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NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letters of endorsement. (Note: We will run letters for the Aug. 17 special election through Aug. 4, and letters for the Nov. 2 election through Sept.
New Canaan Registrars Announce Plans for Tuesday August 17, 2021 Special Election for State Senate District 36 (New Canaan District 1) Election to Fill the Unexpired Term of State Sen. Alex Kasser
There will be a Special Election on Tuesday August 17, 2021 to fill the unexpired term of State Senator Alex Kasser, who resigned June 22nd. Voting will be in the New Canaan High School gym from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. Absentee ballots, both in-person or by mail, are available to all eligible voters in District One. Senate District includes Greenwich, North Stamford, and Western New Canaan. No other offices are on the ballot. Only those voters in NC Distict 1 will be voting.
New Canaan Democrats on Monday night nominated six total candidates for the Board of Education, setting up a wide field for contested races in the Nov. 2 election. In unanimously endorsing five candidates for four-year terms on the school board and one candidate for a two-year term, the Democrats are seeking to pick up multiple Board of Education seats.
Addressing fellow party members during the Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement meeting, the Board of Ed candidates made a point of saying that the elected body should be mission-focused rather than political, and they praised the New Canaan Public Schools administration for leading the high-performing district through the pandemic. Incumbent Board of Ed member Penny Rashin, who is seeking re-election, called Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi “the top superintendent in Connecticut,” saying he and “his incredible administrative team” helped ensure that New Canaan students “spent more time learning in the classroom than any other district in Connecticut.”
“It’s just one example of their foresight, talent, creativity and dedication to our students,” Rashin said during the endorsement meeting, held via videoconference. She added that during her time, “we have been an open, supportive and inclusive school district and Board.”
“And one of the things I think we would say is that 98% of the time we kept politics out of Board of Ed decisions,” she added.
In a dramatic vote Tuesday night, New Canaan Republicans endorsed a new slate of Board of Education candidates who are seeking to reset the priorities of the influential elected body and how it interacts with district administrators. The incumbent chair and secretary of the Board of Ed both fell short of securing party backing at the GOP caucus, held at New Canaan High School. The high vote-getter among school board candidates, Dan Bennett, said during the 2.5-hour caucus that the campaign he, Hugo Alves, Philip Hogan and Julie Toal ran has been “focused on improved transparency, a more accessible Board, accountability to the community and parents and better communication to the community and engaged oversight.”
“Our platform has had a few things—kids come first, and that means in everything,” Bennett said. “In academic excellence, in school start times implementation, in block scheduling, in trying to keep schools open full-time for kids heading into next year and certainly trying to get masks off kids so that they can have the most normal learning experience possible in this great school system. Secondly, it is transparency, accessibility, accountability and oversight.
New Canaan resident Luke J. Kaufman is seeking the endorsement of the Republican Party for a seat on the elected Town Council. We put some questions to Kaufman about his candidacy. Our exchange follows. New Canaanite: Tell us about yourself – how long you have lived in New Canaan, what have you been involved with here in town and what has led you to seek elected office? Luke J. Kaufman: My wife, Emily, and I moved to New Canaan from New York City 6 years ago. We have three boys – ages 8, 6, and 5 – who attend South School and play on various sports teams. I have coached travel and local recreation baseball, flag football and lacrosse teams and take pride in creating a fun environment, while teaching children how to play the game and improve their skills. I’m a parishioner at St.