Name: Christine Cascella
Political Party: Republican
Running for: Board of Education
Education: Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Fairfield University and Masters in Occupational Therapy from Sacred Heart University
Work experience: Currently employed for Hartford Health Care at Home as an Occupational Therapist
Political experience: I am currently on the Board of Education, which I have proudly served for the past 8 years, during that tenure I have served on various hiring committees, Turf Field Committee, ad hoc committees, contract negotiations. Former Member Parks and Recreation Commission
Family: Christina Cascella is a lifelong Monroe resident. She is married to Al Cascella and the couple has three children: Alicia, who graduating from Masuk in 2017; Christopher, a Jockey Hollow eight grader, and Ava, who is a kindergartener at Monroe Elementary School. Cascella has volunteered at events for her children’s schools over the years.
What is an issue affecting the town that you care about most and want to make a priority? How will it guide your decision making?
Cascella: An issue the schools are currently facing is recovering from the challenges of COVID. The students, parents, teachers and staff have had to navigate various obstacles such as distant learning, social and emotional issues.
The town has also seen an increase in enrollment across all schools and grade levels since the pandemic started.
The challenge the Board must face is being fiscally responsible to taxpayers, while meeting the needs of all students and funding State mandates while maintaining award-winning schools. Just this week, U.S News and World Report released a ranking of elementary schools in Connecticut and Monroe Elementary was ranked 6th in Connecticut.
We should look at cost-effective solutions such as redistricting, instead of hiring an expensive consulting firm, we approached this with common sense. The Superintendent, myself and a fellow Board of Education member sat in a room with a map to assess areas in town that could move to another school district.
The goal of this is to decrease the need to hire additional teachers. This went into effect on October 1, 2021 for all new families moving into Monroe, however, it will not impact continuing students and where they are currently enrolled. I hope to continue to serve the Town of Monroe and be a community partner.
