Candidate Submitted Bio

I have been a Wilton resident for over eight years and like most people moved here for our amazing schools. When my son started kindergarten at Miller-Driscoll, I was excited to get involved! I immediately started volunteering, from distributing PTA Edukits to classrooms to room rep in my son’s classroom and as a co-president of the M-D PTA. As PTA president, I saw firsthand the dedication and excellence of our teachers, administrators, and BOE members. I observed how the school system works from behind the scenes and enjoyed working with passionate people who felt strongly about education and our children. If elected to the BOE, I will work passionately and collaboratively and put the interests of our students and teachers at the forefront.

Video Interview

Candidate Submitted Op-Ed

I am thrilled to have this opportunity to tell Wilton about myself and serve the community I love. I am originally from New York, and my husband is from Stamford. We moved to Wilton to raise our son because of its excellent schools and the warm and inviting town feel. Wilton embraced our family from the very beginning and sparked my desire to give back to our community.

When my son started kindergarten, I jumped right into volunteering, from becoming a room rep for my son’s class and library rep to attending PTA meetings and school events. The following year, I took on the role of PTA co-president, which I held for two years during the challenging global pandemic.

It was a privilege to serve the Miller-Driscoll community. I have also served as a PTO president of my church’s Greek school program, organizing many traditional Greek events and celebrations for the children and assisting the Greek school teachers with parent outreach and engagement. 

Serving as a PTA president for Miller-Driscoll was inspiring and rewarding. PTA monthly meetings were filled with great information for families, including beloved teacher presentations. Having teachers present to our families was my favorite part. It was very meaningful to have our teachers take the time to explain the curriculum covered in the classroom by featuring student work.

Collaboration and communication were crucial. I worked tirelessly with fellow board members, parents, teachers, and administrators to strive for academic excellence and the well-being of our students. We created innovative ways for parents to stay connected, volunteer, fundraise, and voice their concerns. During this time, I also attended school district meetings, including the Portrait of the Graduate focus group, COVID challenges, and digital learning. I immensely enjoyed being a voice for the community. It was rewarding for me to serve as both a resource and advocate for the parents and teachers.

Community engagement is critical. Families in our town value education, and the voices of our community matter greatly to me. The BoE plays a crucial role in informing the administration as to what the citizens of this town hope to receive from the district. If provided the opportunity to serve Wilton on the BoE, I will bring excellent communication and transparency to the BoE through a monthly BoE newsletter. The newsletter will keep everyone abreast of BoE meetings and salient issues in our district, solicit regular feedback from the community, and highlight our district’s successes. It would also celebrate fantastic programs such as Genesis and Community Steps.

True collaboration with other town boards ensures the success of the town. I am committed to working together and having an open line of communication. This will ensure a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of issues across our town and ensure our ability to work most successfully for our town.

I have the passion, drive, and heart to serve Wilton. I will put my extensive board experience and genuine dedication to serving our community to work advocating for our children. I promise to advocate for the resources necessary for our high-performing district while also keeping our children’s well being a top priority.

If you want to ensure your voice will be heard, vote for me on Nov. 7 for the BoE!

Annie Chochos

Video Clips

What is motivating you to run for the Board of Education?

Through your involvement with the district and the PTA and interactions with administrators, what strikes you as the most important issues you’ll be advocating for and bringing to the board? Wha will be your focus, if you’re elected?

When you were originally announced as part of the slate, the RTC announced you were going to run for 2-year seat against Sara Sclafani, the PTA co-president who succeeded you. It was part of the press release, we reported it. And then without notice, you and Heather Priest were switched, that you are now running for the 4-year term. And Heather is on the 2-year term line. What do you have to say about that?

There’s been a lot of attention on the conflict of interest topic — on both sides of the political aisle, there’s conflict of interest for candidates who are married to people employed either by the town or the school district. If you’re elected, and your two running mates are elected — they would be two out of the six people on the BOE who would have to recuse themselves quite frequently. It might present a difficult time for the four remaining board members, it might put you in a position where the people you typically caucus with aren’t there. And it may also not be fair to voters, some people say, because the people they elected aren’t there or only four people make decisions and approving major things. What do you say about the conflict of interest?

What’s your take on the current Board of Ed and the current administration?

There were comments made by the Republican chair about a lack of transparency on the current Board of Education. Do you think there’s a lack of transparency on the BOE?

Traditionally, the Wilton Board of Education has been very bipartisan, politics have not really figured into anything and most of the votes have been unanimous. Nationally, politics have crept in to Boards of Education and school management, even as close as New Canaan, it’s been very divisive. This past year, Wilton’s Board of Education has seen that kind of polarization creep in. What do you think about that? And what are you going to do differently to make the Board of Education more unified, or to keep politics out of the discussion?

There’s also been friction between the Board of Education and the Board of Finance. A lot of that also boiled over between town residents and the Board of Finance, especially at last May’s town meeting and earlier in the budget season. What did you see at the at that town meeting? How will you work to make those relationships and the budget process better?

You brought up the BOF survey… you come from an interesting demographic in the town, Miller-Driscoll saw a lot of new residents over the last 2-3 years. People just getting to know the Wilton process for how we set budgets. There also seemed to be a lot of voices from that demographic unhappy with the $1.4 million cut to the proposed budget, many who feel their views were not heard. What did you think about the $1.4 million that the Board of Finance asked the BOE to cut from its budget proposal, and the level of spending that the Board of Finance asks the Board of Education and the school administration to keep?

Do you think that that $1.4 million was a fair cut? Do you think that it was damaging? Superintendent Smith brought a much higher budget number to start with, and said he made some hard decisions before it even got to that point? That he reduced it himself a couple times. And then the Board of Finance took another major percentage cut out of it? Other candidates have looked at at the budget discussed last year line item by line item. Have you done that? Do you have an opinion on if that had an impact and how it affected the schools? What do you think about the current budget?

There is a $100 million-plus needs assessment estimate for school buildings that will likely eat into the BOE’s operating budgets. What do you think about that?

Would you consider increasing class sizes to find savings?

As part of looking for other savings, is it the Board of Education’s role to say to the superintendent, even before the BOF gets to the BOE budget, we’ve got to question some of these other spending areas. Where would you ask the tough questions of him about where the spending priorities are? Any particular areas that in campaigning and talking to residents they’ve said deserve a closer look? Is instructional coaching something that should be reevaluated and reconsidered.

What are your thoughts on parent involvement in school? Should parents have a say on curriculum, beyond just the Board of Ed. members? Should they have a say about reading materials in the classroom? Should they have a say over social issues that are discussed? Who decides what’s age appropriate?

Is there enough transparency around subcommittees? It’s hard to get the information about what’s going on in the subcommittee meetings because of the times they meet. Are these committees even a good idea, having them separate from the regular BOE meeting?

In the last couple years, the Board of Finance has not given guidance to the Board of Education or the superintendent. This year, they intend to. Any thoughts on guidance — where, given budgets in the past few years, you think they should target? What do you hope the BOF will see and recommend? Will you push back to the BOF about guidance of 2% 3%? Is there any number that you’ve started to think about?

At he last Board of Ed meeting, there was a very extended discussion about improvement in test scores. Some people point to the coaching program as helping in that effort; in general test scores across the board have risen, especially at the high school. But how much stock do you think that the parents and public should put into the test scores? And what do you think about the achievement score update that the Board of Education discussed at the last meeting?

What do you think about district’s current approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, and Open Choice?

What do you see as the big issues facing the district, anything that you want to really focus on?

What do you think about the number of counselors and the approach to mental health care in the in the district?

What is your message to voters about why you should be their choice for the Board of Education and the difference you’re going to make on the board?