EDITOR'S NOTE (Monday, November 6, 2023; 11:44 am): Chris Gilson's name was erroneously left out of the opening paragraphs of this story when it was posted.

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District PTAs held a forum at Newtown High School lecture hall October 22 featuring the six candidates running for Board of Education seats November 7.

At the table Republican candidates Todd Higgins and Shannon Tomai, and Democratic candidate Alison Plante are seeking extensions to their current BOE service, where they originally took seats to fill vacancies.

Other candidates seated at the lecture stage included Democrat Chris Gilson, Republican Brennan Coakley, Independent candidate Bruce Walczak.

After opening statements, candidates were posed curated questions, and they were given two minutes to respond to each.

The first asked, “If elected, how would you address the challenges of school funding and resource allocation to ensure opportunities for all students?”

“I’m pleased that over the last ten or twelve years, every budget has passed, which tells me that the residents and voters feel they are getting great value for the dollars that we’re spending,” said Independent candidate Bruce Walczak in his statement.

The independent candidate said his budget focus is to fund all programs, and to not leave any students out.

Democratic candidate Alison Plante said she is a firm believer in “the necessity of prioritization,” when it comes to making choices about where to spend dollars.

Plante said dollars should be spent as close to the classroom and the children as possible, adding that staffing is where budget money should be allocated.

“I would really like to see the board dive into more data and be able to make decisions on where we put our money based on what’s going to make the most difference,” said Democratic candidate Chris Gilson, regarding learning gains.

The Democratic candidate talked about acquiring more bus drivers for the district and discussed ongoing HVAC issues at Newtown Middle School as well.

Republican candidate Higgins said he agrees with the data approach, and added that “budget challenges start with a lack of transparency.”

Higgins said addressing budget challenges comes down to persuading fellow citizens that current and future investments are worthwhile, and that a case cannot be made without transparency in the process and supporting data with “specific strategies about how to make us better.”

Coakley explained he views the budget like “any company,” where one needs to take the time to take care of both the people and facilities involved.

He also referenced optimizing space utilization in school facilities and staffing concerns, using a personal narrative to describe classroom complications when a classroom paraprofessional role is not funded.

Republican candidate Shannon Tomai discussed the source of staffing retention issues to be “because [Newtown is] not paying as much as the surrounding towns are.”

Tomai said 80 percent of the current budget is for contractual obligations to salaries, and between 15 percent and 16 percent is for special education with that number “expected to rise.”

Tomai said without PTA fundraising, there would not be “fun,” “extra” programs based on the district’s budget.

“It is something that we need to focus on and see what our priorities are together and have a goal of getting there,” said Tomai.

Tomai and Gilson both specified concerns about the Newtown Middle School HVAC system in their answers to the budget question.

Teacher Shortage

The next question concerned the statewide teacher shortage, and asked candidates how they would work to attract, hire, and retain quality teachers to the district.

All three Republican candidates discussed listening to school professionals on what they need to feel supported.

Along with this, Tomai discussed “competitive salaries,” citing paraprofessionals are paid a “very low hourly rate” in the district.

She also said teachers who want to move to administrative roles or even “other aspects” of their career should be supported with professional development.

Coakley echoed Tomai’s sentiments regarding the effects of teachers not feeling supported, and added Newtown “should be the envy of Connecticut for other school districts to emulate and follow.”

Regarding teacher career development opportunities, Coakley said investments need to be made for teachers to feel “warm and cozy.”

Coakley said he thinks teachers should be given “every single solution and every reason not to ever want to leave Newtown,” and conversations should be had to make solutions possible.

“If teachers are not coming and they’re not staying we have to listen as to why,” answered Higgins, adding the district needs to be investing in its people.

Higgins said not to be surprised if the district is facing shortages because teachers “are not thrilled with their work environment” if [the district] is not serious about [its] commitment to teachers.

“It starts with listening, and after we’re done listening, it starts with investing,” said Higgins, who connected to his previous answer to the budget question. “It’s up to the board of education, ultimately, to make that case [to the community.]”

Gilson said he “completely agrees” with “having the courage to invest.” He said he knows a Newtown family that teaches in New York because they cannot afford to teach in Newtown.

“How can we encourage the environment in our schools to be populated with students where teachers say ‘I love these kids?” said Gilson, who added teachers can be supported by making students people who they want to be around everyday.

Plante said she agrees with Higgins and Gilson.

“If we can continue to keep the district great, then teachers will flock here,” said Plante, who expanded teachers to include other groups of staff members.

“Based on my experience in the last year, you can’t just change [long-term] contracts overnight,” said Plante, adding that when they do come up, they should be compared to other districts and make sure they are competitive to surrounding towns.

Addressing Higgins’ statement about listening, Plante said the district does climate surveys and the results are recently in: Staff want strong administrators, professional development, and inclusive and hospitable workplaces.

Plante said that the district needs change over time, so the understanding of climate surveys should not be “static” and include an open dialogue.

Diverting from the prior tone, Walczak said [improvements in] salaries are “not gonna happen.”

“The best companies in the US are not the best-paying companies, the best companies in the US are places that people want to work at,” said Walczak, referencing company culture that does not overanalyze its workers with daily “report cards.”

Walczak explained employees need to be allowed to do their job with “smart guidance” from the BOE and transparent policy, with freedom to do their job without “picking up the paper every morning and finding some brouhaha [with the school district] going on” leading them to not wanting to work there.

Walczak said such employees would want to work where the community supports them and their desires in teaching, and that there are goals and objectives to meet [to support that culture.]

Nonpartisan Thinking

The third question was, “In light of the political tone in this nation, how will you keep your decision [as a board member] to the best interest of the students and staff members instead of focusing on party affiliations?”

Walzak highlighted his status as a longtime registered independent, so he does not feel he has to “take the party line” on issues.

“I think national politics have absolutely no role in the school system,” said Walczak, a sentiment later echoed by Tomai and Coakley in their statements. “We belong on the board and here in town to focus on our local issues and focus on our students.”

“I’m going to be the outcast I guess, I’m going to be the one you can’t necessarily predict which way I’m going to fall on an issue,” said the Independent candidate. “I think that’ll be useful in creating critical thinking on the board and pushing everyone to look at all sides of it. Not just the data, maybe how good our school board is,” said Walczak.

Gilson said the BOE should not be partisan, and added it is the BOE’s job to support teachers in making students “the best” critical thinkers so they can make political decisions about what is best for their lives. Coakley also agreed with the idea that the nonpartisan approach was the best for the intentions of the board in his statement.

Plante used the idiom “actions speak louder than words,” referencing her current work on the BOE in the past year to supplement her answer.

“I think I’ve consistently tried to work across the aisle … there’s a lot of work to do, and we need everyone to pitch in and everyone to do a lot of important work,” said Plante, adding that the BOE works best as “a nonpartisan body.”

Tomai said she has “seen almost zero partisanship” since she joined the board of education, with “a lot of critical thinkers” on the board, and Higgins said he had seen “countless instances of bipartisanship.”

As members, Tomai, Higgins and Plante seemed to have similar conceptions about the current state of the board by their experiences, citing members’ best intentions and firm attitude of doing what is best for Newtown students.

Higgins got specific, citing the recent success passing a new library materials policy after the book challenge divisiveness on the board.

Before talking about the board specifically in his answer, Higgins said it was okay that people have different beliefs and ways of seeing the world.

“I think that one of the things that we need to be better [at], is to be serious when we talk about inclusivity and really allowing differing perspectives to flourish in an honest way,” continued Higgins.

DEI Discussion

The final question from the Newtown PTA asked the board members on their approach “to dealing with discussions about potentially difficult topics such as race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Higgins said throughout his time on the board, he was advocating for the performance gap between students to be examined between lower income families and everyone else, which he described as “unconscionable.”

“The more difficult the issue, the more controversy we have experienced about it, the more important that intellectual honesty is to beginning a true discussion,” said Higgins, who added that “true discussion” leads to understanding and action.

Coakley said, “To echo Todd, I think it’s important the ability to have those difficult conversations with your family, with your friends, and have open and honest discussions about ‘how do you handle a certain situation with your kids, what are you telling about xy&z?”’

He continued by calling sports “the biggest leveler” in all dynamics, where he learned other people didn’t have the same experiences, but “being on the court, none of that matters, because you’re all working toward the same thing.”

“As a community in Newtown, we have to open our eyes and ears that … we are part of everyone coming from a different background,” said Coakley.

Tomai said she liked Higgins’ concept of intellectual honesty.

“We do value autonomy, equality, and equal access for everybody, and part of autonomy is about somebody’s rights to do what they need to do for their own self-determination and to be themselves, and I welcome that,” said Tomai. “I want everyone to feel safe and comfortable in our schools. We also need to pay attention to what parents need to feel safe and comfortable in our school district.”

Tomai said she is sure with respectful conversation, the board could come to a compromise or consensus to ensure both student rights and parents’ comfort with their children in the district.

Coakley attributed instilling self-confidence at a very early age as “the biggest thing you can do for a young person,” which would develop over time into self-advocacy and critical thinking.

Walczak said the term “diversity” should be redefined because of its nationwide political connotations. According to Walczak, to him, “diversity” deals with teaching the kids respect for “tall kids, short kids, heavy kids, thin kids, kids who have stutters, and kids who are interested in art.”

“We need to build up … the confidence in those positions, and not force them to go in a different direction,” said the independent candidate, who referenced a personal story with his son choosing to study art in college.

“I think we need to broaden the word ‘diversity’ to make sure we are looking at all the kids, to make sure they all feel comfortable in their own skin, they don’t get picked on, and they respect each other, and they learn to appreciate what the other kids bring to them.”

Plante references her work on the DEI subcommittee, which she said includes members of both parties.

“We’ve had really vulnerable conversations and built trust among that group to establish the foundation of how we talk about these difficult topics as a board … and I think it’s come from a place of honesty from the board members, openness, and frankly, humility, she said.

Plante defined the humility of the subcommittee as knowing that board members “all have [their] own perspectives and biases,” and members try to place themselves in each other’s shoes.

Plante said one of board members’ most important jobs is to listen to those involved in schools, including those who are marginalized.

Plante said one of her proudest moments on the board was during book challenges, where students showed up to meetings to discuss their experiences and say how to help them.

Gilson said kids coming home stressed or anxious because they don’t feel safe or included cannot learn.

“You can’t speak up in class if you’re afraid of what somebody is going to say or if you are afraid in your own skin,” said Gilson, who cited his own experience being anxious at school.

He added activities that are put in place to help kids feel safe make kids stronger, not weaker.

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Reporter Noelle Veillette can be reached at noelle@thebee.com.