On March 7th, Governor Ned Lamont surprised the NHS community with an impromptu visit to the high school.

Lamont, who is up for reelection this November, decided to stop by on a whim while he was in the area.

“I stopped by the school to see who’s wearing masks or not, the choice is theirs of course,” said Lamont during an interview with The Greyhound News.

The statewide school mask mandate was removed starting on March 1st, and since then most districts have made mask-wearing optional.

“Larger districts like Hartford or New Haven still have their mandate as they have more students and have lower vaccination rates,” Lamont said. “I’m finding that most schools are about 50/50 to 70/30 no masks to masks, and I think that there will be fewer masks as people get more comfortable.”

Before talking with students, he met with town politicians and superintendent Mr. Chris Montini to discuss various topics concerning the borough and the school district.

In his meeting with town officials, Lamont discussed his plans for tax credits in Naugatuck, as well as a new train station that is being planned for the borough.

In his meeting with Superintendent Montini, they discussed the mask mandate, as well as district funding and grants.

“(Gov. Lamont) supported increases to the (district) revenue as well as the Alliance Grant, and I was very thankful for his continued support,” said Montini to The Greyhound News..

The Alliance Grant is a state-funded program that provides grant money for lower-performing districts to help improve student opportunities and test scoring. An increase in these grants would provide the district with more funding for our students in these regards.

After meeting with town officials and members of the Board of Education, Lamont stuck around to speak with teachers and students as school was being dismissed.

“It was great that we were able to arrange the visit on such short notice,” Montini continued. “Mr. Schumann’s AP Government class was right there to meet him.”

Lamont has announced that he will be running for Governor again this November.