The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
8 candidates aiming for 4 spots on school board
HAMDEN — Residents seeking seats on the Board of Education will compete for a spot on the November ballot in a Democratic primary Tuesday, perhaps the most contentious in Hamden’s history.
“Row A” features the candidates endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee who are part of mayoral contender Lauren Garrett’s slate.
“Row B” includes candidates on incumbent Mayor Curt Balzano Leng’s slate. Leng has held office since 2015, but bypassed the endorsement process this year and petitioned for a spot on the ballot.
Read on for biographies of the contenders, which are based on written responses to a New Haven Register survey each respondent completed.
Row A
David Asbery
Asbery has directed office services at Empire State Realty Trust for the last 15 years, he said. He sits on the DTC, formerly headed Hamden’s Human Rights and Relations Commission and is the founder of the nonprofit Fixing Fathers Inc. One Dad at a Time, he said.
His priorities include diversifying school staff, addressing suspension and expulsion rates for students of color and improving the town’s academic performance by exploring “effective and creative ways to teach our kids.”
“These issues need to be raised, placed on the agenda, and discussed collectively so that the board can come up with some actionable
items that can be discussed, implemented, and monitored,” he said.
Siobhan Carter-David
Carter-David is a history professor at Southern Connecticut State University who focuses on cultural studies and African-American history, according to the SCSU website. She serves as the Eastern Regional Director of Black Women Historians and sits on the Hamden Art Commission.
Her “investment as a mom of two” and “talents in diplomacy” make her a good fit for the board, she said. Top challenges facing Hamden include a lack of ethnic diversity in town elementary schools and over-policing of students of color, Carter-David said, recommending the district implement a restorative justice program to deal with discipline and replace student resource officers with behavioral health professionals.
Melissa A. KaplanCharkow (incumbent)
Kaplan-Charkow is the interim director of the honors program at Quinnipiac University, where she teaches for the English Department and Women & Gender Studies Program. As a Board of Education member, she said she has worked with the Special Education Parent Teacher Association to support
Hamden’s neurodiverse students, successfully pushed to revise the dress code and advocated to include discussions about consent in the health curriculum.
The biggest challenges facing the district include supporting students and teachers during the pandemic and ensuring all students get equal opportunity, she said, adding that the district’s budget should prioritize equity. Asked about strategies to move the district forward, she said the district should work with the town to explore grant funding “aimed at competitive recruitment of faculty of color for open positions,” prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in the curriculum and incorporate “extensive professional development” aimed ultimately at understanding racial biases and reducing exclusionary discipline.
Mariam Khan
Khan is a sophomore studying political science at Yale University and the Board of Education’s former student representative, having graduated Hamden High School in 2020. She also served on the State Student Advisory Council on Education and won the Princeton Price in Race Relations for advocacy work.
Her top priorities include
providing adequate resources to students amid the challenges of COVID-19, “increasing community-oriented dialogue” and raising the quality of education for all students while “combating unequal outcomes in academic achievement and disciplinary practices,” she said. As a board member she would hold regular office hours for constituents, issue frequent updates via social media and mailing lists, target disparities and work to build “a robust studentalumni mentorship program,” she said.
Row B
Frank Dixon
A parent in the Hamden school system for 14 years, Dixon is co-chairman of the Hamden High School Governance Council and sat on the Hamden Diversity Advisory Council, he said. He previously was chairman of the town’s Charter Revision Commission and works as an instructor at Gateway Community College.
As Dixon sees it, the need for additional special education resources, for investment in school buildings infrastructure and for “ethnically diverse in-class room teachers and learning material” comprise the biggest challenges facing Hamden Public Schools. If elected, he would work to earn community buy-in on
investments and “support a system to capture real-time feedback and data on the local, state and national levels to support an equal and relevant education system,” he said.
Nicholas McDonald
McDonald, who has three children in Hamden schools, has worked for Sodexo for 25 years providing food services to Southern Connecticut State University, he said. He also represents fellow employees as a shop steward, is on Local 217’s executive board and coaches an adult soccer league in New Haven, he said.
He is running to “ensure Hamden Public Schools commit to hiring more staff ... of color so that all families and students feel supported,” he said. He named COVID, finances and diversity as the top three challenges facing Hamden schools, adding that he would promote balanced budgets and advocate for COVID-prevention measures such as mask-wearing and hand sanitizing.
Jennifer M. Jason Sweeten
Sweeten, a practicing attorney, grew up in Hamden and serves as senior counsel at Franchise World Headquarters LLC in its North America Real Estate department, she said. She previously worked as a family coordinator for
Beth-El Center in Milford and as a case manager for adjudicated children for Boys & Girls Village Inc., she said.
As a board member, she would advocate for an audit of education funding to “ensure that funds are being allocated equally,” reallocate funds to address identified inequities and cut unnecessary costs, she said. Sweeten called for improving special education resources and supported investing in “programs that promote cultural competency and accommodation of learning styles.” Joshua L. Watkins Watkins directs the Community Soup Kitchen, a charitable organization that serves free meals in New Haven and at Hamden’s Keefe Community Center. He joined the town’s Economic Development Commission in February, he said, adding that he previously lived in New York City where he served on the East Harlem Neighborhood Advisory Board and the New York County Democratic Committee.
He is running for the Board of Education to provide “transparency and accountability,” he said, indicating he would promote communication and “clear messaging” to all stakeholders. He would hold bi-weekly information sessions with community members so they could “hear what is going on with the school system” and promote programs for students to hear from various professionals about their career paths, he said.