The Board of Education elected new leadership at its December 8 meeting, and Deborra Zukowski (R) was voted to become chair, John Vouros (D) was elected to become vice chair, and Don Ramsey (R) was elected to become secretary.

The election of officers followed new members beginning their tenure on the board following a mid-November swearing in ceremony. Ramsey, Janet Kuzma (R), and Jennifer Larkin (R) were all elected to serve on the school board by local voters this past November, as was returning Board of Education member Dan Cruson, Jr (D).

Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia Halstead oversaw the election of officers at the December 8 meeting.

After nominating Zukowski to be the school board’s new chair, Ramsey said he grew to know her while he was campaigning to be a board member. He said she is an honest and strong individual.

“[Zukowski] is a person who has a deep love for the community,” said Ramsey, noting the different committees Zukowski has participated on and speaking to her work ethic and energy.

Zukowski thanked Ramsey for the nomination and said she will work as hard as she can “for each and every member of this board to make sure that each one of us is as successful as possible.”

Ramsey, Kuzma, Larkin, and Zukowski voted for Zukowski to be chair, while Cruson, Vouros, and board member Rebekah Harriman (D) opposed the motion. Cruson and Vouros were also self-nominated to serve as chair, but did not receive enough votes.

Next, Larkin nominated Vouros to serve as the board’s vice chair, saying that he is “truly all about the kids” and is a caring person who wants to work with everyone on the school board. He was voted as vice chair in a 5 to 2 vote, with Zukowski and Cruson voting against the motion. Cruson was also nominated to serve as vice chair, but he did not receive enough votes.

Finally, Kuzma nominated Ramsey to be the school board’s secretary. Kuzma said Ramsey is hardworking and dedicated, and she noted his experience as a local educator. Kuzma, Larkin, Zukowski, and Ramsey voted for Ramsey to serve as secretary and Harriman, Vouros, and Cruson voted for Cruson to serve as secretary.

And with that, the school board members rearranged their seats, and the meeting with its first few items of business commenced.

Board Business

Other topics covered included approving December 14 to be a remote learning day for Newtown Public School students, as covered in a related story in this week’s print edition; hearing about current C.H. Booth Library programs and more from two library representatives; approving a trip to Walt Disney World for NHS students, which will be covered in the December 17 print edition of the paper; and holding a first read of three policies, all with changes or a recommendation to rescind as presented by the board’s Policy Subcommittee.

Typically, the school board does not take action on policies until a second meeting and a “second read,” after board members have had time to fully read the policies, ask questions of the Policy Subcommittee, and make recommendations.

When discussing the new “4118.21 Academic Freedom” policy, Harriman explained it is a recommended policy from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) and the Policy Subcommittee members thought it was important. While the policy was worked on prior to the school district recently hiring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator Wesley Johnson, Harriman said he has viewed and had input on the policy as it was presented to the school board.

While saying he believes words have power, Ramsey discussed the possibility of changing the word “perspective” to “perspectives” in one spot.

Later, Zukowski said, “from what I can see this is a policy to make sure there is no indoctrination within our classrooms.”

“The final paragraph says the board will make every effort to maintain an atmosphere of academic freedom within the schools that are without partisan, embrace diversity of thought, foster equity in perspective, and inclusion in ideals,” Zukowski said. “I totally agree with the content with what this is saying; in these times ,unfortunately, people have usurped words and have made words become rather political.”

She questioned whether it would be possible to remove the “unfortunately politically loaded words” out of the recommended policy. She stressed her concern is that people will react to the words rather than the policy’s content.

In response to Harriman asking if Zukowski thought the words “partisan,” “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” are loaded words, Zukowski nodded and said, “Unfortunately.”

“That is your opinion; I mean, we just hired a coordinator of diversity, equity, and inclusion, so I think that would serve to be a large problem if you don’t use that language,” Harriman said, adding that the Policy Subcommittee could discuss a suggested change voiced by Zukowski and include Johnson in the discussion.

Later, two members of the public shared concern over that particular policy discussion while sharing praise for Johnson and the hiring of a diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator.

Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.