GREENWICH — Even though the candidates for the Board of Education aren’t all from the same political party, they all have one primary goal — creating a positive working relationship amongst board members.
Come next month, there will be four open seats on the board — two for the Republican party and two for the Democrats. Since two Republicans and two Democrats are running, all four will end up joining the board after the Nov. 7 election.
Three of the four candidates— Democrat Sophie Koven and Democratic incumbent Karen Hirsh and Republican incumbent Karen Kowalski — participated in the recent Greenwich League of Women Voters BOE debate.
“It was extremely heartening tonight to sit up here with Karen and Karen because I think the way that we find our path forward is that we need to work together, we need to collaborate, we need to organize ourselves around shared values and shared interests,” Koven said. “I think that we all value education and we all want a quality education for our children.”
Greenwich Board of Education Democratic candidate Sophie Koven speaks during the Greenwich Board of Education debate at Town Hall in Greenwich, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut MediaThe fourth candidate, Republican Wendy Vizzo Walsh, did not participate in the debate. Becky Gillan, vice president of voter services for the Greenwich LWV, read out the statement Vizzo Walsh sent to the league about why she chose to not participate.
“I have come to view that for me, a debate in a uncontested election is not the way to kick off a collaborative relationship with my future colleagues,” the statement read. “I have notified the other candidates and expressed that I am looking forward to meeting with them where we can find common ground to improve our schools.”
While Kowalski, Koven and Hirsh agreed on topics spanning from racial imbalance to what an ideal working relationship looks like with the superintendent, one topic that sparked some participant disagreement was Central Middle School.
Kowalski has voted against the size and scope of the new CMS building “every vote for the last two years,” she said when answering a question about whether the she thinks the Board of Estimate and Taxation members have “put pressure” on the BOE to shrink the size of the new CMS building from what is outlined in the educational specifications.
Greenwich Board of Education Republican incumbent Karen Kowalski speaks during the Greenwich Board of Education debate at Town Hall in Greenwich, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media“I think the scoping of the project is beyond what we need at this point in time and I think we can build a phenomenal school within the right scope for the right amount and number of students that we are seeing in our schools at this point in time,” Kowalski said. “The amount of savings that we could save with respect to that school, we could put toward teachers. As far as I’m aware, it’s the person that you put in front of the classroom that educates our students.”
Koven disagreed about the size of the new building being too large. She referenced experiences her children had at other town schools.
“My kids have gone through Riverside and Eastern Middle School,” Koven said. “They have been massively overcrowded for the entire time my kids have been there and I see that has real educational impacts on them … I agree that teachers teach, buildings don’t teach. But buildings do make a big difference in terms of what your educational experience is.”
Hirsh used the new Glenville School as an example as to why the size and scope of the new CMS building is what the town needs. Glenville was completed at the end of 2009.
Greenwich Board of Education Democratic incumbent Karen Hirsh speaks during the Greenwich Board of Education debate at Town Hall in Greenwich, Conn. Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media“Within a year and a half of that new school’s doors opening, we outgrew that school,” Hirsh said. “I don’t want to see the same thing happen to Central Middle School … It is the rule and responsibility of the Board of Education to decide on educational specifications as to what is needed within our schools to education our students. It is not any other board’s responsibility to tell us what we need in our schools’ space to educate our students. The board has had deep discussions about that. The time we spend revisiting and revising those educational specifications are taking us away from focusing on things like academic achievement.”
Even though the three candidates are not going to agree on everything, Kowalski said “we are all here to work with our students, for our students.”
“The things that (the three candidates) all agree on are certainly academic achievement, student support, focusing on our students, improving (Greenwich Public Schools), making sure we’re building right infrastructure at the right price,” Kowalski said. “These are all things we agree on. I think that I am looking forward to the next four years working with these fine women next to me as well as the other five members that will also serve on the board.”