There’s Much to Learn

Democratic candidate for Mayor Daryl Finizio seems to be everywhere these days. Last weekend, he was at the Hygienic’s (he’s a fan); midweek, he attended the American Civil Liberties Union (as a criminal lawyer, he favors it). Then on Saturday, he was at the presenting his platform on education—and he didn’t mince words.

“We have to honestly confront how we are doing in our education system,” said Finizio, to a moderate-sized crowd that included a number of teachers and at least one member of the Board of Education. If the goal is to have every student graduate and find employment; if the mission to encourage students to go to college; if the aim is to have top-notch facilities for learning, then on all counts, said Finizio, “we are failing in this mission.”

Although New London’s first elected mayor won’t have a vote on the Board of Education, Finizio noted, the mayor will have a seat on the board and be in the position to advocate for change. “The advocacy role of the mayor should not be underestimated,” Finizio said, especially as the budget for education will no longer be part of the city budget but will go to voters in a separate referendum.  

Currently, New London spends more per student than the state average but, Finizio noted, student performance is below state average. “We need to seriously look at where that money is being spent,” he said, pointing out that at least 20 school administrators are making six-figure salaries. “That raises a red flag for me,” he said. “The goal is to provide top-level education for our children, not to provide employment for people.”

When it comes to teachers’ salaries, Finizio said he’d like to see pay tied to performance. “My partner is a public school teacher,” said Finizio. “My mother was a public school teacher. I believe in the public school system. I know that teachers work very hard. It’s a very draining profession and after 20 years, if you stay that extra hour, your pay’s not going to go up. We need to consider the concept of merit pay.”

Merit pay for teachers isn’t the only controversial idea Finizio proposes. He’s also like to see the school district reconsider tenure for teachers. “There has to be accountability,” said Finizio. “The concept of tenure has to be examined to see if it’s really serving to protect people who are deadweight on the system.”

Finizio has big plans for students too. “Our students, most of them, don’t even think about college,” said Finizio. “But in our society, some degree of college is the key to getting a job.” Finizio proposes making public service a requirement for graduation because he believes it helps young people connect to their community and provides valuable work experience.  If elected mayor, Finizio says, he’ll join the students and put in the same number of community service hours--and he’ll use five percent of his salary to establish a college scholarship fund.

“We must defeat the cynicism that this can’t be done,” Finizio states in his position paper on education. “We need to stop asking merely ‘How can our schools be better?’ and we need to start asking ‘How can our schools be the best?’”

Finizio’s next town meeting (location to be announced) will be on Saturday, March 26, on the topic of public safety.