To the Editor:

I wanted to take a moment to provide the dissenting opinion on the Charter Revision Commission’s recent vote that enables one party rule on the Board of Education. While there are four of us who voted to increase minority representation on the BoE, this reflects my opinions only and I do not speak for the other commissioners.

The voters did decide in 2008 on limiting any one political party to holding a maximum of four seats on the full Board. While the question on the ballot did not include the definition of a bare majority, the advisory text at the ballot box did. The Bee also printed information written by a Democratic commissioner that included the bare majority language. The article was summed up by the Republican chair of the Legislative Council as being accurate. It is unfortunate that the minutes from the CRC at that time did not indicate any discussion of the definition of the bare majority; multiple members of that group provided testimony to the current CRC that a four-seat majority was clearly their intent. We were also presented with the testimony of one member who felt that it was not the intent to define it that way, although that member did not clarify the information in The Bee nor the information at the polls that clearly stated a four-seat majority.

There was also a lecture from the Republican Town Committee members at the CRC on how the Democratic Town Committee (of which I am a member) failed to run candidates for the Board of Education during the prior election. While making for interesting public access TV, this has nothing to do with the main issue and is a distraction. The DTC could have run unqualified candidates, but we did not.

While currently there is a great deal of collaboration on BoE, [it] may not last long. Keeping one party to a maximum of four seats provides a greater chance for a difference of opinions on controversial topics to be aired rather than ignored. The purpose of minority representation is to provide some balance to ensure one ideology does not shut out others. One of the current CRC commissioners stated that minority representation goes against basic democratic values. I completely disagree. Minority representation is at the heart of our system of government, one that is supposed to provide a system of checks and balances in order to prevent a tyranny of the majority.

It has been stated that the BoE should be apolitical and focus on the goal of providing a solid education to our children. We all agree on that point.

Unfortunately, the five Republicans on CRC ensured that this became political by discounting the votes in the 2008 Charter Revision that voted for a bare majority of four. While there are two Democrats on this Charter Revision, there are also two unaffiliated voters as well. If this was an apolitical decision, why were the votes to allow a super-majority only the Republican ones?

Respectfully submitted,

Eric Paradis

85 Riverside Road, Sandy Hook                                      May 20, 2015