The "A-Ha" Moment - A Final Word Before the Election

COMMENTARY by Franca Biales, Democratic Candidate for Board of Education

I had an “ah-ha” moment yesterday that I feel compelled to share. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m running for a seat on the BOE, I probably would only be sharing it with my family, coworkers and friends. But I am running for BOE and it’s worthy of sharing with all of you.

For the past few weeks I have been studying to take the Praxis exams in order to get recertified to teach in Connecticut.  I am required to pass the Praxis exams in Reading, Writing, and Math.  I really had no concerns about the reading and writing portion, but the math was another story.  I hadn’t done any significant algebra or geometry since I was a sophomore in high school.   So with the help of my teenagers and a few great books on how to prepare for the Praxis, I studied like a mad woman.  I took advantage of every minute of daylight during Alfred to study for the math portion.  I was nervous but enjoying the challenge at the same time.

The four hours of truth came yesterday morning when I checked into the Prometric Test Center in Hamden. I sat in front of a computer and first took a reading test, then a math test and then a writing test under conditions stricter than a prison. 

It was because of this testing period that my “ah-ha” moment occurred.  As I took the reading and writing tests and answered the individual questions, memories of when I learned the material started flooding my brain.   I was brought back to when I first learned to distinguish between “s” and apostrophe “s” or choosing the correct use of their, there and they’re (things we take for granted because we learned them so long ago).  My basic skills were tested time and time again.  When I was done and driving home, I relived the four hours and realized that the foundations for all the knowledge that I drew upon to complete the tests had been laid not in college but in elementary school and middle school.  The fact that I went on to get a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s was only icing on the cake.  The cake had been baked in the public schools of Torrington. 

This “ah-ha” moment caused me to fully realize why we fight so hard for a good education for our children.  I didn’t know until I went off to college and met kids from other school systems how well I had been prepared in quiet, little Torrington.   And never did I imagine that 28 years later I would again have the opportunity to appreciate how well those elementary school teachers at Southwest School and the teachers at Vogel Junior High, and THS had set me up for a lifetime of success. Yesterday I so desperately wanted to call all my former teachers to let them know what a great job they had done. Something tells me they might already know.

My point: we can’t ignore the importance of a strong and complete education for our children while they are here in Middletown. This is when the foundation for their future successes is being laid.  We need to make sure that the people we elect to the BOE for the next four years understand that while the grown-ups are arguing about law suits, budgets, class size, transparency and communication, the students need to be prepared for the future, not just figuratively, but literally. 

Please come out and vote.  I hope you will vote for me because I will work to make sure that our students can, one day, proudly say, “Middletown public schools prepared me well.”

Thank you,

Franca Biales