A two-year member of the New Canaan Board of Education resigned Monday night after issuing a dramatic statement during the newly elected body’s regular meeting.
Matt Campbell, the highest vote-getter among all school board candidates two years ago, accused two fellow Board of Ed members—one Democrat and one fellow Republican—of “colluding” to influence the recent election. That election saw Democrats pick up one seat on the school board when incumbent Republican Julie Toal lost her seat. The GOP still holds a 5-4 majority on the BOE.
Referring to Board of Ed members Phil Hogan and Erica Schwedel (who were voted during the meeting as BOE chair and secretary, respectively, see below), Campbell said that “like many in my party,” he has “long been uncomfortable with the nature of their relationship.”
“But this [collusion] truly surprised me,” Campbell said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.
“I vehemently opposed any deal that would deprive New Canaan residents of the best potential representatives for the BOE,” he said. “I believe this level of collusion to be unethical and antithetical to the values I hold dear. When I became aware that Ms. Toal would be the casualty of their deal, I wrote a letter to the New Canaanite to try to thwart their collusion. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, and we lost an effective member of the BOE who had served tirelessly for four years. There were also several attempts by those involved to defame me and my family and to isolate me just for opposing them. The culmination of that deal is what you witnessed tonight.”
Campbell appeared to refer to the Board of Ed’s organizational meeting, which saw Hogan elected chair, Lara Kelly as vice chair and Schwedel as secretary.
He said that Hogan was a “very close friend” of Schwedel, and that those voting for Hogan’s chairmanship, “including the Republicans, were complicit in this deal.”
Those voting for Hogan as chair included Board of Ed members Hugo Alves, Kate Bambrilla, Brendan Hayes, Hogan, Josh Kaye, Schwedel and Matt Wexler. Kelly and Campbell voted against.
Campbell said that when he was elected in 2023, “I pledged to always speak the truth and to stand on integrity. I cannot be an effective Board member without partaking of the fruit of this poisonous tree. Therefore, effective immediately, I hereby resign my position as a member of the New Canaan Board of Education. I would like to thank all those who have supported me and I hope you’re pleased with my work for our district despite my abbreviated service. I would like to thank the administration, especially [Superintendent of Schools] Dr. [Bryan] Luizzi and his cabinet, for their amazing work and support. I will continue to support them as a private citizen. I will continue to advocate for initiatives that are important for our community. I truly love our schools and hope for their continued success. Thank you.”
Campbell left the meeting after his remarks. Members of the Board then formally voted on Schwedel as secretary. The group voted 6-2 for Schwedel, with Kelly and Wexler opposed.
Under state law, “If a vacancy occurs in the office of any member of the local board of education, unless otherwise provided by charter or special act, such vacancy shall be filled by the remaining members of said board until the next regular town election, at which election a successor shall be elected for the unexpired portion of the term, the official ballot specifying the vacancy to be filled.”
During the organizational meeting that preceded Campbell’s resignation, overseen by First Selectman Dionna Carlson, Alves nominated Hogan as chair, saying that in four years he has come to know Hogan “very well.”
“He’s a dedicated father, husband, Board member and well-respected member of our community,” Alves said. “While on the Board, he served in the executive committee, twice as vice chair. He’s also been a member of communications and was chair of the facilities committee. Phil played an important role in the search committee for our East principal and our West assistant principal. While frequently attending budget related meetings with various town boards—as I’ve said before, serving on this Board has a steep learning curve—and I feel that Phil’s experienced knowledge, the relationships that he’s developed with the cabinet administrators and other board members position him and the rest of the Board for continued success.”
Hayes nominated Alves as vice chair but the latter declined the nomination.
Wexler then nominated Kelly for the role, saying that in two years since joining she “has been a strong and vocal member of the Board of Education, steadfast in her convictions, but collaborative in her approach.”
“She’s been a strong advocate for parental rights, transparency, special education, and student safety,” Wexler said. “She works constructively with the administration, asking thorough questions, listening and being thoughtful in her discussions. And Lara understands that real progress comes from partnership, not noise, and brings a grounded, solutions-oriented perspective to every discussion. Most importantly, she leads with conviction. Through her time on the Board, Lara has shown that she’s willing to show up and do the work and stand for what she believes in. Finally, and maybe most importantly, I think for those that know her, she’s one of the nicest, most genuine people on the Board.”
Kelly was elected 9-0.
In nominating Schwedel, an incumbent, Hayes noted that she “has been on the executive committee for the last three years.”
“She is probably the most energetic person on our Board,” he said. “She can’t really be contained in terms of her dedication to the Board, dedication to the community and just really leads by example from that perspective. She’s extremely focused on what’s best for the kids in New Canaan. And she does a great job, I think, at bridging gaps and disagreements on the Board and helps us move things forward.”
The meeting opened with Town Clerk Claudia Weber swearing in newly elected and re-elected Board of Ed members.
What a sad state of affairs.
Matt — you have my email like to talk
There’s this little problem the BOE has that we should talk about
You’re the Man of the hour among
A bunch of followers
Can’t wait for your next blog post telling us what the problem is and how you’d solve it! Hoping for at least 10 line breaks so we know you’re really in the flow state.
Enjoy celebrating a person taking their ball and going home. Students in the arts and athletics programs handle disappointment every season better than this. At least this rising star R resignation didn’t come with a mugshot like the last one.
Touche, Kevin. “Graciousness” is apparently not a traditional family value.
Is this the same Jim
Kucharczyk Dem who was
On the BOE and the BoF
And left Town are you
Back
Never left, Richy. You left out Town Council. After 19 years, in 2020 I thought it was time for a new generation to step up, and boy have they! Incredibly proud of the slate that has stepped in and done a far better job than I was able to. The majority of New Canaan voters apparently agree.
Kevin
I appreciate Matt doing something
Besides sitting there and listening to the BS that comes from the
school administrator and the
Superintendent minions
Now it all might have been to
much for him
Now I would rather he stayed
On the board because he seem
To be one of the only ones to ask
good question like on the
$300 + North School scam
The new Chair was part of the
facility committee and knew
Data was withheld from the public
And about the problem
It has to do with $31 million dollar
And I will be sharing it with everyone if the power to be
Still refuse to fix it
Stay tuned Kevin I won’t disappoint
Do what? He quit and flamed colleagues on the way out because he didn’t get his way.
You can call the administration and parents who support them all the names you want, it won’t change the fact that they are the people doing work day in and day out to make our schools great.
Good luck with the Matlock adventure. We are all on the edge of our seats for your next great reveal of the conspiracy of the day.
Good grief, Mr Campbell. Really unfortunate to see this play out in this manner. The refusal to believe in the will of the people/voters and instead blaming an election outcome on so-called “collusion.” This lack of self-awareness is what really ushered in the outcome, not to mention national party platform crazy talk, which voters rebuked this season, in favor of balance. Also, “partaking of poisonous fruit” and “standing on integrity” are interesting statements. Good luck to our new BOE members.
Joke sad for the town
Not sure if the political parties want an unaffiliated person on the BOE – but I am happy to fill out the term. I think I have been pretty transparent with the issues I see as important for New Canaan over my 2 campaigns. Big one for me remains the bus – 2nd time in 3 weeks the bus did not show to pick up my oldest this morning. Common sense and practical issues are what I would focus on and leave the politics to others.
I gusss any time a Republican loses an election it’s only because that election was rigged.
Democrats and Republicans having civil, working relationships is called bipartisan collaboration. Not collusion. It’s one of the core principles of American government. Bipartisanship should be celebrated, not demonized. Election results go in cycles. We’ve seen that clearly in New Canaan and across the country. No need to fabricate a scandal when local results continue to mimic national trends. Let’s move on.
The town has lost the two most valuable members of the board in one month. They were both strong advocates for families and kids against the ideologically motivated trends that have taken over the educational system.
While the kids in our towns will suffer as a result, I suspect that their own families will be very happy to have them out of this battle and spending more time at home.
It is extremely difficult to get family-first parents to work on a school board when they believe that the families should have more control and the schools should have less. Matt was willing to sacrifice for the good of others but was rejected. Now, we will get less of what families want and more of what the educational system wants for itself.
Thank you, Matt and Julie, for trying to help others.
Thank you, Mr Stiles, for articulating so well the reason voters showed up the way they did. To clarify one point, Mr Campbell was not rejected, he quit. Quite spectacularly, in fact. I’m sad thinking about the families and especially the children of the newly elected members who were there to witness democracy in action and instead received front row seats to Mr Campbell’s public performance. Given the wild accusations levied and the staggering lack of self awareness, he did the right thing by resigning. Our kids will not suffer one bit. As Dr Luizzi says…”Onward!”
People who irrationally advocate family control of education over pedagogical expertise…why the US ranks 17th
Perhaps you could show us the rigorous data which proves that parental input in school curriculums is directly correlated with the U.S.A. falling in educational ranking worldwide.
He wasn’t rejected. He quit.
And the other ‘valuable’ member wasn’t re-elected because she didn’t have the votes. Which means people in the community chose for someone else.
Let’s drop the taglines and drama.
Erica Schwedel is an intelligent collaborative thinker who has and will help the organizations who call upon her help. We know her to be a person of high character. She is an asset to the community, and we are grateful for her contributions. Mr. Campbell’s slanderous accusations should be disregarded as sour grapes. Good riddance to him.
I don’t know the man but this sounds like a lot of manufactured drama and sour grapes. I know Erica well and she shows up, puts the work in, and has this town and the well being of our kids and schools as her North Star. I also know she is going to just keep it moving and get right back to work and not be slowed for a second by this type of nonsense.
Parents don’t have enough influence in the schools. That is precisely why they are not as good as they could be.
Why are NC schools so highly ranked? Because our parents are massively engaged, well educated, rich, married, and generally have moms at home.
The NEA, state of CT, and now even on our own BOE is doing what it can to make NC like every other crappy school. Thankfully, my kids’, and most kids’ outcomes are mostly dependent on their parents.
My kids will be fine. If you are highly involved and have the resources to help your kids, they will also probably be fine.
But Matt and Julie have been trying to move the system in the direction that will help those who are not rich, who don’t have highly involved parents, who need to be protected from the extreme ideology in the educational system that has resulted in so many kids not being proficient in basic skills, but instead believing that gender is a construct.
My kids have reached escape velocity. I am sorry for the families who will not survive unscathed.
Aaaaand this thread is closed.