By James Lomuscio
From how to attract the best teachers to cost saving measures to making sure that each child reaches his or her potential, four candidates for Westport’s Board of Education faced myriad questions at tonight’s Westport League of Women Voters (LWV) forum at Town Hall.
Board of Education candidates answer questions tonight: (l-r) Jeannie Smith, Michael Gordon, Mark Mathias, and Jennifer Tooker. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com
Highly civil and with a question-and-answer setup rather than a debate, the hour-and-a-half forum featured Democratic candidates Mark Mathias and Michael Gordon and Republicans Jennifer Tooker and Jeannie Smith.
Charlotte Garrell, president of the Fairfield League of Women’s Voters moderated the event, which was co-sponsored by the Westport Y’s Women and the Westport Woman’s Club, as well as the Westport LWV.
On how to attract the best teachers, Tooker cited “excellent facilities” and infrastructure to support programs, as well as “clear performance evaluations and objectives.”
Mathias, an incumbent who has served eight years on the board, said that the school system has been fortunate in hiring the best teachers because of “the students themselves,” parent participation, career growth and money.
“We pay our teachers well,” he said. “All together, it makes a pretty nice package. We are a very attractive employer.”
Gordon agreed, saying that Westport is known for its “successful school district, and people want to be with a winner.” He also said that teachers want to be “challenged in different ways.”
Smith, who throughout the evening stressed that she worked 11 years as a public school teacher, said Westport must continue to attract teachers who can “create an atmosphere where all children reach their potential and become lifelong learners.”
The next question: how to address bullying toward special education and gay students.
Mathias pointed to the board’s recently adopted anti-bullying policy covers all students. Gordon agreed that school policies should address all kinds of bullying.
“And everyone should be involved,” he said, including parents.
Smith stressed that bullying should be addressed in early grades. As a teacher Smith said she used role playing activities to ensure students understood what it meant to be “a good citizen.”
“The question is, ‘How do we foster a community where bullying is not tolerated,’ ” said Tooker. ” …It really does take a village.”
On the question of full-day kindergarten, all candidates agreed there was no rush to extend it from three days a week to five. Currently, students attend kindergarten full-day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and half-day Monday and Friday.
“We would have to look at all the research,” said Tooker.
“I was not able to find any compelling reason to move toward full day,” said Mathias.
All candidates also agreed that the school system and the town government had to consolidate some of their departments and services to bring about cost savings.
“We have to look where the town and the Board of Education have similar functions and combine duplicate functions,” Mathias said.
Gordon agreed, adding that savings should come “outside the classroom,” such as expanding the purchase of energy with other towns to garner discounts. He also said that when contracts come up for renewal, the town has to “negotiate contracts fairly, but with costs in mind.
“In the name of cost savings, we don’t want to change a great school system into a good one,” Gordon said, attributing the quote to current board member Jim Marpe, a Republican.
Tooker agreed, asking, “How do we continue to improve the spectacular system that we have?” Citing her business experience here and abroad she said that the students must be prepared “to compete in the global economy of the 21st Century.”
A seemingly loaded question on whether to expand the school system’s sex education curriculum, was met equally with the response that all curriculum should be subject to review.
When it came to discussing ways for each child to reach his or her potential, Smith said that as a teacher it is important “to see children operating within their gifts.”
Mathias agreed.
“Put the best teacher in front of the students,” he said.
