Government

Election 2025: Board of Education Incumbent Erica Schwedel [Q&A]

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Board of Education incumbent Erica Schwedel, a Democrat, is seeking re-election. The GOP holds a 6-3 majority on the nine-member school board. Five seats are up for election: three currently held by Republicans, two by Democrats. There are three Republicans and three Democrats running for Board of Ed, as well as one write-in candidate who is unaffiliated. 

Here’s our exchange with Schwedel. ***

Please give us some background on you, including your history in New Canaan and your involvement with community organizations and/or local government/New Canaan Public Schools.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘Tremendous Energy’: New Canaan Democrats Kick Off 2025 Local Election Campaign

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More than 250 New Canaan Democrats gathered at the Carriage Barn Arts Center on Sunday for the party’s campaign kickoff event. Held inside and outside the Waveny outbuilding, the barbecue offered a chance for candidates in contested local races—namely, the Town Council and Board of Education—to address New Canaan supporters, along with Democratic representatives and figures on the state and national levels. “We have tremendous energy today,” New Canaan DTC Chair Tim Klimpl told NewCanaanite.com in an interview as attendees mingled in the courtyard and inside the Carriage Barn on a clear, sunny early evening. “Our theme throughout the year has been ‘Light the Way Forward,’ and that’s a role we embrace. We have supporters from years past and new supporters, new candidates here, all trying to carry positive energy forward, just as we are in our races.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Divided on Best Calendar for 2025-26 School Year

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District officials are trying to figure out the most sensible way to build more wiggle room into the proposed 2025-26 school year schedule. As a proposed calendar now before the Board of Education has it, that school year would start on a Thursday in August and end on a Thursday the following June, meaning the final week of school could absorb just one snow day before threatening to push the academic year into the following week. However, the district by its own policy doesn’t push the school year beyond the third full week of June. “So there’s different things that are conspiring against us here for that start date,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said during the Board’s regular meeting, held Dec. 4 in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. 

The ‘25-’26 school year is already an anomaly in that several months will see a reduction in the number of school days just because of how the holidays fall.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Elects Hugo Alves as Chair [UPDATED]

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The Board of Education on Monday night voted 6-3 in favor of Hugo Alves as the elected body’s new chair. Elected to two-year terms in 2021 and 2023, Alves is a member of the school board’s Resources Committee. In the wider community, the Republican—a financial planner, by profession—volunteers on the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society’s Board of Governors. In nominating Alves during the Board of Ed’s regular meeting, member Julie Toal said, “I love working with Hugo and I’ve sat across from him for two years now.” 

“And I love watching him from across the room, holding court with the administration and the other Board members,” Toal said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “And I think Hugo has earned everybody’s trust and formed solid relationships with all of us sitting up here at this table.

Board of Education

Board of Ed Divided on Filling Vacant Seat [UPDATED]

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Republicans on the Board of Education said last week that they won’t fill a vacancy on the elected body because it could interfere with the party’s upcoming Caucus. Former Chair Dan Bennett resigned April 26. 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. During a special meeting held July 5, Board of Ed Chair Katrina Parkhill said, “Of note and interest to this Board, the Charter language suggests that it would like the Board to act, but also acknowledges that there could be circumstances under which the Board cannot or chooses not to act.”

“Since May, our Board has undergone a process to evaluate candidates who wanted to be considered for the vacancy,” Parkhill continued at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and via videoconference.