Board of Education

Election 2023: NewCanaanite.com Endorsements for Board of Education 

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We thank all candidates for the Board of Education for running—an act of generosity and care for the community that, sadly, is met at times with ignorance and vitriol. The following appears in the state statute that establishes Boards of Education in Connecticut towns (Sec. 10-221):
“Each local and regional board of education shall develop, adopt and implement written policies and procedures to encourage parent-teacher communication. These policies and procedures may include monthly newsletters, required regular contact with all parents, flexible parent-teacher conferences, drop-in hours for parents, home visits and the use of technology such as homework hot lines to allow parents to check on their children’s assignments and students to receive assistance if needed. Such policies and procedures shall require the district to conduct two flexible parent-teacher conferences for each school year.”
That’s 87 words within a 790-word section on Board of Ed procedures.

Board of Education

Two-Year Board of Ed Candidates Debate Enrollment, Priorities, Classroom Topics

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The major priorities for the school district are preparing for an expected enrollment boom, safety and “continually looking forward to ensure that our curriculum is gradually changing, so that we are keeping pace with changing society,” according to one candidate for a two-year term on the Board of Education. Democrat Josh Kaye said during a League of Women Voters of New Canaan debate that aired Monday night that when he was in school he “didn’t learn how to use a slide rule, even though that had been important for my parents.”

“Because the world changed,” Kaye said. “The world didn’t stop changing in 2000. So we need to look forward. We need to be thinking actively about the skills and abilities our kids need to graduate so that they can be prepared to thrive.”

Responding to the same question about his concrete goals on the Board of Ed, Kaye’s opponent in the Nov.

Board of Education

Candidates for Four-Year Board of Ed Term Debate Budget, Classroom Topics, Reading Materials

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Though candidates for four-year terms on the New Canaan Board of Education agree that reading materials in school should be age-appropriate—and that no single group of parents should override the decisions of the district’s professionals—they have different ideas on the degree to which such decisions should be overseen by the elected body. Republican Matt Wexler during a debate (watch it here) held Monday night at Town Hall said that he opposes book banning and the filtering of any information “except when it comes to age appropriateness.”

“I think that anything that might be of question should be brought to the town, and we should have discussion on it,” Wexler told a standing-room-only crowd packed into the Town Hall Meeting Room for the candidates’ approximately 70-minute debate, hosted by the League of Women Voters of New Canaan. 

“The parents should be allowed to weigh in, and we should hear all sides,” Wexler continued. “Because ultimately, we’re all parents, we all want what’s best for our children. There are some parents that may want certain exposure, some parents that may not. And ultimately we need to, one, provide the transparency for parents to make their own decision, but two, provide the option for parents to perhaps pull their kids out for that lesson.”

Responding to the same question from the League—regarding a single group of parents within a district prompting “book bans in libraries and classrooms” as per national headlines—Democratic candidate Lauren Connolly Nussbaum said that it’s not an issue in New Canaan because “our teachers and librarians are doing an exceptional job picking age-appropriate texts”

“In addition to that, they’re sharing their syllabi at the beginning of every year and I’m sure many of us in this room have inboxes full of emails from our teachers telling us what books our students will be reading in that semester or year,” Connolly Nussbaum continued.

Opinion

Podcast: First Selectman Candidate Dionna Carlson

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we publish our interviews with two candidates for New Canaan’s highest elected office, starting with Republican Dionna Carlson. We interviewed her as well as Democrat Amy Murphy Carroll at New Canaan Library on the morning of October 13th. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Opinion

Podcast: Board of Ed Candidate Matt Campbell

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Board of Education candidate Matt Campbell. The Republican is seeking one of four four-year seats up for election. There’s also a contested two-person race for a two-year Board of Ed term. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0: