Trumbull Candidate Profile: Loretta Chory For Board Of Education

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

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

Loretta Chory is running for the Board of Education as a Republican. She has been chairman of the Board of Education for the past four years and has been a member for the past 12. She is a lead financial analyst at People's United Bank, a member of the Sacred Heart University Alumni Board of Directors, a member of the CT Associations of Boards of Education and a member of the CT Conference of Municipalities as a member of the policy committee on education.

Below are Chory's responses to questions:

The single most pressing issue facing our town/district Board of Education is unfunded mandates from the State Legislature and CT Board of Education, and this is what I intend to do about it:

During the past legislative session, there were numerous issues that if passed, in Hartford, would have significantly impacted our school district, including an attempt to mandate consolidation of school districts (in our case, with Easton and Monroe). While I agree that there are cost savings to be achieved thru regionalization and consolidation, I don’t think they need to be forced upon us from someone who doesn’t know the needs of our town.

I would like to see the hindrances to consolidation that are currently in place be reviewed and updated so that multiple school districts and/or towns could work together with less restrictions. We also saw an attempt to move teacher retirement costs to the town, and to reduce the Educational Cost Sharing funds the town receives from Hartford. Both of these resulted in significant cuts to the funding that the First Selectman recommended for the Board of Education, reducing our initial request by $2.4 million.

I will continue to work thru our State delegation, CT Board of Education and CT Conference of Municipalities as they advocate for Trumbull and the Trumbull Board of Education.

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

Longevity, experience and employment... I have been a member of the BOE for 12 years, have been chairman the past 4 years, vice chair for the 2 years before that, and previously chaired the Finance and Policy Committees. As someone who does not have a background in education (administrator or teacher), but instead work in the Finance Division of Peoples United Bank, I bring a different point of view to many board discussions.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

I will work to support the education platform of Coach Herbst to prevent damaging education cuts, invest in resources to ensure improvement in academic achievement, work to consolidate services between the BOE and the town, continue to work on energy efficient buildings, and continue to invest in new technology and course offerings. I support appointment of a search firm to conduct an extensive search for a new superintendent to replace Dr. Gary Cialfi who has announced his retirement as of June 30, 2019.

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

As chairman of the BOE, I am proud that the Trumbull Board of Education has earned the CABE (CT Boards of Education) Leadership Award in 2017, 2018 and has meet the necessary qualification for 2019 recognition also. This award recognize boards which provide effective leadership to their districts through the use of best practices and acknowledges the importance of school board members working together as effective teams. While we are elected as either a Republican or Democrat, once the election is over, we go to work as a team in support of the students, staffs and residents of Trumbull.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

From the words of Ken Halaby’s Attitude is Everyone program:

• Be kind to others
• Smile
• Do your best
• Work hard
• Don’t quit