Board Of Education Candidates Participate In GHS Forum

GREENWICH, CT — Last Friday, the Greenwich Board of Education candidates gathered for one final time for a forum on the issues ahead of Tuesday's election.

The candidates participated in Greenwich High School's "We The People Forum" in which students had the chance to ask questions on a variety of topics. The event was hosted in conjunction with the League of Women Voters of Greenwich, and questions were asked by students Sophie Citron and Alyssa Feng.

The Democratic Board of Ed. race is uncompetitive. Newcomer Laura Kostin and incumbent Vice Chair Kathleen Stowe are running for two open spots. However, Republicans Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony, Cody Kittle, Megan Galletta, and write-in candidate Kara Philbin are running for two seats.

Galletta could not attend Friday's forum due to a prior work commitment. Philbin also did not participate.

Return to Patch for results as they come in. Subscribe to free Greenwich News Alerts for election results.

On if the opinion of parents and adults in town hold more value than students when it comes to education and well-being, Kostin and Stowe said curriculum should be up to the teachers and school professionals.

"I don't believe that parents should be shaping our curriculum. I believe that not all citizens get to make the laws. We hire professionals to do this, and we have to let them do their jobs," Kostin said.

"The curriculum is a mandate from the state, and we help deliver that curriculum. Teachers have to have their personalities in the classroom. They're not robots," Stowe added. "We should provide them with all the tools in order to deliver curriculum. They also have to be able to deliver it as it meets the needs of the students."

On infrastructure and preventing another ceiling collapse as was seen at North Mianus School last winter, Kittle said this is the kind of work the board should be doing.

"A lot of what the board should be doing is actually quite boring. Things like structural safety of buildings would be one of those things that doesn't get a lot of attention unless it's being politicized," he said.

He mentioned that Central Middle School has been flagged as structurally unsound in some areas. North Mianus School was not flagged.

"This presents a good opportunity to step back and say, 'Maybe we should do a deeper review and try to think of some structural issues that might exist in buildings from previous work done and double check those,'" Kittle said. "That would seem to me like a very good use of spending."

Mercanti-Anthony said if the North Mianus School ceiling collapsed during school, the issue would be talked about a lot more right now.

"The only reason why we moved on so quickly is because it happened over break... We haven't gone back and said, 'Why did this get through? Why wasn't this flagged in this $500,000 building review the board commissioned five years ago of all buildings? Why was there a breakdown in the system that allowed that to happen, and what else could be there?'" he said. "That's the kind of really detailed work that's the purview of the board."

On masks, Stowe said mandates are not the Board of Ed's call right now; they're coming from Gov. Ned Lamont and the state. She said she was proud of her work as vice chair on the district's mask policy which helped get students back into in-person learning.

"I know this has not been an easy couple of years. I know we all want to get back to life without masks," she told the students, praising them for how they've worked together. "I appreciate what you guys are doing as students because the fact that you're being so smart is the reason we're doing so well. Our community [numbers are] way down, and it's because you guys have been a really huge part of that."

Kostin, too, said she's not a fan of masks, but it's up to the health officials to make decisions and recommendations on masks.

"I have more masks than shoes. I'm sure you all feel the same way. It's not normal to exist in a global pandemic. It's so hard for students especially," she added. "Thankfully we have a health department and the state health department to let us know when our community can get back to normal. As a board, we're not health officials and I don't think that's our swim lane."

Kittle said if and when mask use is left up to the town or Board of Education, there will have to be an evaluation of current data and tradeoffs.

"It's not ok for leaders to say, 'Oh, we're doing this because someone else told us to, but we're not going to give you any further justification.' I think it's incumbent on the school board or the superintendent or individual principals — if they make a choice and it's based on this tradeoff, they should be able to justify it," Kittle said.

Mercanti-Anthony said he's not in favor of lifting a mask mandate right now.

"I think masks are currently keeping us safe. When that decision is made, it's going to be made by experts who are much higher up the food chain than the Greenwich Board of Education. Right now, under the governor's mandate and the CDC guidance, I think it doesn't make sense to get ahead of the CDC and other folks like that," Mercanti-Anthony said.

"I don't like my kids going to school with masks. Hopefully that's going to end soon. The priority right now has to be keeping everyone in school safe, and we don't do that by getting ahead of the experts in the field."