Board of Education

Election 2019: NewCanaanite.com Endorsements for Board of Education

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Among those seeking elected office Nov. 5, all five candidates for the Board of Education deserve special thanks and admiration. 

Like those running for Board of Selectmen and Town Council, they’ve raised their hands to undergo close scrutiny on behalf of the community, and on a volunteer basis. And Board of Ed members face decisions that we expect to upset as many New Canaanites as they please. Open questions of just how to change school start times and how much taxpayer money to seek for a reconfigured busing system must be addressed in the budget-setting weeks that immediately follow Election Day. Additionally, working with district administrators to figure out—based on inconclusive community feedback and with an eye on taxpayer spending—how early is too early for elementary schoolchildren forms just one part of the Board’s work and responsibilities. 

This year, five candidates—three Republicans and two Democrats—are seeking election to seats currently held by three Republicans and one Democrat.

Election 2019

Election 2019 Letters of Endorsement 

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NewCanaanite.com received the following letters of endorsement for the municipal election coming Nov. 5. As we outlined in July, no further letters will be published. If you submitted a letter prior to the end of Monday, Oct. 28 and it hasn’t appeared, please notify editor Michael Dinan at editor@newcanaanite.com.

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Letter: Steve Eno for Board of Ed

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To the readers of NewCanaanite.com:

I was born and raised here in New Canaan, the youngest daughter of Harvard Five architect Landis Gores. I progressed through our excellent public school system, starting with Center School and on to Saxe Junior High (as it was then known), and finally to New Canaan High School – all of which prepared me for my acceptance into Princeton University.  

Fast forward to today, five years after returning to my home town with my husband, Craig Donovan, so that my nonagenarian mom could stay in her own home, I am proud to have been elected and to serve on our Town Council. Not just as a former student in our public schools, but as a parent of six and wife of an educator, I know how important our schools are and how critical it is to have the very best people we can on our Board of Education. 

From this long term perspective on our town and schools, I am proud to endorse Steve Eno for Board of Education. His daughter, now a college sophomore, went to Saxe and graduated from New Canaan High School. His younger daughter went to West and is currently in 8th grade at Saxe. Steve wants our schools to stay great just like the rest of us do, but he understands that if you’re standing still, you’re falling behind—and we have to move forward on the issues before us, or our schools and our children will be the ones that fall back. 

Steve Eno will move us forward with the common sense, practical solutions we need including having our school budgets be fully and completely open and shared with our town and its leaders, keeping our parents and town residents fully informed of school issues and discussions, and being sure that your elected BOE representatives—your voices—lead the efforts to evaluate potential needs and changes.

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Letter: Kevin Moynihan for First Selectman

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Dear Editor,

I am writing to endorse for election on November 5th, our incumbent candidate for First Selectman, Kevin Moynihan. In his two years of service to our community, Kevin has brought as strong sense of business management ability to our town government.   He has been able to identify key issues of concern to our community, digging deep on the numbers related to parking, efficient management of town hall, and the much needed improvement of cell service to our suburban community. His background in law and management of a public company has allowed him to serve us with efficiency in our community. His experience in town government as an elected member of Town Council for four years adds invaluably to having Kevin continue as our first selectman.

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Chairman: Board of Ed Moving Forward on Limited Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs in Schools

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The Board of Education may adopt a policy that would see drug-sniffing dogs allowed in public schools so long as students are not present during searches or criminalized as a result of them, the elected body’s chairman said Wednesday. 

Board members have talked about the issue in the last two weeks though they’re “somewhat concerned over because they don’t want dogs necessarily coming into schools and causing a problem as it relates to student stress or health,” according to Brendan Hayes. “So we are thinking about that carefully but that may be something that the Board moves forward on, so that we have a policy that governs dog searches which would never occur when kids are actually walking around,” he said during a Candidates Debate, held at Town Hall. “The dogs cannot come into contact with the kids. So we would do that very carefully if we chose to do it.”

The Democrat later added, “I met with Chief [Leon] Krolikowski and the superintendent a number of months ago, talking about this specific issue of we will do nothing if it results in kids being criminalized when they are in school. We will absolutely not do that.