Table of Contents
Open Letter to Glastonbury
| Hello, my name is Jennifer Faust. I am running for a seat on the Glastonbury Board of Education as a Republican Town Committee candidate. I am a health insurance professional, local small business owner, wife, and mother of three. I am dedicated to ensuring the success of our schools and am passionate about fostering open communication between our community and the school system. If elected in November, my goal is to bridge any gaps that may exist and work towards improving our education system. My husband and his commitment to service are what brought me to Glastonbury. Andrew has dutifully served as a volunteer firefighter for 23 years, 11 of which have been with the Town of Glastonbury. Throughout his life, Andrew has shown a strong commitment to community and country, dedicated himself toa life of service. He recently completed his second enlistment with the CT Air Guard, during which he deployed on two separate occasions. During my husband’s second deployment, as we welcomed our third child into the world, I realized how valuable this community’s support can be. the outpouring of kindness and assistance we received during that time left an incredible impression on my family and inspired me to give back to the community that has given so much to us. As a committed spouse, I support my husband’s efforts to safeguard our rights and liberties. With three children who will soon attend Glastonbury Public Schools, I feel compelled to take an active role in ensuring that our children’s education is transparent. I firmly believe that fostering a culture of open and honest communication between parents and schools by the Board of Education will significantly enhance our children’s educational journey. I am grateful that the GRTC has offered me this opportunity to campaign. I look forward to earning your vote, serving the residents of Glastonbury, and fulfilling my civic duty. With my genuine curiosity to understand the viewpoints of those around me, I am fully committed to representing the interests of all in our community. By demonstrating determination and grace, we can cultivate harmony in our community and schools. |
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
| We firmly adhere to the core principal of choice, with deep respect for a person’s individuality and freedom. We believe in the time honored mantra, “Life and let live” and actively uphold the mutual respect necessary to practice it. We value and respect the freedom to choose who you love, how to raise your children and how to identify, how you think, what you value, what you celebrate, and how you choose to care for yourself and your family. Just as we support individual autonomy and freedom of choice, we will respect and advocate for the rights of parents to choose what information their children consume in all aspects of life. We have faith in our teachers and schools and believe increased collaboration and honoring the role of parents and caregivers can only strengthen our community and school system. We encourage mental health supports in our schools, with the vision that the main focus of school is delivering high quality academics and socialization. Schools should be monitoring our children and reaching out to parents of concerns arise. Our schools are an added saftey net and support for our children, not the leader in raising them. We acknowledge that there will always be children who require more attention and focus from our schools, either due to the parental/familial/caregiver capacity. Every family dynamic does not look the same, there will always be different levels of need in any population — however the first step should always include increasing family involvement. We support a robust library consisting of “windows and mirrors” allowing our students to take a deeper look into who they are, where they came form, and to challenge and enhance their world view through new perspectives and individual experiences shared in texts. While honoring the value that a rich library can provide, we encourage safeguards and channels for parental control that welcome open dialogue if concerns arise. Banning books and censoring information is not the answer. Opportunities for respectful dialogue to share concerns, points of view, and to listen to offered solutions appears to be an underutilized strategy for collaboration between the Board of Education, our schools, and parents. It is our hope that, if elected this November, we will be able to promote these channels of communication between community members, our BoE and our schools. |