Resident Running For Somers School Board As Petitioning Candidate

SOMERS, CT — A registered Republican who did not win the party's endorsement for candidacy for a Board of Education seat in this fall's election has collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot as an unaffiliated petitioning candidate.

Robert Chester, 53, has 30 years' business experience - 15 as an actuarial consultant and process improvement manager for MassMutual, then 15 as a life and health insurance regulator for the state of Connecticut.

"I believe I can be helpful in energizing our community around academic improvement," he said. "One of the greatest equalizers humanity has to offer."

Chester said his priorities, in order, are:

• Academic rigor in reading, writing and arithmetic (the 3 Rs);
• Academic improvement outcomes for all students;
• Developing a universally effective principle-based equality, diversity and tolerance program;
• Restoring teaching back to the whole individual, instead of teaching to their fractionalized identities and their ethnocentric groupings.

Election Day is Nov. 2.

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