Disappointment With Republican No Shows

Like many other interested Milford taxpayers I juggled a busy schedule (10/23) to attend the Board of Education Forum sponsored by the PTA council.  I care about education and its importance to our community. I care about my tax dollars as well. I wanted to find out the views of the candidates for the Board of Education, particularly their views on performance and the cost of education.  To my surprise and dismay, 7 of the 10 Republican candidates were no shows.  The sponsors seemed almost as chagrined as the audience, which numbered about 100 people.  The organizers did announce that only one candidate, a Democrat, had offered an RSVP due to a serious family illness, but none of the missing Republicans had bothered to respond or to attend.

Despite the republicans’ absence, I did hear some important information.  Candidate Mark Ahrens spoke thoughtfully of a “culture of excellence,” he hoped to promote.  Candidate Laura Fucci spoke knowingly of how to fortify anti-bullying policies to make schools safer and enrich the students learning experiences.  Candidate Heidi  Gold-Dworkin expressed the ways the school system was preparing students for the 21st Century.  These candidates and the other six Democratic Candidates were knowledgeable and inspiring. 

As I left Jonathan Law HS I continued to be bothered by the absent republicans’ obvious aversion for public in-person discourse. Why the majority of individuals running on the Republican ticket chose to be so dismissive and irresponsible is beyond reasoning. Why they chose not to air their views in a non-confrontational but informative forum is baffling.  Certainly these are NOT the qualities we want guiding our schools and affecting our children.