There will be music, puppets and interesting animals for kids to touch and hold when the Stamford School Readiness Council kicks off its fourth annual Early Childhood Fair on Saturday at Cove Island Park. Events include the Animal Embassy, Touch a Truck, The Bossy Frog and the puppets.

“This is an event that highlights the importance of learning for young children and provides families with information on the many resources available to them in the city. It also reinforces my volunteer initiatives as this is an event that fosters involvement from myriad ...

In an age when fast food and video games often replace home-cooked meals and playing outside, health consciousness can't start soon enough. And thanks to the United Way of Western Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, Stamford kids at the Childcare Learning Centers will get off on the right food. 

“Can you imagine being this age and developing chronic diseases?” the Himes said of the children at CLC, an agency that offers early childhood education and care, plus health, nutrition and family services. 

The United Way and Himes awarded $150,000 to the centers ...

Stamford sisters Francheska Velazquez and Jessica Perez-Velazquez graduated from the University of Bridgeport’s Ideal Program on May 7. The program is designed for adults to go to college and earn a degree at an accelerated pace.

“It's never too late to go back and finish school. Education is something that nobody or thing could take away from you,” Francheska wrote in an email.

The Ideal Program is designed for adults 23 and older who want to earn their undergraduate degrees. Course scheduling is flexible and classes meet only once a week over ...

The masks young people present to their peers will be scrutinized Thursday when Katie Greenberg and a troupe of Stamford middle school kids take the stage.

The students will perform “We Wear the Mask,” a musical, penned by the Soul Writers at Turn of River Middle School, that gives an inside look at the life of a middle school student.

“It’s about people pretending or hiding who you are to fit in,” Katie said.

Soul Writers is a group of about 10 eighth graders who met after school to write the words and music for the show and create the choreography. Additional ...

Literacy coach Crystal Perry went to bat Tuesday night for heterogeneous mixing of students in the Stamford Public Schools . She told the Board of Education she walks the halls of Dolan Middle School and sees students achieving at a high level and realizing they all have talents that add to the classroom. They are not grouped by test scores, but mixed together, Perry said, which benefits all.

“When we have a system where outcome is based on zip code, that is not okay,” Perry said angrily. She added that she was put in a lower group as a student in Stamford Public ...

A couple of Stamford schools were highlighted in a story on CNN’s website Thursday afternoon. But it wasn't for their successes. It was for their failures.

CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff spoke with Superintendent Joshua Starr about No Child Left Behind and how it hurts the school system. “There isn’t one size fits all, and that’s where the government fails,” Starr says in Chernoff’s story.

In the story, Chernoff visits Rogers International and Julia A. Stark Elementary schools to highlight their struggles with No Child Left Behind. The segment begins with students ...

Every year, Mike Meyer has to deal with families that do not live in Stamford sending their children to the city’s schools. However, they rarely end up in court as in the Tanya McDowell case.

“Most families just don’t understand the rule or what they are doing,” Meyer, director of Student Support Services for Stamford Public Schools, said in a phone interview.

Since every family is in a different situation, cases are handled on an individual basis. While the schools look at many factors when dealing with out of town students, the focus is on the child, Meyer said.