NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) of endorsement. We will publish endorsement letters from New Canaan residents through Oct. 24. Please send them to editor@newcanaanite.com.
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Editor,
As a concerned New Canaan resident, I urge fellow constituents to vote for Janet Leung Fonss for Town Council. She is exactly the smart, engaged, and articulate individual we need on Town Council. Janet’s extensive professional background is in finance, which will help her to make smart choices about how New Canaan spends our money.
During her 24 years in town, Janet has raised two children, both of whom attended New Canaan public schools. She has been a very active volunteer in the schools, as classroom coordinator, fundraising chair, and special events coordinator. From 2013-15, she served as West Elementary School’s Co-PTC President. Her involvement in the New Canaan schools is a great platform for service on Town Council.
Janet has boundless energy and has volunteered for a diverse assortment of not-for-profits, including the National Charity League, the New England Dance Theater/Academy, the New Canaan Beautification League, and the Organization of Chinese Americans—Fairfield County. I have seen Janet in action in a variety of capacities. Janet is thoughtful, even-tempered, and fair-minded. She is always ready to listen and reflect upon another’s point of view. She can be relied upon to step in when help is needed. We need more Janets on Town Council and in town government.
Sincerely,
Angela Jameson
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Dear Editor,
Dionna Carlson has a genuine passion for New Canaan. She has served on the BOE (including chairman for three years) as well as leadership positions at Congregational Church, DAR, board member for her children’s schools, and more. When I think about why Dionna is the best choice to lead New Canaan, I think of three qualities… leadership, accessibility and honesty.
Dionna is a proven town leader. Dionna testified in Hartford at the Education Committee Public Hearing against a school regionalization bill while she was on the BOE in 2018. Her actions are clear evidence that she can be counted on to represent our residents by speaking out for local control of our town and our schools. Her demonstrated advocacy on our behalf will be an important asset in the coming years with the ever-increasing number of bills with unfunded mandates coming down from Hartford.
Dionna is accessible. I reached out to Dionna when I was considering running for the BOE two years ago and she immediately replied and met me for coffee. I found Dionna to be warm and engaging. She always makes time to meet, talk things through, and answer questions. She is an active listener and provides constructive feedback every time I reach out for advice. Dionna’s experience has been invaluable, and she clearly communicates the thoughtful reasons behind her feedback.
I’ve seen Dionna treat all members of our community with fairness and honesty. As an example, during her tenure on the BOE, Dionna heard the needs of elementary school parents and was their voice during the school start times decision. While she recognized the benefits of changing school start times for HS students, Dionna balanced those goals with the comments she heard from numerous elementary school parents that had very legitimate concerns about the impacts of the administration’s proposal on their families. While Democrat BOE members continued to push the administration’s stated proposal, Dionna thoughtfully voiced the elementary parents’ concerns and challenged the school leadership to go back once more to try to come up with a more workable solution. The district heeded the suggestion, and their revised solution which shaved 30 minutes off the start times, was reported on at a recent BOE meeting. The survey showed that the final adopted plan has been seen as a success by families and students alike at every grade level. This new solution also resulted in significant annual cost savings compared to the original proposal.
If elected, Dionna has committed to providing regular town updates via a town newsletter as is done by leadership in many of our neighboring towns. This communication best practice is an initiative she mentioned this spring, and it will bring a level of transparency to the office of First Selectman that we have never experienced. Our town is fortunate to have Dionna stepping up to the challenge of leading New Canaan. I am confident she will do good things and I am excited to support such a strong and amazing woman. Proven leadership, it really matters and that is what Dionna brings to the role of First Selectman.
Julie Toal
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Dear Editor:
New Canaan is lucky to have Amy Murphy Carroll running to be our next First Selectman, and I fully endorse her candidacy.
Amy is not only the most qualified candidate in this race, but is also perhaps the most qualified to ever run. Amy just retired in July from a 30-year career in municipal finance, a solid basis for the job that knows no equal. In addition to being a full-time working mother of four, Amy has also served with distinction for 10 years on one of New Canaan’s busiest and most important volunteer committees, the Board of Finance. Here, she married her broad municipal finance knowledge with her commitment to local matters, working in a bipartisan fashion to get New Canaan’s finances in strong working order. Her effectiveness on the Board of Finance also translated into her appointment to committees for various large town projects, such as those handling Saxe School and Police Station renovations. In all cases, Amy knows and respects the value of every taxpayer dollar spent, and we would have no greater steward than her.
Most importantly, Amy will bring together a town that has become increasingly partisan. Amy has strong support among Democrats, yes, but also among Republicans and Unaffiliated voters. This is because she is a “big tent” person, wanting only the best for our town, regardless of party affiliation. Simply put, Amy is a rarity these days: a leader who listens and is listened to; respects and is respected; incredibly knowledgeable but ready and willing to learn.
Please join me in voting for Amy Murphy Carroll for First Selectman on November 7.
Hilary Ormond
“While Democrat BOE members continued to push the administration’s stated proposal”: This is an interesting rewrite of history, not surprisingly in a way that attempts to politicize a BOE that was not political before 2021 when the author of this letter took office. When Dionna was on the BOE, the original proposal with HS at 8:30 was supported by all of the BOE except Dionna and Bob Naughton. So 3 Dems, 4 Rs in support. It has nothing to do with politics. Dionna wasn’t even on the board anymore when the current schedule was proposed. Plus the current schedule costs more than the original, not less, especially when accounting for the extra resources needed at saxe to accommodate splitting 5/6 and 7/8 in a way that prevents some resources from being shared. Which I would think the author of this would know, considering she was in office when it was voted on. Both plans had similar costs and required all schedules to change. Today, when kids are in 8-12th grade, they will get 30 minutes more sleep vs the 1 hour more sleep in the original plan that was supported, again, by everyone on the BOE at that time except Dionna and Bob. We will never know how much that plan would have been liked (or not) in the follow up survey.
If you are concerned about the “politicalization of BOE” why write a letter that does just that? Dionna is going to be a great First Selectman. Thrilled that she running!
This thread is closed, thank you.
This is an incredible misrepresentation of the long journey to a successful school start time change. I won’t repeat all of the inaccuracies cited in the comment above but this attempt to take credit for the hard work of the people who actually put in many hours to find the best solution for our town is both divisive and embarrassing. The Democratic BOE members voted for a later start time for high school students that would be in line with the recommendations of the medical community, not “the administration’s stated proposal”. It was Dr. Luizzi and Katrina Parkhill who stood up in the end and pushed for this compromise solution in an attempt (I believe) to take into account the concerns of the Athletic Director and parents of athletes, and the concerns of the teachers around their commutes and family obligations. Please please please stop electing extreme partisans who spend so much time twisting facts and trying to divide us.