The following is a statement from Board of Education member Jennifer Lalor for which Lalor paid GOOD Morning Wilton to publish. More information on paid content during election season is available in GMW‘s guidelines on election coverage and advertising.
Typically, the current members of the Wilton Board of Education do not get involved in BOE elections. But with just one day before Election Day, and after making friendly requests for others to do the right thing, it has become evident to me that individuals who should be setting the record straight regarding misstatements and political attacks against two BOE candidates will not be doing so. Hopefully, my message is heard loud and clear by this community and is not too late.
Despite what some in town would like the community to believe, the BOE is not going to come to a “screeching halt” and there will not be “chaos in the classrooms” if two unaffiliated candidates, Mark Shaner and Heather Priest, whose spouses teach at the schools, win a seat at the table. I have served on the Wilton BOE for the past four years, and I can confidently say that such statements are absolutely false political attacks. The board just does not work that way — for budget purposes, union contracts, teaching and learning, etc.
More importantly, I will never understand the need to knock down another candidate rather than raise your own. Why attack candidates who are willing to volunteer their time to support our community? Why try to discredit them rather than thank them? At the very least, why spend all the time and money trying to convince others that the candidates endorsed by the Republican Town Committee will make our town fall apart rather than spend time talking about what the Democratic Town Committee and unaffiliated petition candidates have to offer, and why we should vote for them? Are people concerned the RTC put up better candidates and the Democratic and unaffiliated petitioning candidate lines might not win?
By now, hopefully, many of you have heard of Wilton’s “Portrait of the Graduate,” which is a set of attributes we hope our students leave with as they graduate Wilton High School. Two come to mind at this moment: active, socially, sensitive citizen and courageous, ethical leader. I have spoken to this before at the board table and following previous political campaigns. Many seem to forget that our students listen and pay attention to the dialogue within this community. It is time the adults and leaders in this town show up to be positive role models.
All the negativity has distracted from the fact that four superb candidates are running on Row B for the BOE, and I would like to tell you a little something about each.
Bufano (R) — Lori has served on multiple boards, including as second selectman for Wilton for two years; she knows what is takes to keep the dialogue moving, to remain civil and transparent, and to work successfully with the other boards, which will need to happen as the BOE tackles a new budget season and digests the infrastructure report.
Chochos (R) — Annie served as Miller-Driscoll PTA co-president for two years and understands what collaboration means and how to work successfully with the community, teachers, and administrators to achieve common goals. She is kind, a great listener and hard worker, and has broad and relevant experience.
Priest (U) — As many know, Heather was a Wilton teacher for eight years — what an amazing perspective she can bring to the table; she will not have “to drink from the fire hose” like most other candidates — she already knows the system, the players, the complexities, and the acronyms and can hit the ground running.
Shaner (U) — Not only does Mark have a financial and impressive STEM background (aerospace engineering and cybersecurity) — both of which our schools would benefit from immensely — he does not get rattled, is thoughtful, calculated, methodical, and data driven on all fronts.
I hope voters will consider these Row B candidates on their merits and willingness to serve.
First off: Democrats are saying plenty of positive things about their candidates too, including in Nicola Davies’ letter today. But when there’s a specific, glaring, unfixable problem with two opposing candidates, it’s perfectly appropriate to make sure voters are aware of it. As far as I know, the Democrats have not made any ads specifically targeting the other two Republican BOE nominees, just these two, and just over this issue.
As far as your line about “many seem to forget that our students listen and pay attention to the dialogue within this community,” though, this one particularly irks me, because I very much believe that loud, passionate advocacy – even if it makes politicians (and yes, you are all, in fact, politicians, not “volunteers”) feel bad about themselves – is not only perfectly respectable, but actually something approaching a moral obligation. Simply put, we are not going to fix the world’s problems by asking nicely.