Students Make Last Push For Board Of Ed Seats

“Jesus?! Like in-the-sky Jesus?” asked a bewildered man on the Lower Green as he approached Jesus Garzon’s campaign table, advertising his candidacy for the Board of Education’s student seat as a first-ever election drew nearer.

“Yup, ​‘Vote for Jesus!’” he replied.

Like a seasoned office-seeker, Garzon was reaching for a slogan that could resonate with voters — in this case one that used the English pronunciation of his name to gain name recognition among students less informed about the election.

Thursday and Friday, public high school students will cast their votes for one out of four rising seniors and one out of two rising juniors to serve as non-voting members of the newly-reformed Board of Education.

Candidates like Garzon, a rising senior at Metropolitan Business Academy, are making their final push to gain last-minute votes as the compressed election process reaches its climax.

At his fifth and final meet-and-greet Wednesday, Garzon approached several high-school-aged friend groups who customarily hang out at the fountain on the Lower Green, informing them of the election and asking for their votes.

One group of West Haven High School students came to his small table for snacks, and texted their friends in various New Haven high schools asking them to ​“Vote for Jesus.”

Since the May 20 panel that allowed the candidates to discuss their plans and platforms, Garzon has been at the fountain every Wednesday and Friday to campaign with students from different schools and different ​“demographics.”

“Being here at the Green allows me to talk to kids in person and build close connections and friendships; those people become my advocates in other schools,” he said.

Junior candidate Coral Ortiz, a student at Hillhouse, said the district is offering some support by printing 5,000 flyers for them and giving them helpful advice on running a campaign. Mayor Toni Harp even gave them a few pointers.

But Ortiz and senior candidate Kimberly Sullivan from Sound School expressed concern that the burden of informing students about the election has come down to the candidates primarily. 

“I was really surprised that many of the students found out about the election from me telling them,” Ortiz said. ​“It’s an issue with communication. It would be helpful if the school administrations did more to tell students what is happening.”

For her, this illustrates the broader problem with communication between students, administrators, and the Board of Education that leads to an uninformed and often ​“mistrustful” student body. Her campaign promise is to improve officials’ communication with students and make sure they feel like they have a way to make their ideas and concerns known directly to the Board of Education.

She plans to distribute her phone number and hold regular meetings with students to hear them out and report back to the board.

She discussed this and other ideas with students at Sound School today during their lunch period, where she distributed flyers. She said she was received well once she assured students she was not running against Sullivan, their classmate, but rather for the junior seat.

“They trust [Sullivan] a lot,” she said.

Though initially concerned about students being generally uninformed about the election, Garzon said he has sensed a shift as the election date approaches. Between candidates’ visits to schools, social media and school announcements, most students he has spoken to now seem to know what is going on, he said.

Ortiz said she has developed a relationship with Garzon due to their shared goal of advocating for equality of opportunity among students regardless of their socioeconomic background.

“He helped me get to know the issues and students at different schools,” she said. ​“If we win, we’re going to focus on equality for all students in all schools.”

He said that students at Metro, a magnet school, often take for granted their access to laptops and other technology resources. Meanwhile, New Horizons, a school serving many at-risk and low-income students, has only one computer available for student use, and it is a prized resource.

“Everyone deserves equal resources, not just the high-achieving students,” Garzon said. ​“If anything, we should be giving struggling students a boost.”

Each school will administer the poll independently, but ballots will be counted together by hand. It’s unclear how and when the board will announce the winners, but Garzon said he hopes for an actual event rather than an email, which would be ​“anticlimactic.”