Stratford Candidate Profile: Michael Suntag For School Board

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

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

Michael Suntag is running for the Board of Education as a Democrat. Suntag taught for 19 years at Central High School in Bridgeport and worked as a grant manager for the Bridgeport school system. He also worked as an assistant principal and as a consultant with the state Department of Education.

Are you running for office in Stratford? Contact Anna Bybee-Schier at anna.bybee-schier@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate's profile and submitting campaign announcements to Stratford Patch.

Candidate responses appear as they were received and have not been edited by Patch staff.

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

Insuring that every child gets the resources they need to succeed in school.. I intend to win election to the Stratford School Board and push for budget transparency and accountability by the Board, and the Siuperintendent with ongoing communications with school staff and the community.

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

I have an in depth knowledge of school systems from the classroon through the State Department of Educaton. I have devoted my adult life to advocating for public education and have been trained by the best in the country on how to make systemic change for children and families. I understand teaching and learning strategies, organizational structures and behavioral interventions that are focused on improving the life outcomes for children in our schools. I also understand the role that institutional bias plays in systems and have trained school teachers, administrators on recognizing their implict bias and how it affects their relationships with children and parents. I believe that I am the only candidate with these credentials.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

The lack of transparency and communication with the public regarding how taxpayer money is being utilized in the school system. redesigning the bus contract and bus routes that were changed quickly and resulted in many unintended consequences., insuring resources get to the teachers and students that need them the most including for social emotional needs of our children.

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

National recognition for helping to improve the life outcomes of disadvantaged children in Bridgeport by the Annie E Casey Foundaiton Child and Family Fellowship. After I retired from the State Department My business partner and I worked in troubled urban high schools and middle schools in the Metropolitan area and assisted those schools in transforming themselves to create better outcomes for their children. Most of all I was a master teacher with a burning desire to change the inequities that were barriers to all my students reaching their potential.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

It takes one individual who will love and stay with a child over time that will increase the probability that that child will succeed

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

I know that I will have only one vote as a Board of Education member, but that vote will start with what is best for our children.