Submitted by Brian Raabe, Greenwich
Whether it is a deliberate strategy or not, candidate positions on the school budget cut vary (or switch completely) with time.
It’s one thing to shade a view, it is another to hold diametrically opposed positions within a span of weeks or months.
From the top there is First Selectman Fred Camillo’s initial take,
“I believe most of the cuts being proposed are unnecessary and would be damaging, if approved. The proposed $4 million cut to our schools is an action that I am respectfully asking the BET to reconsider.”
(April 2025)
https://www.greenwichct.gov/m/
His clear position: cuts = bad, evolved into getting into a lather on a radio call in show and saying, “That’s not a cut it’s a decrease in the proposed rate of increase.”
(August 2025)
Yeah, OK.
His position has evolved further.
In the First Selectman’s debate he called the whole thing, “a communication problem.”
(October 2025)
His positions on the matter wriggle like mud eels in a bucket.
Uncomfortable to look at.
Let’s go with your first statement Fred – proposed cuts would be damaging.
Why that one?
The cuts were made. We are living the damage you foretold. It is no longer a hypothetical.
Right the first time.
Then there is BET Candidate Sally Bednar – this from her statement in the League of Women Voters write-up during the Republican primary,
“I support the decision to reduce the BOE requested 2025-2026 budget by $4 million.”
(September 2025)
This has morphed into her recent Q&A in Greenwich Patch,
“Our BET plan is to support the Greenwich Public Schools…”
(October 2025)
Support with what, “Employee of the Month” certificates?
Support is not funding. The candidate’s position was made clear in the primary,
“I support the decision to reduce the BOE requested 2025-2026 budget by $4 million.”
(September 2025)
That’s the candidate’s version of support. Candidate Bednar supported cuts.
More recent statements are exceedingly vague and revisionist.
And then, of course, there’s Harry Fisher and this gem from June.
“I hope that the BOE will reverse its request for additional funds and that the residents of Greenwich be allowed to settle down and enjoy the late breaking summer.”
https://greenwichfreepress.
Mr. Fisher’s position (delivered from the beach one surmises) and advice to the BOE was as jarring as Gerald Ford’s advice to NYC in the 70s.
Bonus points if you know the quote without looking it up.
But Harry has been consistent – cut school funding – more consistent than his peers.
And so, we have a group of candidates whose beliefs are a dependent variable – depends on how close to the election and who is in the room.
They spoke their truth the first time.
Listen.
Do you want more of the same?
And then there are those on their platform running unopposed who nonetheless felt compelled to share their world view.
Mr. Mercanti-Anthony, who is running for the BOE, is the one-eyed man amongst his blind peers when it comes to education given his background. (The bios of those that surround him are stunningly devoid of same).
I had high hopes for what he would write.
Instead, he laid out things like, “It is also time for the Board to demand frequent night games at Greenwich High School for all sports. Our students deserve the same ‘Friday Night Lights’ experience as other communities.”
He also called the lack of investment in schools a, “outdated talking point.”
A what?
Mr. Mercanti-Anthony, as you know as recently as this year Old Greenwich school was not ADA compliant, and water was backing up into the basement on rainy days.
To quote the Greenwich Sentinel from this April – “After more than two years of weekly meetings, architectural revisions, and battles over compliance mandates and budget lines, the school’s ADA-compliance and renovation project broke ground.”
So, you may prefer to dismiss these issues with a wave of the “outdated talking point” hand, I prefer to have a recency bias as to the underfunding of our schools.
Because, you know, the problems are recent…
The Republican led BET refused to invest in schools until they were failing down and brown trout made their way into the Old Greenwich flooded basement as recently as April.
I applaud your willingness to participate, you shepherded the OG school project to the starting line, thank you.
Greenwich High School is 7x the size of the school you lead (400 students versus 2600 students)
Take your experience and scale your thinking up to the problems at hand.
Too few night games isn’t one of them.
As a voter, ask yourself whether you prefer to elect those whose positions are simply impossible to pin down and highly dependent upon proximity to the election, or ask whether you back those that have been consistently vocal – and have voted for our schools.
Vote Row A for the BET.
Vote for all 6 Row A candidates because the most votes by party determines the tie breaking vote.
Vote for consistency of school funding beliefs set on bedrock.
Talking points that vary depending on time of year are, to use Fred’s word, damaging.
We know that.
Students and parents are living it.
Note: The deadline to submit letters to the editor about candidates for consideration in the Nov 4, 2025 municipal elections is Oct 28, 2025 at 12:00 noon.