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New Britain Public Schools elections (2015)
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Five seats on the Consolidated School District of New Britain Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. A Democratic primary election was held on September 16, 2015. Five at-large incumbents' seats were up for election in 2015: Carlos Piña (D), Nicole Rodriguez (D), James E. Sanders Sr. (R), Merrill Gay (D) and Stacey Rosado (R). This election saw a one seat shift in party power, as the Republicans won three of the seats up for election. This left the 10-member board evenly divided between the two parties post-election.
The three newcomers nominated by the New Britain Republican Town Committee—Elaine Perzan Zottola, Grisselle Aponte and Gayle Sanders-Connolly—were the top three highest vote recipients in the election.[1] The town's Democratic committee, meanwhile, nominated sitting incumbents Gay, Piña and Rodriguez for re-election.[2] While the incumbents survived a primary challenge from Agnes Kurzyna and Violet Sims, only Rodriguez and Gay succeeded on the general election ballot. Piña placed last overall.
Piña, Rodriguez and Gay ran as a slate called "A-Team BOE 2015." The Republican candidates ran as a slate with other members of their party seeking other municipal offices. Their slate was headed by Erin Stewart, the Republican candidate for mayor. No independent petitioning candidates filed for this race.
About the district
- See also: New Britain Public Schools, Connecticut
New Britain Public Schools is located in central Connecticut in Hartford County. In 2014, the county was home to an estimated 897,985 residents, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] New Britain Public Schools was the third-largest school district in the state in the 2012-2013 school year, serving 20,155 students.[4]
Demographics
Hartford County underperformed compared to Connecticut as a whole in terms of higher education achievement from 2009 to 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 34.9 percent of county residents aged 25 and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 36.5 of state residents during that time period. The median household income for Hartford County was $64,967, compared to $69,461 for Connecticut. The percentage of county residents below poverty level was 11.6 percent, while it was 10.2 percent for state residents.[3]
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Voter and candidate information
The New Britain Board of Education is composed of 10 partisan members who are elected at large to four-year terms in odd-numbered years. As a two-candidate slate of petitioning Democratic candidates submitted sufficient signatures, a primary election was held September 16, 2015. The general election was November 3, 2015. State law required a minimum of one-third of the board's seats to be held by minority parties following each election.[6]
There were several routes by which candidates could get on the ballot, which varied depending on the political affiliation of the candidate seeking office. The timeline below outlines the entire election process. A full written description of these events can be read in the collapsed section below the timeline.
| Click [show] on the right for the written description of Connecticut's method of school board member selection. |
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Convention nominationThe first way major party candidates could get onto the ballot was to receive the nomination of their political party during the endorsement period, which ran from July 21, 2015, to July 28, 2015. These endorsements were made by convention of the local party members, and the candidates had to receive at least 15 percent of the votes cast by convention delegates to be nominated.[7] Parties could endorse as many candidates as there were seats up for election. Major party endorsements were certified on July 29, 2015. Minor parties that were qualified for the board races were also able to endorse candidates. The deadline for minor parties to endorse candidates was September 2, 2015. Primary petitionIf a candidate who wished to run for a major political party did not receive the party's endorsement, he or she was required to file a primary petition to oppose the endorsed candidate by August 12, 2015. In order for the petition to be deemed sufficient and a primary election to be held, the petitioner was required to submit valid signatures totaling 1 percent of the votes cast for the same office at the previous election for that office or 7,500, whichever is smaller. In 2015, this signature requirement was 629. Multiple candidates of a political party could petition for a primary together. Only as many candidates may advance from it for each party as there are seats up for election in the general election. As a two-candidate slate of petitioning Democratic candidates submitted sufficient signatures, a primary election was held September 16, 2015. Independent petitioningCandidates who wished to run without a party affiliation had to file in a similar manner to candidates with a partisan affiliation. Such independent candidates, however, could not file in groups like partisan petitioners and had to file individually. They had to meet the same signature requirements as partisan petitioning candidates but without the possibility of a primary election. Write-in candidatesThe deadline for write-in candidates to file for the general election was October 20, 2015. Write-in candidates could not designate an affiliation with a political party, and no candidate who was nominated by a major or minor party or by petition could run as a write-in candidate.[8] |
Elections
2015
Candidates
General election
General election results
| New Britain Public Schools, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Elaine Perzan Zottola |
18.0% | 3,780 | |
| Republican | Gayle Sanders-Connolly |
17.9% | 3,756 | |
| Republican | Grisselle Aponte |
17.0% | 3,581 | |
| Democratic | Nicole Rodriguez Incumbent |
16.0% | 3,359 | |
| Democratic | Merrill Gay Incumbent |
15.6% | 3,289 | |
| Democratic | Carlos Piña Incumbent | 15.5% | 3,252 | |
| Total Votes | 21,017 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State, "Prescribed Form for Return of Votes Cast At A Municipal Election," accessed November 5, 2015 | ||||
General election candidates
 Carlos Piña
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Nicole Rodriguez 
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Merrill Gay
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 Grisselle Aponte
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Elaine Perzan Zottola
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Gayle Sanders-Connolly
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Democratic primary
Democratic primary election results
| New Britain Public Schools, At-Large, Democratic Primary, 2015 | ||
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Merrill Gay Incumbent |
23.4% | 673 |
| Nicole Rodriguez Incumbent |
23.0% | 661 |
| Carlos Piña Incumbent |
21.8% | 627 |
| Violet Sims | 17.1% | 491 |
| Agnes Kurzyna | 14.6% | 420 |
| Total Votes | 2,872 | |
| Source: City of New Britain, Connecticut, "2015 Board of Ed Primary," January 11, 2016 | ||
Candidates defeated in the Democratic primary
| Agnes Kurzyna
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Violet Sims
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Campaign finance
The New Britain Town and City Clerk's office does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2013
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What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the election
Board votes down superintendent contract renewal
Board members elected in the 2015 appeared likely to be involved in the search for a new district superintendent. In May 2015, the board of education voted 7-1 against renewing the contract of Superintendent Kelt Cooper. The vote signaled that the board was likely looking for a change just three years after Cooper was hired by the district.[9]
Cooper was offered a lucrative $200,000 annual salary when he came to New Britain from San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District in Texas. His contract also included specific goals for improving struggling student performance in the district.[9] In the 2011–2012 school year, New Britain Public School District had a four-year cohort graduation rate of 51.3 percent—a decrease of over 4 percent from the previous year.[10] By contrast, the statewide average in 2013 was 85.5 percent. Progress on these goals became a sticking point between the board that initially praised Cooper and the superintendent trying to improve the district's academic performance record.[9]
Cooper placed a focus on the use of community schools, reducing truancy rates and student behavior. Some of these efforts, such as sending students to the nearest school rather than busing them to various academies, emphasized saving the district money. Others sought to address the district's low test scores and graduation rate.[9]
"Kelt is awesome, and he's getting the job done," stated then-board member Erin Stewart, who went on to become mayor of New Britain in 2013. Local media described Cooper as having "a reputation for being plainspoken and pushing a back-to-basics philosophy." One of his more noted changes was the end of so-called "Kaizen Thursdays." The district had ended class early on Thursdays to hold conferences for teachers. Cooper ended the practice, asserting that it cost students valuable classroom time.[9]
The initial optimism of the new superintendent, however, appeared to wane as Cooper admitted over time that the district's budget problems were more difficult to overcome than he expected. Similarly, board members who initially praised his initiatives became openly critical when progress on the district's goals failed to develop on the expected timeline. It was reported that Cooper and Stewart, now in her role as mayor, clashed over district spending and other issues over time. [9]
In 2014, the board voted to extend Cooper's existing contract but only by one year. The normal superintendent contract renewal length in the district is two years. The strong majority vote not to renew his contract did not come as a surprise following the shortened renewal. Additionally, Cooper appeared to display a mutual interest in leaving the district; he was a finalist in superintendency search for Farmington Municipal Schools in New Mexico in the spring of 2015 but was not hired. Cooper's contract with the district expired on June 30, 2016.[9]
Cooper's tenure with the district was short compared to his predecessor, Doris Kurtz, who had served in the position for a decade.[11] Beyond the administrative logistics of changing superintendents, the hiring process came with a hefty price. The district spent over $50,000 in the search that led to Cooper's hiring.[9]
According to data gathered by the New Haven Register, the average annual superintendent salary in Connecticut in 2012-2013 was $164,000, approximately. The paper found that Cooper's salary with an annuity that year was $193,999. He received an additional $6,000 for mileage and another $10,000 of "other compensation." This paper found that Cooper cost the district $18.64 per student; this was the seventh-lowest rate in the state that year. His raw salary was the 34th-largest out of the state's 149 superintendents, including part-time superintendents.[12]
Two irregular board changes
Merrill Gay was appointed to the board on March 26, 2014, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Aram Ayalon (D). Ayalon resigned from the board citing a number of board decisions with which he disagreed and specifically called the decision to close Roosevelt Middle School "the last straw." He stated, "Although I voted against the decision, I cannot in good conscious have my name associated with such policies."[13] Stacey Rosado was appointed to the board on December 11, 2013, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Erin E. Stewart (R).[14] Stewart resigned from the board after being elected as the mayor of New Britain.[15] Rosado's appointment came shortly after her loss in the 2013 general election.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the 2015 Connecticut school board elections:[16]
| Deadline | Event |
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| July 21-28, 2015 | Political parties' candidate endorsement period |
| July 29, 2015 | Political parties' candidate endorsements certified |
| August 12, 2015 | Primary petitions for opposition candidates of a major party due |
| September 2, 2015 | Last day that a minor party may endorse a candidate |
| September 16, 2015 | Primary Election Day |
| October 20, 2015 | Write-in candidate filing deadline |
| November 3, 2015 | General Election Day |
| November 4, 2015 | General election results certified |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Connecticut elections, 2015
New Britain residents also voted for mayor, tax collector, treasurer and alderman.[17]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'New Britain Public Schools' Connecticut. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| New Britain Public Schools | Connecticut | School Boards |
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External links
- New Britain Public Schools
- City of New Britain
- Connecticut Secretary of State
- Connecticut Democratic Party
- New Britain Republican Town Committee
- General election sample ballot
Footnotes
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart Gets GOP Nod To Run For Second Term," July 27, 2015
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "New Britain's Democratic Chairman Will Oppose Mayor Stewart," July 23, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Hartford County, Connecticut," accessed September 4, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 15, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "Election Results," accessed October 8, 2013
- ↑ Connecticut General Assembly, "Chapter 146: Sec. 9-167a. Minority representation," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part III, Section 9-400," accessed February 26, 2014
- ↑ Connecticut Statutes, "Chapter 153, Part I, Section 9-373a," accessed October 31, 2013
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Hartford Courant, "New Britain Board Doesn't Renew Superintendent's Contract," May 6, 2015
- ↑ Kids Count Data Center, "Cohort 4-Year Graduation Rate," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "New Britain GOP Preparing To Field School Board Candidates," July 10, 2015
- ↑ New Haven Register, "Superintendents," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ New Britain City Journal, "Gay Named to School Board," March 27, 2014
- ↑ New Britain Common Council, "Regular Meeting Of The Common Council," December 11, 2013
- ↑ New Britain, Connecticut, "Honorable Erin E. Stewart," accessed January 28, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "NOVEMBER 3, 2015 MUNICIPAL ELECTION CALENDAR – AMENDED," January 5, 2015
- ↑ Connecticut Secretary of State, "New Britain, Connecticut, Municipal Election November 3, 2015," accessed November 9, 2015
| 2015 New Britain Public Schools Elections | |
| Hartford County, Connecticut | |
| Election date: | Primary Election: September 16, 2015 General Election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Democratic Party endorsed: Merrill Gay Carlos Piña Nicole Rodriguez Republican Party endorsed: |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
