Tong Hosts Education Panel As Part Of Stamford 2020 Campaign

On Wednesday, Stamford mayoral candidate Rep. William Tong hosted an education forum at the Harry Bennett Branch of the Ferguson Library, where a half-dozen local education leaders joined Tong to speak with community members.

Tong made the stop Wednesday as part of his Stamford 2020 campaign trail in which he focuses on what he sees as Stamford's greatest issues while seeking the city's top seat this election season. Tong, who forced a primary after David Martin received the Democratic City Committee's backing, was endorsed this week by Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Topics ranged from diversity in Stamford's community to the physical infrastructure of the district's buildings to the involvement of parents in their children's lives.

"There are many parts of a comprehensive education plan," Tong said to the community members gathered "What I've learned today is that trying to define what makes the 'best school district in the country,' in an hour and fifteen minutes, its a much longer conversation."

Among the panelists who joined Tong were:

• Jackie Heftman, member of the Stamford Board of Education
• Candy Yeager, past Co-Senior President of the Parent Teacher Council
• Regan Allan, past President of the Parent Teacher Council
• Andy Sklover, Member of the Board of Education and Chair of the Education Committee. Also an active parent of two SPS students.
• Susana Vidan, Co-Senior President of the PT Council
• Jennifer Lapine - Early Childhood Education Advocate, Stamford Public School teacher, retired

Physical appearance in particular was a popular topic of conversation. It's difficult to have confidence in schools when they appear to be falling apart, members of the panel said. Heftman said looking at schools that have waiting lists shows that parents want to send their kids to schools not just because they might be a magnate school, but because they're new, pointing out when you drive up and see a new structure, it can have a psychological impact on the value one attributes to the education they will receive.

"We need to have a mayor who will commit to those physical structures," Heftman said. "Look at KT Murphy. It's one of our oldest schools. It's over-crowded. If you went in there, you would wonder why you would send your child to that school, let's be honest."

Board of Education member Rich Lyons attended the panel as an audience member. He said the issues facing Stamford's schools are as varied and diverse as the people that make up the city, but hat they are each passionate about the path before them.

"In Stamford, people care about their school system," Lyons said. "It doesn't matter what building you go in, but they genuinely care about their children and the schools their kids are going to. And the intention and the issues that come up, school by school by school, are so tailored sometimes to that unique little community school."

The representative took the opportunity Wednesday to also tout his relationship to Malloy and the heavy hitters of the majority party in Hartford, a connection he said can be leveraged to find new opportunities for Stamford's schools—financial or otherwise—and a kind of connection to which no other mayoral contender can lay claim, according to Tong.

"I've got to find ways to find more money," said Tong. "We have a tremendous opportunity with our former mayor as the governor to continue to focus educational resources to Stamford, in particular as a priority through our alliance."

Tong said the end game is all about making Stamford a destination for education and making it a city others look toward for inspiration.

"We want to be the best urban school district in the country," Tong said. "We want people outside of the city to see us that way. We want the press to talk about us that way. We want parents to talk about us that way. We want elected leaders and business leaders to see us that way. It isn't happening yet and so what I can tell you is that we're not hearing that yet and until we hear it, we haven't made it."