Board of Education

Election 2019: GOP Candidates for Board of Ed Debate School Start Times, District Funding

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The five New Canaan Republicans vying for party backing as three Board of Education seats come up for election this fall shared their views Monday night on topics that included district funding, school start times and the elected body’s role with respect to curriculum. Carl Gardiner, Suzanne Harrison, Daniel LaGattuta, Bob Naughton and Julie Reeves are seeking GOP endorsement at the Republican caucus, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the New Canaan High School gym. Reeves is seeking to retain a seat she’s held since March, when Hazel Hobbs retired from the Board of Ed, and seats held now by Tom Cronin and Maria Naughton also are up for election. (Maria Naughton is running for Town Council.)

During an approximately 45-minute debate at Town Hall that was attended by more than 70 New Canaan Republicans—including current Board of Ed members, councilmen, Republican Town Committee representatives and municipal officials—the school board candidates introduced themselves and weighed in on some major issues facing the district. 

Here’s how they introduced themselves and responded to two key questions posed by moderator Fred Wilms.

Carl Gardiner said he earned a bachelor’s degree government from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University, and that he’s worked for 25-pls years in the investment industry. A father of three kids who went through New Canaan Public Schools, Gardiner said his own mother was president of the Board of Education in the town where he grew up, and that in New Canaan he has coached baseball and hockey, served on the New Canaan Baseball board and volunteered as a Sunday school teacher at St.

Election 2019

Five New Canaan Republicans Seek Party Backing for Three Board of Ed Seats Up for Election

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Five Republicans will seek party backing at next month’s caucus for three seats on the Board of Education in November’s local election, officials say. According to the New Canaan Republican Town Committee, Julie Reeves—currently serving out Hazel Hobbs’s unexpired term on the school board—will seek to retain her seat while four others also filed petitions prior to last Friday’s deadline. They are Carl W. Gardiner, Suzanne Harrison, Daniel LaGattuta and Bob Naughton, according to a press release attributed to RTC Chairman Patrick Donovan. The slate means that Republicans Tom Cronin and Maria Naughton will not seek re-election to the Board of Ed. Instead, Maria Naughton is running for Town Council.

Christa Kenin

Letter: Town Council Member Christa Kenin Will Not Seek Re-Election

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It has been an absolute honor to serve on the Town Council for the last four years. From my Town Council colleagues, I have learned what it means to be passionate about an issue, committed to a principle, protective of an organization, concerned about the future and respectful of yesteryear. That legacy stays with me. From my constituents, I have discovered perspectives so diverse that it brings a smile to my face and a recollection of the phrase, “this is what makes the world go ‘round.”

And somewhere in between, I have learned patience and humility. 

I have been so very proud to represent my typically under-represented peer group on the Town Council—whatever we are considered these days: young families, middle aged families, school district families, Mead Park families, Saxe playground families, Waveny Pool families, Library families, commuting families, divorced families. Families. 

I wanted to let you know of my decision to not run for re-election to the Town Council.

Election 2019

Election 2019: New Canaan Democrat Craig Donovan Running for First Selectman

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Town resident Craig Donovan, a Democrat who works as a professor of government, nonprofit and business management, is running for New Canaan’s top elected office. The 61-year-old, a Southern California native town resident for five years who, said he’s seeking the office of first selectman because, after working hard on Selectman Kit Devereaux’s campaign two years ago, he “forward to seeing what kind fo leadership would come from the new first selectman.”

“And I have found that I have been disappointed in the direction the town has gone,” Donovan told NewCanaanite.com in an interview. Specifically, he said, New Canaan “really needs to have a long discussion—and I don’t just mean elected and appointed officials—about what we want the town to look like not just 10 but 20 or more years in the future.”

“When my grandkids are old enough to buy a house and settle down in 2040, what will New Canaan be like? Do we want to be more touristy? More or less of a mix in our population?

Election 2019

Moynihan, Williams To Seek Re-Election [UPDATED]

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New Canaan First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Nick Williams announced Thursday that they’ll seek re-election to the Board of Selectmen this year. Reading from a prepared statement he’d sent to local media prior to a biweekly press briefing in his Town Hall office, Moynihan said he’s been “honored and privileged to serve as first selectman of New Canaan.”

“I enjoy coming to work every day to help make New Canaan an even better place to live and raise a family,” he said. “I am very pleased with the success that we have had in our first 17 months. I would like to continue to serve the town that my wife Mim and I have called home for the last 38 years. I especially enjoy working with our talented and dedicated team of Town employees and collaboratively with our volunteers on the many boards and commissions that make New Canaan run.”

Both Republicans, Williams joined Moynihan at the press briefing, which was also attended by Patch and Hearst Connecticut reporters.