A Need For

Strategic Planning

To the Editor:

 In June, I asked to be considered for the Newtown Board of Education, to fill the seat vacated by Tom Gissen. When the bipartisan Board of Ed unanimously selected me, I was honored to serve the Newtown school district where my three children have been educated since 1996 and where for the past eight years I have operated both student newspapers at Sandy Hook School and Reed Intermediate School.

When I started my tenure on the Board of Ed, I was acutely aware of the challenges facing not only our school district, but our entire community. In my interviews with the Democratic Town Committee, and then the Board of Ed, I told them our community needed more real communication between its governing bodies, and better communication with the public. As a former journalist and citizen outside the local political structure, I saw a disenfranchised parent community, and a broader community groaning under a growing tax structure. In my interviews with the DTC and BOE, I pleaded for a communitywide strategic planning effort like the one I helped lead in Rochester, Minn., in the 1980s for the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. I explained that communitywide strategic planning had allowed all segments of my Minnesota community to have a voice, and then had given government leaders a cohesive plan that solved a host of community issues.

After four months on the Board of Ed, I am even more committed to healing our community, and attacking our local issues of growth together. My years at IBM have shown me that no one organization works in a vacuum. That’s why as a Board of Ed member I want to work closely with the Legislative Council, finance board, and the citizens of Newtown to responsibly maintain and increase the excellence in our school system. We are not enemies. Our goals are mutual — a better Newtown.

If the voters choose me in November, I will work tirelessly to build the bridges Newtown needs to move forward intelligently. Newtown is facing hard business decisions — a growing population, aging schools, and the need to pay for it all. A government divided makes bad decisions. A government united makes intelligent decisions. Unity comes through honest communication and trust. In Newtown that will take time, but I am committed to making a difference.

For more information on my candidacy, please see my bio on the Democrats’ website, www.thenewtowndemocrats.com/LillianBittman.html. And please feel free to share your opinions and concerns with me by sending an email to bittmanboe@aol.com. I am eager to hear from Newtown voters.

Sincerely,

Lillian D. Bittman

17 Rose Lane, Sandy Hook                                   September 26, 2007