Editor’s Note: CT Examiner earlier in the week talked to the three Republican candidates for New Britain Board of Education. Today, we feature the three Democrats running for New Britain Board of Education
NEW BRITAIN – The three Democrats running for Board of Education in the city are united in their belief that funding – or the lack of funding for the school district – is a primary driver for teachers leaving New Britain for better opportunities elsewhere and for the city coming in next to last as the lowest performing school district in Connecticut.
Two of the candidates – Diana Reyes and Annie Parker – are seeking reelection to the school board while Hanna Nowakowski-Petrisko, a city native who has never held elected office, is hoping to get her first crack at becoming a school board member.
“I know that the schools are usually flat-funded, as it was this year. The teachers need more support. They need more of a support staff – more paras and more resources,” Nowakowski-Petrisko told CT Examiner. “I think they are overloaded and we just keep asking them to do more and more with less and less support.”
The city’s school district was flat-funded for the 2025-26 fiscal year and has a budget of $128 million. The district had requested $14.6 million more in funding.
Reyes, who has worked for the State Office of Early Childhood for nearly 20 years as a childcare licensing specialist, told CT Examiner this past week that, she believes, one of the reasons the school district is ranked 196th out of 197th in the state [by online data analytic site Public School review] is because “we are short on staff. We are having difficulty providing our students with the resources and the support they need. Teachers cost money; resources cost money. On top of that, we have contractual obligations and prices do not go down; they go up every year.”
Reyes added that, she believes, many city students face “challenges that other cities and towns do not see. There are [more] socioeconomic barriers here. There are mental health issues. We have a lot of societal issues that need to be addressed with our students.”
Parker, who is retired, was a special education teacher for 37 years, primarily at New Britain High School.
Parker, who is seeking her third four-year term on the school board, told CT Examiner she was not surprised with a recent outside audit of the district’s special education policies, which showed deficiencies in several areas including that a culture of high expectations for all students was lacking, and that the district didn’t have a clearly articulated vision for special education.
“Basically, they [special education classes] are short-staffed. They need more staff and they need more space,” said Parker, who added that: “You would definitely like to see more funding. We don’t have enough money to purchase whatever we need for the classroom.”
According to the school district, 26% of its approximately 10,000 public school students are special education students. There are 863 teachers and a total staff of 1,839 in the school district, according to the district. There are 10 elementary schools; three middle schools; and one public high school in the city.
Reyes said that, if she is reelected, she’d push to create a child development associate certificate out of New Britain High School.
“The high school already has some great pathways. They have manufacturing. They have one for public service,” Reyes said. “They have a preschool there where students learn about child development, but they do not have a pathway to get certified within the early childhood field.”
Reyes added the topic is important because “students pursuing education might want to work with younger children and this would give them the background and knowledge to work in early childhood education and to build the workforce.”
Nowakowski-Petrisko, who taught elementary school for seven years before leaving the field to be a stay-at-home mother for her children and is currently a caretaker for her elderly mother, said people should vote for her because she will not just advocate for children but also has steep roots in volunteer work in the city.
Nowakowski-Petrisko is on the board of New Britain Roots, a community non-profit that has built gardens in all the schools as well as providing internships and scholarships for students.
Nowakowski-Petrisko, who has two children who attend the high-school, is also active in the high school’s Parent Teacher Organization, where she helps plan the entire all-night graduation extravaganza.
“My number 1 priority is really working with Tony Gasper [schools superintendent],” Nowakowski-Petrisko said. “I know he’s having an uphill climb because of a lack of funding. The whole point of being on the [school] board should be child-centered and also building relationships with parents and families so they feel comfortable coming into the school.”
Parker moved to New Britain from Georgia in 1970. She said soon after she arrived in the city, “I would sit back and complain about the way things were and the way things should be. At some point, I decided that’s crazy and that I needed to do something.”
Soon after moving to New Britain, she became a Democratic Town Committee member.
Parker also said parents need to play a bigger role in their children’s education. Noting the city’s high chronic absenteeism rate of 32%, she said, “Parents need to encourage their kids to go to school. They need to be more vigilant. I live near the park and – it’s gotten better — but I still see kids when they should be in the [school] building. They are outside on the playground and stuff when they should be in school.”
Chronic absenteeism refers to a student missing 10% or more of the school year, of at least 18 absences.
Currently, the 10-member school board has five Democrats and five Republicans. Five of the top six vote-getters on Nov. 4 will get a seat on the school board. The terms are four years and staggered.
The three Republican school board candidates are all incumbents. They are Board of Education Chair Barbara Marino, Tony Cane and Tina Santana.