The Westport Journal, to help voters make informed decisions when they cast ballots in the Nov. 7 municipal election, sent questionnaires to candidates running for seats on three major boards and commissions.

The candidates were asked to answer two broad questions:

• Describe your background, including education, professional and involvement in civic affairs, focusing on qualifications relevant to the office you seek.

• Tell voters why you are running for office, and the issues you plan to focus on if elected.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7, with balloting from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the town’s nine voting districts.

For detailed information about election issues, such as sample ballots, voter registration, absentee ballots, the location of polling stations and more, click the “Election Information” page on the town’s website.

Candidates seeking election to the Board of Education this year include: Lee Goldstein and Neil Phillips, incumbent Democrats; Camilo Riano and Jamie Fitzgerald, Republicans, and Jill Dillon, a write-in candidate.

The term of office is four years.

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Following are the questionnaire answers provided by the five candidates running for three seats on the Board of Education.

LEE GOLDSTEIN, Democrat

Biography: Current — Westport Board of Education since 2019; chair since 2021

Connecticut Association of Boards of Education board of directors

Member, Westport Arts Advisory Committee and Westport Public Art Collection

Married, two daughters, graduates of Westport public schools

Past — High school English teacher

PTA president, Coleytown Middle School

PTA executive boards, Staples, Coleytown Elementary, chair cultural arts

Bedford (N.Y.) Central School District Board of Education member

Writing tutor, Mercy Learning Center

BA, Yale; teaching certificate, Sacred Heart University

Why I am running: I am really proud of the good work we’ve done on this board, to serve Westport public schools and our community. 

We’ve hired a terrific superintendent, managed through COVID, gotten our arms around facilities and maintenance, adopted fiscally responsible budgets that are unanimously approved by funding bodies, supported the hiring of three additional police officers who patrol our schools, and engaged the community through regularly scheduled forums. 

We’ve overseen ongoing Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity work to ensure every student feels a deep sense of belonging and can access our full educational program, both academics and co-curriculars.

I’m also proud of the progress we’re making with our Strategic Plan, to enhance social emotional capacities, student voice, and authentic problem solving.  

As we look ahead, we’re excited to take on the real work of collaborative problem solving and imagine the ways in which these types of curriculum tasks fit in with both local and global experiences. Our faculty are establishing partnerships with local businesses, universities, cultural organizations and government so students can stretch beyond the classroom walls. 

I am excited about our continued work to implement systematic program review, add many new courses, including honors, AP and early college experience courses in academics as well as technical fields and provide more professional development for teachers to focus on student engagement and inquiry. The creation of a Leadership Council is another real-world opportunity for our students to develop ethical and effective leadership skills.

I am running for re-election because it is important to me that we continue to offer rigorous and exceptional academics while also supporting our students’ emotional health and encouraging crucial faculties such as perseverance and empathy. All of this supports our students’ development so they may become happy, successful adults and reach their full potential.

CAMILO RIANO, Republican

Biography: Camilo Riano is a management consultant and IT specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the U.S. and internationally. He started his career with Deloitte, and worked for several state and global organizations, such as Gartner, state of Georgia, BearingPoint, United Nations, and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services.

As Georgia’s enterprise data architect, he worked with the Office of Planning and Budget and led the team that designed and implemented the state’s $30 billion budget preparation system. He was appointed by the governor as an advisor for technology in education and worked on strategic initiatives to improve the quality of K-12 education.

Before immigrating to the U.S., Mr. Riano was an assistant professor with the Colombian National University and a researcher at the Center for Development Studies. He holds a BS degree in electrical engineering, an MS in economics, both from Universidad Javeriana, and an MS in computer engineering from Seoul National University. He did his MBA at Vanderbilt University.

Camilo and his wife Louise have two sons and two daughters studying at Saugatuck Elementary School. They have lived in Westport for the past seven years and are engaged citizens concerned with all aspects of their children’s education.

Why I am running: The current BOE leadership is distracted, disorganized and disengaged. They care more about embedding their activist agenda than student achievement.

As a parent who has followed closely the BOE for several years, I am very concerned that the new policies being implemented are eroding the quality of the superb public education that has always been offered in Westport. 

Despite the time lag which might make it difficult to see the erosion of our system, ranking data from U.S. News & World Report already show that our primary schools are experiencing negative effects. Saugatuck Elementary, where my children study, is ranked 56th in the state of Connecticut, King’s Highway 53rd and Long Lots 50th.

The reality is far from what the slogans of our competitors suggest, and our district’s excellent reputation is not going to survive if we keep going down this path. I myself have witnessed a degradation in the quality of instruction at the elementary school my kids attend.

I am not alone. Many parents we have spoken to have even pulled their kids from WPS as racial equity and gender politics and endless discussion of feelings and emotions have replaced genuine teaching and learning.  The scary thing is, under the current leadership of the board, our competitors, this is all just getting started. 

The BOE urgently needs redirection, which should start with the renewal of the leadership. The board must act as the voice of parents within our schools.

Jamie Fitzgerald and I want to bring back transparency and strong governance and get the focus back to the correct priorities. We have the expertise, knowledge, work ethic, and commitment to get the job done for our kids.  

For BOE, please vote only for the two Republican candidates, Jamie and Camilo.

NEIL PHILLIPS, Democrat

Biography: Board of Education member, 2018-19; secretary, 2021-23

Member, Representative Town Meeting, 2013-18

Chair, RTM Ordinance Committee, 2014-15

Chair, RTM Education Committee, 2015-18

Principal, Lennon Murphy & Phillips law firm

Married, parent of twin boys at SHS

30-plus-year resident of Westport

Why I am running: This election comes down to a simple question … Who do you want sitting at the Board of Ed table, meeting after meeting, issue after issue? You will decide that on Nov. 7. The choices are starkly different.

Combined, Lee and I have a total of 25 years of public service to this town. We understand the role of board governance and have a proven record of effective leadership.  

We have both been crisis-tested from the sudden closure of CMS and its aftermath; to the abrupt departure of a superintendent and the hiring of an interim and current replacement; to the hiring of our current high school principal; to the challenges of COVID and remote/hybrid learning — and we’ve handled this all while overseeing a six-month budget approval process year after year.

We don’t just show up … we are fully engaged on the issues, we do our homework, we listen to the parent community, to the teachers and, most importantly, to our students … the main focus of the work we oversee.  

We lead from a basic foundation of mutual respect between ourselves and the administration, where integrity matters, process matters and trust matters. This has been a hallmark of our public service.

But there is still more important work that remains to be done. We are in the midst of a 10-year capital improvement plan. Long Lots and Stepping Stones is just the beginning. Redistricting will take a thoughtful approach with community engagement and professional guidance.  

And, of course, attention to curriculum, culture and supporting the district’s strategic plan, weigh heavily on our shoulders. This will require continued steady leadership and keen focus.  We have proven ourselves before and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve our school district.

JAMIE FITZGERALD, Republican

Biography: Jamie Fitzgerald is an education technology executive, entrepreneur, community advocate, mother of four and grandmother.  

She grew up in Lima, Ohio, as the tenth of eleven children. She attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, where she majored in business and marketing, and worked the entire time to pay her way through.  

Through her professional experience, Jamie has worked directly with education leaders around the country in the K-12 and higher education markets. In both her professional and personal life, she has been passionately focused on what truly drives individual student success.

The parent of a recent Staples graduate, she and her family have lived in Westport for the past eight years. 

She will bring a unique perspective to the board that blends domain expertise within education, general business experience and the wisdom of a mother who has helped guide the educational journey of her four children from pre-school through college and beyond.   

Why I am running: I am running because I feel strongly that under current leadership, our district is headed in the wrong direction.  

I come to this conclusion as an education professional and as a Westport mother who understands the foundation of excellence upon which our district’s reputation is built. We need new leadership, we need to pivot strategically, and we need to do this now.

Our competitors speak of “inclusivity,” but this rhetoric is completely at odds with their conduct. Beginning with the involvement of NYU Metro, they have been unwilling to work with parents who oppose their ideological views. Anyone who has tuned into board meetings has heard a shrill, dismissive tone and a refusal to engage with the rational objections of many parents. 

A widely supported effort to involve parents in the development of the new strategic plan was rejected by the incumbent candidates. We are now implementing a strategic plan which will re-engineer how we educate based on the unproven theories of “Social Emotional Learning.”

I am motivated in large part by my objections to SEL, including how it undermines the core academic mission. To be clear, I do not take the mental health of our students lightly. My own children have in fact struggled with mental health issues (I share this information with their blessing). These challenges were addressed correctly, by trained mental health professionals. Among the flaws of SEL, it asks teachers to function as psychologists and therapists. Just as we don’t ask our coaches to design curricula, it is risky to burden our teachers with responsibilities for which they are not equipped.

Camilo and I are very eager to get Westport schools back on track. Please take the time to learn more about our positions and vote for the two us — and only the two of us.

JILL DILLON, write-in candidate

Biography: My name is Jill Dillon. I’m running as an unaffiliated write-in candidate for Westport Board of Education. 

I have been raising my family in Westport since 2012. I have extensive experience in the community, serving as PTA president at both King’s Highway Elementary School and Coleytown Middle School. 

I am a second-grade teacher and active member at my church, and I volunteer at Malta House in Norwalk. As PTA president, I guided my school communities through COVID lockdown, distance learning, and the reopening of schools both post-pandemic and following CMS renovations. 

I have advocated for our schools and families across town bodies, including the BoE, BoF, P&Z, and the RTM. I have excellent working relationships with many of the current BoE members and the current administration.

After graduating from the University of Virginia with a BS in biology and a BA in French language and literature, I decided being a French biologist wasn’t in my future. I spent over ten years professionally in the field of public opinion research. It was there that I first honed my skills for listening and engagement, with further polish provided by my extensive school leadership and volunteerism experience.

Why I am running: I believe voters in Westport want more choice in the Board of Education election so I stepped in to be an unaffiliated, write-in candidate.

I believe in progress, not politics. I am a moderate voice of civility and mutual respect, community leadership and experience, and my focus is ALWAYS on doing what’s right for the kids. Local elections are critical because we are electing neighbors to be stewards of everything we depend on day to day, including our schools. 

Here is where I stand on some issues relevant to our schools:  

• We set an example for our children when we engage with each other civilly over tough issues and work collegially to reach a compromise. Raising voices and name-calling erodes trust and goodwill, and inhibits progress.  

• Raising a child is the responsibility of the parents and caregivers. I expect our schools to be partners in that process, creating an emotionally and physically safe environment where students can excel academically.

• I believe the curricula and school libraries can strike the right balance between age-appropriate content that provokes thought, challenges thinking, and promotes multiple viewpoints without fear, omission or censorship. 

• Our schools are the crown jewel of our town, and the responsibility of the Board of Education is to keep them that way. Our schools are the reason families want to relocate to Westport, their stellar academics and offerings motivate educators to want to teach in our district, and they directly impact our housing values.