New Canaan resident Giacomo Landi, an unaffiliated candidate, is seeking election to the Board of Education. Republicans hold a 6-3 majority on the nine-member school board. Five seats are up for election: three currently held by Republicans, two by Democrats. There are three Republicans and three Democrats running for Board of Ed, in addition to Landi, a write-in candidate.
Here’s our exchange with Landi.
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Giacomo Landi
New Canaanite: Please give us some background on you, including your history in New Canaan and your involvement with community organizations and/or local government/New Canaan Public Schools.
Giacomo Landi: As a proud product of public elementary, high school, and university, I am a firm believer in the role of public education as a fundamental foundation of excellence for all Americans. My work experience includes a background in Transportation, Finance, Consulting, and today I work for a non-profit.
My wife Elizabeth and I have three kids—James in grade 7, Samuel in grade 5, and Charles grade 2—who are all in New Canaan Public Schools. We have been part of the New Canaan Public Schools since moving to town in 2019. In New Canaan we have enjoyed participating in many town sports programs, and today we are particularly engaged with New Canaan F.C., Y-Ball, and New Canaan Baseball. On the outdoor side, we enjoy being members of both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Over the past several years, I have had the pleasure of helping coach Rec Baseball and working as a volunteer in Scout leadership positions. If you are looking to find us on any evening or weekend, it is likely that we are on a town field, court, diamond, or perhaps a local campout.
In terms of my engagement with the New Canaan Public Schools, I was a very vocal advocate for reopening schools during COVID—we still thank our lucky stars that we lived in New Canaan throughout COVID—and was also a champion for finding a workable solution for revised school start times that considered elementary as well as high school students. I am very proud and happy that a good solution was reached.
Your readers may remember that I ran for the BOE in the last election cycle. I came up short, but it was a great experience and I appreciated meeting so many welcoming New Canaanites.
What are your thoughts about the way curriculum is developed for New Canaan Public Schools and what changes, if any, would you make to the process?
We have been happy with the curriculum in the New Canaan Public Schools. I feel that academic areas (reading, writing, and math) could be pushed to a larger extent at younger grades than they are emphasized. I remain a bit of a skeptic regarding how math is taught at younger grades as well, but as a member of the BOE I would look forward to understanding why this way is better than “old math.”
On the technology side, I am a supporter of the new restrictions on phones in school. My preference is to continue to reduce dependence on technology in the classroom especially, for the younger ages. This will ensure students really know the material and parents can more easily see what students are working on (with homework help in particular) and where gaps may be developing.
I appreciate the dedicated focus on science, art, library, music, and P.E. in the school district even at earliest grades. Further, I feel that the strings and orchestra programs are absolute gems for the district. We deeply value the passion of the teachers, the growth we see in the students, and we look forward to the concerts each year. More recently, we have appreciated the depth and breadth of before and after school club programs at Saxe.
To what extent, if at all, will your party’s national agenda affect your decision-making at the local level?
The beauty of being a non-affiliated write-in candidate is I can spend 100% of my time focused on what is best for the New Canaan Public Schools without being told how to vote or otherwise influenced by local, state or national political party positions or key financial or political backers.
What are your thoughts on the proposed North School? In your view, what are the upsides to that project? What are the red flags, if any?
I am a firm believer in transparency and community engagement. Like many parents with kids in the public schools, I receive multiple messages from the school system each day. Surprisingly, I am not sure that I have ever been invited as a parent, resident, or taxpayer to a meeting to discuss the North School. The cost of the current proposal for the North School and subsequent phases is apparently close to $300 million dollars. I believe a project of this scope and financial investment, and with such a long-term impact on the town and its residents should require significant public input and review before approval.
As a member of the BOE I would insist that at a minimum quarterly, and preferably monthly public meetings are held, to update the community on how the project is developing, share baseline data, and take feedback (and provide responses to that feedback). Once the final proposal is presented a town-wide vote via a referendum should be held to ensure the community has a chance to be fully informed on the proposed investment and supports it.
What is one change or new initiative that you would like to see through as a Board of Ed member, if there is one?
I would advocate for stronger outreach to the families of the hundreds of New Canaan kids who attend private school rather than our public schools. We need to understand why those families have not chosen to attend our schools. Addressing some of those identified gaps will improve the experience for students in our schools, and perhaps increase enrollment and outcomes over time. On the cost and operational side, a full review of our bussing program is an absolute necessity, so we ensure that the challenges at the start of this academic year have been fully solved.
Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.
I grew up in northern Vermont and the annual Town Meeting Day (first Tuesday in March) was an important day and a formative political memory. The concept of all members of a community invited to an annual in-person meeting where issues of the day are debated and voted on is democracy and self-government in action. We in New Canaan, and around the country, should see how similar processes could be incorporated to increase civic engagement, understanding, transparency, responsibility, and community spirit.
Fellow unaffiliated voter sends a high five to a teammate. Retired school psychologist watches the BOE race with keen interest.
Thanks Deborah I really appreciate the high five. For those interested in voting for me – you can find me at Row C for BOE (sort of has a jingle right?). You just need to fill in a dot there and write in my name.
Mike thanks for including me in these articles. With no debates this year it is hard to get the message out, including that people can use all five of their BOE votes over the three rows A, B and C.