Selectman Nick Williams on Tuesday pushed to have New Canaan resident Matt Campbell appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board of Education.
The school board has had an open seat since former Chair Dan Bennett, a Republican, resigned in April.
In a decision that drew criticism from some Democrats on the Board of Ed, Republicans on the school board subsequently decided to forgo filling the open seat, saying it could interfere with the party’s July Caucus.
Under Section 7-4 of the Town Charter, the Board of Ed can fill a vacancy prior to the next municipal election, where a successor is elected to fill the balance of the term (Bennett’s four-year term expires in 2025). “If the Board of Education fails to fill any vacancy which occurs on the Board within 90 days after the vacancy occurs, the Board of Selectmen may fill such vacancy until the next biennial municipal election,” according to the Charter.
Williams during the Board of Selectmen’s Sept. 5 regular meeting proposed that the selectmen “approve the addition of a new Board of Education candidate, a Republican taking Dan Bennett’s spot on the Board of Education, and that would be Matt Campbell.”
“There is a vacancy on the Board of Education, for whatever reason the Board of Ed itself decided not to fill the slot,” Williams said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
“They believed—and I think I agree with this logic—they said they had the Caucus coming up and because this was a Republican spot, they said let’s wait and see the results from the Caucus, let’s let the [top] vote-getter, that would be the person that we support to fill this vacancy,” he added. “That was a guy named Matt Campbell, who I think is a terrific candidate, will be a terrific Board of Ed member and I now move to fill that position with Matt Campbell.”
Republicans currently hold six seats on the Board of Ed, Democrats three. This year, five seats are up for election—three four-year terms for seats currently held by Republicans, one four-year term currently held by a Democrat, and a two-year seat representing the remainder of Bennett’s term. Campbell is one of three Republicans seeking to win four-year terms in the Nov. 7 election. Two Democrats and one unaffiliated candidate also are running for four-year terms, while a Republican and Democrat will face off for the open two-year term.
Ultimately, the selectmen decided to postpone a discussion of the matter to their Sept. 19 meeting. Selectman Kathleen Corbet noted that Williams had brought forth three major items for the Board to consider—the others being a proposed real estate transaction and the makeup of the town’s “Fields Committee”—and neither she nor First Selectman Kevin Moynihan agreed to add Campbell’s BOE appointment to their agenda.
Williams said, “The Republican Caucus of the Board of Ed, my understanding is that they felt they wanted to fill that spot but they wanted to wait for the outcome of the Caucus because they wanted to see the people’s choice among the Republicans, because it’s a Republican spot, we all know that. And they did that, the Caucus was held—I would have come up with this earlier but because of summer and everything it kind of put things on hold. Matt Campbell was the clear winner of that race and I think he received more votes than perhaps anybody else in the race and I just think he’s a terrific candidate.”
When Williams proposed a motion that the selectmen appoint Campbell to the BOE, Moynihan asked if there was a second to the motion. Corbet said no.
Moynihan said, “Let’s get on with our agenda.”
Williams responded, “Your agenda.”
I respect Mr. Williams tremendously, but I have an issue with the revisionist narrative presented here. In fact, when the BOE decided not to fill the seat, it was said that “some” wanted to wait until after the Republican caucus; but Ms. Parkhill, a Republican herself, seemed to disagree with that, saying she had wanted to fill the seat as soon as possible. It seems, then, that 4 Republicans wanted a certain candidate or candidates, with which none of the other 4 BOE members agreed (including one Republican). It’s an important distinction.
Also, Mr. Campbell has publicly accused our administration and teachers of putting politics above our students, threatening to indoctrinate them in a “Marxist ideology” by aiming to teach with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind, among other things. Who knows what other extreme positions he pushed at the Republican BOE debate and caucus, since neither the public nor the press were allowed to attend (and those who attended but attempted to tape it were apparently told they would be asked to leave). A candidate who takes any opportunity to undermine the integrity of our amazing administration and teachers is a “terrific” candidate? I hope all voters do a bit of digging before agreeing on that point.
Finally, what is urgency in seating someone at the end of September with an election in less than two months from then?
While there are many potential responses to Hillary’s post, I will stick to the highlights:
1) Clearly the Democrats on the BoE thought that having a full Board was important in July when Penny Rashin pushed for a Special BoE meeting weeks before the Republican caucus. It was a blatantly partisan manoeuvre – something that has no place on the BoE – which is why it was blocked by Republican members.
2) There is a long history of filling vacant Board seats at this time of year. In fact Katrina Parkhill was appointed to the vacant 2 year seat in October 2022, just weeks before the November election without any objection. The opposition here seems candidate specific, not a point of principle.
3) The RTC runs an open, fair and truly (small d) democratic process. No one should take Hillary’s criticism of any part of our caucus process seriously. She is not commenting in good faith.
4) Matt is an outstanding candidate for BoE who will energetically advocate for the interests of New Canaan’s students and who understands issues of diversity from his lived experience.
Thanks everyone. This thread is closed.
Why would they vote to put a candidate in the elected role as a seat filler a month before an election? The majority R BOE could not agree on a candidate that could get through a vote, so now it’s been suggested that one of the candidates that was not approved to go up for a vote at the BOE should be installed for a couple of weeks prior to an election? Thank you Kathleen and Kevin for having better judgment than to meddle prior to an election. The voters will have their say just a month later than this agenda item in 2 weeks.
I know Matt personally and have worked side by side with him on various charity / youth development projects for a decade. If by giving countless hours of unremunerated service to help develop the next generation of leaders is considered “radical”, then sign me up for more please.
Matt is a tremendous asset to the town and would bring multi faceted diversity to our BOE – the horror!
What a terrific endorsement of Matt Campbell for the Board of Education by Selectman Nick Williams. One decent, honest man supporting another for public service, that is the spirit of New Canaan. Matt would be a terrific addition to the BOE, a devoted, loving father and kind man who will always put our children first.
I watched the DEI debate and Matt called DEI “Marxist division”. For those who failed history class, Marxism relies on dividing the population by characteristics (socioeconomic class, race, etc) in order to promote “equity”.
Matt Campbell is a terrific candidate and won convincingly. The town as spoken! Thank you Matt for providing your intelligence and character as a wonderful candidate for the BOE! The support is all yours!!