Hamden Candidate Profile: Roxana Walker-Canton For Board Of Ed

HAMDEN, CT — The 2019 municipal election is heating up in Hamden and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Hamden Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Roxana Walker-Canton is running for a seat on the Board of Education as a Democrat. She has worked as a college professor for 23 years, a filmmaker for 20 years and owns her own business – KIMCAN Academy - Professional Tutoring and Enrichment – in Hamden.

Walker-Canton has a BA from Spelman College, an MFA/MA from Ohio State University and an MFA from Temple University. She has three children, ages 23, 21 and 16.

Are you running for office in Hamden? Contact Vinnie Salzo at vincent.salzo@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Hamden Patch.

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The 3-R Initiative

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

The 3-R Initiative - Re-imagining, Re-structuring and Re-sults - is the most pressing issue because its outcome will develop a new vision for the Board of Education that must address years old issues that continue to plague our public education. I intend to make the 3 R's go beyond a catchy slogan and make each R have a targeted objective. I will rally our community to Re-imagine Diversity beyond imaginary redistricting lines. Reorganizing district lines and reorganizing students by state standards of diversity provides a band-aid solution to addressing diversity issues in our schools and community. I intend to direct our attention to lack of diversity in hiring practices for faculty, administrative and support staff as well as in curriculum, school culture. I will ensure that Re-structuring is not only about the much-needed renovation of building and re-organizing grades within the buildings, but that re-structuring also includes a much-needed examination and re-structuring or our curricula. As a parent of three children who have been students in the Hamden Public School System, I see first-hand that the curricula and teaching methods can be more innovative and challenging so that our children receive the best opportunities to excel. The test scores for Hamden students are not stellar. In fact, the scores are low. I believe that the scores can be much higher. While test scores do not tell the whole story of academic achievement, the scores tell one part and we need to find out why are students are not performing to their highest potential on standardized tests nor in the classroom. I will invite and encourage more teacher collaboration with the Board of Education to push the academic curricular agenda to excellence. Finally, I will work hard to make sure that every instance the Re-sults prioritize students. When the Board addresses all of the issues that come our way, that we ask how decisions affect students. How will changing district lines affect students? How will awarding contracts to particular businesses affect students? How will hiring diverse staff affect students? I will invite and encourage more student participation and attendance at Board of Education meetings so that we hear from the students who are the most important part of our school system.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

Expectation of academic excellence from all students

Support excellence in teaching

Re-evaluating Special Education

Fairness in disciplinary actions regardless of race, gender and class

No police officers inside schools

Universal Pre-K

Offering more contracts to local businesses, small businesses, minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses

Increased family involvement

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

I have worked on university-wide curriculum committees whose main purpose was to examine the curricular needs of various academic departments in ensure that departments engaged in regular reviews that assessed the strengths and weakness of the curriculum and provided plans of action to make changes to better serve students and the university.

As a college professor, I am familiar with the needs of teachers including the need to provide outstanding academic instruction, while managing a classroom filled with students with various abilities and needs and fulfilling the mandates that govern the education system.

I teach high school and university age students, so I am in tuned with student perspectives and needs. In addition, I parent every day with my own children.

As a filmmaker and professor, I am used to working in collaborative environments to get things done. I am action-oriented, and I work on projects to completion.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

Every woman needs a hammer.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I would like voters to know that I take I would be honored to work for them to make Hamden Public School System everything that we want for our children.

Campaign website:

Roxana Walker-Canton for Hamden Board of Education on Facebook