Jun. 18—NEW LONDON — On a recent Wednesday evening, New London School Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie stood at the doorway inside the former B.P. Learned Mission building at 40 Shaw St., smiling and welcoming dozens of families to one of the school district's recurring community events.

At the front door of the New London Birth to Age 8 Early Childhood Resource Center on Shaw Street, parents with kids in tow looked over tables where there was a spread of free diapers, baby food, wipes and other essentials. Inside the school's auditorium there was food, free books and a raffle underway, with top winners leaving the event with new bicycles. Younger children outside were treated to a petting zoo with a pig, duck, chickens, rabbits and a goat. Tiger the therapy dog wandered around the premises receiving pats and hugs.

The Birth to Age 8 Early Childhood Community Gathering on June 8 was the finale for a series of themed events focused on early childhood development that the school district has been hosting every three weeks. It brings together families, introduces them to the services available from the city and school district and provides some comfort for many of the Spanish-speaking families who are able to network, Ritchie said.

"Word is spreading. We're getting to know families a lot sooner and we're connecting," Ritchie said. "We're trying to get every child we can find to provide these opportunities. And we're trying to serve families that need so many different things now, especially post-COVID."

For parents Amanda and Dennis Valdez, the program has made a difference for their 3-year-old son, Grayson. Grayson attends the school as part of state's Birth to 3 program, which operates under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act and provides for specialized programming for students with developmental and health-related needs.

Young Grayson had speech problems and was hesitant when he first started attending full-day programs.

"Now I'm lucky to get a 'Bye, mom.' He loves it," Amanda Valdez said. "They all seem very nice. It's been helping him a lot."

Ritchie said the community gatherings are one small part of a larger plan to rethink education in a city with a focus on engaging children at a younger age.

Part of that that came with the expansion of the district's preschool program, which nearly tripled to 90 children this year because of the acquisition of the BP Learned building. Even more preschoolers are expected next year and include a high percentage of English language learners and special-needs students.

Ritchie said children show up in kindergarten in the district with a wide variety of skill levels depending on where they are coming from. New London's programs are taught by certified teachers backed by a team of therapists, special education and bilingual teachers.

"When they do integrate into the school system they have a leg up already. To me, really it's getting the kids as early as they can to get the basics," Board of Education member Bryan Doughty said.

On Friday, New London Human Services Director Jeanne Milstein attended the preschool graduation program with Mayor Michael Passero. She called the collaboration with the school district "groundbreaking" and Friday's ceremony "uplifting."

"We all know children succeed in school if they've had a quality preschool experience," Milstein said. "We also recognize that with COVID, our families need more than an educational experience."

The city is providing mental health consultants for preschool and for the teachers. The city's Parks and Recreation Department is using the building on most evenings for a variety of its own programs.

"This is the first city-school partnership of a project of this magnitude," Milstein said. "It's very exciting to see how the city is looking out for the well-being of our families and our community."

Among a host of other initiatives being undertaken by the school district to reach young students is a new alternative school program piloted this year. It is an optional year-round school option for kindergartners and first grade students. That program had proven to be so popular, it will expand in the fall to include second and third graders.

The overall goal, Ritchie said, "is we want kids to be able to master grade level skills, to read, write, problem solve and be independent."

The district also has a new core literacy and math curriculum, systemic phonics and phonemic awareness program, progress monitoring assessments, interventionists to work with small groups and various enrichment programs.

The lease and eventual purchase of the B.P. Learned building is being accomplished through grant funds. It was the largest investment by the city of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to date. The city's finance department estimates the cost to operate the programs, combined with the $1.5 million purchase price of the building, will cost the city about $2.1 million through four years of operation. At the time the building opened, the city's school district estimated a cost of $1.67 million in the first year, some of the money coming from the $16.5 million obtained by the district through the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund program, or ESSER. State Smart Start grants are being used to fund some of the additional teaching positions but Ritchie said a commitment will need to be made in the coming years to maintain all of the programs. Some of that may come through the federal push for universal preschool.

"We're really hoping universal pre-k will come to Connecticut," said Valarie Kelsey, director of special services for the district.

Ritchie said the school district, after four years, will have to reassess where the funds will be obtained to continue what she considers essential programs.

"I think this is amazing. I truly believe that children that have this opportunity have such a better start in their educational careers and it makes all the difference," school board President Elaine-Maynard Adams said.

"In my opinion, there's no way the board is going to let this go," she said.

The 13,500-square-foot building at 40 Shaw St. is the longtime home of B.P. Learned Mission, which was established in 1859 to serve children from low-income families and while on Shaw Street has offered afterschool and summer programs, as well as parenting programs. B.P. Learned merged with the nonprofit Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut in 2003. It had closed at the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and later agreed to sell the building.

There is still a large police presence in Lynn after authorities say an individual barricaded themselves in a basement on Hanover Street Friday night.

STORY: The protest was held in solidarity with the Northern Territory’s Yuendumu community, who called for a National Day of Action on June 18, demanding a police ceasefire and an end to intervention powers.Australia’s intervention into remote indigenous communities began in 2007, when the John Howard government sent police and troops to the Northern Territory and made special bans on alcohol and pornography - to stamp out alleged widespread child sex-abuse fueled by chronic alcoholism. Subsequent governments retained many of the measures of the initial policy.The protest also comes after a Northern Territory police officer was acquitted of murder charges over the shooting of a 19 year old Yuendumu man in March.Australia’s 700,000 or so indigenous people, who trace their roots back 65,000 years before British colonialists arrived, track near the bottom of its 25 million citizens on almost every economic and social indicator.Denied the vote until the mid-1960s, indigenous people face a 10-year gap in life expectancy compared with other Australians and make up 30% of the prison population. Aboriginal deaths in police custody have been a problem for years despite a Royal Commission looking into the issue since 1991.

Arizona’s wildfire season, which got off to an early start this year, could be even more catastrophic in 2022 than in previous years.

Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson says former Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly rejected pressure from President Donald Trump to block congressional certification of Joe Biden's presidential election win. Thompson, a Democrat, says of Pence, "He knew it was illegal, he knew it was wrong."

[This story contains spoilers from Obi-Wan Kenobi “Part V.”] There is a wish list among Star Wars fans of what they hoped to see in Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this week’s episode checked a big box with a lightsaber dash. Within seconds of the opening of “Part V,” the penultimate episode of the Disney+ series treated […]

A Chinese doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was reportedly assaulted by five young men near the campus, triggering a student protest against anti-Asian hate and violence. The student said he was walking home along University Avenue on Tuesday night when a group of men surrounded him, struck him in the face, shoved him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him. A Chinese male student was beaten by FIVE random young men yesterday on University Ave. close to @UWMadison campus.

A former assistant principal from Union Grove Christian School in Davidson County has been sentenced to five years for having sex with a student.

A parent filed a federal lawsuit against the Mountain Lakes School District and leaders, saying the school created a hostile education environment.

A federal waiver that made school breakfasts and lunches free to students regardless of their family’s income is set to expire June 30.

Delray Beach police found 42-year-old Bam Margera, best known for MTV's "Jackass," at a hotel bar after he left a drug rehab center without permission

A Texas mother has been arrested in connection with the death of her two-year-old after an autopsy found the death was not from a self-inflicted wound.

Shane Gobeil reportedly told police that he intended to buy an assault rifle and if anyone trans or in drag came near his daughter he'd "kill 'em."

“Breathe deeply,” a Macon judge told a just-convicted child molester who lured a girl with promises of a Victoria’s Secret modeling contract. “This will probably be the last time you breathe free air.”

Philadelphia Police Inspector Frank Vanore provides an update on the Center City attack that left three women injured.

Gia Vang, the first Hmong American TV news anchor in the Twin Cities, has left the KARE 11 station. Vang bid farewell to Minnesota as a co-anchor of "KARE 11 Sunrise" earlier today after announcing last week that she was leaving the station. The reporter joined KARE 11 in June 2019 after previously working at a TV station in Fresno, California.

Multiple police agencies responded to a shopping plaza in Webster, Massachusetts, Friday morning. Investigators have released few details about what brought them to the East Main Street Plaza, but businesses in the area, including Planet Fitness, are closed. WCVB's Matt Reed is en route to the scene and this page will be updated as new information is available.

WVTM/TwitterA 71-year-old Alabama man attending a church potluck dinner for elderly parishioners on Thursday evening suddenly pulled out a handgun and started firing, killing three people until a churchgoer heroically subdued him, police said Friday.The gunman, who has not been publicly identified, was an “occasional attendee” at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, a suburban community on the outskirts of Birmingham that is rated one of the safest in Alabama.“The suspect has previo

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) plans to sue a PAC for defamation after it made a series of wild claims about her without evidence — assertions that quickly spread online. The source of the claims is the American Muckrakers PAC, a group that was also behind the release of a number of salacious videos of Rep. Madison Cawthorn…

Police arrested a woman from Florida for pepper-spraying a group of young Asian women in Manhattan last weekend.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, is accused of killing four students and injuring seven others; his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are also charged