New London Candidate Profile: Bryan Doughty for Board of Ed

NEW LONDON, CT —New London’s election season is heating up.

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

Bryan Doughty, 45, is a Democrat running for election to the Board of Education.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? This includes any relatives who work in the government you'd be representing.

No

Education:

Master's Degree - The Ohio State University, Bachelor's Degree - Ithaca College

Occupation:

Music Publisher and stay-at-home father for 20+ years

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office:

This is the first time I have run for office.

My appointed positions:

HIRING COMMITTEES:
• Superintendent
• Bennie Dover Jackson Leadership
• Summer School Team Leaders (2019)
• Maintenance and Custodian Staff

POLICY AND SAFETY COMMITTEES:
• District-wide Code of Conduct
• STMHS School Improvement Plan (SIP)

SCHOOL BUILDING HIRING COMMITTEES:
• Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School -
Project Manager, Construction Manager
and Commissioning Agent
• High School Commissioning Agent

BOARD OF EDUCATION COMMITTEES:
• Commissioner's Network
• School Facilities and Program Design

CITY COMMITTEES:
• Solid Waste Management Task Force (Chair)
• School Building and Maintenance

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

In our school district, the Board of Education must develop stronger policies and procedures to protect both our students and staff. These policies will lead our district away from abuse scandals and toward a brighter future.

Accompanying new policies, our school administrators must respond to constituent concerns in a timely manner and communicate clearly what NLPS has already done to protect our students.

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

For the past two years, I have been proactively involved in the planning process of our North Campus (High School) construction project. This project is vital to the success of our magnet district. The School Building and Maintenance Committee, a City Council committee, oversees this project.

The North Campus is currently past the original completion date and over budget, which is embarrassing and inexcusable. Before I was appointed to the committee, I attended meetings as an observer. The discussions and presentations left me with many questions, so I began researching the project. I identified inappropriate room sizes, unsuitable ceiling materials, and offered value engineering cuts that will save New London tens of thousands of dollars. These cuts will not impact programming but will reduce the project budget.

In August 2019, I was appointed to the School Building and Maintenance Committee. This was made possible when I discovered that the principal of a school, according to City Ordinance, has the right to appoint two parents to this committee. The Ordinance reads: "Membership on the committee shall also include the principal and two (2) parents from each school under Board of Education cognizance. Responsibilities of the principal and parents shall be limited to actions concerning only the school that they represent. The principal shall be responsible for annually appointing the two (2) parents representing the school and reporting those appointments to the director of operations for the Board of Education prior to the first meeting of the committee in September of each year."

I am one of those parents, and I represent New London High School. In the two years I have been involved, the project has made more progress toward a shovel in the ground than the previous five years combined. I continue to push to bring this campus to reality because this is what our students and the community voted for and deserve.

One of my goals is to improve communication between the City and the Board of Education. We are partners that must work together. As the Chair of the Solid Waste Management Task Force, I have already worked with many of our current or potential Council members, as well as Department Heads and our Mayor. Because of this experience, I plan to continue to foster these relationships as a Board of Education member, create new ones, and move New London forward rather than sideways or backward.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

Every stakeholder needs to understand all aspects of our magnet school system and the three pathways. The structure of our school district must be communicated clearly to everyone within New London as well as to those considering applying for entry into our district. Without this understanding, our district will struggle to recruit, gain support from the public, and could possibly fail.

For our students, I will work to create:
• Safer Schools
• Accountability
• Transparency
• New and Updated Schools
• More Community Partners
• Better Family Communication
• Student-based Funding

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

In the last two years, I have been a member of or led many different committees on both the Board of Education side as well as the City side.

I participated in the process to hire members of our school administration, wrote programming to sustain our High School culinary program and its garden, made suggestions and wrote parts of our Code of Conduct to protect both our students and staff, hired key members for our construction projects, and chaired the Solid Waste Management Task Force which delivered New London a pathway forward for collection of trash and recycling that didn't involve purchasing separate bags.

The best advice ever shared with me was …

Never ask a question you do not want the answer to, but be brave enough to ask the question anyway.

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

For the past twenty years, I have been a stay-at-home father to three children. This has presented some challenges but also many rewarding opportunities. I volunteered in school classrooms, went on field trips, worked with students of varying levels, and more recently stepped up to join and lead committees where I believe I have made a difference for our children and our community.
I am seeking a spot on the New London Board of Education because I would like to take my experiences and use them to be a voice for the community, have a vote to build a better school system, and help improve New London for everyone.

Are you running for office in New London? Contact Ellyn Santiago at ellyn.santiago@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to New London Patch. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 28.