meeting on Monday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m., at Central Middle School in Greenwich. The meeting will be broadcast via Greenwich Community Television and Zoom.

Up to 80 percent of the $338,000 — or $270,400 — will be reimbursed through a grant from the state's Recreational Trails Program.

The remaining money — $67,600 — would be split between Greenwich and Stamford based on the portion of the route in each municipality, according to documents submitted as part of the RTM call.

The estimated cost for Greenwich would be approximately $49,500 since the town would hold 1.9 miles of the trail. Stamford could contribute $18,200.

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Should the RTM approve the funds, Greenwich will host public meetings during the design phase of the project to help identify the most suitable location for the trail based on community feedback, a webpage for the project states.

Greenwich DPW anticipates the planning and design phase for the path to last approximately 12 to 18 months, taking place throughout 2024 and finishing in the first half of 2025, RTM documents state.

Gov. Ned Lamont came to Greenwich this past May to highlight the grant money for the project. He was joined by First Selectman Fred Camillo, Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and other elected officials.

The grant money was part of an overall $9 million package to plan, build, expand and improve a total of 50 multi-use trails across Connecticut.

"We're one state, and paths like this just remind us that Stamford and Greenwich are one region, and together as one state we work together," Lamont said at the time. "I'm proud of what this means. This is the first of probably 100 different trails we're going to continue to build, and what we're doing along old railways, what we're doing along old canals, opening up the state and making sure that everybody from every single zip code has access to what makes this state so beautiful."

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GREENWICH — After two board retreats and some revisions, the Board of Education has approved a fiscal year 2025-26 capital budget that is nearly $118.6 million.

The $118,590,000 budget includes funds allocated for projects including making schools Americans with Disabilities Act compliant, improving Greenwich High School’s cellular service and more.

The budget, presented at the board's Thursday night business meeting, also includes money for three projects the BOE approved interim funding for — the new Central Middle School building, the Old Greenwich School renovation and replacing Hamilton Avenue School’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. At the Oct. 5 board retreat, some board members decided to keep the projects in the capital budget in case they do not end up getting funded by other town boards.

Blaize Levitan, the district's chief operating officer, said that the $2.2 million in the capital budget for Hamilton Avenue's HVAC system is $1 million less than what the board approved as interim funding.

"We ... had the system fail and we have the unit there right now that's supplementing the building," Levitan said. "We also had to have the studies done and the assessments. So the dollar amount in the interim is actually the total cost."

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The BOE's vote was 6-0 with one abstention. BOE Member Cody Kittle did not vote and Karen Kowalski abstained.

"As everyone knows, I have an issue with CMS," Kowalski said. "I do, darn. I'm sorry. Look, I think we need to do great things for that school ... I fundamentally disagree with the scope, so that's why I have trouble including (it in the budget)."

The capital budget would be just under $23.9 million if these three projects were to be removed — CMS, OGS and Hamilton Avenue's HVAC system. Vice Chair Christina Downey emphasized that if other town boards — the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the Representative Town Meeting — also approve the interim funding for all three projects it "will happily cut (the projects) out of (the capital budget) for us."

Levitan also provided an update on the newly completed district-wide ADA assessment. Greenwich Public Schools, in collaboration with the First Selectman's Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities, hired Silver Petrucelli & Associates to conduct an assessment on most of the district's facilities.

Levitan said the study does not include Old Greenwich, Central Middle and New Lebanon schools since OGS and CMS will become ADA compliant when the building projects are completed and New Lebanon is a new school. An earlier assessment of Western Middle School by Silver Petrucelli found the school needs $8 million worth of work to make it ADA compliant, Levitan said.

Levitan put $3.8 million in the capital budget to make Western Middle School's entrance ADA compliant and for other ADA-related projects at the rest of the district's buildings, which each need work to make them ADA compliant, he said. Depending on the school, costs ran between $750,000 and $5 million, he said.

Silver Petrucelli will make a presentation to the BOE and a representative from the First Selectman's Office on the assessment's findings once the report is finalized sometime next month, Levitan said.

The Parks & Recreation Department is also having an ADA assessment done "with the same logic and the same prioritization criteria, so we'll be getting us all on the same page, piece by piece, on how we approach and define our priorities for ADA requests," Levitan said.

Now that the BOE approved the capital budget, it will be sent to the First Selectman's Office.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the vote total and how much the capital budget would be with the three school projects removed.

GREENWICH — The owner of a number of prominent commercial properties in Greenwich and other parts of Connecticut has acquired an office building in the town’s Old Greenwich section for $15.5 million.

HBN 53 Forest LLC, which is managed by HB Nitkin, bought the 43,985-square-foot building at 53 Forest Ave., which stands adjacent to the Old Greenwich Metro-North Railroad station, commercial real estate firm CBRE announced this week. The seller was Collins 53 Forest LLC, an entity managed by Collins Capital Partners LLC.

Greenwich is familiar territory for HB Nitkin, whose other properties in the town include the downtown Greenwich Armory building, at 230 Mason St., which houses Nitkin’s offices; the downtown Greenwich Financial Center, at 1 Fawcett Place; 369 Greenwich Ave., which houses retail and dining tenants; and the office building at 41 W. Putnam Ave. Nitkin also has properties in Branford, Cromwell, Danbury, Fairfield, Hartford, Killingly, Orange, Stamford, Waterbury, Westport and White Plains, N.Y.

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“HB Nitkin’s depth of experience with discerning Greenwich tenants should allow them to harvest additional revenue through the lease-up of well-positioned vacant space,” Steven Bardsley, of CBRE’s Institutional Properties Group, said in a written statement.

Bardsley and three other members of the Institutional Properties Group — Jeffrey Dunne, Travis Langer and Daniel Blumenkrantz — represented the owner in the transaction, while they also procured the buyer.

Fifty-three Forest has long been a hub for firms focusing on money management and alternative investments. The property is 82 percent leased, according to CBRE.

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The asking rent at 53 Forest is $65 per square foot on an annual basis, CBRE officials said. The property, “provides tenants a high-quality alternative to Greenwich Avenue, where rents easily exceed $100 per square foot,” Dunne said in a statement.

Despite the rise of remote work since the beginning of the pandemic, the office market in Greenwich still attracts and retains many companies. In the second quarter of this year, the office availability rate ran at 8.7 percent in the town’s central business district and at 23.1 percent in the rest of town, compared with 27.4 percent in all of Fairfield County, according to CBRE.

CBRE also announced this week the sale of another building for $5.1 million at 1381 E. Putnam Ave., in Old Greenwich. Built in 2016, the building contains four apartments and two retail suites. The retail space is occupied by Club Pilates and Estate Treasures of Greenwich, which is a consignment shop.

Dunne, Langer, Blumenkrantz and two other members of the Institutional Properties Group, David Gavin and Stuart MacKenzie, represented the seller, Marx Realty. CBRE said it also procured the buyer, which is “a private investor based in Stamford,” but it did not disclose the buyer's name.

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MacKenzie said in a statement that, “1381 East Putnam offers stable existing cash flow from long-term retail leases along with highly coveted luxury apartments in one of the most affluent areas in the nation. This transaction is a testament to Greenwich and how it continues to be an extremely desirable location for apartment renters and retailers alike.”

Gavin said in a statement that, “1381 East Putnam Avenue represented a unique opportunity to acquire a recently redeveloped, mixed-use property with stable income in one of the most prestigious markets in the country.”

Sep 15, 2023

GREENWICH — A former bank branch on Sound Beach Avenue will soon be serving Mexican cuisine as part of a shake-up in the local dining and retail scene along the main commercial corridor in Old Greenwich.

The Planning & Zoning Commission last week approved a proposal to convert the former of Bank of America at 206 Sound Beach Ave. into a restaurant with 56 seats (plus eight at the bar), as well as a retail space next to it. The new restaurant will be called JuJu Cantina; the retail store will be named Too Sparrows.

Lisa Salley, the longtime proprietor of the Something Special flower shop, said she liked the idea of another restaurant opening on Sound Beach Avenue, one that would add vitality to the area.

"It's good for the town — another place to eat, another dining option," she said.

A number of changes have taken place along Sound Beach Avenue business district in recent weeks. A new art gallery also opened recently; Greenwich Play, a business that provides design plans and other services to build residential play spaces for young people, is another new addition.

There have also been some closures on Sound Beach Avenue.

The Beach House Cafe closed earlier this year, and a new dining venue is expected to open there focusing on drinks and cocktails. The Black Oak Velo bike store also closed recently, creating a handful of vacant storefronts on Old Greenwich's distinct byway.

A certain amount of turn-over was normal, merchants said.

"It's cyclical," said Salley.

The bank branch had been in operation since 1950 before closing in 2022, part of a large-scale restructuring by the Bank of America.

The building will be split into components, one for the restaurant, one for the retail space. The ATM drive-through in the rear of the site will be demolished to add four new parking spaces, for a total of 39 spaces.

The restaurant will be run by Anshu Vidyarthi, who also operates Le Penguin in central Greenwich and Le Fat Poodle in Old Greenwich, according to a description of the new dining venue.

“The design will be rich in whimsy and fun,” the restaurant management says, adding it will open this summer.

Members of the Planning & Zoning Commission discussed lighting issues and access to the restaurant from the street, and did not raise any objections. There was no comment from the public.

Commission Chairwoman Margarita Alban noted the transformation of the bank branch had been given an "endorsement" by the Old Greenwich Merchant Association. The committee approval was unanimous.

The exterior of the new JuJu restaurant will be re-painted with a "terra-cotta" like color, according to the design submission. Architect Rudy Ridberg said the restaurant management would come to the planning commission later this year for an outdoor dining permit.

Ridberg told the commission he was also working on the former Beach House Cafe. That dining establishment was a longtime favorite in the neighborhood before closing this winter. The Beach House management team and chef Kane Xu are now operating at Canoe on Railroad Avenue.

The property at 206 Sound Beach is owned by 206 SBA LLC and Richard Saunders.