Enfield Candidate Profile: Charlotte Riley, Board Of Education

ENFIELD, CT — The 2023 municipal election season is heating up in Enfield, and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Enfield Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Name: Charlotte Riley

How old will you be as of Election Day? 45

Does your campaign have a website? If so, include the URL here.

https://enfieldrtc.org

What city or town do you live in? Enfield

What office are you seeking? Board of Education

Party affiliation: Republican

Education: BS Biology, with minors in Psychology and Science from CCSU

What is your occupation? Group Medicare Underwriter at Aetna

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

I have an incredible husband and 2 awesome kiddos both in Enfield Public Schools in 4th and 7th grade.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

Yes, I was on the Board of Education previously, appointed in 2017 then elected and served as vice chairwoman for 2017-2019, then I was elected as District 4 Councilwoman for 2019-2021.

Now we'd like to ask a few questions about your reasons for running and your general views on politics and government. First, why are you seeking this office?

I am seeking election to the Board of Education because educating our kids matters to me. I have 2 children in the public schools and I also volunteer as President of First Readers and am a Scoutmaster of a Girls Boy Scout Troop in town. I am all in when it comes to wanting each and every one of Enfield’s kids to succeed and be the best that they can be. I want our schools to be vibrant, exciting, safe, welcoming places to get a great education for whatever abilities each of our children can work to. Be it special needs or mainstream education or honors students, they all should be given the best education we can provide for them, teaching them to their abilities and also recognizing when an added push is appropriate to do even more then they thought they could and be even more then they thought they could be. I want to be able to help come up with creative ideas and plans to move our district forward, get out of alliance status and have Enfield on the map as a great school district.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is \_\_\_, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is unfortunately not just one singular thing. There are multiple issues that need addressing that all come in at number one magnitude. I would say, a plan to get out of Alliance status on the items we can take action on is one of them, as well as budgeting to ensure we are getting the best return on our hard earned tax dollars, school climate with bullying issues, also school building issues, what happened to the “roof referendum” we passed 2 years ago, why haven’t any of those roofs been started or are at least in the pipeline yet?, School bus driver and teacher shortages, do we have exit interviews or surveys to find out what makes Enfield teachers leave? I think it’s important to ask lots of questions, even if you think the answer is so simple, because sometimes more questions lead to answers you didn’t know you needed to hear. I am sure I could continue to list some more, however with school issues, everything is pressing and needs to be addressed fairly quickly. I plan on asking a lot of questions and attempting to give creative ideas to solve problems. I plan on being open to any ideas that can prove helpful to solve any of the issues our students, and staff may have. Let’s take inventory with all stakeholders involved of what works and what doesn’t and come up with a plan to make some changes. I am willing to work collaboratively with any parties involved to deliver solutions that will result in positive outcomes.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

All people are different and we should embrace those differences in each other. Everyone has their own set of strengths or something to bring to the table. For me, it is I will always ask questions and look for answers and solutions. If there is a problem, I want to hear about it and I want to help solve it, or at least get the right people and resources together to work towards that solution.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

I believe the issues mentioned previously are a solid starting point, but I am open to hearing from any parent or staff or student on topics I haven’t mentioned here.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have done this job previously and at that particular time I think we had a good board that actually worked together instead of against each other all the time. We might not have agreed on every single decision, but most times we did or at least tried to come to a middle ground. We worked in our subcommittees’ regularly and tried to ensure that every student every day was the focus. I also served on the council in the middle of the covid pandemic and that set of unique problems that came with that. I also kept First readers going thru the pandemic and with my team we reworked the whole process of certifying and celebrating our First Readers, and once things got back to a new normal, we reworked the whole thing all over again to make it better than before. It was incredibly important to me to find a way to keep our program going and celebrate kids beginning to read in a face to face meaningful way and give them something to be proud of when the odds they were up against were monumental for some if not most.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Don’t ever give up, do the right thing and don’t change for anyone, just be yourself.