Everyone knew Stan Simpson was likely to bail on his Courant gig when he was announced as one of the newest Hartford school system hires. Lynn Doan, on the other hand, comes as more of a surprise.

Here’s Naedine Hazell’s announcement about their departures.

Stan Simpson and Lynn Doan have decided to leave the Courant for new challenges.
Stan  – Sunday morning TV talk-show host, newspaper columnist, college journalism instructor, Windsor town reporter, copy editor – is adding to his already impressive resume. He recently accepted the new job of Director of Journalism and Media at the new Journalism & Media High School in Hartford.

“This is an exceptionally compelling opportunity because it would allow me to teach Journalism – the craft that I love and have worked at for 23 years – to students in one of the poorest and lowest performing school districts in the country,” he wrote in his resignation letter.

In his 20 years at the Courant, Stan never stopped striving and always sought out the next challenge. He intends to bring the same fervor to his new endeavor: “My goal is to make this the preeminent high school of its kind in the country.”

Stan will continue his Sunday morning show on Fox61 and you can look for him, as early as the new year, on the Opinion pages. His plans to make his farewells in his column tomorrow.

Lynn Doan, the high-energy reporter of energy and many other business topics, is leaving to join SNL Financial, an online service, as a senior energy reporter in Washington, D.C. 
 Lynn’s numerous A1 stories have chronicled everything from holes in the state’s corporate tax policy to the cancer survivor who turns alpaca dung into electricity – and that’s just in the last month. She brought us the Madoff victims named Madoff, the spat between designers and decorators many other offbeat tales.

  Lynn joined The Courant three years ago by way of METPro at the LATimes, and covered energy and business for just over a year after reporting in Suffield, Windsor Locks and East Hartford and Manchester schools.   We had hoped that Lynn, known for her amazing speed and teamwork, would have a long, slow tenure here. But the nation’s capital beckons. Her last day is Friday, Aug. 14.

Please wish them both well!